Close Encounters of the 5th Kind

In this video you can explore close encounters, this will be relevant and topical probably sooner than most people think. In particular close encounters of the 5th kind.

How Close Are We To First Contact With Aliens

Next year, scientists will send messages to search for aliens

How the “Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligences” community is preparing for humans to talk to aliens.

For the last half-century or so, astronomers around the world have been scanning the cosmos with massive radio telescopes in hopes of finding some sign of intelligent life. This network of alien-hunters comprises the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), but despite all their efforts, the interstellar radio waves have remained quiet. One might even say too quiet.

Humans are preparing to speak with ET

Depending on who you ask, the first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization might happen any day now. Seth Shostak, director of the SETI Institute, has famously predicted that we'll hear from ET within the next two decades. Others, such as the Cornell University astronomer Yervant Terzian are less optimistic -- his probabilistic calculations place the first contact in about 1,500 years, assuming there's anyone left on Earth to receive the call.

But many SETI astronomers aren't content with only scanning the airwaves for signs of ET. Instead, they think we should also be actively reaching out to the cosmos on behalf of planet Earth.

These astronomers occupy a controversial niche within the SETI community known as Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligences or METI. At the forefront of this group is Douglas Vakoch, president of METI International, a research group dedicated to designing and sending messages intended for extraterrestrial recipients.

Some at SETI  say it is a bad idea to contact alitens.

Vakoch and his colleagues at METI International are fighting an uphill battle. Aside from all the technical problems that come with trying to contact aliens, many SETI astronomers think it's a bad idea.

The METI opposition group, which includes scientists like Stephen Hawking, argues that since we have no idea what ET might be like, sending a message into the cosmos comes with a huge existential risk. If the aliens happen to be friendly, no problem. But if they're hostile, that means we're essentially sending out a beacon that says "ATTACK HERE."

A lot of ink has been spilled over whether or not actively attempting to make contact with extraterrestrials is advisable. But despite the arguments to the contrary, Vakoch said he's not worried.

"One of the reasons people are so afraid of METI is that it seems riskier to do something than to do nothing," Vakoch told me over email. "When we try to evaluate the risks and benefits of an unknown situation where we have little or no actual data, we fall back on the most vivid images that come to mind. But just because the first images of alien contact that come to mind are horrific, that doesn't mean they're realistic."

By 2018, METI International hopes to begin sending messages into space. This immediately presents a host of problems, such as: how do you design a message for a species that is totally unfamiliar with any language on Earth?

Over the last 50 years, a number of solutions to this problem have been proposed, ranging from full-fledged mathematical languages to rudimentary chatbots, music, or pictograms. For the most part, SETI scientists are in agreement that the message will have to be strongly rooted in mathematics and physics since these are likely to be the only two types of knowledge we have in common with the ET. METI International is also taking this approach.

"Some of the most prominent messages of the past have tried to cover everything," Vakoch said. "We're taking the opposite approach. Rather than trying to communicate everything [about math, science, and life on Earth], we are focusing on saying a few things very clearly. For our first messages, we are emphasizing the essentials of math and physics."

Another point of consideration is where to send a message. Every year, astronomers are discovering more planets orbiting other stars in the so-called habitable zone. This means the planet is just far away from its host star to host liquid water without it evaporating or completely freezing. Vakoch said METI International will be targeting nearby stars, especially those known to have planets in the habitable zones.  

Finally there's the question of what the message should say. Here too, history has seen a wide variety of answers. At this point, we've sent a Doritos commercial, the molecular formula for alcohol (accompanied with "Cheers!" of course), and a bunch of Craigslist classified ads to other solar systems, as well as more scientifically rigorous messages in which we've attempted to teach an alien recipient about math, science, and life on Earth.

The question of who gets to speak for Earth is a tricky one, especially given the contentious nature of the METI project as a whole. But for now, Vakoch and his colleagues are focused on figuring out how to communicate with aliens so that when we get that first "Hello," we won't be left speechless.

