For decades the scientists of our world have rejected and ridiculed claims of psychic phenomena and the UFO/ET presence, often characterizing the researchers in these areas as "pseudoscientists". This ridicule has very effectively suppressed research into the fundamental nature of consciousness and reality, and the facts of life in the Universe. Is it possible that knowledge of these matters is vital not only to our well-being, but the survival of our civilization in the coming years and decades?
We already know from Remote Viewing (RV) and Random Event Generator (REG) experiments, and decades of other research into psychic phenomena, that human consciousness transcends what we experience as space and time, and can directly affect what we experience as physical reality, i.e., matter and energy. Human psychic abilities are normally minimal--necessarily so, or our reality could not survive the effects of our chaotic and destructive thoughts--and psychic phenomena are not as significant per se, as they are as 'glitches in the matrix'--hints of the underlying nature of our reality.
A better understanding of these phenomena, combined with efforts to reconcile research into Near Death Experiences, reincarnation (e.g., past-life memories of young children), mediums, the nature of the placebo effect and its relationship to faith and energy healing, various interpretations of quantum mechanics and consciousness, and religious, spiritual, and mystical beliefs could lead to an extraordinary new understanding of the nature of our existence, and a dramatic change in the attitudes and consciousness of humankind. Such a change would not only affect our choices and actions, and our sense of well-being, but if our thoughts, intentions, prayers, beliefs, and expectations, even if primarily at some level much deeper than our normal consciousness, are creating or even slightly influencing our reality (or selecting versions of a multiverse), then the consciousness and spirituality of a race could be a critical factor in determining the fate of their civilization.
Elements of the US Government thoroughly understand the facts (but not the physics or metaphysics) of basic psychic phenomena, and should understand the potential national security implications of advanced research in this area for other than military and intelligence uses, and perhaps will consider not only funding such research--covertly, if necessary--but promoting a public understanding of the findings. If human thoughts (intentions, prayers, beliefs, expectations, etc.) can influence a REG, what are the effects of human thoughts (etc.), whether by individuals or groups, directed not to a single REG, but rather to the entire world or Universe, over long periods of time, and with respect not simply to changing a number, but rather to more general outcomes?
The skeptics who are truly curious might look at the RV and REG research, or take an RV course, or buy or build a REG and do some simple experiments, or review the latest medium and NDE research, etc. The 'pseudoskeptics' can simply ignore the issue of consciousness for now, but they won't be able to understand the UFO/ET situation, or one of the major implications of contact. Any advanced technological civilization visiting our world (and their 'technology') will have not only a vastly greater understanding of physics, but of metaphysics and consciousness as well, and they will certainly be using this knowledge for their purposes here, in ways that most humans cannot imagine, much less understand.
Humans have long interacted with strange beings from countless other realms, such as angels, fairies, ghosts, etc. These interactions sometimes have profound, even life-changing, psychological and even physical effects on those who encounter them. The 'alien abductors', e.g., and other strange beings sometimes associated with UFOs, whatever their nature, and whatever their relationship, if any, to the advanced 'biological' and/or 'cybernetic' ETs in UFOs, are certainly of scientific interest, and to the extent they are a problem, we should try to understand and deal with them accordingly, as a function of our consciousness rather than as nominal 'physical' life forms. But none of them have the persistent presence or competence in our consensus physical reality to understand, much less to discuss in detail, the extraordinarily complex issues faced by our civilization.
On the other hand, at least some of the ETs in UFOs--whatever the nature of their consciousness, however physically 'real' they might seem in-person, and wherever they come from in space or time or beyond--clearly have the competence to interact intelligently with our technology. And some may have not only the cultural and linguistic fluency to discuss complex social, technological, and scientific issues, but also the knowledge of the experiences of other rapidly evolving technological civilizations--knowledge that might be critically important to our civilization. If we asked, would they tell us the story of life in the Universe?
For decades the ETs have been making their presence known, dramatically to the US and other governments, and very carefully to people around the world--tens of thousands of carefully limited appearances, day after day, year after year, for over sixty years. They've bluntly conveyed, in deeds and perhaps in words, their concerns about nuclear weapons to the US and other governments, and they've clearly demonstrated they have the means to disable or destroy our weapons systems, and thus any or all aspects of our technological civilization. Yet whatever the loss of life on both sides due to accidents or hostility, they have refrained from any major actions which would terrorize or seriously disrupt our civilization. For over sixty years life on earth has continued as usual: wars, revolutions, terrorism, elections, continued destruction of the environment, accumulation of vast nuclear arsenals capable of destroying our civilization, amazing technological progress, moon landings, visits by robotic explorers to other planets of the solar system, SETI, endless discussions of the Fermi Paradox and Drake Equation, attempts by the US, et al., to shoot down UFOs, and more.
