There has been a rash of UFO (Unidentified Flying Objects) sightings of late. In the 1950s, such a rash was called a “flap.” These days, it’s been a “flap-and-a-half” because a good deal of humankind the world over has gotten on the bandwagon. Even the usual explanations given by government officials, scientists, and the psychiatric profession, misidentified aircraft or balloons, natural phenomenal, or outright hoaxes, haven’t deterred persons from seeing the so-called “inexplicable.”
What is new, however, is the rash of people who claim to have seen “aliens” from outer space. These aliens range from dark figures in the woods to hairy creatures to gaudily-colored creatures with flashing eyes. And then there are the number of persons who have “proof” that the aliens are among us, doing whatever it is that aliens do while they are here. The Chas is reminded that one such person was the late L. Ron Hubbard, a third-rate science-fiction writer, who created a whole race of visitors from outer space who took an interest in human affairs (and found humans in need of salvation); his imaginings led to the creation of the cult of Scientology. (Personal aside: The Chas is also a science-fiction writer – with the emphasis on fiction; he does not expect anyone to create any cults based upon his imaginings.)
The question then arises: Sre there other intelligent life-forms “out there”? The standard response is that there is no proof which means nothing because no one is looking for proof, which I will shortly explain why. There is, however, the Law of Probability which states that, if a given thing can be possible to exist, then it probably does exist somewhere. The Chas is reminded to the science-fiction novel-cum-movie, Contact, written by the late astronomer, Dr. Carl Sagan. In the final chapter, the lead character is asked by her students if anyone is out there. Her reply: “I don’t know. But, if there isn’t, it’s an awful waste of space.”
Our galaxy contains in the neighborhood of 100 billion stars. By all accounts, it is considered to be a “medium-sized” galaxy. To think that we puny human beings are the only occupants displays not only arrogance, but a lack of imagination. The major religions have taught us that we were created in the image of some god or another. Thus, we suffer from delusions of grandeur which blinds us to infinite possibilities (a catch phrase from the “X-Files”).
There is on Planet Earth a cultural spectrum, and all of humankind has a place on it. At the lower end are the hunter-gatherer societies; at the upper end are the highly technological societies. The Chas posits that a similar spectrum exists throughout our galaxy, albeit on a broader range. He places humankind just above the center of this spectrum, thereby allowing for the existence of intelligent life-forms much more advanced than we are. Theoretically then, there are beings who are capable of visiting us; they are able to traverse the vast distances by a number of advanced technologies, e.g. “wormholes,” “warp drive,” or “gravity slings.” (A shameless plug here, dear reader: in my “Legacy of the Wayfarers” novels, I use a “gravity sling”; in my “Seranane Construct” novels, I use a “wormhole.”)
Why would they come here? Curiosity, mostly. Having discovered us millennia ago, they return periodically in order to see how far we have progressed. In a previous essay, I posited that one of those species might have been our progenitors, according to all of our creation myths. A more cynical view was taken by the early 20th-Century writer, Charles Fort, who spent his life collecting newspaper accounts of strange phenomena and publishing four books of the same. He said simply, “I think we are property.”
I’ve never seen a UFO, but I’d dearly like to. I would dearly like to have a wee chat with its occupants and to board their craft in order to take a tour of the galaxy. I wouldn’t care if I never returned to Earth. I would have fulfilled the dream of a lifetime.
Just a wild thought.