"Many of our most severe problems on Earth today are due to a focus on immediate gratification," Vakoch said. "If future generations of SETI researchers are looking for replies to today's transmissions, committed to a multigenerational scientific project, the very act of continuing to look will be a success in itself, whether or not they ever find life out there."

Source

What To Expect When First Contact Happens With Extraterrestrials

There are aliens out there (and if there aren’t any, it’s just more fun to believe that there are). But if they are out there, how do we find them? Once we find them, how do we contact them? And once we contact them, how do we actually communicate with them?

Wendover Productions made this captivating video that gives some ideas on how to find aliens (look at the stars) and what contacting them would mean (contact between different civilizations is historically, um, not good). But the video actually gets even more interesting when it takes a deeper look into our understanding of how our world works and how our languages work.

Figuring out how to contact aliens is a helluva brain exercise. The languages we speak on Earth all follow roughly the same rules no matter the language (noun and verb structure, word frequency etc.), but it might be silly to assume that aliens can understand our concept of language, since other animals on this planet already communicate differently (color, pheromones, etc.) And even if we could somehow figure out an alien language (like in Arrival), it’s hard to know what their words actually mean, because straight translations of foreign languages don’t always tell the full story without an understanding of their context. It’s hard to communicate without any sort of common ground.

Wendover Productions says maybe we should communicate with math, since math is universal as one plus one will always equals two. Establishing that we know math can help us reach some sort of understanding with them but there’s still just so much more to figure out. Watch the video below to find out more.

Do You Ever Wonder What First Contact With Extraterrestrials Would Be Like?

What would first contact with aliens be like? 

First Contact?

The recent discovery of an Earth-like planet very close to our solar system has sparked renewed interest in extraterrestrial exploration. In this speculative essay, young scientist and writer Angelica Yang speculates what might happen in the not-so-distant future.

Imagine this: You are now part of a Technocrat civilization with the most advanced machines in the world… well, probably the entire universe. Naturally, your curiosity gets the best of you- and your race starts to send nanocraft to explore other solar systems in search of extraterrestrial life. One of the target locations is the Alpha Centauri System, a haven for sci-fi authors and alien enthusiasts.

Twenty years ago, in 2016, a Chilean observatory reported on a potentially habitable planet called Proxima Centauri b within the Alpha Centauri system. This exoplanet is said to have harbored bodies of water since its orbit around its star, Proxima Centauri, was within its habitable zone.

After long years of waiting, news of extraterrestrial creatures has broken the internet. Live feeds on NASA and Twitter are now streaming shaky sound bytes of the inhabitants on Proxima Centauri b. After looping it for a couple of times, you then conclude that it was a transmission from a radio. Perhaps the extraterrestrials also had the same technology as your kind.

On your Facebook wall, you see blurry images of Proxima Centauri b captured by the famed nanocraft. The entire landscape was rocky, with a soft and surreal red glow. Just beyond the rocky terrain, you spot a stream of liquid flowing from one end to another. Water. Didn’t all great civilizations start beside bodies of water?

You switch back to Twitter and find out that your live feed has been updated.  Everyone has been tweeting nonstop about this momentous discovery that new notifications would pile up in seconds. You tap on an article from the UN database and read about the recent creation of the UN Diplomatic Council consisting of linguists, diplomats, anthropologists, government leaders, scientists, and astrophysicists. One of the diplomats mentioned in the article was your classmate, Sam, in college. The Council would then join the owner of the nanocraft spaceships along with veteran astronauts to make first contact with the extraterrestrials.

The communication can go both ways: it can end in peaceful diplomacy or in a violent outburst. Although 6 months will be given to the Council to present their plan of action to the UN Board, you can’t help but think of the distant future. At present, you now stand at the forefront of humanity to witness living, breathing, and human-like creatures from another region of the universe. They could be here already: for all you know, they could be posing as one of you, trying to learn your eccentric Technocrat lifestyles. They could be beautiful, menacing and cruel, just like the aliens in Battlestar Galactica. Or maybe they’d be hostile at first but then accept humans as allies—and so fulfill your dream of embarking on a shared journey to the stars.