The USG has used denial, ridicule, disinformation, manipulation of the media, harassment and intimidation of witnesses and researchers, and more, to prevent the American people from knowing the facts of the ET presence. This policy has been supported, wittingly or unwittingly, by every US president, and every US Congress since 1947; with a few exceptions, by scientists, scientific institutions, organizations, and universities, and major news organizations; and by the governments of our world, and the UN. Despite the limited releases of information recently by the UK and France, et al., and years ago in the US Blue Book files, etc., no government will directly state what they have long known.
There are many interpretations of the ET agenda, some 'positive', and some extremely 'negative', but one of the simplest consistent with publicly available information, is that they're monitoring an emerging technological civilization, in preparation for possible eventual open 'contact'. There are many possible criteria for determining when a civilization is ready for contact, but the simplest is: a civilization is ready when the government and/or the people say they're ready.
It's obvious from the continuing efforts of the ETs to carefully make their presence known that they have something important to say to the people of our world, not just to the governments. There are two reasons why the ETs would have thus far deferred to our wishes, and why efforts such as IETI (Invitation to Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have failed to initiate open contact between civilizations. The first is that the ETs understand that a dramatic and unexpected appearance could cause enormous problems on the Earth--even if largely as a result of malicious or incompetent actions of governments and other groups--and they have a 'moral' or 'legal' responsibility for the consequences of their actions (i.e., 'You break it, you own it'). And, as a practical matter, they don't want to have to manage a collapsing civilization of hysterical primitives. Secondly, if they're hoping to establish a long-term, cooperative relationship, then they don't want to begin the relationship by doing something that might cause enormous harm to, or at the very least infuriate, most of the human race. This would further imply that they would not assist one group or nation at the expense of another.
Even if they're willing to help, with information, or perhaps under some circumstances, even with technology, their experience has certainly shown that you can't help a civilization that doesn't want to be helped. And until the governments acknowledge their presence, and we begin serious, open discussions of the implications of contact, the ETs may simply continue the pattern of 'deniable' appearances. Or perhaps they'll make their presence known tomorrow, regardless of our wishes...
Should we ask them who they are, and why they're here? Should we ask them about life in the Universe, and the experiences--and perhaps the apocalyptic mistakes--of other rapidly evolving 'pre-Singularity' civilizations? From their perspective, do we have bright future of peace, freedom, and prosperity? Or something very different? Is it possible that civilizations which reach our stage of technological development, but are still so hysterical and irrational that they would rather die than know the truth will often get their wish?
Even the certain knowledge of an ET presence, without any real contact, would be difficult for our civilization; and contact and the consequences will likely be the most difficult experience in human history. What if we learned that the institutions, technological infrastructure, attitudes, beliefs, and consciousness of some nations or perhaps all of human civilization are simply incompatible with the harm we have already done, and continue to do to the planet, and the dangerous technologies we already have, and those we will soon develop? Would it be worth the effort to survive?
The position of the US and other governments of our world is that the expected costs of acknowledgment, which would naturally lead to discussions of contact, outweigh the expected benefits of possible contact. For better or worse, this implies that the governments of the US, UK, France, etc., and the UN, regard the extreme worst case outcome of this policy as acceptable, i.e., even if the survival of our civilization might depend on information that the ETs would be willing to provide, that the cost of survival would not be worth the 'benefit'.
It might seem reasonable for governments, scientists, and the news media, etc., to believe that contact--or even acknowledgment of an ET presence--is an unacceptable risk to our civilization, and the delusion must be perpetuated, and thus no discussion of the ET presence is acceptable. Some might argue that the USG and other governments already know the whole story of life in the Universe, and all the lessons to be learned from past civilizations, and have quite reasonably decided to keep the information secret, and that scientists and the news media should respect their decision, and actively or passively support the coverup. In fact, whatever MAJIC (or whatever the USG UFO Control group is called) and perhaps elements of a few other governments might know, the current financial crisis, and other experiences and unaddressed critical vulnerabilities of our civilization show that the governments don't even understand the lessons to be learned from our own history, much less the history of the Universe.
