I love a good UFO conspiracy as much as the next guy. However, traveling across the universe and through the vacuum of space to probe some humans seems ridiculous. And while the numbers are clearly on the side of the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligent life, it is hard for me to believe that these same advanced aliens fail to be able to land securely and crash into the the deserts of New Mexico. Although if these are aliens are crashing into our planet, I have new found confidence that we could successfully defend ourselves against a alien invasion. Because while they might be extraterrestrial, they clearly are not all that intelligent.

There are roughly 200 billion stars in the our Milky Way galaxy and there are around 200 billion more galaxies just like it throughout the universe. It would then make sense that there would be at least one other planet circling one of these 400 billion billion stars that fosters intelligent life. Especially because extra-solar planets are being discovered on a weekly basis and we have even found planets that fall into the “Goldy Locks Zone,” whose orbits are the right distance from their stars to allow for biological life. Using all this information, a scientist by the name of Frank Drake devised a equation that took into consideration all of the factors that would need to be aligned in order for intelligent life to exist in the universe. The equation showed that there are likely millions of civilizations throughout the universe and thousands even in our galaxy. (estimated at: 10,000 radio communicating civilizations in the Milky Way)

And so we search the skies for some like us. Organizations like SETI (http://www.seti.org/) dedicate their resources to listening for radio waves from distant stars. Our radio waves from early radio broadcasts have now reached out over 100 light years from the earth and the aliens circling our closest star, 4.3 light years away, are now caught up in the drama of the TV series, LOST.

But after all our searching, there is no definite evidence that we have company in the universe. Some may think that we have looked long enough and that the lack of evidence can be considered proof. However, we have only been listening to the universe’s radio waves for a little over 30 years, and to definitively state that there is no evidence of life is tantamount to scooping a cup of water out of the ocean and concluding that there are no whales in our seas. It will take time, but why not keep looking? Are we afraid that we might find we are not unique?

We are made from the most common chemicals in the universe (H, O, C, N). So the chemicals that make us are not unique, simply their configuration. But perhaps life is a eventuality of complex chemistry. It was very early in the earths history that life arose, in fact, it appeared almost immediately when the earths surface stabilized after the violent period of heavy bombardment. One would think if it was a unlikely happening that it would take billions of years to arise. But then again life seems to make logical sense. On the very basic level, life is simply repeating chemical patterns. Could we then even apply the evolutionary rules of natural selection to chemicals themselves? Would it be to far a leap to say that life itself was naturally selected? That even matter evolves? Because all evolution is proclaiming is that structures that have attributes that promote their continual existence, continue to exist and to multiply. The second law of thermodynamics (order in a closed system always decreases and “entropy” increases) might suggest otherwise but that law is looking at the universe as a whole. In a non-closed system, physics allows for order to increase.

With all this said, I am still weary to believe your UFO story. Well…I believe you saw a UFO, a UNIDENTIFIED flying object, but not a alien. Lets not jump to any conclusions when we see a object in the sky. Too often people see a light in the sky and they claim it was a alien craft visiting earth with no proof other than their ignorance of what the object was. Occum’s Razor is a scientific law that states that usually the simplest answer is the correct one, in biology this is called the law of parsimony. Using this law, I conclude that there was no alien craft because it is more likely that you are simply a idiot. Sorry but not sorry. To over throw this law all we need is some sort of concrete evidence that aliens are in fact visiting our planet and a photo-shopped blurry flying saucer does not count. Instead lets try to get a piece of the craft or maybe even a living or dead alien. Because if it truly a alien craft, as Neil deGrasse Tyson suggests, the technology would be like nothing we have ever seen and the alien will likely not be DNA based. Until that time, please stop mistaking weather balloons and low flying planes for aliens. If we keep doing this, aliens might eventually visit and find the earth to be void of intelligent life.

But like I said the whole alien conspiracy topic is incredibly interesting and I too find myself often falling into the drama of it all. The way I see it; either these people are crazy, they are wanting attention and money, or they actually saw aliens. Any of these three possibilities I find fascinating With that said, I will leave you with my favorite clip from the “Disclosure Project,” a organizational effort to bring together the most reliable sources on the Alien Conspiracy. Clifford E. Stone was supposedly a government employee who worked on recovering crashed alien ships.