Welcome to Gaia! ::

Extraterrestrial Life & UFOs

This page is about the next "Copernican revolution" - the realization that humanity is not alone in the universe. Just a couple of years ago, conventional astronomical wisdom held that the formation of life is such an unlikely event that humanity is almost certainly the only intelligent species in the universe. But with the recent discovery of extrasolar planetary systems, and the realization that life might exist or have existed elsewhere in our own solar system (on Mars and beneath the icy crust of Jupiter's moon Europa), the odds have dramatically shifted in favour of life. The existence of life on Earth does not imply anything for the probability of life existing elsewhere, because if life did not exist on Earth, we would not exist to observe it (this observer effect is known as the anthropic principle). But if life arose independently on another body in our solar system, and planetary systems are the rule, not the exception, then life must be abundant in the universe. And that means that intelligent life could be abundant in the universe.

So why do many serious scientists reject the idea that aliens could be visiting the earth? Because according to conventional wisdom, interstellar travel is simply not feasible. However, the same thing was said about flying in the 19th century, and nuclear power was declared impossible just a few years before it became a reality. History teaches us that when physicists complacently lean back and declare such-and-such to be an impossibility, a major revolution might be right around the corner.

Today, two such revolutions are in the making. The first is free energy. Quantum physics teaches us that the vacuum is far from being empty. On the contrary, it holds great amounts of energy - the so-called zero-point energy. So far, it has been the prevailing orthodoxy in physics that this energy cannot be tapped. However, some physicists believe differently. Nuclear physicist Tom Bearden has designed a functioning prototype of a device he calls the Motionless Electomagnetic Generator that produces electrical energy from the vacuum. Bearden and his Alabama company, Magnetic Energy Limited, are currently looking for investors to develop and mass-produce the invention, which is proving to be a formidable obstacle, since major investment companies are not eager to develop a technology that could single-handedly destroy whole industries. Once the MEG, or a similar device is commercially available, human civilization will be transformed virtually overnight. Providing clean energy in abundance, without fuel needs or exhausts, free energy devices will solve many of our most urgent global problems. They will end the environmental destruction caused by cars, planes and fossil-fuel burning power plants. They will provide developing countries with the energy to develop, but without the environmental and health penalties that the developed countries have paid, and are still paying. And even more important: they will give us 'the freedom of the solar system'.

Our current space activities are held back by a lack of compact, but powerful energy sources. On the surface of the earth, we sit at tbe bottom of a deep gravity well, and it takes enormous amounts of energy to get things into orbit. Introduce abundant energy into the equation, and humanity will have the freedom of the solar system. Even interstellar travel would become a practical reality, for travel at relativistic speeds would no longer be energy-prohibitive. Still, such ships would be limited by the speed of light. Or would they? Some physicists believe that it is possible to engineer space-time itself, to surround a spaceship with a local space time in such a way that locally, the light barrier remains intact, while from the outside, the ship is moving at superluminal velocity. This sounds exactly like Star Trek's warp drive, but that doesn't make it an invalid idea. In fact, NASA is taking this idea and others like it very seriously, as you can convince yourself by visiting NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program.

The bottom line is: for a highly advanced extraterrestrial culture, interstellar travel could be as trivial as an intercontinental flight for us. That is why sceptics will always take refuge to what seems to be a perfect refutation: if aliens exists, and interstellar travel is possible, why aren't they visiting us? To fully appreciate the quality of this question, keep in mind that the standard sceptical argument against the reality of UFOs is that "the laws of physics exclude the possibility of interstellar travel, even if extraterrestrials existed in the first place, which is highly unlikely".

In other words, UFOs cannot be extraterrestrial because interstellar travel is impossible, and interstellar travel is impossible because otherwise, there would be UFOs of extraterrestrial origin. Scientists should recognize the circuitous nature of this argument, but all too often, they do not. Science is not always the objective, impartial endeavour that it claims to be. The process of scientific truth-finding has a complex and subtle psychology to it, and social factors like authority, conditioning, majority opinion and prejudice play as much a role as observation and mathematical deduction. Take the following example of scientific irrationality:

In the recent Scientific American special issue "The Future of Space Exploration", Timothy Ferris, a science writer and emeritus professor of journalism at UCB, makes a compelling case for interstellar exploration based on current technology. But then, he writes

"From the second clue - that aliens have not yet landed on the White House lawn - we can posit that our immediate celestial neighborhood is probably not home to a multitude of technologically advanced civilizations that spend their time boldly venturing to other star systems on board big, imposing spacecraft. If that was the case, they would have shown up already, as they evidently have not (I am, of course, discounting reports of UFO sightings and alien abductions, the evidence for which is unpersuasive.)"

