These days,
few educated people are dismissive of the idea that, elsewhere in the galaxy,
there may be advanced technological civilizations capable of space travel. We have no actual evidence for believing that
there are, but the notion seems eminently plausible nonetheless.
When the
United States Navy and Air Force affirm
that eye witness reports of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) can no longer be
ignored, it is worthwhile for the rest of us to take notice. For decades, pilots both civilian and
military, have been aware that, pilots who reported having seen UFOs, were
often labeled as mentally unstable. For
a professional pilot, such a label can end one’s career. Therefore, when pilots saw unknown aircraft
performing maneuvers of which no known aircraft are capable, they often made no
report of the sighting.
Now, the cat
is out of the bag. The reports are being
officially acknowledged as worthy of respectful investigation. The downside to this is that, the “I told you
so” enthusiasts will predictably come to the fore, vying with each other to
produce the most spectacular accounts; little green men will become fashionable
once again. At the other extreme,
skeptics will struggle to find a “normal” explanation for the abnormal
sightings, such as optical illusions, or even hoaxes.
Is there a
middle ground?
The
temptation is to speculate that some of the sightings are those of space-craft
from faraway planets. Even Oumuamua, the
asteroid that streaked through our solar system from another star system, was
closely evaluated by astronomers for any indication that it was intelligently
manufactured or directed.
Throughout
history, mysteries of the unknown were explained in terms of the known (or
believed). In the 1800s, UFOs were
reported to be flying ships, ships of the wooden sailing vessel variety. In medieval times, there were reports of
witches flying on brooms. In modern
times, supposed alien spaceships are assumed to be piloted by alien pilots,
because our own aircraft are manned by pilots.
The reality,
if and when it becomes known, may turn out to be something entirely different
from what our experience leads us to extrapolate.
For the Navy
and Air Force, there is no practical concern that the UFOs might be
extraterrestrial space craft. Even if
they are, our technology would be utterly incapable of dealing with them,
despite science fiction movies to the contrary.
The actual concern of the government is that our earthly adversaries,
can we call them enemies, might be developing advanced technology that poses an
existential threat to our nation.
This fear is
not entirely without precedent. During
World War 2, the Nazis developed the V-2 rocket, against which there was no
defense. Had the war continued a few
more years, such rockets could conceivably have reached the United States.
I do not lay
awake at night worrying that Russia or China has made a spectacular, secret
break-through in physics, but neither can we ignore the likelihood that they
are doing their best to do so, and to weaponize it.
Our best
path forward is to study the aerial phenomena that we observe, to explore all
avenues of conjecture, even the seemingly silly ones, and to apply discipline
and rigor to draw useful conclusions.
.