Another question that comes to your mind: Can you imagine your kids hanging out with Proxima Centauri b kids? How would they look like in the children’s playground? Will they need some kind of a space suit to help them get acclimatized to Earth’s weather? Will they need to learn how to speak your dialect, or will you need to speak their language? Or maybe you could just install an automated language translator on their space suit.

Of course, scientists will want to discover more about them, their DNA and their body composition. It will be quite a challenge to collect samples, but humans will find ways (they always have). Finally, maybe the world will finally discover if they are Earth’s first ancestors- and you can bet your latest Technocrat gadget that Giorgio Tsoukalos would be very interested in this. There’s this weird theory going around about aliens helping humans build infrastructures and complexes. Maybe that theory will be finally put to rest.

So many questions. Too little answers.

You log off from Twitter and Facebook, planning to get a good night’s rest. After reclining on your bed, you try to sleep but more questions keep pouring in. What if, instead of going to Europe for Christmas, you could spend your hard-earned money on a round trip ticket to Proxima Centauri b? Will they have hotels there? Resorts or casinos? Or will you have to live in makeshift tents, similar to that of the Martian, without the strong winds and sandstorms (hopefully).

Maybe you could even find the love of your life there. Maybe you’ll find out that human girls are not your type. The thought of it makes you laugh aloud. It’s probably not going to happen. But there might be a chance; who knows?

Lucky for Sam who was handpicked by the Council to join in humanity’s first interaction with them. Maybe Sam could show them a bit of Filipino hospitality. They would definitely warm up to people like her. Engineers and scientists could be brusque and concise- you’ve spent a lot of time with the geniuses. And if it ends well, the humans and ‘Proxima Centaurians’ would start off with a great friendship.

But what if they suddenly attack? What if they don't have civilized brains to comprehend speech, language and intention—like animals being threatened out of their habitat? The UN better do a good job in regulating its military forces upon visiting the exoplanet. It would be very difficult to go there, unarmed. There is a small possibility that creatures from other planets might attack the UN Diplomacy Council inside the nanocraft. It’s a very small possibility- but still a possibility nonetheless.

All this thinking is making your head hurt. You roll up the blinds covering your window and gaze at the starry night sky. In this part of the city, where smoke and fog ceased to exist, stargazers and lovers can watch the stars twinkling overhead. Like a bag of silver glitter haphazardly thrown at a dark canvas.

Somewhere, 4.29 light years away, there is another being gazing at the same picturesque view- elated and fearful of your kind. Who knows what the future will bring? The universe will always conspire against you; and move towards a state of entropy, of chaos. But destiny has many ways of coming true, despite the odds.

Today, destiny has brought you and the rest of humanity to the precipice of the Milky Way and beyond. From here, there’s no other direction to go but up, soaring through the night sky, streaking a hundred planets, headed towards the exciting future. And you will be there to see it all.

The Powers That Be Are Preparing Mankind For Extraterrestrial Contact

Scientists & Theologians Come Together To Prepare The World For Extraterrestrial Contact

Renowned” figures in the fields of science, theology, and more have started coming together, especially over the past few years, to discuss the inevitable experience of human beings going through the process of extraterrestrial contact. It’s bound to happen.

Both NASA astronauts and high-ranking military personnel have told us that we are not alone, and that governments are aware of several different extraterrestrial races. It wasn’t long ago when Paul Hellyer, former Canadian Defence Minister stated that the government knows of at least four, or the Edgar Mitchell, the 6th man to walk on the moon told us that he has been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we are not alone, and that ‘they’ have been visiting us for years. (source)

There is a serious possibility that we are being visited and have been visited for many years by people from outer space, by other civilizations. Who they are, where they are from, and what they want should be the subject of rigorous scientific investigation and not be the subject of ‘rubishing’ by tabloid newspapers.– Lord Admiral Hill-Norton, Former Chief of Defence Staff, 5 Star Admiral of the Royal Navy, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee (source)

Perhaps it’s stories like the one that came out of Zimbabwe decades ago, where Harvard professor John Mack, heavily sponsored by Lawrence Rockefeller, uncovered a case of more than 60 school children witnessing a large craft landing with alien beings emerging from it. You can read more about that here. The list literally goes on and on.