The word 'unpersuasive' reveals that it is not logic and rational thinking that determines the merit of UFO sightings for Mr. Ferris, but mindset. When one considers the sheer amount and consistency of UFO evidence, i.e. sightings from qualified observers including highly trained military pilots and radar operators, spanning over 5 decades, it seems bizarre how an educated, intelligent person could simply dismiss that accumulated mountain of evidence for UFOs as "unpersuasive" - unless said person is simply unaware of the evidence. And that is the crux of the UFO matter: the sceptical myth that there is "not a shred of evidence" (the contrary is true) is believed by many to be a fact.

One classical example of scientific irrationality is the 1968 Condon Report, a scientific investigation of UFO sightings at the University of Colorado. The report was commissioned by the United States Air Force, and headed by physicist Edward U. Condon. It investigated in detail a total of 59 cases, and found several of them unexplainable in conventional terms. The abstract of case 2 (investigation of a Greenwich, 1956 sighting), for example, states:

"At least one UFO was tracked by air traffic control radar (GCA) at two USAF-RAF stations, with apparently corresponding visual sightings of round, white rapidly moving objects which changed directions abruptly. Interception by RAF fighter aircraft was attempted; one aircraft was vectored to the UFO by GCA radar and the pilot reported airborne radar contact and radar gunlock., The UFO appeared to circle around behind the aircraft and followed it in spite of the pilot's evasive maneuvers. Contact was broken when the aircraft returned to base, low on fuel. The preponderance of evidence indicates the possibility of a genuine UFO in this case. The weather was generally clear with good visibility."

Yet UFO sceptic Condon, in his "conclusion and recommendations", writes that "UFO phenomena do not offer a fruitful field in which to look for major scientific discoveries"! Such disregard for the actual facts is not science, it is denial.

To illustrate that many intelligent and credible people have come to different conclusions, I present the following quotes:

"For many years I have lived with a secret, in a secrecy imposed on all specialists and astronauts. I can now reveal that every day, in the USA, our radar instruments capture objects of form and composition unknown to us. And there are thousands of witness reports and a quantity of documents to prove this, but nobody wants to make them public. Why? Because the authorities are afraid that people may think of some kind of horrible invaders. So the password still is: We have to avoid panic by all means."

Colonel L. Gordon Cooper, Mercury 9, Gemini-5 Astronaut, addressing a UN panel discussion on UFOs and ETs in New York in 1985.

"I have no first hand experience, but I have had the opportunity to meet with people from three countries who, in the course of their official duties claim to have had personal first hand encounter experiences .. with extraterrestrials."

(asked if he thought extraterrestrials have already visited the earth)

"From what I now understand and have experienced and seen the evidence for, I think the evidence is very strong, and large portions of it are classified.. by governments."

Dr. Edgar Mitchel, Apollo 14 astronaut, on Dateline NBC, 1996

"The subject of UFOs is one that has interested me for some long time. About ten to twelve years ago I made an effort to find out what was in the building at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the information is stored that has been collected by the Air Force, and I was understandably denied the request. It is still classified above Top Secret. I have, however, heard that there is a plan underway to release some, if not all, of this material in the near future. I'm just as anxious to see this material as you are, and I hope we will not have to wait much longer."

The late Senator Barry Goldwater, former Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in a letter to Shlomo Arnon, March 28,1975

"First, let me tell you that I have long ago given up acquiring access to the so-called Blue Room at Wright-Patterson, as I have had one long string of denials from chief after chief, so I have given up. In answer to your questions, "one is essentially correct." I don't know of anyone who has access to the "Blue Room," nor am I aware of its contents and I am not aware of anything having been relocated. I can't answer your question six, in fact, I can't find anyone who would answer it. To tell you the truth, Mr Graham, "this thing has gotten so highly classified," even though I will admit there is a lot of it that has been released, "it is just impossible to get anything on it."

letter from Senator Goldwater to Lee M. Graham, October 19, 1981

"To answer your questions, I have never gained access to the so-called 'Blue Room' at Wright Patterson, so I have no idea what is in it. I have no idea of who controls the flow of "need-to-know" because, frankly, I was told in such an emphatic way that it was none of my business that I've never tried to make it my business since. I wish you luck on your investigation. I'm one of those people who believe that with some two billion planets scattered around our universe, there has to be a couple of more that can support life on it."

letter from Senator Goldwater , June 20, 1983

These are not the statements of madmen. Dr. Steven Greer, and his organization CSETI have collected hundreds of similar statements from credible military, corporate and intelligence witnesses who can attest to the reality of the UFO phenomenon. They are pushing for open congressional hearings to bring this evidence into the open.

