(Aliens)
June 1947 was the first U.F.O sighting in the history of America. Kenneth Arnold is the pilot who witnessed nine unidentified flying objects (U.F.Os) shaped like saucers flying in formation. Arnold’s sighting was the catalyst for today’s U.F.O frenzy. Nowadays, millions of people claim that they have either been abducted by aliens or have seen U.F.Os. Aliens could come from any planet inside or outside of our galaxy. The hard part for us is to figure out exactly where in our solar system are aliens from. The reports people have made about seeing U.F.O’s or coming into contact with extraterrestrial life forms is the only proof we have, but not all of them are credible sources. Even though we do not have solid evidence of where the home of extraterrestrials is located, there is one possible system that may be home to alien life forms. Zeta Reticuli is said to be the place where aliens come from because it’s supposedly found in the files the government doesn’t want anyone to know about (History Channel). These alleged files say that this is the home where the “Greys” come from. Zeta Reticuli is made up of two stars that orbit each other. They are similar to a sun and have been in existence longer than our own sun here on earth (History Channel). So, are humans alone in the universe? If not, who else is in the universe? No, as Douglas Adams says, “the universe is really big place” (I.S.P, 2003). There’s a lot of solid evidence which proves that extraterrestrial life form exists elsewhere in the universe. The solid evidence will be explained in the body. Finding the answer to whether or not other life forms exist in our universe is the main point of this paper. This has been a controversial topic for a long time, and this paper will explain general information, scientific evidence about aliens, religion, communication, and the search for extraterrestrial forms and will summarize the sub-questions.
Scientific Evidence
Scientists have solid evidence that proves the existence of beings from another place far away from earth. In the Nazca desert, which is located in Peru, there are lines and drawings that can only be seen from the air (crystalinks, 2010). These lines were discovered in the 1920’s when airplanes first started to fly over the Nazca desert (crystalinks, 2010). “The design of the solid evidence consisting of figures of animals, flowers and plants, objects and anthropomorphic figures of colossal proportions was made with well-defined lines” (crystalinks, 2010). An example of a sketch is an astronaut with two big hands that is 32 meters long.
Another example of solid evidence of the existence of aliens is the mysterious crop circles in different parts of the world. One amazing crop circle called “The Galaxy” is located at Milk Hill in Wilshire, U.K. Crop circle experts say that it’s impossible for a human being to create these crop circles and design them so perfectly. Those experts believe that these are either messages or coordinates put on earth by aliens.
The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt are a great piece of solid evidence that proves we are not alone in the universe. Scientists are now saying that these pyramids were not built by ancient Egyptians. Scientists claim that it would have been impossible for the Egyptians to build the pyramids so quickly, because if we were to rebuild the pyramids today with our advanced technology, it would take hundreds of years to complete them. After watching the show, “U.F.O’s” on the History Channel, I agree with scientists because of the proof they presented when they showed that there is no way the Egyptians built the pyramids by themselves, especially when our own technology today would take hundreds of years to build it.
There is some physical evidence of people that have been abducted by aliens. Some people have vague memories of lying on an operating table with aliens cutting into their body (crystalinks, 2010). Some people wake up noticing they have had mysterious procedures done to their bodies. Others wake up with stitches and implants in parts of their body that they didn’t have done in a hospital. In my opinion, these people that claim they were taken by Aliens, are just trying to get themselves noticed by the media. I really don’t think any type of abduction from Aliens ever took place with anyone here on earth.
Religion and Roswell
The next section will move from the evidence to what happened in Roswell and what some of the religious views about aliens are. Anthropologist Melford E. Spiro (1966:96) defines religion as “an institution consisting of culturally patterned interaction with culturally postulated superhuman beings” (Saler, Ziegler, and Moore, 1997, 115). According to Arnold, there are two characteristics that must be shown in order for a religion to be considered a religion. First, there has to be evidence of superhuman beings. Without evidence of the existence of a divine being, religion wouldn’t exist. Evidence of people coming into contact with a godlike being is another characteristic that must be exhibited for religion to exist. In Arnold’s theory, the existence of aliens greatly jeopardizes religion (Arnold, 2008). If aliens came down to visit earth one day and let themselves be known to everyone, religion would be wiped off the face of the earth (Arnold, 2008). Delio’s theory says all the churches, mosques and synagogues would be no more. His theory also says if the aliens were to show themselves to the world today, this would show everyone where human life came from and who created us (Delio, 2007).