Is it possible that the policies of the world's governments, and thus the attitudes of the scientists and news media, are based on a flawed intelligence assessment regarding the long term costs and benefits of acknowledgment and efforts to contact the ETs? If the ETs have been dealing with evolving technological civilizations for eons, and not only understand our civilization better than we do, but also understand the experiences of countless other civilizations, they should be able to first answer a simple question: Do you have something to say to us, that, based on the experiences of other civilizations, years from now we'll likely desperately wish we had heard now?
Of course, they might not reply, or tell us anything useful, and we might not trust them, and what they tell us might be unbearable, etc. But why aren't the scientists and others who claim to be concerned about the future of humankind discussing whether, as a civilization, we should be asking the ETs this question?
Of course the UFO skeptics, and others, might ask "Why should we waste our time discussing this issue?" and repeat the absurd argument: "There's no evidence that ETs are visiting our world! The governments aren't hiding anything! Give us evidence! We want evidence!"
Actually, the publicly available evidence, if separated from the mountains of nonsense and disinformation, shows beyond a reasonable doubt of any rational person that another intelligence is visiting our world. But, the skeptics want 'extraordinary proof' to justify the 'extraordinary claim' of an ET presence.
If the governments won't provide the evidence, perhaps the ETs are monitoring our communications and would be happy to provide 'extraordinary proof'. Would skeptics welcome undeniable proof that ETs are visiting our world--an optical message or appearance that could be seen and documented by millions of people? The skeptics don't have to say they believe ETs are here--indeed, they can ridicule the notion--but rather, simply say that if ETs are here, that we'd like to hear from them. In other words, do the skeptics really want evidence, or are they simply, in fact or in effect, and for whatever reasons, supporting the governments' policies of suppressing the truth?
Would an open invitation from the SETI Institute be sufficient to convince the ETs to make an undeniable, or significantly less-deniable, demonstration of their presence? Not likely, since the Institute doesn't speak for the USG, but surely this would be an important statement of principle: the SETI Institute, openly and vocally skeptical about UFOs and ETs, would surely welcome a message from ETs 25 light years away; but would the Institute welcome an open and public message from ETs 25 miles away? If not, why not?
Would an open invitation from NASA be sufficient to convince the ETs to make an undeniable demonstration of their presence? Such an invitation would make it clear to the ETs that the government, acting on behalf of the people of one nation, is ready to acknowledge--and begin open discussions of the implications of--the ET presence. The news media could ask a NASA spokesperson; or perhaps Larry King, e.g., could invite UFO researchers, and spokespersons from NASA and the SETI Institute, and ask them this question. Or anyone (skeptics, UFO researchers, and perhaps even ETs) can contact the NASA experts on UFOs and ETs at NASA's "Ask an Astrobiologist" site. Of course NASA has repeatedly assured the public that there's absolutely no evidence that ETs are visiting our world... So, speaking for the government and people of the US, would NASA welcome an open and public message to the American people, or at least, an undeniable demonstration of presence, from any ETs who might be visiting our world? If not, why not?
Or perhaps the ETs are waiting for a statement, not from one nation, but from most or all of the nations of the world... This year astronomers and others around the world will celebrate the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, and the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first astronomical observations with a telescope. What a perfect occasion to celebrate the purpose and faith of the institution of science in general, and astronomy in particular, and take what might be the first step to one of the greatest scientific 'discoveries' of all time... Or not. Would the cosponsors of the IYA--UNESCO, representing the governments of the world, and IAU, representing the astronomers of the world--welcome an open and public message from any ETs who might be visiting our world? If not, why not?
Is it possible that in the matter of UFOs and ETs, the scientists, while they celebrate Galileo, are actually honoring--in a much 'kinder and gentler' career-destroying way of course--the faith in ignorance of those who persecuted the early astronomers? Of course, the Inquisitors no doubt had what they considered to be good reasons, and the scientists certainly have theirs.
Even as a thought experiment, the likely answers might help any honest skeptic understand the situation. And if the news media would actually ask these questions of the SETI Institute, NASA, IYA, and UNESCO, and some of the world's leading scientists, etc., then the answers would be profound statements of the nature and faith of the human race at this point in our history.
