Are We Alone

While one cannot dismiss the fact that millions of people throughout the world believe that mankind is not alone in the Universe; conversely, there are several millions of people who believe that we are alone, at least in terms of extraterrestrial intelligent life. This article will attempt to review both sides of the debate, allowing you, the reader, to determine if we are truly alone or not. I will first present the major arguments presented by those who believe that there is extraterrestrial intelligent life.

1. THERE IS EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENT LIFE!

In general, claims of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life originate from one or more of the following factors:

Logical Deduction: 

Many proponents of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life logically conclude that it is virtually impossible to conceive that our planet Earth could be the only planet that supports intelligent life from the vast array of trillions of planets that are believed to fill the Universe.       

Let us now review the five key categories of UFO encounters that proponents of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life claim to have experienced or are aware of.

Close Encounter of the First kind:          

Includes the sighting of one or more unidentified flying objects such as flying saucers, odd lights and aerial objects that are not attributable to human technology.

Example 1 – involved Gordon Cooper, a trained observer, who was one of the astronauts aboard America’s first manned mission in space. In later years, he became known for his frank views on the UFO subject. Cooper said he had seen UFOs several times in the course of his life. While Cooper admitted that none of these sightings occurred during his space flights, he did claim that they took place during his earlier career as a military pilot while stationed in West Germany during 1951. You can read more about this topic in: “Leap of Faith: An Astronaut’s Journey into the Unknown” by Gordon Cooper and Bruce Henderson.

Example 2 – sometimes referred to as “The Lights Over Phoenix”, is the popular name given to a series of optical phenomena that took place in the sky over the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada on March 13, 1997. Lights of varying descriptions were seen by thousands of people between 19:30 and 22:30 MST, in an area of about 300 miles, from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of Tucson, Arizona. UFO proponents claimed that the lights were part of aircraft unknown to man, while the USAF identified them as flares dropped by A-10 Warthog aircraft which were on training exercises.

Close Encounter of the Second kind:         

Includes observation of a UFO and associated physical effects from the UFO, including (a) Heat or radiation; (b) Damage to terrain; (c) Human paralysis; (d) Frightened animals; (e) Interference with engines or TV or radio reception and (f) Lost time: a gap in one’s memory associated with a UFO encounter.

Example 1 – involved an extremely haunting UFO sighting which has well stood the test of time. It took place in the Piney Woods of Texas, near the town of Huffman. On the chilly night of December 29.1980, two women and one child encountered a craft of unknown origin, and all three suffered not only emotional trauma, but severe physical injury as well. While there is no published book on this incident, further details can be found at web site: http://www.ufocasebook.com/Pineywoods.html

Example 2 – involved a UFO disabling the electronic equipment of two F-4 interceptor aircraft and ground control equipment as well. The event is well-documented in the U.S. DIA (Department of Industrial Accidents) report and other documents. Iranian generals involved in the incident stated on public record that the object was extraterrestrial.

Close Encounter of the Third kind:         

An observation of a UFO, and associated physical effects from the UFO, including (a) An entity that is observed inside and/or outside a UFO; (b) An entity that is observed close to a UFO, but is not going in or out; (c) An entity that is observed without a UFO being seen by the observer; but UFO activity has been reported in the area at about the same time; (d) An entity that is observed; but no UFO has actually been seen nor has any UFO activity been reported in the area at that time and (e) No entity or UFO has been observed; but the subject experienced some kind of “intelligent communication”.

Example 1 – is a classic example describing a close encounter of the second and third kind. The case introduced Budd Hopkins to UFO research, a later key figure in alien abduction research. Researcher Jerome Clark cites it as one of the best-documented along with the core story being corroborated by numerous independent witnesses. Jerome Clark has written several books; all of which can be found at Jerome Clark : Books

Example 2 – tells the story of Roy Neary, an Indiana electrical lineman, whose life changes after he has an encounter with an unidentified flying object. Neary’s story was the basis for Steven Spielberg’s 1977 smash movie blockbuster entitled “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

Close Encounter of the Fourth kind:

A human is abducted by a UFO or its occupants.

Involved the classic case of Betty and Barney Hill, who claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials and spent two days inside their space craft on September 19th and 20th, 1961. If you would like to read the full details of their story, I recommend that you read the book “Interrupted Journey” by John G. Fuller.

Close Encounter of the Fifth kind:

This category of encounter involves joint, bilateral contact events produced through the conscious, voluntary and proactive human-initiated or cooperative communication with extraterrestrial intelligence.

