Real Life: Aliens-Fact or Fiction?

[Joey Stark]

This month sees the start of our new debate series, Fact or Fiction where we offer you the chance to discuss and debate the supernatural, the weird and the kooky.

First up is a question that has certainly kept my attention since my X-Files watching days as a kid, are we alone in the universe?

You might say that with space exploration and technology, let alone basic science, it's safe to assume we are. Or at least the only fully developed forms of life exist on earth. But then what about Roswell? Who's making crop circles? (Other than Mooncalves). What's in area 51 really? What about all those UFO sightings and the many reports of Alien abduction? Delusion and coincidence, or proof that we really should believe?

[Ereshkigal Csintalan]

The idea of life beyond our planet is a really interesting topic. My interest grew from watching and reading lots of science-fiction content growing up and that same interest has stayed with me ever since. I find it hard to believe that we are the only ones out there especially when we consider how big the universe really is.

Both space exploration and our technology have advanced exponentially in recent times, but I don’t think that is necessarily advanced enough yet to find other lifeforms in galaxies many millions of lightyears away. We can look at our own planet and the deepest depths of the ocean. Most of that is unexplored with all kinds of undiscovered species lurking below. If we haven’t even managed to master that yet, then what hope is there of finding life beyond our atmosphere?

How do we know other lifeforms haven’t visited us? I’m not saying this next point is correct, but it does make you think- there have been a number of ancient civilisations across the globe who have built very similarly designed structures like pyramids or temples. How do we explain this and what are the chances they all thought of this idea with the same style? There is the possibility extra-terrestrial life had a say. I have no proof either way, but it’s still fascinating!

Even if we haven’t been visited by aliens, there may be very good reasons why that’s the case. Who is to say they would be able to survive in our atmosphere and be made up of the same things we are. Not coming here could be for their own survival. There is also a theory that we are too wild or primitive compared to them and they’ve seen how we’ve treated the earth (i.e quickly destroying it). Why would anyone want to interfere or interact with that? They might think we’re an embarrassment to the universe and would prefer we wipe ourselves out. On the flip side of that, maybe we’re the most advanced out there and other lifeforms haven’t managed to explore space yet. If that's the case, it's no surprise we haven't come across any other life out there yet,

[Janne Halla]

I've always thought that it's incredibly narcissistic and egotistical of humanity to think that we're the only ones, in the whole universe, who have managed to evolve as intelligent beings. That doesn't mean that I believe that aliens have visited us, not at all, just that somewhere in the whole Universe, there must be at least some planets that have evolved life.

There are two trillion galaxies in the observable universe, and estimated between 6 to 20 trillion galaxies overall. Even with a very small chance of there being a planet such as Earth in those galaxies, that could mean millions of other planets that could support intelligent life.

I quite like the first three steps in the chain of reasoning of the Fermi Paradox to present my views on this topic.
1. There are billions of stars in the Milky Way similar to the Sun.

2. With high probability, some of these stars have Earth-like planets in a circumstellar habitable zone.

3. Many of these stars, and hence their planets, are much older than the Sun. If Earth-like planets are typical, some may have developed intelligent life long ago.

I also like the aspect of hope with 'my' theory. There's other intelligent life in the Universe, but just far, far away. It's out of reach for our current technology, but with rapid advancement in the technological sector in all aspects, there's hope that we may yet see more evidence in our lifetime.

[Ivonne Zwei]

I have always thought that because the universe is vast and infinitely expanding, there is definitely other life in the universe. If the universe is infinite, then that means that all things that could exist have/do/will. Infinity means that everything exists and nothing is impossible. So yes, there is other life in the universe and some of it may even resemble the aliens we know from popular culture and lore.

However, just because it exists does not know it knows that we exist, or has ever visited Earth. An infinitely expanding universe also means that it is extremely unlikely that any existing life will cross paths with other life before the extinction of one or the other. I do not personally believe that aliens have ever visited Earth, and indeed do not even know of our existence. I do like to think though, that they gaze up at the cosmos the same as we do, wondering if they are alone.

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

I have personally experienced 5 times of observation of what might be called UFOs.

The first was probably the most clear in memory as I was observing it for maybe 10 minutes. I was driving in the country at night, on I-80 and approaching my turnoff to go home. I saw what I assumed to be a street light - very large and bright - over the freeway, off to the side, and remember saying to myself 'I don't remember them putting in a street lamp here ...' and took the turnoff, looping up and over the freeway.

Then ... for some reason I looked in the rear view mirror and that light was still there and it was NOT a street lamp. I turned my truck around and pulled over, looking at this stationary light in the sky. From this new angle, I could see that the light was high in the sky, and it was 'still'. I could hear no noise, there was nothing to indicate it was emitted by something of a mechanical nature. (I've had some experience with aircraft of different kinds, and it didn't fit any of the criteria of which I was aware.)

I waited and waited for another vehicle to come by. I intended to stop the driver and point to this object and say 'what is that?' with a full idea of I thought I knew what it wasn't. No one came by ... I finally got back in my truck and went home.

The next morning, the early edition newspaper had something in it about this sighting! Evidently it was spotted by many many people. Allegedly (as I remember the report) it was claimed to be of some sort of local Army experiment.

Oddly, the story was killed by the time of the regular daily edition of the newspaper.

Another time I was a passenger in a car and it was tracked by something up in the air, close enough for me to see but not close enough to make out the details very clearly, near Chico California. This flying thing followed the movements of the car. I said to the driver, slow down, I want to see what this is, and he sped up .... This 'whatever' tracked the vehicle (us) for a while. I had the window down and was leaning out of the window, looking up. Of a sudden, the 'whatever' left. It departed in a straight line so fast that it was literally gone in about 2 seconds. It made no noise when it left.

There is more, but those are my first two encounters with something which might be called UFOs -- and might be piloted by that which would be called 'aliens'.