And any reasonable person would understand that there is no 'UFO Debate', and indeed, there never was, except between and among UFO researchers. And any reasonable scientist would understand that there is no Fermi 'Paradox' and never was--only a question to which elements of the US Government already knew the answer. And they would know what the ETs know: as long as the governments, scientists, and news media stand together in promoting this delusion, then humankind is not ready to hear what the ETs have to say to us.
Perhaps some of the scientists and others concerned with the continued destruction of our living planet, global warming, nuclear weapons, genetic engineering, synthetic life, replicant nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, etc., will reconsider: Do you really believe our civilization is more likely to survive and prosper by ignoring any possibility of learning about life in the Universe, and the experiences of other rapidly evolving technological civilizations?
Because of the extreme secrecy and remarkably effective disinformation campaign, etc., it's impossible for the public to know what the various ET groups intend, what the USG knows, and what the USG regards as the most serious problems arising from various degrees of contact (ranging from acknowledgment to open, unrestricted communications). And so it's impossible for those interested in this issue, except in a highly speculative and thus largely useless way, to comment on the reasons for the continuing secrecy. Perhaps MAJIC will reconsider its longstanding policy, and make the basic facts available to a larger audience in the USG, and even to a few members of the public, and invite comment on the most critical aspects of this issue. Even the national security elements of the USG should be able to understand the risks of a 'Really Big Intelligence Failure' with respect to the technological, environmental, and other issues the US will face in the next few years and decades.
If the United States cannot lead the world, then, in time, some other nation will. While a 'Message to ETs Visiting Our World' from astronomers in Russia, China, or some other nation might have little practical significance, it would certainly be an enormously important and historic symbolic gesture--the first nation on earth to openly reach out to those visiting our world, and the dawn of a new era for humankind.
But for now, we'll be 'boldly going nowhere', our heads buried happily in the sands of blissful ignorance, trusting that our best hope for the future is to ignore any possibility of learning from the past. And we won't be reading "Seven Common Mistakes of Evolving Technological Civilizations--And How Your Civilization Can Avoid Them", whatever it's called, or even know whether it exists; but if it does exist, perhaps we'll have our own page someday, or we already do, and other, more curious and courageous civilizations will learn from our experiences, and perhaps from our mistakes. And we won't know whether contact, from the ETs' perspective, will likely mark--in some sense at least--the beginning of the end of our civilization, or simply the end of the beginning of the story of humankind. Or both.
We already know from Remote Viewing (RV) and Random Event Generator (REG) experiments, and decades of other research into psychic phenomena, that human consciousness transcends what we experience as space and time, and can directly affect what we experience as physical reality, i.e., matter and energy. Human psychic abilities are normally minimal--necessarily so, or our reality could not survive the effects of our chaotic and destructive thoughts--and psychic phenomena are not as significant per se, as they are as 'glitches in the matrix'--hints of the underlying nature of our reality.
A better understanding of these phenomena, combined with efforts to reconcile research into Near Death Experiences, reincarnation (e.g., past-life memories of young children), mediums, the nature of the placebo effect and its relationship to faith and energy healing, various interpretations of quantum mechanics and consciousness, and religious, spiritual, and mystical beliefs could lead to an extraordinary new understanding of the nature of our existence, and a dramatic change in the attitudes and consciousness of humankind. Such a change would not only affect our choices and actions, and our sense of well-being, but if our thoughts, intentions, prayers, beliefs, and expectations, even if primarily at some level much deeper than our normal consciousness, are creating or even slightly influencing our reality (or selecting versions of a multiverse), then the consciousness and spirituality of a race could be a critical factor in determining the fate of their civilization.
Elements of the US Government thoroughly understand the facts (but not the physics or metaphysics) of basic psychic phenomena, and should understand the potential national security implications of advanced research in this area for other than military and intelligence uses, and perhaps will consider not only funding such research--covertly, if necessary--but promoting a public understanding of the findings. If human thoughts (intentions, prayers, beliefs, expectations, etc.) can influence a REG, what are the effects of human thoughts (etc.), whether by individuals or groups, directed not to a single REG, but rather to the entire world or Universe, over long periods of time, and with respect not simply to changing a number, but rather to more general outcomes?