Last time a  big gathering happened, publicly disclosed gathering like this took place was a few years ago, when

NASA and the Library of Congress have teamed up to bring together scientists, theologians, philosophers and historians from around the globe for a two day symposium in order to discuss how to prepare the world for extraterrestrial contact, whether it be microbial organisms or intelligent beings.

They looked at all scenarios about finding life.

Here is a statement from Astronomer, the symposium organizer and former chief NASA historian, Steven J. Dick.

“We’re looking at all scenarios about finding life. If you find microbes, that’s one thing. If you find intelligence, it’s another. And if they communicate, it’s something else, and depending on what they say, it’s something else! The idea is not to wait until we make a discovery, but to try and prepare the public for what the implications might be when such a discovery is made. I think the reason that NASA is backing this is because of all the recent activity in the discovery of exoplanets and the advances in astrobiology in general. People just consider it much more likely now that we’re going to find something — probably microbes first and maybe intelligence later. The driving force behind this is from a scientific point of view that it seems much more likely now that we are going to find life at some point in the future.” – Astronomer, symposium organizer and former chief NASA historian, Steven J. Dick. (source)

One of the theologians present was Brother Guy Consolmagno, who is the new president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. This is what he had to say:

“I believe [alien life exists], but I have no evidence. I would be really excited and it would make my understanding of my religion deeper and richer in ways that I can’t even predict yet, which is why it would be so exciting.” (source)

 He is urging the public not to be surprised when extraterrestrial life is discovered, because it is inevitably going to happen. He even said that he would be happy to baptize them, if it’s intelligent extraterrestrial life that’s discovered. The Vatican has been very open to the idea of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and they’ve expressed these views for a very long time.

The Other Probability – Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life Is Already Here

In the United States, at least half of all Americans say that we’re not alone in the universe. Fifty percent of Americans already believe that there is some form of life on other planets, while only seventeen percent think that there is not. A quarter of Americans believe that intelligent extraterrestrial visitors have already come to Earth and have been doing so for a long time. (source)

Here’s one of them:

“Yes there have been crashed craft, and bodies recovered. We are not alone in the universe, they have been coming here for a long time.” (source) (source) – Apollo 14 Astronaut, Air Force Captain, and Founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Dr. Edgar Mitchell

There are multiple reasons why the extraterrestrial question continues to gain popularity. People are starting to ask questions about the world around them, utilizing critical thinking and investigation. After thoroughly researching this topic you will be hard-pressed to deny that we are not alone, and we are being visited.

The Size of the Universe

How often do you look up into the night sky and wonder just how many stars, planets, galaxies, and more are out there? Space has always been deeply fascinating to scientists, philosophers, artists – just about everyone, in fact. What is it about deep space that so forcefully grabs our attention? To think about just how big the universe is can really put things into perspective.

Counting the stars in the universe is like trying to count the number of sand grains on a beach. It’s an effort in futility. Although estimates vary among different experts, the general consensus is that there are at least between 100 billion and 200 billion galaxies in our universe. Think about that for a moment, and now throw in billions of stars in each galaxy! (source) This number could very easily be in the trillions for all we know.

Take the Milky Way Galaxy for example, which measures to about 120,000 light years across (it would take light that many years to travel across the galaxy), and contains up to 400 billion stars. (source)

Scientists estimate that at least 10 billion habitable Earth-sized planets exist in the Milky Way alone (which is, again, just 1 galaxy out of billions), but it’s important to keep an open mind about the necessary conditions for life. Some extraterrestrial lifeforms could require an entirely different environment in order to thrive. Accordingly, all habitable planets do not necessarily need to be Earth-like.

Given our estimation of the size of the universe, or multiverse (whatever you want to call it), odds are we are not alone.

Whistle Blowers

The past few years have seen a surge of whistleblowers coming out and saying some pretty remarkable things. Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange have received the most attention, but the reality is that there are hundreds of whistleblowers who have come forward with verified credentials and backgrounds. Mass surveillance and the security state are not the only things shocking people around the world, it’s the fact that many of these whistleblowers claim that we are not alone in the universe. They might be easy to ignore, too, if it weren’t for the impressive backgrounds these people have in their respected fields.

