UFO Unknowns—Part 2

In the late 20^th century a number of credible sightings by civilian and military pilots—especially American—occurred. These were not amateurs on the ground who might be prone to lively imaginations; they were trained pilots whose onboard sensors (such as radar) indicated something more than just a blinking light in the sky. Many of these pilots were leery of reporting their experiences, because of a concern that they might be considered unreliable or even to be unstable.

Then UFO sightings again increased in the early 21^st century, for reasons unknown. The incidents by reliable pilots also increased. Pressure on the US government intensified as a number of established institutions began to demand a report. This resulted in the government releasing a report in 2021—summarizing and revealing what had been found. The report, however, was incomplete, cryptic, unscientific, confusing, and very unsatisfying. In over 70 years of investigation, the authorities had little to offer in the way of explanations.

So yet another phase of government study has recently been launched. This time qualified scientists are involved, with the intent of conducting a more sound, rigorous study. The more credible military pilot encounters will be given particularly careful attention. The UFO (or now officially named UAP, unidentified aerial phenomena) community once again stands by waiting—but this time a more open and scientific process is expected.

One consistent point has repeatedly been made throughout the modern UFO era, however: despite thousands of interesting sightings and endless speculation, there has not once been any material object found or unequivocal photo been taken. Just one piece of spacecraft or even space trash from aliens would cast a completely different  light on the subject. It would lend a credibility far beyond anything we have now.

UFOs Up in the Air—Part 2

There are, however, more realistic and relevant considerations of the possible existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life. One is the ongoing efforts for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Serious work has gone on in this area for a few decades now, using sophisticated scientific equipment. For some SETI folks, the lack of any convincing electromagnetic signal thus far from outer-space is discouraging. The hunt has become ever more technologically advanced and sophisticated, but still no contact. Maybe we are alone. Maybe the distances and time scales are just too vast for us to ever find alien intelligent life this way. The search continues, however, because it may be our only way to verify life out there, and the consequences of finding it are so momentous.

Then there's a recent study by a consortium of astronomers and universities, suggesting that although we've not yet heard from an ET out there, maybe some of them have heard from us! This suggestion is bolstered by the fact that, in just the last few years, we now know there are hundreds of planets within a few light years of us, and billions of them farther away, just within our galaxy. Computations in this recent study show that our TV and radio signals emitted over the last century could well be detectable at some of those closer planets. That's a rather unsettling thought: they could know that we're around, while we are as yet ignorant of them. 

Some of these planets are even Earth-like. Could there be beings on those planets who have been watching our TV programs? If so, would it lead them to doubt that these signals indicate their origin as coming from intelligent life? So many questions and speculations, with no definitive answers! 

Yet another viewpoint suggests that we may be expecting the wrong kind of visitation. The likelihood of meeting living beings who traveled here on an interstellar craft is quite remote, given the fact that the distances to be traversed are simply too great for any living creature to cover—given that travel times would probably be on the order of hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years. Despite the fact that those brilliant adventurers in the Star Trek TV series travel at warp speeds and visit several star systems in a few months' time, there remains the strong likelihood that spacecraft speeds greater than the velocity of light are simply not possible. If so, travel times between star systems won't be measured in weeks or months, but in eons.

It's hard to believe that any biologically-evolved alien beings could live for eons. It’s hard to conceive that their life spans could be so long, or their metabolic rates could be so incredibly slow. One thing that science has demonstrated is that conditions around our universe are quite uniform. The laws of physics and biology that reign locally are probably similar across the cosmos. But that might just be another ignorant assumption.

Yet there's nothing to suggest that alien intelligent life (if it exists—which seems increasingly likely, though probably extremely rare) at all matches our technological skill level. After all, those ancient earthly humans had no hint of the nature and vastness of the universe, let alone what a flying craft might be. Moreover, we can't begin to imagine the technologies of earthly humans, even a couple of hundred years from now. (If we don't manage to create our own extinction in the meantime, due to our current technological foolishness.)

So life “out there” could currently be at the stage it was, say, three billion years ago on Earth: single-cell, microscopic critters. Or it could be three billion years further evolved than we are. In either case, we’d probably not be able to even recognize it, let alone receive its radio signals.