A classic example describes The Roswell UFO Incident involving the recovery of materials near Roswell, New Mexico, USA, on July 8th, 1947, and since the late 1970s, has become the subject of intense speculation, rumor, and questioning. There are widely divergent views on what actually happened including passionate debates about what evidence can be believed. The United States military maintains that what was actually recovered was debris from an experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon belonging to a classified program named “Mogul.” Many UFO proponents maintain that a crashed alien craft and bodies were recovered, and that the military engaged in a cover-up. The incident has turned into a widely known pop culture phenomenon, making Roswell synonymous with UFOs. It ranks as one of the most publicized and controversial UFO incidents ever. It is further purported that that one or more of the aliens survived and were able to communicate with the US Military. In addition, it was also purported that the US Military was able to reverse-engineer the damaged space craft and monopolized on propulsion and stealth technologies that were used in the US F-117 Nighthawk military strike jet. A book that describes this topic in more detail is “Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles” by David Darlington.

Epilogue 1:

The preceding case examples originate from people of all walks of life and in some instances, the same event has been seen by thousands. While there are surely many credible people who claimed to have been involved in a UFO incident, the one common denominator in every case lies in the fact that there is not one piece of physical evidence to back up these claims. Even the alleged wreckage and alien bodies from the Roswell incident are only “spoken” about – with nothing concrete to authenticate the story.        

As for the “Lights Over Phoenix” incident seen by a multitude of people, Cognitech, an independent video laboratory, superimposed video imagery taken of the Phoenix Lights onto video imagery it shot during the daytime from the same location. In the composite image, the lights are seen to extinguish at the moment they reach the Estrella mountain range, which is visible in the daytime, but invisible in the footage shot at night. A television broadcast by the local FOX affiliate KSAZ, claimed to have performed a similar test showing that the lights were in front of the mountain range and suggested that the Cognitech data might have been altered. Dr. Paul Scowen, visiting professor of Astronomy at Arizona State University, performed a third analysis using daytime imagery overlaid with a video shot of the lights and his findings were consistent with those of Cognitech. The Phoenix New Times subsequently reported the television station had simply overlaid two video tracks on a video editing machine without using a computer to match the zoom and scale of the two images. In comparison, there are few known images of the Prescott/Dewey lights. Television station KSAZ reported that an individual named Richard Curtis, took a detailed video that purportedly showed the outline of a space craft, but that the video had been lost. The only other known video is of poor quality and shows a group of lights with no craft visible.

Proponents of UFO incidents generally cite the classic Betty and Barney Hill case as virtual evidence of alien beings, given that both people recounted identical stories while under hypnosis on several occasions. The dictionary defines hypnosis as “An artificially induced altered state of consciousness, characterized by heightened suggestibility and receptivity to direction”. In general, most psychologists and psychiatrists admit that hypnosis is not an exact science; but rather a quasi science similar to that of a lie detection test. In his 1990 article, “Entirely Unpredisposed”, Martin Kottmeyer suggested that Barney Hill’s memories, revealed under hypnosis, might have been influenced by the science fiction television show “The Outer Limits” in an episode entitled “The Bellero Shield”, which was broadcast about two weeks before Barney Hill’s first hypnotic session. The episode featured an extraterrestrial with large eyes who said, “In all the universes, in all the unities beyond the universes, all who have eyes have eyes that speak.” The report from the regression also featured a scenario that was, in some respects, similar to the television show.

In all fairness to proponents of extraterrestrial intelligent life, I would like to end this first epilogue by mentioning “Project Blue Book” which was one of a series of systematic studies of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) conducted by the United States Air Force. The Battelle Institute’s final report on the findings of “Project Blue Book” declared that it was “highly improbable that any of the reports of unidentified aerial objects represent observations of technological developments outside the range of present-day knowledge.” A number of researchers, including Dr. Bruce Maccabee, who extensively reviewed the data, have noted that the conclusions of the analysts were usually at odds with their own statistical results that were displayed in 240 charts, tables, graphs and maps. Some conject that the analysts may simply have had trouble accepting their own results, or may have written the conclusions to satisfy the new political climate within Blue Book following the Robertson Panel.

2. THERE IS NO EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENT LIFE!

The Universe at a Glance:

The “Big Bang” is a cosmological model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the universe. It is supported by the most comprehensive and accurate explanations from current scientific evidence and observation. The term “Big Bang” is based on the notion that the universe has expanded from a primordial hot and dense initial condition at some finite time in the past, and continues to expand to this day. The Big Bang theory cannot and does not provide any explanation for such an initial condition; rather, it describes and explains the general evolution of the universe since that instant.

