How alien and extraterrestrial stories are gaining traction

Back at the cave her tribe calls home one night, the Moon-Watcher monkey-humanoid finds a strange glass object, a sort of monolith that fascinates him at first, but quickly loses interest in it when he discovers that it is inedible. A little after, it is revealed that the Monolith’s true purpose is none other than to penetrate the minds of our ancestors to induce new abilities which, over time, will lead to the development of an intelligence capable of creating new technologies.

Many readers will recognize this scene from the novel. 2001, A Space Odysseyby Arthur C. Clarke and some film of the same name, directed by Stanley Kubrick . It almost goes without saying that the crystal monolith in question is the work of an extraterrestrial civilization that observes life on other planets and “experiments” on them to further the development of intelligence in as many parts of the cosmos as possible.

Understanding how we as a species became intelligent is one of the great puzzles in the study of evolution. . Small mutations, followed by a process of natural selection to choose the most advantageous, seem too slow a process for structures as complex as the nervous system or the human brain to emerge. . It is this same complexity that allows millions of neurons to communicate with each other, leading to the emergence of qualities such as the ability to respond voluntarily to environmental stimuli or to ask questions about the very nature of humanity and of the universe.

Today we know that there is evolutionary mechanisms that have led to great leaps in complexity , But that doesn’t stop people from turning to non-human forces – gods, aliens, spiritual energies – to explain things that are difficult to understand.

This has always been the case, in all human cultures. A classic example would be to attribute atmospheric events (thunder, lightning, floods) to the wrath of God. These ideas originated before humans left the ground, so it’s no surprise that we’ve turned our eyes even higher, to extraterrestrials, to explain other phenomena that we could only observe once high-altitude travel became part of our daily lives.

We have always been fascinated by the possibility that beings from other worlds have visited us. The element of mystery, of the unknown, only makes it more interesting.

Any phenomenonIt becomes even more tempting when it appears that you are hiding or hiding for secret reasons. The lure of conspiracies often leads people to ideas that have no scientific basis, such as the belief that the Earth is flat, that humans never set foot on the Moon, or that vaccines can control our behavior.

Although these ideas have been shown time and time again to be untrue, its rapid dissemination through social networks , using simple, forceful language that appeals to emotion rather than logic makes them very powerful weapons.

Supposed “evidence” of extraterrestrial visitation to our planet ranges from specific biblical passages to ancient stone carvings depicting creatures or objects that may appear to be aliens or spaceships. These often take the form of flying saucers.

However, we cannot forget that humans have always created imaginary creatures that resemble them and attribute magical powers to them. In imagining the gods, humans gave them a human appearance and almost always imagined them living in the sky.

When we look at these depictions with modern eyes, we associate them with extraterrestrial beings or structures, when in fact they could refer to a variety of different things.

Recently, in the United States Congress, UFOs (currently known as UAP, “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena”) return to center stage . That’s because a former Air Force intelligence official claimed the Pentagon is in possession of debris from alien spacecraft and “non-human biological material.” The claims were backed up by testimony from a retired navy commander and a former navy pilot.

What we can be sure of is that the more we explore our skies, the more likely we are to encounter phenomena that we cannot explain. However, that does not mean they are aliens. Past experience has shown us that most of these events can be attributed to optical illusions, spy or weather balloons, space debris, or even self-made satellites.

In Spain, UFOs were a hot topic between the 1960s and 1980s. At that time, everyone knew someone who was convinced they had seen a UFO. It even got to the point where an exoplanet, called uh. It was populated by a civilization more advanced than ours that made contact with the inhabitants of Earth. In the letters allegedly sent by these extraterrestrials, the “ummites” explained concepts such as genetics and cellular structure.

The truth is that nowadays reading some of these letters can be quite fun . In the end, the story of Planet Ummo turned out to be a monumental hoax. a fact later admitted by its own creator.

Ummo’s hoax was even linked to the creation of a pedophilia ring which should make us reflect on the disastrous consequences that the dissemination of fabricated information can have.

The answer, of course, is no. The universe is huge, and it is more than likely that circumstances similar to those that led to the appearance of life on Earth have been repeated on other planets. But there is a long way (literally and figuratively) between acknowledging the existence of these creatures and considering the possibility that they have visited us.

exoplanets , also called extrasolar planets, they are extremely distant and we are limited by the speed of light which, as Einstein demonstrated, is the maximum possible speed at which something can travel. Therefore, the journey to a “nearby” exoplanet would take thousands of years. Maybe a civilization more advanced than ours could find a way to do it faster, but not to the point where it’s easy or common.

In all cases, if the remains of extraterrestrial life or spaceships are stored somewhere, why not show them to us? Scientists would take the opportunity to analyze this organic matter in order to find out how it is structured, how it metabolizes energy or even what molecules it uses to store genetic information.

Until there is proof, It’s not about science, it’s about stories. Stories can be very entertaining, but those kinds of stories don’t help us build a more accurate or useful view of the world.

* Esther Lazare Lazare , Scientific Researcher from Public Research Organizations. Specialized in virus evolution, Astrobiology Center (INTA-CSIC)