This last possibility I've described (life elsewhere as primitive or unimaginably advanced) may well be the most likely one. If so, and if the distances are so vast that interstellar travel requires tens or thousands (maybe millions!) of years, what's an intelligent species to do, if it wishes to explore the cosmos? Rather than send out spacecraft containing living beings, it's more reasonable that they'd launch spacecraft containing machines—robots that could easily go into stasis for the interminable length of the trip. Robots in suspended animation require no food, create no waste, and need no entertainment.

I have wandered here through time and space, as I address the fascinating subjects of UFOs, space travel, and life elsewhere. As of this date we have far more questions than answers. When might we get those answers? Will we ever? The enigmas of our universe—viewed from the tiny speck that we inhabit—are boundless. How many of them will we ever fathom?

UFOs Up in the Air—Part 1

From the first primitive human species—a few hundred thousand years ago—to today, we have peered heavenward and observed and pondered the behaviors of celestial phenomena. Our ancient ancestors had no ability to comprehend the true nature of those lights and the things that they saw, so they created stories to explain them. (Isn’t that what we do today, but with more knowledge?) They sometimes described the antics of super beings as being responsible for the phenomena they saw happening. Those super beings were viewed from the perspective of the primeval comprehension of people at the time.

Our more recent ancestors (several hundred to several thousand years ago) came to understand that those points of light might be stars, planets, and other transient phenomena (such as comets). They still had little idea of the true nature of these objects or why they behaved as they did, but they became quite familiar with the comings and goings of most of them. Many of the more unusual sightings were interpreted as omens from the gods—which were the beginnings of astrology.

It is likely that some of the early phenomena were similar to what have, in recent decades, come to be designated as unidentified flying objects (UFOs), but the rudimentary science of the times would not have caused people to interpret them as visitors from outer space. Humans didn't even have any concept such as outer space… at most they considered the objects to be part of the “heavens.”

Once we came to know that the night sky's lights are stars, planets, and galaxies, the immensity of outer space became clear. We then began to wonder if there are other forms of life out there. As our knowledge increased, our stories about the unusual aerial phenomena became more sophisticated. We no longer imagined super beings dragging the sun across the sky or “men in the moon,” but we wanted explanations for some of the more strange things that we saw. Mystifying lights and weird objects became the vehicles of visitors from outer space. Strange objects were seen as “flying saucers.” Science fiction tales added to our ideas about the possibilities.

The overactive imaginations of many people sometimes added bizarre additional beliefs to the incidents, such as humans being snatched up by superior beings and being experimented upon. Rumors flourished and fostered conspiracy theories. UFO sightings were romanticized and taken out of context. Many people became convinced that the government had positive evidence of encounters with UFOs, but was suppressing the information, for various security and secretive reasons.

Pressure mounted. This spring the US government finally conceded to release a report that would contain what it knew about what was now being called Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP). For months the public conjectured about what might be revealed in the report. No more government secrets—the truth about celestial visitors would finally be known! Who are these aliens? Should we fear them? Should we greet them in peace or prepare for battle? Maybe the government will finally show us pieces of crashed space craft, so we can marvel at the advanced technology. Once and for all, we’ll know the truth!

Well, the report came out in June, and was a major let-down for many people. There is no physical evidence. There were no answers that satisfied curious citizens. There were no detailed photographs of any flying craft. There were no explanations for most of the sightings—just descriptions of radar contacts and multiple sightings of the same

phenomena, in a few cases. It was fascinating, but there were no great revelations. The report mostly—and disappointingly for many people—confessed to the government's continued ignorance of UAPs.

I was not surprised at the report. I feel that if the government had any hard evidence, it would long ago have leaked to the public. Moreover, too many of what were once considered to be actual encounters with alien spacecraft have been, upon careful investigation, shown to be explained by weather balloons, bizarre optical illusions, natural phenomena such as forms of lightning, etc. Conspiracy buffs, however, remain convinced that the government is holding back, and it may well be, to some extent, but we still don’t know. It is similar to the conviction that some people have—that the moon landings were faked by NASA and no opposing evidence will dissuade them.

More UFOs next time…