Major advancements in “Big Bang” cosmology have been made since the late 1990s as a result of major advances in computer; satellite and telescope technologies; most notably, the Hubble Space Telescope. Leading cosmologists currently place the age of the Universe at 14.5 ± 0.15 billion years. Leading cosmologists also agree that the physical laws of the Universe are constant. As an example, the speed of light in free space is a physical constant defined as 299,792,458 meters per second. This translates to approximately 9,460,528,405,000 km/year or 5,878,497,995,543 miles/yr. Because it is not practical to use kilometers or miles when referencing the speed of light, the term “light-year” is used. Assuming that the sun, on average is 149,668,992 km (93,000,000 miles) from the earth, one would have to make 31,604 round-trips between the earth and the sun to equal the distance that light can travel in one year.

There are at least 100 billion stars with planets in our Galaxy alone, and with about 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe, this would suggest that there are at least 10 trillion planetary systems in the Universe. 

And how many of those planets might support life?  

Earth-like planets are still too small to detect, so we haven’t found any; however, the rapidity with which life arose on Earth suggests that more than 10 percent of terrestrial planets have life. We’re not talking about trees and animals; we’re talking about any kind of life. The smart money is on the idea that bacteria exists all over the Universe. What it has evolved into is anybody’s guess.

Source: Discovery Channel

Is there Intelligent Life out There?

The answer may lie in SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) which is a partially US Government subsidized organization mandated to survey the sky to detect the existence of discernable transmissions from civilization(s) on distant planet(s) – an approach widely endorsed by the scientific community as hard science. Cornell University astronomer Frank Drake performed the first modern SETI experiment in 1960 almost 50 years ago. Since the 1990s, SETI has been using highly sophisticated equipment such as the computerized Allen Telescope Array as well as the brightest minds in Astronomy and Astrophysics; yet, not one discernable extraterrestrial transmission has ever been recorded.

A possible cause of SETI’s inability to record a single extraterrestrial transmission may lie within SETI’s philosophy: While simple life may well be abundant in the universe, intelligent life may be exceedingly rare. In 2000, Peter Ward, professor of Biology and of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington, authored a book claiming the Rare Earth hypothesis. In short, the theory claims that the emergence of complex multicellular life (metazoa) on Earth required an extremely unlikely combination of astrophysical and geological events and circumstances. This hypothesis contradicts the principle of mediocrity, which SETI takes as an assumption. Virtually the identical statement is independently stated by Dr. Hugh Ross, a renowned Astronomer in his book entitled “Why the Universe is the way it is”.

Another more compelling answer may have come from Albert Einstein himself.

It is a scientifically proven fact that bacterial life exists throughout the universe which, of course, includes our own solar system as personified by the planet Mars. But to raise the question as to whether or not mankind is alone in the Universe presupposes the question as to whether or not there is intelligent life on one or more of the estimated 10 trillion planetary systems in the Universe. The closest star to our own solar system is Proxima Centauri, the third star in the Alpha Centauri star system which is 4.2 light-years from the Earth. This means that if it were possible to have a space craft travel at the speed of light, the round trip would take approximately 8.4 years to accomplish.

But there’s still one big question that begs an answer: Could astronauts in a space craft achieve the speed of light?  

Note: The following answer has been simplified and summarized for the average reader.

According to Einstein’s theory of special relativity, published in 1905, nothing can exceed the speed of light. That speed, explained Einstein, is a fundamental constant of nature: It appears the same to all observers anywhere in space. Furthermore, objects gain mass as they speed up, and that speeding up requires energy. The more mass, the more energy is required. By the time an object reached the speed of light, Einstein calculated, its mass would be infinite, and so would the amount of energy required to increase its speed. To go beyond the infinite is impossible. He further adds that there is no experiment that has contradicted special relativity. We have accelerated sub-atomic particles to well over 99 per cent of the speed of light, but not equal to or exceeding the speed of light.

In plain English, Einstein is saying that as an object speeds up, it gains mass. In our example using astronauts in a space craft, the space craft and its inhabitants would begin to elongate when approaching a certain speed (well in advance of minutely reaching the speed of light), resulting in death to the astronauts. Given that Einstein’s theory of special relativity is a fundamental constant of nature, astronauts from any planet in the Universe, regardless of how highly advanced their respective civilizations may be, would suffer the same fate.  But even if it were possible to travel at the speed of light, it would take 80,000 light-years to travel between the Earth and its nearest galaxy – the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (source: Amy C. Fredericks – Astrophysicist) and who can say that there’s intelligent life in our neighboring galaxy given that there are approximately 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe.

For more details on this topic, I would recommend reading “Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity (Unlocking the Secrets of Science)” by John Bankston.

Epilogue 2:

While it may be argued that SETI’s lack of having received a discernable alien transmission could be due to the fact that distant transmissions have not yet reached us, it’s somewhat more difficult to refute Einstein’s theory of special relativity.

Michael R. Palazzo