The first one that comes to mind is Paul Hellyer, Former Canadian Defence Minister, the man responsible for unifying the Canadian Air Force, Army, and the Navy into one united group now known as the Canadian Forces. For someone with such a background to come out and make these extraordinary claims was pretty shocking indeed, and definitely grabbed the attention of many people.

“Decades ago, visitors from other planets warned us about the direction we were heading and offered to help. Instead, some of us interpreted their visits as a threat, and decided to shoot first and ask questions after. Trillions of dollars have been spent on black projects which both congress and the commander in chief have deliberately been kept in the dark.” (source)

Read more about “black projects” HERE.

“In one of the cases during the cold war, 1961, there were about 50 UFOs in formation flying South from Russia across Europe. The supreme allied commander was very concerned and was about ready to press the panic button when they turned around and went back over the North Pole. They decided to do an investigation and they investigated for three years and they decided that with absolute certainty that four different species, at least, have been visiting this planet for thousands of years. There’s been a lot more activity in the past two decades, especially since we invented the atomic bomb.” (source)

Paul Hellyer isn’t the only one making extraordinary statements, at least a dozen NASA astronauts have done the same. Just like Dr. Edgar Mitchell’s quote, other astronauts have said some remarkable things. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

“There is abundant evidence that we are being contacted, that civilizations have been monitoring us for a very long time. That their appearance is bizarre from any type of traditional materialistic western point of view. That these visitors use the technologies of consciousness, they use toroids, they use co-rotating magnetic disks for their propulsion systems, that seems to be a common denominator of the UFO phenomenon.” (source) – Dr. Brian O’Leary, Former NASA astronaut and Princeton physics professor

“In my opinion I think they were worried that it would panic the public so they started telling lies about it. And then I think they had to tell another lie to cover their first lie, now they don’t know how to get out of it. Now it’s going to be so embarrassing to admit that all these administrations have told so many untruths, it would be embarrassing getting out of it. There are a number of extraterrestrial vehicles out there cruising around.” (source) – Gordon Cooper, Former NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer and test pilot. One of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first manned space program of the United States.

The list goes on and on, the latest in NASA Astronaut statements about UFOs came from the 2005 International Space Station (ISS) Commander, Leroy Chiao. You can read more about that HERE.

Here is a video of John Podesta, who was recently appointed as councillor to Barack Obama, supporting UFO disclosure.

Some of the most extraordinary statements about UFOs and extraterrestrials come from persons who have held some of the highest positions known – those who would be in a position to ‘know’ about possible extraterrestrial encounters.

“Behind the scenes, high ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense.” Former head of CIA, Roscoe Hillenkoetter, 1960 (source)

“There is a serious possibility that we are being visited and have been visited for many years by people from outer space, by other civilizations. Who they are, where they are from, and what they want should be the subject of rigorous scientific investigation and not be the subject of ‘rubishing’ by tabloid newspapers.” (source) – Lord Admiral Hill-Norton, Former Chief of Defence Staff, 5 Star Admiral of the Royal Navy, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

” Everything is in a process of investigation both in the United States and in Spain, as well as the rest of the world. The nations of the world are currently working together in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon. There is an international exchange of data.” – General Carlos Castro Cavero (1979). From “UFOs and the National Security State, Volume 2,″ written by Richard Dolan.

The list of military whistleblowers is extensive, there are hundreds of them and hundreds of quotes to choose from. To view military whistleblowers (with verified backgrounds) give a press conference at The National Press Club about UFOs deactivating nuclear weapons, click HERE. You can also look up Dr. Steven Greer and the disclosure project.

The list of quotes from all fields, from many people, is outstanding. I could literally fill pages upon pages so I’ll stop here, I think you get the picture.

“There is another way whether it’s wormholes or warping space, there’s got to be a way to generate energy so that you can pull it out of the vacuum, and the fact that they’re here shows us that they found a way.” (source) – Jack Kasher, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus of physics, University of Nebraska.