The skeptics who are truly curious might look at the RV and REG research, or take an RV course, or buy or build a REG and do some simple experiments, or review the latest medium and NDE research, etc. The 'pseudoskeptics' can simply ignore the issue of consciousness for now, but they won't be able to understand the UFO/ET situation, or one of the major implications of contact. Any advanced technological civilization visiting our world (and their 'technology') will have not only a vastly greater understanding of physics, but of metaphysics and consciousness as well, and they will certainly be using this knowledge for their purposes here, in ways that most humans cannot imagine, much less understand.
Humans have long interacted with strange beings from countless other realms, such as angels, fairies, ghosts, etc. These interactions sometimes have profound, even life-changing, psychological and even physical effects on those who encounter them. The 'alien abductors', e.g., and other strange beings sometimes associated with UFOs, whatever their nature, and whatever their relationship, if any, to the advanced 'biological' and/or 'cybernetic' ETs in UFOs, are certainly of scientific interest, and to the extent they are a problem, we should try to understand and deal with them accordingly, as a function of our consciousness rather than as nominal 'physical' life forms. But none of them have the persistent presence or competence in our consensus physical reality to understand, much less to discuss in detail, the extraordinarily complex issues faced by our civilization.
On the other hand, at least some of the ETs in UFOs--whatever the nature of their consciousness, however physically 'real' they might seem in-person, and wherever they come from in space or time or beyond--clearly have the competence to interact intelligently with our technology. And some may have not only the cultural and linguistic fluency to discuss complex social, technological, and scientific issues, but also the knowledge of the experiences of other rapidly evolving technological civilizations--knowledge that might be critically important to our civilization. If we asked, would they tell us the story of life in the Universe?
For decades the ETs have been making their presence known, dramatically to the US and other governments, and very carefully to people around the world--tens of thousands of carefully limited appearances, day after day, year after year, for over sixty years. They've bluntly conveyed, in deeds and perhaps in words, their concerns about nuclear weapons to the US and other governments, and they've clearly demonstrated they have the means to disable or destroy our weapons systems, and thus any or all aspects of our technological civilization. Yet whatever the loss of life on both sides due to accidents or hostility, they have refrained from any major actions which would terrorize or seriously disrupt our civilization. For over sixty years life on earth has continued as usual: wars, revolutions, terrorism, elections, continued destruction of the environment, accumulation of vast nuclear arsenals capable of destroying our civilization, amazing technological progress, moon landings, visits by robotic explorers to other planets of the solar system, SETI, endless discussions of the Fermi Paradox and Drake Equation, attempts by the US, et al., to shoot down UFOs, and more.
The USG has used denial, ridicule, disinformation, manipulation of the media, harassment and intimidation of witnesses and researchers, and more, to prevent the American people from knowing the facts of the ET presence. This policy has been supported, wittingly or unwittingly, by every US president, and every US Congress since 1947; with a few exceptions, by scientists, scientific institutions, organizations, and universities, and major news organizations; and by the governments of our world, and the UN. Despite the limited releases of information recently by the UK and France, et al., and years ago in the US Blue Book files, etc., no government will directly state what they have long known.
There are many interpretations of the ET agenda, some 'positive', and some extremely 'negative', but one of the simplest consistent with publicly available information, is that they're monitoring an emerging technological civilization, in preparation for possible eventual open 'contact'. There are many possible criteria for determining when a civilization is ready for contact, but the simplest is: a civilization is ready when the government and/or the people say they're ready.
It's obvious from the continuing efforts of the ETs to carefully make their presence known that they have something important to say to the people of our world, not just to the governments. There are two reasons why the ETs would have thus far deferred to our wishes, and why efforts such as IETI (Invitation to Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have failed to initiate open contact between civilizations. The first is that the ETs understand that a dramatic and unexpected appearance could cause enormous problems on the Earth--even if largely as a result of malicious or incompetent actions of governments and other groups--and they have a 'moral' or 'legal' responsibility for the consequences of their actions (i.e., 'You break it, you own it'). And, as a practical matter, they don't want to have to manage a collapsing civilization of hysterical primitives. Secondly, if they're hoping to establish a long-term, cooperative relationship, then they don't want to begin the relationship by doing something that might cause enormous harm to, or at the very least infuriate, most of the human race. This would further imply that they would not assist one group or nation at the expense of another.
Even if they're willing to help, with information, or perhaps under some circumstances, even with technology, their experience has certainly shown that you can't help a civilization that doesn't want to be helped. And until the governments acknowledge their presence, and we begin serious, open discussions of the implications of contact, the ETs may simply continue the pattern of 'deniable' appearances. Or perhaps they'll make their presence known tomorrow, regardless of our wishes...