Richard F. Haines, retired NASA-Ames scientist and head of the newly formed National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) has compiled a report on the impact of unidentified flying vehicles (which he calls unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP) on aviation safety. In his summary, Haines finds that

Documented UAP phenomena have been seen and reported for at least fifty years by pilots but many of these reporters have been either ridiculed or instructed not to report their sighting publicly.

and that

in order to avoid collisions with UAP some pilots have made control inputs that have resulted in passenger and flight crew injury.

He concludes that

Based upon a thorough review of pilot reports of UAP over the conterminous United States between 1950 and 2000 it is concluded that an immediate physical threat to aviation safety due to collision does not exist because of the reported high degree of maneuverability shown by the UAP. However, (a) should pilots make the wrong control input at the wrong time during an extremely close encounter the possibility of a mid-air collision with a UAP still exists, and (b) if pilots rely upon their instruments when anomalous electromagnetic effects are causing them to malfunction the possibility of an incident or accident exists.

It is long overtime that the UFO phenomenon be given a serious public hearing, because behind all the tabloid nonsense, the greatest discovery of all of human history is just waiting to be made, or rather, waiting to be brought out into the open. 500 years ago, Copernicus taught us that the earth is not the center of the physical universe. Today, we are about to learn that humanity is not the center of the universe of life either. The result will be a radical change in the way we think of ourselves and our place in the big scheme of things - maybe too radical. It is at this point that any serious discussion of UFOs and Extraterrestrials cannot avoid delving into the subject of governmental coverups and suppression of evidence.

Let us first explore the reasons why there would be a coverup in the first place.

In 1938, the radio broadcast of Orson Wells' fictional play about an invasion from Mars caused a mass panic. Ten years later, the world population had not become significantly more sophisticated, and it had just gone through the horros of World War II. In that atmosphere, the very last thing that was needed was a public announcement by the US government that advanced flying machines of unknown origins were routinely violating American airspace, and that the military was powerless to do anything about it. The result of such an announcement would have been a breakdown of social order and a loss of trust in the governemnent. The authority of religion would have been eroded, possible to the extent of destroying it altogether, and science would have lost much of its credibility and appeal.

Such was at least the gist of the Brookings Report, a study prepared by the Brookings Institution for NASA in 1961 entitled "Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs". The report suggested that if evidence of extraterrestrial life was uncovered, witholding it from the public should be considered.

But there was another good reason to keep the evidence for extraterrestrial life a secret: the chance for the American military to gain a technological edge over other nations by reverse-engineering and duplicating the alien technology. If a UFO could be understood, and its technology reverse-engineered, the US military would gain a technological advantage so enormous that the threat of communism would become utterly insignificant.

For these two reasons, it is clear that any hard evidence of UFOs being extraterrestrial would automatically have become the highest classified military secret in all of history, and that the sceptical argument that such information would of course be immediately released to the public (implying that since such has evidently not been the case, no such information exists), is hopelessly naive and simplistic. No defense or intelligence agency would do such a thing, and nor would the supposedly civilian space agency NASA.

"The [NASA] Administrator shall establish such security requirements, restrictions, and safeguards as he deems necessary in the interest of the national security." Sec. 304. (a) of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (which established NASA)

In the next section, I will take a look at the evidence that suggests that that is indeed what has happened.
Lies and suppression of evidence
On January 23, 1980, CAUS (citizens against UFO secrecy) filed a freedom of information lawsuit against the NSA (national security agency) for the release of UFO related documents. The lawsuit was dismissed, but the NSA had to admit that it had such documents in its possession - first 79, then 135, then 239. In a top-secret affidavit (for which the judge himself had to obtain a temporary top-secret clearance), NSA representative Eugene F. Yeates told the court that the release of this material would seriously compromise the national security of the United States. Two years later, CAUS asked for, and obtained, copies of the court records. Of the 21 pages of the NSA affidavit, 14 were completely blacked out. It was also learned at that time that the affidavit was classified top secret umbra, which is the highest level of classification for SIGINT (signals intelligence) documents.

Cases like this don't prove that UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin, but they prove that agencies of the US government know more than they let on, and that they are lying when they claim that they have no interest in UFOs. (to be continued)

I totally believe!!! I have been studying UFO's since I was 8!!!!!

There is not enough proof to prove that Aliens exist...
Mostly because people usually deny that some evidence is just
a way of getting attention.The only way to actually believe is experience
(Ive seen these things)(Juarez chihuahua)Ive seen these things in the air nearby..or not(i couldn't tell how big they were)near my aunts house
...a crowd of people gathered around in confusion while this thing cruised of into outta site!
Also there is so many cases of unsolved like so...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov8Kga3bJf4
and part 2 where they get jumped by a strange group of village people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8iYRSHEtPA
(note the videos are in Spanish so bare through)
Chupacabras=alien or strange creature developed by us!)
^
Ive had family members experience this creature!