In this clip, it seems he (Dr. Jack Kasher)  is referring to FREE ENERGY. 

“This thing has gotten so highly-classified… it is just impossible to get anything on it. I have no idea who controls the flow of need-to-know because, frankly, I was told in such an emphatic way that it was none of my business that I’ve never tried to make it to be my business since. I have been interested in this subject for a long time and I do know that whatever the Air Force has on the subject is going to remain highly classified.” – Senator Barry Goldwater, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee (source)

The Evidence of UFOs

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have been a topic of interest for decades, and with the recent release of thousands of previously classified government documents, we now know without question that government, military, and other defence agencies have had a high level of interest in this topic for a very long time.

These files indicate that objects are commonly tracked on both air and ground radar, as well as visually confirmed by the pilots who are sent out to intercept them.

Everything is in a process of investigation both in the United States and in Spain, as well as the rest of the world. The nations of the world are currently working together in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon. There is an international exchange of data. – General Carlos Castro Cavero (1979). From UFOs and the National Security State, Volume 2, written by Richard Dolan.

For instance, here is an excellent example of a defence intelligence agency report detailing what commonly happens when a UFO is tracked on radar, and pilots attempt to intercept it (one of thousands). Apart from traveling at tremendous speeds and performing impossible maneuvers that no known aircraft can perform, when military jets enter the object’s vicinity, they usually experience critical instrumentation failure.

When President Truman made the statement that they discuss this issue at every conference that the government has held with the military, many people took notice. Peter Andrew Sturrock, a British scientist and an Emeritus Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford University, reminded us decades ago that we need to move forward with UFO research; this was in the 1960s. He stated that:

If it does indeed turn out that there is relevant physical evidence, if this evidence is carefully collected and analyzed, and if this analysis leads to the identification of several facts concerning the UFO phenomenon, then will be the time for scientists to step back and ask, What are these facts trying to tell us? (source)

After that, we had scientists like Dr. Jacques Vallee, notable for co-developing the first computerized mapping of Mars for NASA, and for his work at SRI International on the network information centre for ARPANET, a precursor to the modern Internet, publishing work in peer-reviewed scientific journals. For example, a study published in Scientific Exploration titled “Estimates of Optical Power Output in Six Cases Of Unexplained Aeriel Objects With Defined Luminosity Characteristics.” Apart from performing impossible maneuvers, the files also indicate some sort of electromagnetic effect when craft enter the vicinity of some of these UFOs. Critical weapons and electronic systems completely shut down. You can read about a classic example of that from two Canadian military pilots here.

To read about more examples, you can read this article we published on the topic a few years back. These are truly astonishing cases.

Above is just a tidbit of information regarding the UFO phenomenon. This field is littered with information ranging from declassified documents, from video footage, to statements from some of the ‘highest-ranking’ military and political people in the world.

So, ask yourself, why has it taken so long to accustom people to the fact that these objects are real, do exist, and have possibly existed well before the existence of modern day humans? Former head of the CIA, Roscoe Hillenoketter told theNY times in 1960 that:

Behind the scenes, high ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense.

Here is an excellent video summarizing the UFO problem up in 10 minutes, give by UFO researcherRichard Dolan, given at the citizens hearing on disclosure organized by Steven Basset. It was a conference that gathered academicians, high ranking military and political personnel from around the world. I’ve used it multiple times in my articles so forgive me if you’ve already seen it.

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Aliens Are Finally Ready To Make An Appearance And The Governments Plan is, Well... Pretty Lame

Aliens Are (Maybe) Finally Knocking. The Pentagon's Plan Is Underwhelming.

gremlin/iStock

Paul Gilster, who blogs about deep space exploration and other interstellar issues, broke the news on his blog that in May 2015, a team of Russian scientists had detected an interesting signal coming from a star system about 95 light-years from Earth. Gilster was very measured in his report, noting that "no one is claiming that this is the work of an extraterrestrial civilization, but it is certainly worth further study." The researchers involved believe the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, a nonprofit organization that's looking for life in the universe and has the equipment to scan the skies for signals from deep space, might follow up on the lead.