What happened in Roswell? “Before beginning a topical analysis of the religious dimension of the Roswell myth, it will prove useful to enter some cautionary remarks respecting the matter of belief” (Saler, Ziegler, and Moore, 1997, 120). Roswell is a city in New Mexico in the United States. A U.F.O crashed in the desert and the army surrounded the area. There were many people that witnessed the crash who said that it was a U.F.O. The government however, tried to cover it up and told Americans that it was not a U.F.O. Today, many scientists say that our government is definitely hiding something from us especially when it comes to beings from another planet. The government tried to say that the pieces of the U.F.O that were found in Roswell came from a weather balloon. The people who witnessed this event feel that they are one hundred percent accurate when they say it was a U.F.O they witnessed that crashed to the ground. One of the witnesses even used math equations to prove that there are no way the pieces left behind from the U.F.O were from a weather balloon like the government claimed. There are millions of people that believe that U.F.O’s have visited our planet, while there are millions who say U.F.Os are just a myth.
People believe that aliens are superhuman, and that they have power that exceeds human’s capabilities (Saler, Ziegler, and Moore, 1997, 131). “These powers, moreover, could presumably be made use of (or are being made use of) in ways that affect human life, for good or for ill” (Saler, Ziegler, and Moore, 1997, 131). So, what the author means is aliens are developed in a way that we are not. According to Saler, Ziegler, and Moore, Aliens also have technology that is so advanced that it would take us hundreds of years until our technology became that advanced. Their theory is, since Aliens are able to visit us, but we can’t visit them is proof that they have the most advanced technology (Saler, Ziegler, and Moore, 1997, 131). If aliens do exist, I also think that their technology is more advanced than ours, since they can get to us and we can’t get to them.
Communication
The third section will focus on communication between humans and aliens. One theory from one scientist is that aliens have not had the time to communicate with us. The reason for aliens not having time to contact us is because they would have to travel millions of years to do so. When beings travel they need to stop and rest sometimes (Webb, 2002, 72). So, in order for the aliens to be able to travel for millions of years until they can reach us, they would have to start a colony in their spaceship and be traveling to earth all at the same time (Webb, 2002, 72). This theory I agree with the most, especially when it says Aliens would have to start a colony in their spaceship and while traveling to earth all at the same time.
Another theory from that scientist is that extraterrestrial beings do not want to communicate with us. One reason is, just like some humans, they might also be afraid to contact us because they don’t know if we are combatant beings or what our intentions would be if they did. They could be afraid that if we find out where they are, we will try to take over their planet (Webb, 2002, 113). Another reason aliens don’t care to communicate with earthlings is because they feel we are uneducated and have nothing great for them to benefit from (Webb, 2002, 113). I don’t think that aliens haven’t traveled here because they think we are uneducated, I think it’s because it would take way too long to get here and it’s almost impossible if they are millions of years away, like Webb’s theory stated.
For many years now, we have been trying to communicate with life in outer space through transmitting signals. So far, the signals we have been sending out to space have been unsuccessful, and we still haven’t found any evidence that extraterrestrial beings have picked up our signal. The only way one of our signals would be able to get the attention of extraterrestrial beings is if they just so happened to be near or inside our galaxy (Webb, 2002, 108). The reason our signals would only reach them if they were near our solar system, is because our transmitter signals aren’t strong enough to go beyond Pluto (Webb, 2002, 108). Even though our technology has greatly advanced, it is still not good enough to be able to transmit a signal to a planet that is thousands of light years away (Webb, 2002, 109).
