Why the Idea That Aliens Have Visited Earth Is Becoming Dangerous

Millions of people around the world are absolutely convinced that aliens visited our planet particularly in the United States, where 24% of the population claims to have seen an unidentified flying object (UFO).

But for Tony Milligan, research fellow in philosophy of ethics at King’s College London , This belief is “slightly paradoxical, since we have no proof of the existence of extraterrestrials.” wrote in an article The conversation .

“Given the enormous distances between star systems, it seems odd that we only learn about them through a visit. “It is more likely that evidence of aliens comes from signals from distant planets,” he said.

And although Belief in aliens was once “a rarity,” but Milligan says it is now becoming “a widespread social problem.” so much so that there are even those who mix the alleged arrival of extraterrestrials with politics.

This is the “dangerous” scenario we face as humanity because of this.

Tony Milligan wrote a paper that was accepted by the Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union . In this one, exposes this dangerous consequence that would result from mixing the belief that there are extraterrestrial visitors on Earth with politics.

Especially in the United States.

“Confidence is now growing to the point where politicians feel compelled to react. The Pentagon’s release of information about so-called unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) has received a lot of bipartisan attention in the country.

And around the idea of ​​aliens, there is an “anti-elite stereotype” that both factions tend to use, which Military ‘hides deep truth about alien visitations’

According to the various theories and myths that exist about extraterrestrial life, The US military would not tell the public about sightings, abductions and alien technology.

In 2019, a survey by the consulting firm Gallop revealed that 68% of Americans believe that “the United States government knows more about UFOs than it is revealing.”

But according to Milligan, this is a trend that has been going on for decades: In 1976, former President Jimmy Carter promised he would reveal the Pentagon Papers during his presidential campaign.

Hillary Clinton too. And Donald Trump, for his part, has said he will “think about” declassifying the Roswell documentation, which is linked to the alleged UFO crash and the recovery of alien bodies.

Newly During Joe Biden’s term, some Pentagon documents began to be revealed However, so farotherwise nothing related to aliens would have been found.

But the danger remains latent: for the academic, “All of this encourages conspiracy theories that could undermine trust in democratic institutions. There have been humorous calls to storm Area 51, and after the storming of the Capitol in 2021, that now seems an increasingly dangerous possibility.

Milligan assured that He does not consider it right to pay attention to conspiracies, and not so much to the real possibility of finding microbial extraterrestrial life: “Astrobiology, the science that deals with these questions, has a much less effective publicity machine than ufology.”

To illustrate the above, he spoke of Historya Disney-owned YouTube channel where they stream “ancient alien” shows that has over 13 million subscribers. Meanwhile, NASA’s astrobiology channel has only 20,000 subscribers.

“Real science is outnumbered by entertainment.” presented as factual.”

The academic in philosophy of ethics assured that “Stories of alien visitation have also repeatedly attempted to hijack and overwrite the history and mythology of indigenous peoples.”

There are studies and a real network that connects the natives to the space. However, for the expert, UFOlogists would combine real indigenous stories with fictional UFO accounts “repackaged as suppressed history.”

“Ultimately, the modern narrative about extraterrestrial visitation did not emerge from indigenous communities, quite the opposite. It emerged partly as a way for conspiratorial thinkers in a racially torn Europe to “explain” how complex urban civilizations could have existed in places like South America. before European colonization.

In simpler terms, Milligan said that “current accounts of extraterrestrial visitation tend to overwrite indigenous stories about heaven and earth.”

And this would be a problem that would affect not only indigenous peoples, but also society in general, since “threatens our understanding of the past.”

“When it comes to knowing about our distant ancestors, the remains of prehistoric stories are rare and precious, as in the case of indigenous stories about the stars.”

The expert gave an example of the stories of the Pleiades, which date back about 50,000 years.

There are people (who believe that there are aliens) who claim to be “Pleiadians”, or that these humanoids exist: these supposed extraterrestrials are often described as “beings of high spiritual vibration” and “great love for humanity”.

It is, however, striking to note that None of these “Pleiadians” look like the indigenous Lakota or Ojibwa peoples, but “they are remarkably blond, blue-eyed, and Nordic.”

“It is becoming increasingly clear that belief in extraterrestrial visitation is no longer just fun speculation, but something that has real and harmful consequences.”