Should we ask them who they are, and why they're here? Should we ask them about life in the Universe, and the experiences--and perhaps the apocalyptic mistakes--of other rapidly evolving 'pre-Singularity' civilizations? From their perspective, do we have bright future of peace, freedom, and prosperity? Or something very different? Is it possible that civilizations which reach our stage of technological development, but are still so hysterical and irrational that they would rather die than know the truth will often get their wish?
Even the certain knowledge of an ET presence, without any real contact, would be difficult for our civilization; and contact and the consequences will likely be the most difficult experience in human history. What if we learned that the institutions, technological infrastructure, attitudes, beliefs, and consciousness of some nations or perhaps all of human civilization are simply incompatible with the harm we have already done, and continue to do to the planet, and the dangerous technologies we already have, and those we will soon develop? Would it be worth the effort to survive?
The position of the US and other governments of our world is that the expected costs of acknowledgment, which would naturally lead to discussions of contact, outweigh the expected benefits of possible contact. For better or worse, this implies that the governments of the US, UK, France, etc., and the UN, regard the extreme worst case outcome of this policy as acceptable, i.e., even if the survival of our civilization might depend on information that the ETs would be willing to provide, that the cost of survival would not be worth the 'benefit'.
It might seem reasonable for governments, scientists, and the news media, etc., to believe that contact--or even acknowledgment of an ET presence--is an unacceptable risk to our civilization, and the delusion must be perpetuated, and thus no discussion of the ET presence is acceptable. Some might argue that the USG and other governments already know the whole story of life in the Universe, and all the lessons to be learned from past civilizations, and have quite reasonably decided to keep the information secret, and that scientists and the news media should respect their decision, and actively or passively support the coverup. In fact, whatever MAJIC (or whatever the USG UFO Control group is called) and perhaps elements of a few other governments might know, the current financial crisis, and other experiences and unaddressed critical vulnerabilities of our civilization show that the governments don't even understand the lessons to be learned from our own history, much less the history of the Universe.
Is it possible that the policies of the world's governments, and thus the attitudes of the scientists and news media, are based on a flawed intelligence assessment regarding the long term costs and benefits of acknowledgment and efforts to contact the ETs? If the ETs have been dealing with evolving technological civilizations for eons, and not only understand our civilization better than we do, but also understand the experiences of countless other civilizations, they should be able to first answer a simple question: Do you have something to say to us, that, based on the experiences of other civilizations, years from now we'll likely desperately wish we had heard now?
Of course, they might not reply, or tell us anything useful, and we might not trust them, and what they tell us might be unbearable, etc. But why aren't the scientists and others who claim to be concerned about the future of humankind discussing whether, as a civilization, we should be asking the ETs this question?
Of course the UFO skeptics, and others, might ask "Why should we waste our time discussing this issue?" and repeat the absurd argument: "There's no evidence that ETs are visiting our world! The governments aren't hiding anything! Give us evidence! We want evidence!"
Actually, the publicly available evidence, if separated from the mountains of nonsense and disinformation, shows beyond a reasonable doubt of any rational person that another intelligence is visiting our world. But, the skeptics want 'extraordinary proof' to justify the 'extraordinary claim' of an ET presence.
If the governments won't provide the evidence, perhaps the ETs are monitoring our communications and would be happy to provide 'extraordinary proof'. Would skeptics welcome undeniable proof that ETs are visiting our world--an optical message or appearance that could be seen and documented by millions of people? The skeptics don't have to say they believe ETs are here--indeed, they can ridicule the notion--but rather, simply say that if ETs are here, that we'd like to hear from them. In other words, do the skeptics really want evidence, or are they simply, in fact or in effect, and for whatever reasons, supporting the governments' policies of suppressing the truth?
Would an open invitation from the SETI Institute be sufficient to convince the ETs to make an undeniable, or significantly less-deniable, demonstration of their presence? Not likely, since the Institute doesn't speak for the USG, but surely this would be an important statement of principle: the SETI Institute, openly and vocally skeptical about UFOs and ETs, would surely welcome a message from ETs 25 light years away; but would the Institute welcome an open and public message from ETs 25 miles away? If not, why not?
