The question of believing aliens may seem completely innocent. But the reality is much more complicated. If someone believes in the existence of extraterrestrial life (primitive or intellectual), then this is tied to a belief in abductions, UFOs and government secrets. But let's think about this. Why have there been fewer reports of alien abductions with the advent of cameras on mobile phones?
UFO hunters and ufology perceive June 8, 1947 as the official date of the beginning of a mass agiotage around the newcomers. Simply put, this is the date of the Roswell incident. Rumors say that a group of aliens crashed on a spaceship in Roswell, New Mexico, after which the government hid all the evidence.
But the problem is that all the hints and stories of witnesses about this incident do not have any evidence. There is no solid scientific research. In the 1975 essay, “The Missile Dutchman”, Isaac Asimov, explained the problem, considering only the testimony of the UFOs as “evidence”.
Isaac Asimov wrote:
“Witness testimony from a small number of people, not confirmed by any other evidence, is useless. There is not a single mystical conviction that is not supported by numerous eyewitness accounts ”.
Azimov believed that for real scientific research impartial data is needed. Of course, the X-Files fans will say that the lack of evidence confirms the fact of the cover-up. But Azimov calls such arguments "one of the main charms of the intellectually weak."
In recent years, the phenomenon of UFO sightings and stories about alien abductions are perceived as social fads rather than news and scientific facts. Writer Jack Womack collected a collection of UFO ephemera in the book “Flying plates 2016”. This attempts to catalog the beliefs of those who were obsessed with outlandish stories.
Womack writes:
“I can study tuberculosis without hurting them. I can study the Bible as an atheist. And I can explore UFOs without being a supporter of this idea. ”
But Womack in his work came to more interesting conclusions:
“Thanks to research and empirical observations, the number of UFO reports was significantly reduced at the beginning of the 21st century”.
The writer believes that the main reason was the increase in the number of smartphones with cameras. It makes sense. The 80s and 90s were the peak of UFO interest in the United States. Where is the evidence? Rumors were based on the testimony of witnesses who could not confirm their observations. Now enough to get a smartphone to shoot everything on the camera. Of course, if you have something to shoot. In 2012, Joe Nickell and James McGaha presented their theory of Roswell Syndrome. They believe that all these UFO stories are just a consequence of the mass interest, panic and abundance of rumors spread by the media. They also predict that this topic will soon disappear, and something else will take its place.
But there are predictions that the UFO theme will revive again. If for a long time something is considered wrong and absurd, then faith in it increases with a vengeance. McGaha compares this to a “new and more dangerous strain of the virus.”
The authors say that modern alien hunters are always looking for any oddities to confirm their faith, ignoring other theories, facts and scientific explanations. Nickell and McGaha are happy to believe in the existence of aliens and your stories. Just do not forget the next contact event to take a selfie with an alien.