The Search for Extraterrestrials
The fourth section will focus on the search for extraterrestrials. Whether or not other civilizations exist beyond our solar system has been a question scientist’s and people have been pondering for a while. Since nobody knows the answer for sure, one astronomer used an equation to find out if looking for extraterrestrial planets would be worth the effort. Frank Drake came up with The Drake Equation, which he used to figure out how many alien planets could be in our solar system or somewhere else in space (Bennett, 2008, 186). The equation doesn’t prove for sure that alien life exist, but it does show that if there were any other livable planets somewhere in space that other life forms would definitely exist there. Number of civilization equal “N(hp)*F(life)*f(civ)*f(now)”. N(hp) stands for livable planets in space. F(life) is the livable planets that might have signs of life forms (Bennett, 2008, 187). F(civ) if for the livable planets whose evolution continued to develop (Bennett, 2008, 188). F(now) stands for the planet’s that might have life on them and could explain how many planets could receive a signal from us (Bennett, 2008, 186). “N(hp)*F(life)*f(civ)” = the planets where evolution once took place and could have possibly once had beings (Bennett, 2008, 188).
Even if life forms do exist on other livable planets they might not have the technology to be able to communicate with us. In order for them to be able to have the technology to contact us the beings must posses’ intelligence equivalent to ours or greater. If their intelligence is beyond ours, this means earth’s technology is nothing compared to theirs, which would make it harder for us to communicate with them (Bennett, 2008, 189). Part of the reason it’s hard to prove extraterrestrials exist, is because if they were as advanced as us or more, they would want to know what else is out there and use all their technologies to find other life forms like we are doing today (Bennett, 2008, 189).
Frank Drake didn’t only use his equation to figure out if other civilizations exist but he also used it to look for signals from other life forms in space (Bennett, 2008, 193). Scientists use telescopes and radio transmissions to see if extraterrestrials are trying to contact us (Bennett, 2008, 193). The Allen telescope is a great addition to the search for extraterrestrial life forms.
This telescope is meant to search for signals from aliens and has 350 different radio transmissions coming from it (Bennett, 2008, 193) This is one of the greatest methods created to search for signals from extraterrestrial life, but it is easy to receive a signal that someone from our own planet is sending out and not be able to locate where it’s from (Bennett, 2008, 194). So even though this telescope is one of the most advanced methods for searching for other life forms, it still has many faults.
Summary of the Answers of the Sub-questions
The fifth section will focus on answering the sub-questions. There is a lot of solid evidence that could prove that aliens exist. The Nazca Lines of Peru are great pieces of solid evidence. The figures of animals, flowers, plants and objects of anthropomorphic figures of colossal proportions are made with well-defined lines. Another piece of evidence is the mysterious crop circles. The third piece of solid evidence is that scientists say there is no way the Pyramids of Giza were built by ancient Egyptians. People claim they have been abducted and had mysterious procedures done to them; this is a piece of physical evidence we hear about in many published reports and televised documentaries. Scientist found out about aliens because of the solid evidence from U.F.O crashes. Many people witnessed a U.F.O crash in the desert of Roswell; however, the government tried to cover it up and said it was a weather balloon. Another finding that supports the scientist theories about aliens is that they discovered that people in many cultures have seen U.F.O’s for thousands of years.
Some scientists have evidence and theories that prove aliens do not exist, but there are many other scientists whose evidence and theories say otherwise. Many scientist theories say there is no way we are the only life forms in the whole universe. Even though some scientists do not believe that aliens exist, there is evidence from the U.S.A, Peru, Egypt, India, the U.K, and many other countries.
In conclusion, this paper focused on finding the answer to whether or not other life forms exist in our universe. This has been a controversial topic for a long time, and this paper has explained general information, scientific evidence about aliens, religion, communication, the search for extraterrestrial forms, and summarized the sub-questions. I feel humans are not alone in the universe, and the evidence that has been found in many countries proves that existence of extraterrestrials. The U.F.O crash in Roswell, the mysterious crop circles, abductions, and the Nazca lines in Peru are some pieces of evidence that prove aliens do exist.
References
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Delio, I. (2007). Christ and Extraterrestrial Life. Theology and Science, 5 (3), DOI: 10.1080/14746700802396213.
History Channel. (n.d.). “U.F.Os”. Documentary (Televised in August, 2011).
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Saler, B., Zeigler, A.C., and Moore, B.C. (1997). UFO Crash at Roswell: The Genesis of a Modern Myth. Washington D.C: The Smithsonian.
Webb, S. (2002). Where is Everybody?: Fifty Solutions to the Femi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life. New York, NY: Copernicus Books Publisher.
