In her recent WSJ essay ('Fantasies of Alien Life', March 9-10, p. C5), Amanda Foreman explores multiple topics to do with aliens, i.e. extraterrestrial life. That includes as written about in science fiction, as well as ancient world speculations and modern day perceptions, theories, beliefs. Most interestingly, we learn in terms of the ancients:
"On the pro-alien side were the Pythagoreans, a 5th century sect, which argued life must exist on the Moon, also, the Epicureans believed there must be an infinite number of life supporting worlds. On the other side, Aristotle specifically rejected the possibility that other world might exist on the grounds that the Earth is at the center of a perfect and finite universe.."
Of course, we now are aware that Aristotle - great philosopher though he was - totally muffed it on the existence of other worlds, as well as Earth being at the "center" of the universe. Copernicus and Galileo skewered the last, and the Kepler Space Telescope destroyed the former trope with its inexorable revelation of hundreds of exo-planets, i.e. planets, solar systems outside our own system. See e.g.
Kepler Finds 715 New Planets - Does It Mean A Greater ... - Brane Space
The latter at least has revealed the existence of other worlds, alien worlds. It remains to ascertain if intelligent ETs actually inhabit these worlds. But that is a separate question from whether extraterrestrial life - advanced forms - exist on any worlds. Also, one must consider the repercussions of accepting this. In a previous post (June 4) I cited the paper by Alexander Wendt and Raymond Duvall in the journal Political Theory e.g.
Sovereignty and the UFO - Alexander Wendt, Raymond Duvall, 2008
Wherein, the authors argued there is a "UFO taboo" or an aversion to scientifically studying this phenomenon because it risks larger societal derision and even ostracism. They suggested the core reason for this aversion is an anthropocentrically - biased conception of "sovereignty". As explained by author Daniel Dresner:
"They (Wendt and Duvall) argued that the real reason UFOs have been dismissed is because of the existential challenge that they pose for a world view in which human beings are the most technologically advanced life forms.
'UFOs have never been systematically investigated by science or the state, because it is assumed to be known that none are extraterrestrial. Yet in fact this is not known, which makes the UFO taboo puzzling given the ET possibility. The puzzle is explained by the functional imperatives of anthropocentric sovereignty, which cannot decide a UFO exception to anthropocentrism while preserving the ability to make such a decision. The UFO can be known only by not asking what it is."
Dresner, at the end of his Denver Post Perspective piece wrote: "in recent years the U.S. national security bureaucracy has met the first criterion (UFOs exist) and one wonders what happens to our understanding if great powers meet the second one (UFOs might be ETs)."
I noted in that June 4 post the latter threshold had already been crossed with the multiple reports of military pilots on the aerodynamically adept objects they appeared to have encountered, e.g. https://youtu.be/Ce6ZevfbIK0 .
If, by process of elimination, these objects are not: a) exotic (rare) atmospheric phenomena (e.g. Kugelblitz, which I had identified with one earlier UFO sighting in Barbados,
Or b) misidentified planets (e.g. Venus, Jupiter), or c) other aircraft, then the only hypothesis left is one of extraterrestrial origin. That is, what the military pilots observed - and which were entered into the Defense Department's 'Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program' Catalog- were actual intelligently directed craft. And since no other such directed objects are known to be from this planet, they must originate from outside the Earth.
What would be the remaining reasons for not "going there"? For continuing to cling to the misdirection of "other unknown phenomena"? Well, one would be the possible violation of "religious sovereignty". That is, orthodox religious people - of whom there are millions - may chafe and even be repelled by the notion more than one intelligent species exists, and on other worlds. As my now deceased brother Mike (when he as "Pastor Mike") used to assert: "God only made this one world to have human life and Jesus saved one set of beings - US humans! There ain't no aliens!"
This is not necessarily nonsense (though yeah, Mike's "National atheist registry" qualified). As Ms. Foreman writes (ibid.):
"The Catholic Church sided with Plato and Aristotle. If there was only one God, there could be only one world."
Hence, in addition to anthropocentric state sovereignty preventing a full and exhaustive study of UFOs, religious sovereignty ("one God, one world, one salvation") may also intrude. Not only by inhibiting competent UFO research (out of fear), but in setting up roadblocks to the acceptance that indeed a good many sightings (such as by the military pilots) are in fact alien craft.
This brings us to the Fermi paradox as Ms. Foreman presents it, in regard to potential extraterrestrial life:
"The real mystery about aliens is the one described by the so-called 'Fermi paradox'. The 20th century physicist Enrico Fermi observed that, given the number of stars in the universe, it is highly probable that alien life exists. So why haven't we seen it yet? As Fermi asked 'Where is everybody?'"
Well, flashing forward from Fermi's era, the military pilots cited may well have shown us 'where'. Maybe, just maybe - 'they' are using our skies as their personal playground but we are too dumb, arrogant or mentally myopic to see it. Or admit it, out of a sense of cosmic inferiority. This leaves us asking:
Maybe, as my Air Force code breaker brother Jerry once said: "It's time to stop being coy, and wake the hell up to what's going on! The aliens are here and defying us wit their ships!"
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