Would an open invitation from NASA be sufficient to convince the ETs to make an undeniable demonstration of their presence? Such an invitation would make it clear to the ETs that the government, acting on behalf of the people of one nation, is ready to acknowledge--and begin open discussions of the implications of--the ET presence. The news media could ask a NASA spokesperson; or perhaps Larry King, e.g., could invite UFO researchers, and spokespersons from NASA and the SETI Institute, and ask them this question. Or anyone (skeptics, UFO researchers, and perhaps even ETs) can contact the NASA experts on UFOs and ETs at NASA's "Ask an Astrobiologist" site. Of course NASA has repeatedly assured the public that there's absolutely no evidence that ETs are visiting our world... So, speaking for the government and people of the US, would NASA welcome an open and public message to the American people, or at least, an undeniable demonstration of presence, from any ETs who might be visiting our world? If not, why not?
Or perhaps the ETs are waiting for a statement, not from one nation, but from most or all of the nations of the world... This year astronomers and others around the world will celebrate the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, and the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first astronomical observations with a telescope. What a perfect occasion to celebrate the purpose and faith of the institution of science in general, and astronomy in particular, and take what might be the first step to one of the greatest scientific 'discoveries' of all time... Or not. Would the cosponsors of the IYA--UNESCO, representing the governments of the world, and IAU, representing the astronomers of the world--welcome an open and public message from any ETs who might be visiting our world? If not, why not?
Is it possible that in the matter of UFOs and ETs, the scientists, while they celebrate Galileo, are actually honoring--in a much 'kinder and gentler' career-destroying way of course--the faith in ignorance of those who persecuted the early astronomers? Of course, the Inquisitors no doubt had what they considered to be good reasons, and the scientists certainly have theirs.
Even as a thought experiment, the likely answers might help any honest skeptic understand the situation. And if the news media would actually ask these questions of the SETI Institute, NASA, IYA, and UNESCO, and some of the world's leading scientists, etc., then the answers would be profound statements of the nature and faith of the human race at this point in our history.
And any reasonable person would understand that there is no 'UFO Debate', and indeed, there never was, except between and among UFO researchers. And any reasonable scientist would understand that there is no Fermi 'Paradox' and never was--only a question to which elements of the US Government already knew the answer. And they would know what the ETs know: as long as the governments, scientists, and news media stand together in promoting this delusion, then humankind is not ready to hear what the ETs have to say to us.
Perhaps some of the scientists and others concerned with the continued destruction of our living planet, global warming, nuclear weapons, genetic engineering, synthetic life, replicant nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, etc., will reconsider: Do you really believe our civilization is more likely to survive and prosper by ignoring any possibility of learning about life in the Universe, and the experiences of other rapidly evolving technological civilizations?
Because of the extreme secrecy and remarkably effective disinformation campaign, etc., it's impossible for the public to know what the various ET groups intend, what the USG knows, and what the USG regards as the most serious problems arising from various degrees of contact (ranging from acknowledgment to open, unrestricted communications). And so it's impossible for those interested in this issue, except in a highly speculative and thus largely useless way, to comment on the reasons for the continuing secrecy. Perhaps MAJIC will reconsider its longstanding policy, and make the basic facts available to a larger audience in the USG, and even to a few members of the public, and invite comment on the most critical aspects of this issue. Even the national security elements of the USG should be able to understand the risks of a 'Really Big Intelligence Failure' with respect to the technological, environmental, and other issues the US will face in the next few years and decades.
If the United States cannot lead the world, then, in time, some other nation will. While a 'Message to ETs Visiting Our World' from astronomers in Russia, China, or some other nation might have little practical significance, it would certainly be an enormously important and historic symbolic gesture--the first nation on earth to openly reach out to those visiting our world, and the dawn of a new era for humankind.
But for now, we'll be 'boldly going nowhere', our heads buried happily in the sands of blissful ignorance, trusting that our best hope for the future is to ignore any possibility of learning from the past. And we won't be reading "Seven Common Mistakes of Evolving Technological Civilizations--And How Your Civilization Can Avoid Them", whatever it's called, or even know whether it exists; but if it does exist, perhaps we'll have our own page someday, or we already do, and other, more curious and courageous civilizations will learn from our experiences, and perhaps from our mistakes. And we won't know whether contact, from the ETs' perspective, will likely mark--in some sense at least--the beginning of the end of our civilization, or simply the end of the beginning of the story of humankind. Or both.
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