I would like to believe in many things. I would like to believe that there is intelligent life out in the universe (I often think there certainly isn't any on this Rock); I would like to think that we will be contacted by these beings in my lifetime. I would also like to believe in other ideals, such as world peace, the end of poverty, disease, and even government corruption. But I am a skeptic by nature.
I have seen many shows like the one I saw last night. In fact, every one of these shows are the same as the other. They show the same old footage; they discuss all the same issues in every show: Alien crash-landings in New Mexico, preserved bodies of extraterrestrials in top-secret military bases, and experimental fighter planes based on alien technologies. They feature retired military officers claiming these events actually occurred, but have no definitive proof due to the destruction of classified documents. On top of all this bunk, these programs display faces, pyramids, and other structures on Mars that cannot be explained as natural phenomena. I am not sure if the purpose of these shows is to make believers out of us, to scare us, or to undermine credibility of our Governments.
What struck me, is the "spin" that these programs put on these shows, as if they could actually succeed in exposing the "truth" to the masses, that the United States Government has been lying to the people for at least the last sixty years. This is not unlike the "spin" that the US media portrays the civil unrest in the Middle East, or the spin that Al-Jezeera puts on the same news. I continued my thought processes and dug a little deeper into the issues at hand.
I thought, what if it were true that the United States government had definitive proof that extraterrestrials existed? Would they share that information with the public? According to the show I witnessed last night, they said "no", which I tend to agree with. The government would fear that if the public were to know that extraterrestrials existed, then a moral panic of unprecedented proportions would ensue, and the government may be unable to control the public. Upon further thought, I concluded that the US Government is right-wing conservative; some would even argue that the separation of Church and State has been blurred in recent years. One cannot deny that the proof of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe would have a profound effect on our spiritual beliefs. On a similar tangent, I would not be surprised if "the Church" still has a significant amount of influence within "the State", even up to the highest levels of government.
[ed. note: If you think I'm treading on thin ice, you are probably right. I am trying my best to be as general as possible as to not piss everyone off. If you hear me out, you might be surprised in the direction I take this.]
I would like to believe that some of the reported UFO sightings were from extraterrestrial beings. I would like to think the US military has an alien craft in a hangar in some top-secret military installation (I would also like to believe that if this were true, that the alien technology is so advanced, that military scientists do not understand the technology so they cannot implement it into their own military vehicles or weaponry). The more I think about it, I do not believe that the US military has such evidence.
In 1961, Dr. Frank Drake proposed a formula to mathematically determine the probability of intelligent life existing in our universe. The equation is as follows:
N = R × fp × ne × fl × fi × fc × L
Where:
N = The number of communicative civilizations
R = The rate of formation of suitable stars
fp = The fraction of those with planets
ne = The number of planets in the system that would be capable of sustaining life
fl = The fraction of those where life develops
fi = The fraction of life sites where intelligence develops
fc = The fraction of planets where technology develops
L = The "lifetime" of communicating civilizations
The numbers are arbitrary, but generally we are looking at a very small number. When we consider the possibility of extraterrestrial life landing on our small blue planet, the number gets even smaller.
If we were to be contacted by intelligent beings from elsewhere in the universe, it would surely be in the form of radio waves (sure, science fiction fans love to talk about "sub-space" communication technology that travels faster than light, but we have no knowledge if such a thing exists. If it did, every computer geek on the web would want that technology, as cable modems and email aren't fast enough for them). Radio waves have the ability to travel great distances without substantial loss in signal quality. There are many government-funded programs designed to listen to these radio waves for signs of intelligent life. The SETI@home program is an unprecedented attempt to listen to these signals with more precision than ever before. After being operational for some seven years, using millions of years of computer processing time, and identifying many potential candidates, not one legitimate signal has been discovered by the SETI@home program.
Of course, many believers will argue that we have received signals from intelligent beings, but the Government has classified the information, so civil order can be maintained. This is simply not true. What "Unexplained Mysteries" (and other similar programs) fail to mention, is that the Earth rotates; stars rise and set. Extraterrestrial civilizations do not make person-to-person calls.
In order to make contact with an alien civilization, a signal has to be sent into space at an incredibly high amplification. The message would have to be repeated countless times, not just for years, but centuries or millennia. The vastness of space is so large, that if an intelligent race existed on the other end of our galaxy, it would take one hundred thousand years for that signal to reach us. It would take another one hundred thousand years for us to return their signal. By the time they had received our signal, our civilization (as we know it) would not be around. Even so, given the vastness of space, we would have to be listening at precisely the right time in order to acquire the signal; so would they.
If an alien civilization were to try and contact us, it would likely be a very faint signal. We would receive that signal many times; and every radio telescope in the world would be able to tune-in. If such a candidate signal was discovered, the news would not be be kept secret for long. I consider this definitive proof that there is no possible way that the United States government would be able to intercept an intelligent signal from outer space, and classify it without the rest of the world knowing. How can you classify a signal that's intended for all of us? And not only us human beings; what about the rest of the Universe?
It is more likely that if intelligent life exists outside of our solar system, it is so far away that we would never be able to return the signal in our lifetime. It is even more likely that there is nothing more than noble gases out there. But I like to dream of the alternative.
The idea of "Area 51", a top-secret air force base (that even the government denies its' existence, regardless of whether or not it exists) having an extraterrestrial craft in their possession is almost unbelievable. Again, this has to do with laws of percentages. To crash-land on an uncivilized area of the United States is like hitting a bullseye target from the moon. The United States covers a small percentage of the surface area of the earth. If an interplanetary craft were to crash-land on the Earth, it would most likely land on water; two thirds of the Earth's surface area is covered in water. To have the US military cover up such a crash-landing up with few (or no) witnesses is another slim chance.
Now if such a place exists such as "Area 51", I would expect it would be more a testing ground for new military technologies, but I doubt these technologies are alien. The majority of UFO sightings are debunked as military vehicles. Some are even debunked by natural phenomena.
We haven't even yet examined archaeological evidence. There are many accounts in historical records of strange beings visiting primitive civilizations, operating strange machinery, in both the Middle East and in Central American civilizations. Besides folklore and wall paintings, there are no artifacts to prove that extraterrestrials have visited this planet in the past. Furthermore, I would argue that no extraterrestrial beings have not visited us, as even now there is "no sign of intelligent life" on this planet. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to discuss the uncanny precision of the construction of the pyramids (or other archaeological discoveries that are normally featured on similar television shows); that will have to wait for another entry.
As for those who claim to have been abducted by extraterrestrials and subjected to "testing", I would love to have psychological assessments on these people. I wonder how many of them habitually abuse hallucinogens, how many of them are schizophrenic or suffer from some other debilitating mental disorder, or how many of them are just craving attention to the degree that they will say or do anything. Many people who have suffered abuse in their lives have what is known in the professional community as "repressed memories" -- which is a nice way of saying that their experiences were so traumatic that they actually made themselves "forget" these events actually occurred. If you consider that many of these abuses are allegedly similar to acts of sexual exploitation, you can probably understand how these people might believe they were abducted by aliens, rather than subjects of abuse.
People believe that extraterrestrials would treat us in the same manner we treat other species of our planet. I don't think that these "aliens" would feel any guilt inflicting pain on us for the advancement of their knowledge. I am opening another big can of worms here, so I should probably reserve this issue for another entry.
What I think, and what I want to believe are obviously two different things. I hope that I have provided convincing evidence that we do not yet have definitive proof of extraterrestrial life. With the development of new technologies, it might end up that we might discover that we are not alone in the Universe; I hope in the process we might be able to discover a bit more about ourselves.
