Page 43 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - September 2021

UFO Mania Is Out Of Control 43

UFO Mania Is Out of

Control. Please Stop.

Continued from Page 42

The believer says to the skeptic, “So you think in
all the universe, among billions and billions of
galaxies, each with billions and billions of stars
and untold numbers of planets, we humans are
the only form of intelligent life?”

An adjunct to this is the assertion that, among
intelligent beings in the universe, humans are
likely relatively primitive, since we’ve only
been around for, what, 100,000 years or so, and
the Old Ones out there may be billions of years
ahead of us.

It would actually be reassuring, at a deep
existential level, to know that interstellar space
travel is possible. That it’s something we might
do someday. Alien visitors by their mere
existence would imply that we can overcome Harvard paleontologist and prodigious author of I believe in a bunch of other stuff, though. I
our worst instincts (war, hatred, pollution, popular science books. Gould had long thought believe in the usefulness of science. I believe in
Twitter) and survive. It would be nice to know through the question of the evolution of the footnotes. I believe in peer review. I believe in
that the kind of intelligence humans possess, and human species in the grand context of life on the value of expertise.
which gives rise to technological civilizations Earth over the course of 4 billion years. Gould
like ours, won’t always backfire, that it’s not argued quite vociferously that if we were to start I also believe that holding views that are
only a nifty evolutionary adaptation in the short the whole biosphere over again from scratch, provisional and potentially subject to change is
run but something that’s durable. The aliens give with primitive forms, and rerun the process, the not a sign of intellectual weakness but rather one
us hope. In fact, in many UFO narratives that’s likelihood of human beings appearing again of intellectual modesty. And I believe the future
why they’re here, to help us along and save us would be infinitesimal. The real question, will surprise us. There could come a day when
from ourselves. They’re a little bit like angels. though, is not whether humans would arise a we make contact with the Old Ones.
second time if we started from scratch, but
What’s more anthropocentric is to assume that whether an intelligent species would. But in the meantime, UFOs are a distraction. We
human beings are so fascinating that aliens want have pressing concerns that merit our full
to visit us and study us. The aliens seem a bit The Drake Equation is the handy tool for attention. Viruses. Humans. The biosphere.
obsessed with us. These are not tourist trips. thinking through the probabilities. Developed by Terrestrial life. And let’s never assume someone
Some UFO narratives imagine that we have astronomer Frank Drake in the early years of from space is going to save us.
something the aliens are missing. Like: feelings. radio astronomy, it provides an estimate of the
When you’re doomed to life as an intelligent number of extraterrestrial civilizations that are ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joel Achenbach is a
reptilian from Rigel you will go a long way to communicative. That is, if we turn an science writer and has covered the pandemic
get some warm-and-fuzzy human DNA. instrument, such as a radio receiver, toward deep since January 2020. []
space, how likely is it that we will get a signal?
Another common theme is that we humans The smart thing about the Drake Equation is that
were, in fact, engineered by the aliens. We are it doesn’t pretend to provide an answer, because IN MY TIME OF
their prized creation. In this scenario, we’re not many of the factors aren’t known. We don’t
just a highly successful (so far) species of know the likelihood of life appearing on a DYING
primate. We’re super special! That’s straight out planet, or the likelihood that it will evolve into Continued from Page 36
of the Book of Genesis. intelligent, communicative life-forms that

manage to stick around a long time. • “We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever,,
Question: Why would the human-obsessed
the goal is to create something that will.”
aliens come all this way in big, hulking, too- Back to Gould: When I asked him about - Chuck Palahniuk
easily-spotted spaceships to monitor us when intelligent life beyond Earth, he answered, “No
they could surely do it remotely or through data.” This was true then, and remains true • The fear of death is the most unjustified
miniature probes? If we learned nothing else today, with the caveat that astronomers have of all fears, for there’s no risk of accident
during this pandemic, it’s that you can still do discovered that planets are common, and many for someone who’s dead.” - Albert
your job from home. appear to be small, rocky, Earthlike planets. The Einstein []
abundance of plausible habitats for life boosts
Let’s cut to the key question: Are we alone? The the odds that life is common, and therefore has
plaintive tone of that question tells you how plenty of opportunities to achieve — through the
much we want the answer to be “no.” trial-and-error of natural selection — THE ‘X’ ZONE RADIO/TV SHOW
Unfortunately, there’s only one solid, complexity and perhaps intelligence. WWW.XZONERADIOTV.COM
incontrovertible answer: “We don’t know.” No WITH
ROB McCONNELL
one knows. It is among the biggest unknowns in My assumption is that intelligent life is out
science. If anyone knows what the answer is, there. What happened on Earth probably has IS ON
whether positive or negative, please email me at happened, or will happen, on other worlds, THE ‘X’ ZONE TV CHANNEL
The Post because that’s a great story. perhaps frequently. But this is just a hunch. It’s WWW.XZONETVCHANNEL.COM
ON
not a belief. And it’s certainly no evidence that
A couple of decades ago I posed the “are we those UAPs floating around are aliens. SIMULTV
alone” question to Stephen Jay Gould, the WWW.SIMULTV.COM