But that didn't stop others from going wild, most notably the New York Observer, which published an attention-grabbing story Monday titled "Not a Drill: SETI Is Investigating a Possible Extraterrestrial Signal From Deep Space."

SETI is, in fact, scanning for the signal, according to Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the organization, who discussed the matter in a blog post available on the group's website. "Could it be another society sending a signal our way?" he wrote. "Of course, that's possible. However, there are many other plausible explanations for this claimed transmission—including terrestrial interference. Without a confirmation of this signal, we can only say that it's 'interesting.'"

UFOs, extraterrestrials, and life in outer space has gained new currency over the last year or so. Last fall, a team from Yale University announced they had found a star that gave off such unique light patterns that some speculated it was being orbited by an alien megastructure. Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman, John Podesta, have both repeatedly discussed the need for the release of information about US government research into extraterrestrials. (You can read more about Clinton's history with the UFO issue that goes back more than 20 years here.) A week ago, scientists announced they had found a potentially life-supporting, Earthlike planet just 4.5 light-years away, within Earth's closest celestial star system neighbor.

This whole thing got us thinking: What would happen if extraterrestrials not only reached out to communicate but showed up on our doorstep? Is there a plan?

Mother Jones put this question to the Department of Defense last fall when they profiled Stephen Bassett, the only registered lobbyist in Washington whose major focus is to force the US government to reveal what it knows about extraterrestrials contact with the human race. To people like Bassett, the question of what to do when they show up is moot because it has already happened; the people who need to deal with it already are.

The Department of Defense does not agree. Here's the answer I got from them: "The [Department of Defense] does not maintain plans for hypothetical dangers for which we have absolutely no information—either to the likelihood of the danger, or to what form the danger would take." For what it's worth, the DoD spokesman also said the department doesn't have an office or organization that handles "issues related to UFOs and/or extraterrestrials," and the DoD has never interacted with or recovered any kind of material related to extraterrestrials.

"Whatever it is would be so far beyond us it would look and appear magical or spiritual, totally beyond our ability to cope with or resist if hostile. If such an event occurred we'd simply have to muddle through as best we could." 

Do we really not have any plans in place should we be contacted by an alien race? I checked the DoD's answer with Christopher Mellon. A former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and staff director of the Senate Intelligence Committee, among other roles, he said, "I think you got an honest answer from DoD. How would you plan for the arrival of an advanced civilization without any understanding whatsoever of their capabilities, technology or intentions?" He added that his sense was that the government had "little if any idea" of what we'd be up against and "whatever it is would be so far beyond us it would look and appear magical or spiritual, totally beyond our ability to cope with or resist if hostile. If such an event occurred we'd simply have to muddle through as best we could." 

"Meanwhile," he says, "DoD has an overflowing plate already and I suspect the Joint Staff has little patience for such seemingly unlikely, open-ended and ill-defined scenarios."

Nick Pope, a former official with the British Ministry of Defense whose job it was to investigate UFO sightings, doesn't think powerful governments should get off that easy. He told me Tuesday he's long advocated some sort of contingency plan but never saw any evidence that the British or US governments had one. When he asked colleagues in the intelligence and military world about plans, "there was no real enthusiasm for it. It was a combination of skepticism and almost this feeling that this was the ultimate taboo, that something like this could just not be put down on paper."

Pope said news about a potential signal from another civilization should trigger a whole series of thorny questions: Is this just a signal letting us know they're there, or is there information encoded within it? If there is information in it, can we decode it? Should we? If we could, should that information be disclosed? Who should control the information in the signal, if there's anything there?

That's a far cry from a scenario that finds us dealing with an extraterrestrial craft in orbit around Earth or actually landing. "The No. 1 priority would obviously be avoiding getting in a fight with these people," he said. But what do we do then? Who's in charge? Who speaks for planet Earth? What is the message?

Pope admits that the possibility of this scenario playing out is minuscule, describing it as "the ultimate low probability, high impact scenario." But, he said, "We don't need to go into Star Trek territory to say it's possible we could be visited. That being the case, it just seems prudent to have a plan."