Updated 01 February 2018
I am often asked if I believe in
UFOs, and on being informed that I do not, my interlocutor's response is
frequently something like this; “So does that mean you do not believe in
intelligent life in the Universe?”. This is not the case and the comments below
will explain and clarify my views.
Aliens
The term "Alien" is
often used to describe the hypothetical “Little Green Men” from outer space who
allegedly pilot flying saucers and UFOs and interact with humans – sometimes
abducting them. In this context I do not believe in "Aliens". On the
other hand when the expression "Aliens" refers to extra-terrestrial
intelligent beings; then my answer is a qualified “They must almost certainly
exist somewhere in a vast Universe like ours, although at present we do not
have any compelling evidence to support their existence".
UFOs (Flying Saucers)
To some the belief in UFOs is an
act of faith like a belief in astrology, the Mars face, Atlantis, paranormal activity and the Bermuda Triangle; hence it is something that
most astronomers would prefer to ignore. My view is that far from being piloted
by aliens and coming from the depths of space most “sightings” of UFOs have
much more prosaic explanations. These include misidentification of known
astronomical, meteorological or geophysical phenomena. Some alleged sightings
may also refer to man-made objects such as aircraft, reentering rocket boosters, UAVs (drones) etc. Those alleged sightings of UFOs which cannot be explained by any of the
foregoing are, in my opinion, psychological phenomena which take place in the
human mind and are therefore best investigated by the psychologist or
psychiatrist. For example many reports of alien abductions can be explained by
hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, whereas a high level of dopamine in
the brain can also trigger hallucinations of aliens and abductions. Another
phenomen Pareidolia (seeing familar objects in random patterns) could be a
contributory factor. A further discussion of this interesting subject is beyond
the scope of this account. Additionally one must always keep in mind the
possible activities of hoaxers. Especially suspicious is information gathered
under hypnosis. It is well known and scientifically established that
"Hypnosis stimulates the imagination and not the memory". (This is the
reason that most courts do not permit evidence gained under hypnosis). And what
about those compelling images of UFOs? I believe that most actually demonstrate
the amazing versatility of modern digital photography and image-processing
software.
Have I seen UFOs? Yes: in over half-century as a recreational astronomer, I have seen more than my share of
mysterious objects in the sky. However after reflection, careful consideration,
research, the application of scientific logic, critical thinking and most of
all the use of plain commonsense, virtually all of these have turned out to
have relatively mundane (i.e. non UFO) explanations.
Intelligent life in the Universe
To say there is no life in the
rest of the Universe would be to take us back to the dark ages of pre-Copernican
thinking when it was believed that the Universe was Earth-centered and the
planets, stars etc. were all in orbit around us and man was the master of it
all. There is little doubt in my mind
that life, and intelligent technological life, exists elsewhere in the
Universe. Nevertheless, in our present state of ignorance, this can only be
speculation. There is a suggestion that life may have originated more than once
on earth. If this is proved correct it gives hope that life may be fairly
common in the Universe as well.
Given the enormous distances
between stars, any communication between two neighbouring star systems would
take a very long time. For example using radio to say “Hello” to an intelligent
creature in the Alpha Centauri system (the star system closest to Earth at 4.3
light years) and receive a "quick" reply would take 8.6 years; and
most stars are tens, hundreds, thousands or millions of light years away. A
visitor from another star system travelling in his spaceship at almost the
speed of light will, if his star system is one thousand light years away, take
around 1,000 years to reach Earth, where I'm certain he would find more useful
things to do than go around building pyramids or stone circles, interbreeding
with humans, frightening people or abducting them.
One point that is often
overlooked in discussions such as this, is that for one civilization to visit
another the two must be contemporaneous and their technological civilizations
must be fairly long lived. What are the possibilities of this in comparison to
the enormous age of the Universe? An interesting possibility would be that of
two technological civilizations in star systems relatively close to each other,
but separated in terms of time so that neither would have any knowledge of the
other. A hypothetical example is that of an intelligent race which became
extinct, say, one million years ago in the Alpha Centauri system. Their last
dying radio broadcasts and possibly calls for help would have reached Earth
when our caveman ancestors were chipping stone tools and rubbing sticks
together to make fire; so we modern humans would be totally ignorant of their
existence.
The point I am making is that
while it is likely that other technological civilizations exist in the
Universe, the chances that hypothetical "Aliens" are visiting, or
even communicating with us is vanishingly small. Of course if all the
speculation about wormholes, branes, faster-than-light travel and parallel
universes is correct then . . . . .
Hopefully the SETI project, and
others like it, will soon find evidence to answer these questions. I eagerly
await the first acceptable evidence for extraterrestrial life, especially
intelligent life. I must say however that I have
seen no unequivocal evidence for Aliens visiting, or having ever visited, the
Earth. The so-called "evidence" often put forward for Alien-inspired
Nazca lines, Pyramids, Crop circles etc. is, in my opinion, nothing more than uninformed
speculation. The Nazca lines, Pyramids and Crop circles can easily be explained by more
prosaic human activity. So until
scientifically acceptable evidence is forthcoming, I expect to devote my time
to "Real" astronomy and will leave further speculation on the subject
to others.
So hopefully, you will not hear
anything more on this subject from me.
This is my personal opinion and
if you disagree with my views that is your prerogative which I respect.
© Copyright Rex I. De Silva. All rights reserved.
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