In this article, I’m going to debate you (conveniently in your absence) on why you’re wrong on UFOs. First let me say that I understand your position and previously regarded the topic of UFOs as one of the many conspiracy theories that have no basis in reality.
You’ve made many great points that I don’t refute:
- Just because it’s unidentified doesn’t mean it’s alien.
- Human senses can easily be fooled.
- UFOs are sensationalized by movies and the media, which likely drives more sightings.
As a trained scientist, albeit in genetics, I recognize most conspiracy theories are born out of humanity’s innate desire to make sense of things we don’t understand. What changed my mind about UFOs was not a new eye witness account, compelling picture or video — it was an experiment.
Quantum Mechanics Opens the Door
I recently learned of the quantum mechanics Double-slit experiment, the results of which confounded even the likes of Einstein for its implications on the nature of reality.
While the details of this experiment, and its variations, get very technical and are outside the scope of this article (explainer video here), I’ll summarize for the lay person by saying that things at the quantum level get crazy. Some of the principles of physics that even Einstein believed in, like locality and causality can be broken. As an example, two entangled particles, when separated, can affect each other at speeds at least 10 thousand times the speed of light. Other variations of the experiment appear to show the future affecting the past. Like I said, crazy…
And as science dredges closer to a unified theory that explains all the forces, merging quantum mechanics and general relativity, we will likely find ourselves hacking the quantum rules of the universe to do things once seemingly impossible — like moving from one position in space to another 10,000 times faster than the speed of light. Thus this experiment removed for me the greatest argument against alien UFOs — it would take too long to get here. Let’s now assume this is possible and take a walk down deductive reasoning lane…
Are we alone?
Science obviously says we can never know unless we discover life on another planet, but for most the answer seems obvious. It’s estimated that there are more Earth-like planets than grains of sand on the Earth. Thus, unless we are living in a complex simulation and everything outside of Earth is fake, then of course there’s life out there and likely plenty of it.
Are we the most advanced?
We may be the smartest beings on our planet (although dolphins may give us a run for our money) but every Earth-like planet housing life will effectively have a smartest species. Lets conservatively assume there are 100,000 planets in our galaxy with life of roughly equal intelligence to our own, ignoring the high probability that there could be beings 10–100x as smart as us. The other important factor is how advanced their civilization is. If you can imagine bringing an iPhone back just 100 years then what does a human civilization 1,000 years ahead of us look like? Their technology would be so advanced that we’d think it was magic. But let’s, with hubris, imagine we are among the most advanced civilizations and place us in the 90th percentile. That still means there’s 10,000 civilizations ahead of us, maybe 1,000 of which have discovered how faster than light (FTL) travel.
FTL Travel Species
Let’s take a step back and think about what it says about a species that has achieved faster than light travel. For their technology to be that advanced it obviously means that they are highly intelligent, but more importantly, that their civilization values science (they wore their Covid-3024 masks). Yes, I’m arguing science is universal, the scientific method — observe, hypothesize, test, report — is something we discovered not invented. It’s also instrumental in all the technological advances that we’ve made as a civilization. So, when an advanced civilization is exploring the universe, it’s their scientists that are leading the way. And scientists follow a set of rules and principles.
The Prime Directive
Neil, you’ve argued —
If ETs have traveled this far why haven’t they announced themselves?
First I would argue that if faster than light travel is possible, the time, and not the distance, would be the important factor. Obviously if we were traveling half of light speed and it took 1000+ years and many generations on a single ship, playing the same card games, I’d likely throw away all the rules of engagement and announce to humans, “We made it! Started from planet Zentaur. Now we here!”.
But if you’ve discovered how to cross distances 10 thousand times the speed of light your species has likely visited many life dwelling planets before you’ve hit Earth. You’ve made mistakes disrupting inferior civilizations, their belief systems and society. Your explorers now have established rules — observe but do not engage unless they’ve reached a minimum technological threshold. The same way researchers obscure themselves in the wild, ET scientists would obscure themselves when visiting Earth.
NT — StarTalk (paraphrasing)
I don’t think this is hubris. It’s science. Advanced civilizations value science and scientists study everything, including worms, Caenorhabditis elegans — being one of the great genetic models.
Star Trek has taught us this concept of not interfering with the natural progression of primitive civilizations, called the Prime Directive. For me it’s easy to believe ET scientists would follow a similar set of principles.
Where do you hide? The Ocean
Now let’s assume you’re one of these ET scientists visiting our planet. Your version of the Prime Directive requires you to be as discreet as possible. Where do you set up base camp? Well if you did it on land there’s a good likelihood that the dominant species (humans) would discover you. However, at the furthest depths of the ocean, depths human ships cannot reach, you would find safe haven. I find it interesting that Navy pilots, aircraft carriers and submarines are reporting the vast majority of the recent sightings…
Summary
Let’s summarize what we’ve deduced so far…
- Quantum Mechanics suggests the known laws of classical physics can be broken. Harnessing a theory of everything that bridges classical and quantum physics might allow for faster than light travel.
- Faster than light travel civilizations value science and ET scientists would be governed by a set of principles to not disrupt the natural progression of a species below a certain technological threshold.
- A good home base for ET researchers, at least on Earth, would be in the deep oceans and most of our recent sightings are by the Navy.
Science Starts w/ Curiosity
Neil, the deductions I made above are not scientific proof that we’re currently being visited by aliens, rather for me, they open the door to the possibility. As scientists, we’re often taught to dismiss any extraordinary ideas that don’t have extraordinary proof. But is it possible that this bias has blinded us from acknowledging a growing body of evidence that we are not alone.
For me, it’s harder and harder to explain away:
- Is the US military being confused by its own weather balloons?
- Are several F18 pilots sharing the same optical illusion from different vantage points? Why is this all happening on the same day their infrared cameras pick up fast moving objects that do not have any wings or signs of propulsion?
- Is it just a passenger jet seen at an angle that again our F18 pilots cannot chase down?
- Has the US military or a foreign country developed highly advanced breakthroughs in physics in isolation from the rest of the world?
- If this is just a major breakthrough technology, why is it that there is a 70+ year recorded history of objects moving in a similar fashion?
For me, all I have to believe is faster than light travel is possible, and everything else falls into place. I find this easier to believe than the convoluted theories to explain away pilot accounts corroborated by instruments, or a giant government conspiracy to make us believe in UFOs.
I’d like to conclude with the fact that I’m a huge fan. I’ve read your books, watched your master class, and love StarTalk. Chuck is hilarious! I find most of your arguments compelling, but I’ll have to agree to disagree with you on UFO.
Cheers,
Jon Robinson, PhD
P.S. You might be wondering why I chose the leading picture. I’m currently in Tampa, FL on a dock very close to where flights take off. Thinking about your argument — “Everyone has a phone. Why are UFO pics so fuzzy?”, I whipped out my brand new iPhone 12 to take a shot of a passenger jet. Turns out, even from this close, with the latest iPhone, it’s no more convincing than every other UFO picture…
