Why the upsurge in Alien contact reports may be surpassing sci-fi, and it's absolutely absurd.
For decades, humans have made good sport of alien sightings and abduction stories, allowing for the folly to stay within the confines of mystery and myth and questions of sanity.
Even several U.S. presidents have claimed to have witnessed a U.F.O. in their lives... and
when given the opportunity after being elected, presidents - once in office - have famously asked for proof of alien visitation.
But it's a fact that in the last few years reports of U.F.O.s, (now referred to U.A.P.s), have escalated - including credible sightings of unexplaniable objects from airforce pilots - even if the video quality still seems to be conspicuously lame.
Here's what worries me... in this current age of disinformation, the topic of life out in the Universe should not be one of the subjects that falls prey to conspiacy theories or mistrust of the government.
Any fans of the book "Contact" by Carl Sagan, or the brilliant movie adaptation written and driected by Robert Zemeckis, understand clearly that the impossible distances that counfound our ability to truly connect with any alien race.
Think about it:
You would first need to establish that life does exist elsewhere in the Universe.
There would have to be a species that evolves beyond any form of non-self-aware, primate or other lower form, with advanced intelligence.
That species would need to surpass the instinctual drive of self-preservation through war and conflict and create a society committed to space travel.
The species would need to have either the ability to travel at speeds unimaginably faster that the current speed limit of 186,000 miles a second - the speed of light - or survive the trip through a wormhole (which is still theoretical) OR have committed generations to a trip lasting several hundred, perhaps thousands of years.
They would have to survive that long journey.
They would have to know before traveling here that Earth is a hospitable planet, capable of sustaining their lives, and also that the current inhabitants wouldn't blow them out of the sky when they arrived.
Getting the picture yet? Allow me to continue...
Once here, they would need to hide themselves from whatever detection methods we have. Or...
Establish some kind of communication with us.
They could perhaps attempt to hide, but if that's the case, they're doing only a slightly better job that Big Foot or Nessie.
Finally, if - and this is a big IF - there are alien visitors, and the government or governments know about them - the secret would have to be kept over multiple administrations, thousands of officials in multiple countries requiring the mutual cooperation of countries who have been on the knife's edge of mutual destruction since 1950.
I'm sorry, I just don't see it. But I've been wrong before - ask my wife.
Forget that, don't.
But despite all the evidence against aliens walking among us, there is a brewing theory that the uptick in recent 'sightings' indicate a definitive "Hello" from the visitors coming in 2027.
Again... huge red flag. Just the date is suspect. Anyone remember when we were told that the world was absolutely coming to an end in 2012? Hollywood even made a dang movie about it. And much like the story, nothing really came of the threat. So you know... the prognosticators said they got the date wrong and it was really 2014.
Still... Bupkis.
Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14) claimed that not only are there aliens, but they visited us and wanted to assess us as a threat because we had nuclear capability. Commander Mitchell also chanted to and from the moon.
A lot.
Read my lips... there is no alien life here. And it disturbs me that people believe there is.
Now, I'm fully aware that I write the above statement despite my novel, which tells the story of an alien arriving at Earth. Crazy right?. But that's the point. My novel is a FICTION.
And this brings me to my point. I'm seriuosly concerned that we're losing the ability to define the lines between reality and fantasy.
And anyone who knows me, knows that I fully blame Mark Burnett and the Reality TV Invasion of the early 2000's for the global melt-down of discernment, intelectual curiosity and critical thinking.
Burnett and his kind made stars out of people who have no business influencing our youth; Moronic, lazy, combative, small-minded, simple, emotionally unintelligent, uneducated people who suddenly became legitimized when we pointed a camera at them, fed them salacious lines and made-up scenarios, packaged it, sold it and called it "Reality."
Since then we've seen a disturbing rise in Flat-earthers, conspirists, and so many other folks who have traded appreciation of good fiction for a stead diet of bad friction.
I grew up on television, yes. As did you. But reading was also a large part of my childhood, being encouraged by LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow. and so many other influences that taught me to get lost in a narrative that I knew wasn't real - as didn't take it into the world with me as proof.
The stories influenced my imagintation, they didn't distort my reality. I knew the difference. I'm not sure people can make that claim today.
My goal as a novelist is first and foremost to spend the rest of my life writing stories that I want to tell, and that I hope people will enjoy. I have no designs on influencing anyone in one direction or another, I just want them to maybe disappear for a few hours, not to escape from reality, but to inspire imagination, spectacle and wonder.
The key to me is reading. One of the things I loved about my late mother was that she would read a book with a dictionary next to her. If she saw a word she didn't know, she looked it up. She was one of the most well-read, intelligent and interesting people I knew.
And she didn't believe that aliens have visited us.
I'm going to bet that 2027 will come and go and there won't be a big "Move that bus!" reveal moment where E.T. points his finger to the sky and says "I'm here to help, but first, do you have any Aquaphor?"
Believe me, if I were an alien, i would steer clear of this place.
What do you think?
Are there Aliens among us?
0%No way, why would anyone want to come here?
0%It's possible... What about those lights in the sky?
0%Absolutely. They're ready to take over!