Is it really possible that we could be alone in the universe? And what if we’re not? “The aerial phenomenon known today as a ‘UFO’ is not necessarily exclusive to the modern age. Witnesses through the ages have reported seeing unknown, flying craft emerging from clouds, fireballs, and other light phenomena in the heavens above us,” writes Linda S. Godfrey in the book Monsters Among Us, published in 2016. According to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), 2,980 sightings of UFOs have been reported from Michigan alone since 2000. Is it really possible that there are other beings out there in the vast mass of space? There are multiple forms of evidence for both sides. According to the Drake Equation, there is no possibility of us being alone, while there is the fact that aliens and UFOS have ultimately made themselves absent from our presence. What could this mean?

        There are many factors supporting the idea of extraterrestrial life reaching Earth. According to “An Explanation for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth” by Michael H. Hart in The Royal Astronomical Society, “There are no intelligent beings from outer space on Earth now. (There may have been some visitors in the past, but none of them have remained to settle or colonize here).”  This article presents several ideas:

“(a) The Contemplation Hypothesis: Why take the anthropomorphic view that extraterrestrials are just like us? Perhaps most advanced civilizations are primarily concerned with spiritual contemplation and have no interest in space exploration.

(b)   The Self-Destruction Hypothesis: Perhaps most technologically advanced species destroy themselves in nuclear warfare not long after they have discovered atomic energy.

(c)  The Zoo Hypothesis: Perhaps an advanced civilization has set the Earth aside as their version of a national forest, or wildlife preserve.”

        What if these are true? Maybe other civilizations just don’t care or care too much about us. Maybe they all wiped themselves out before they could communicate with us. These could all be very possible solutions, and I, myself, have never thought of situations like this. And what about their technology? I mean, we haven’t conquered space travel yet, so why does that mean that they have? Space travel is a whole other level. In the article, Hart explains how ridiculously long and tedious interspace travel would be. It says that the largest obstacle is “[T]he distances between the stars and the consequently large travel times involved.” It also says that a trip to our closest star, Sirius, would take 88 years. That's a long time. Longer than a lifetime for some. What if we really are alone? There would be no point in leaving earth in the first place. Who would want to take that chance? Also, in an article by Chris Ciaccia, titled “Declassified documents reveal the Pentagon investigated UFOs” in The New York Post, Ciaccia states that “A Pentagon spokesman said the UFO program ended in 2012, through the New York Times said the Defence Department still investigates potential episodes of unidentified flying objects.” So which is it? Would they really shut down the entire program? I mean, they obviously thought UFOS and extraterrestrials were important before 2012, so what made them change their minds? Aren’t they still as important as they were back then?

        Yes, there is a possibility of us being alone, but there is also a possibility of us being surrounded by life. An equation created by astrophysicist Frank Drake in 1961, dubbed “The Drake Equation” after him, describes the possibility of life existing in the universe in the form of numbers. The article “Anybody out there” by Dani Leviss makes it simple. Leviss says “...it takes the big, unanswerable question of whether or not we’re alone and splits it into bite-size factors that are easier to mull over and quantify. It doesn’t promise an answer, but rather a clearer way to think about the question.” In the article by Chris Ciaccia that I mentioned earlier, Ciaccia writes about the equation as well. He states that the Drake equation is a “seven-term equation” that involves “factors such as formed stars and planets, the average number of planets that can potentially support life. Other factors include a fraction of those planets that can develop life and a fraction of these civilizations that have become intelligent.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        This equation, like Leviss said before, makes it easier to comprehend. And no matter what numbers you put into the equation, you always get hundreds to thousands of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Leviss explains this perfectly: “Since there are anywhere from 50 billion stars in the Milky Way, [astronomer Erik] Petigura’s most recent approximation suggests there could be anywhere from 18 billion to 52 billion Earth-like planets.” Think of that number. 50 billion. And that's an approximation. There has to be something out there, right? Surely our Earth isn’t the one out of billions of planets that can sustain life. Leviss writes, “Thirty years ago, the scientists knew only of the planets orbiting our sun. Today, astronomers are finding new exoplanets- planets orbiting other stars- every month. As of January 2019, there were nearly 4,000 confirmed exoplanets!” Later, she says, “ In a 2013 study, astronomers estimated that 22% of stars like our sun could have planets close to Earth's size orbiting in that stars habitable zone: the right distance from the star to possibly have liquid water. In a dissertation posted to the preprint server arXiv in 2015, astronomer Erik Petigura increased the fraction to 26%.” So, there are planets that can harbor life out there. Isn’t this a bit important? We should be out there looking for life. Just think about what we could learn from extraterrestrials! But then again, they could either help or destroy our world. It depends on if the aliens are friendly or not.

        Apparently, the constant worry of unfriendly aliens is big enough for the government to do something about it. But not to the public's knowledge. No, they kept it classified. For what reason, nobody knows. In the article that I have mentioned before, “Declassified documents reveal the Pentagon investigated UFOs” by Chris Ciaccia in the New York Post, Ciaccia writes, “Newly declassified documents from the Pentagon revealed the Department of Defence funded projects that investigated UFOs, wormholes, alternate dimensions, and a host of other subjects that are often the topics of conspiracy theorists.” This obviously means that the government cares about UFOs. Most likely because of the possibility that they could pose a threat to the Earth as a whole. Ciaccia continues: “The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) releases 38 research titles on Jan. 18, [2019] following a Freedom of Information Act request from Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy. The research was funded by the Department of Defence under its Advanced  Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP).”

        Also, in the article “The Government’s Secret UFO Program Funded Research on Wormholes and Extra Dimensions” by Sara Emerson, she writes, “The list provides one of the best looks at the Pentagon’s covert UFO operation or study of ‘anomalous aerospace threats.’ According to Aftergood’s FOIA request, the document marked ‘For Official Use Only’ was sent to Congress on January 2018.” They would have kept it classified if that act hadn’t existed. Why wouldn’t they tell the public? If they are trying to “protect” us, then they should probably tell us about the threat so we know about it and what to expect, at least. According to the Ciaccia's article, “‘The DOD and the DIA have previously sought to spin AATIP as being a program looking a ‘foreign advanced space weapon threats,’ but the attachment to the DIA’s letter to Congress is difficult to reconcile with this, given that the ‘products produced’ under the AATIP contract are listed as including reference papers on topics which seem more concerned with space travel,’ Nick Pope, a former employee at the British Government’s Ministry of Defence, said in comments obtained by Fox News.” The government wants to explore space. Why would they want that? To search for life? Are we really in such desperate need of saving? Maybe they have a more mysterious motive. Maybe they want to go find other habitable planets in the universe. But maybe, just maybe, they want to find life. It has to be important enough to them to make an Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.

        In conclusion, there is a possibility that we could really be alone in this universe just as there is a possibility that we are surrounded by life. There are many factors of evidence that support both. Like the fact that they are never present on Earth. Where are they? If there were aliens, wouldn't they make themselves present to us if they had the chance? What if they are just like us and don’t have the right technology for interspace travel? What if there is life out there? According to the Drake Equation, there is a 50/50 chance of us being alone. So that means there could actually be life out there. And if that wasn’t that big a deal, then why is the government looking into it? The Pentagon even? Why else would they create an Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program? They obviously want to protect the Earth from something out there. Maybe that's why they are keeping it classified. “Are we alone,” is the biggest question there is, and there still isn't a 100% positive answer, but if you looked up into the sky and saw a UFO, would you believe it or not?