If you have ever been even remotely interested in the topic of UFO’s, this week is probably one of the most interesting ever in the history of the subject.
As reported, speaking under oath in front of the House Oversight subcommittee on National Security, former Airforce Major David Grusch, who lead a government taskforce on Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP), gave some rather electrifying testimony regarding the more than 650 documented instances of unknown flying objects being identified by U.S. Navy pilots that fly in a way that seem to defy the laws of physics or known technology.
Furthermore, Major Grusch stated that since the 1930’s, the U.S. military has been in possession of the remains of crashed UAP’s, and has been trying to reverse engineer their technology. As part of the recovering of UAP’s, what was identified as “nonhuman biologics” was found in the remains. Major Grusch claimed to have sources and witnesses that could substantiate his testimony, although none have yet to come forward to corroborate his testimony.
Countering his claims, the Pentagon and Department of Defense have stated, “they have not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently.”
The simplest, and most likely explanation, is that these UAP’s are the advanced experimental technologies of other enemy nations, such as China or Russia.
Yet for many others, these UAP’s are considered to be possible evidence of extraterrestrial life that has visited us from another world. It’s certainly an exciting possibility, and I don’t think it’s an idea that we can entirely discount, especially when you consider things like the video that the Pentagon has released, showing UAP’s that appear to be doing things that defy explanation.
But the recording of strange phenomena in the sky isn’t itself proof of aliens visiting us from another planet. It’s simply proof that there’s some things happening in this world that we’ve yet to be able to easily explain. And simply jumping to the conclusion “…and aliens from other planets…” is a leap of logic that defies both evidence and reason.
And if we follow the philosophical principle of “Occam’s razor,” that is, the logical idea that the simplest explanation is to be preferred to a more complex explanation, then concluding that the UAP phenomenon is something extraterrestrial in origin instead of something from Earth is definitely a violation of Occam’s razor.
First of all, to date, there has been no verifiable evidence that we’ve encountered intelligent life from outside our planet. While there is no shortage of individual claims of people claiming to have encountered alien beings, such stories have ultimately zero independent evidence to validate those claims.
Second, while there are incredible odds that, mathematically speaking, life should theoretically exist on other planets in the universe, including the possibility of intelligent life, it is highly unlikely that such life could ever make contact with us, let alone visit us.
Indeed, the lack of evidence of intelligent life outside of our own planet has created what is known as the “Fermi paradox.”
Based on the Fermi paradox, the line of reasoning goes that there are billions of stars within our own Milky Way galaxy. And within those billions of stars, there are yet billions upon billions of planets. With a high chance of probability, there must exist other numerous Earth like planets that share a similar habitability to our own planet, upon which life could possibly spontaneously develop and thrive. And based on this, there must be a chance that these other Earth like planets could undergo a similar evolution regarding intelligent life, and the ability of that life to harness technology in the same manner we have. And at some point, those alien civilizations may have even set out to explore the universe like we have, and possibly even been more successful.
But so far, in spite of the mathematical odds, there is zero evidence such has ever happened. Because if it has happened, in the words of one of the scientists that developed this theory, “Then where is everybody?” Instead, there is “Great Silence” from the heavens.
Not only is there “Great Silence” from space, but when you consider that there are billions upon billions of planets within the Milky Way galaxy alone, what are the odds that any intelligent life could actually find us, identify us, and then actually attempt to communicate with us, let alone visit us? And when you consider that mankind has only been generating radio frequencies since the late 1800’s, out of all the billions of planets that aliens could possibly visit, we’ve only been generating noise outside our planet for a little under 150 years.
And when you consider that the Milky Way galaxy would take millions of years to cross moving at the speed of light, what are the odds that aliens within our galaxy would have actually detected the radio frequencies our planet has only recently been emitting, out of all the other billions of planets that exist, decided they want to visit us, and possessed the technology to actually defy all the known laws of physics in order to do so.
Another factor to consider is that if the theory of evolution is true, and life spontaneously generates from complex chemical reactions, then if intelligent life was also birthed on other Earth like planets as a result of random and spontaneous mutations, then what are the odds that other intelligent species like us also co-exists at the exact same time we exist in the history of the universe? It is much more likely that if such civilizations actually exist, that they have either long ago gone extinct, or will only exist sometime in the future. The odds of our simultaneously existing and visiting each other seems astronomically impossible.
And finally, if I might have a little fun in a tongue and cheek sorta way, but why is it that UFO’s and the bodies of dead aliens are always in the exclusive possession of top-secret “Deep State” level departments of the government? Why isn’t there a trailer park in the hills of West Virginia that has successfully recovered the wreckage of a UFO, put it on display for all to see, and mounted the head of E.T. in some rednecks living room wall next to the 6 point buck that shot last Fall? If E.T. exists, some guy named Bubba is more likely to have him than some scientist at Area 51.
And if someone from the government showed up to try and confiscate the remains of a UFO or E.T., I’m pretty sure that some strong believers in the 2nd amendment would put on a show that would rival the Branch Davidians and the government raid of their compound in Waco, Texas, and we certainly would have heard of such a thing by now.
So to state it rather plainly, I find the idea that only the government would possess the remains of E.T. to be a little too conspiratorial for my liking. I find it more likely that Bubba’s got E.T. proudly on display in his doublewide than the government is in sole possession of aliens.
Also, speaking of alien wreckage, how is it that alien civilizations are so advanced as to create spacecraft that can defy the laws of physics to visit us from millions of light years away, and perform crazy maneuvers in the sky, yet they can’t avoid something as simple as a crash landing on our planet or being shot down by a hot shot U.S. Navy pilot? How is it that they are crashing all over the place to begin with? Why would their physics defying spacecraft suddenly fail in such a way as to allow themselves to be captured?
As a result of all these consideration, following Occam’s razor, that the simplest answer is the most likely one, it is much more likely that the UAP’s identified by the government are the result of phenomenon and technology developed here on Earth, than something from a civilization that has come from another world.
Side note: In case you are wondering, as an Evangelical Christian, what what are the theological implications of alien life on other planets? How should a Christian understand these issues? My thought is simple: Where the Scriptures are silent, I will try to remain silent. And instead of trying to make any conclusive declarations from Scripture with things I don’t believe the Scriptures directly address, or to do things like peg the identity of aliens to angels and demons as some have, I’d rather simply say, the Scripture has nothing to say directly about the idea of life existing on other planets. And if it does exist, this should not in any way challenge the claims of our faith that Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and Earth. Some might be uncomfortable with the level of uncertainty this creates, but that’s okay, as Christians we should be comfortable with a faith that’s a little less certain on some things. We don’t have to have an answer for everything.
