Synastry

 

 

A) Our main questions

 

1.     Looking at the starry sky, on a dark night, far from any illumination, we can see with the naked eye up to a myriad of stars.[1] And we wonder:

 

• Are we alone in the Universe?

• Have we been visited by other civilizations from distant stars?

• Do they look like us?

• Will we ever reach the stars?

• Will we ever find the place where the gods dwell?

• Will we ever be like them?

 

2.     We will try to answer these and other questions now. For this purpose, we will first make a series of assumptions:

 

• Most star systems have habitable planets.

• Primitive life in the Universe is abundant.

• Intelligent life is unique and rare.

• The few most advanced civilizations will have conquered the Universe.

• The concepts of a super- evolved civilization and God are equivalent.

• The scope for mental development of a species is limited.

 

3.     From the above assumptions we can draw some conclusions:

 

Since most star systems have planets, some of these planets will be in the habitable zone of their star system; some of these planets will have had life appear; some of these lifeforms will have evolved into intelligent beings; some of these civilizations will have evolved to the point of interstellar travel. Therefore, in all probability, Earth has already been visited by several other civilizations, and several times in the past.

 

4.     The question why we have not perceived them, or why they have not wanted to be perceived, is related to the last of the preceding assumptions; namely, that the intelligence of a species cannot exceed the limits of its capacity.

 

5.     This last case, along with the rest of the interesting questions we raised above, will be touched on later, to see if we will ever reach the stars, if we will eventually become gods, and what is the best way to live.

 

B) Most, if not all, star systems have planets

 

6.     Before looking at modern observational data about the existence or not of exoplanets in other star systems, we should, first of all, accept the existence of such planets as more or less a given, due to the principle of mediocrity[2] alone. It would be very selfish to believe, contrary to this principle, that, for some arbitrarily privileged reason, we are the only intelligent beings on the only habitable planet in the Universe.

 

7.     Concerning the data, it is estimated that there is, on average, one exoplanet for every other star in our Galaxy.[3] Possibly, this number will increase in the future, as observation methods improve. Obviously, the observational data confirm, from another point of view, the principle of mediocrity, that is, our own star system with seven planets is not the exception, but rather the rule- in this case, of course, the number of exoplanets per star system should be increased.

 

C) Primitive life in the Universe is abundant

 

8.     Although life has never been found on any planet other than Earth, either in another planetary system or in our own, judging by Earth’s history itself, we must assume that life in the Universe is either abundant or relatively easy to appear.

 

9.     In the case of Earth, life first appeared very early in the planet’s geological history, less than a billion years after its creation.[4]  And although about 4 billion years passed from the birth of the Earth to the so-called Cambrian Explosion, which took place about half a billion years ago, this explosion was so violent and ubiquitous that within the next half billion years, until today, all complex lifeforms appeared, including the dinosaurs, right up to us, that is in just 1/10th of the total time our planet has existed.

 

10.  Although we have never been fortunate enough to observe similar biological processes on another planet or satellite of our own or another star system, it is known from laboratory experiments that the basic biological molecules on which living matter is built are relatively easy to produce.[5] It has even been hypothesized that life could have first appeared in interstellar clouds, and then been brought to Earth on meteorites.[6] Also worth mentioning are the microorganisms that live in the hydrothermal vents in the depths of our oceans.[7] Following these observations, it is not at all unreasonable to assume that life can relatively easily emerge on suitable planets in our Galaxy and the Universe, even under adverse conditions.

 

D) Intelligent life in the Universe is unique and rare

 

11.  We previously mentioned that life can appear relatively easily, either on our planet or on another planet in the Universe, even under extreme conditions. But we must emphasize here that we are talking about primitive forms of life. Because although a microbe could survive due to the simplicity of its structure in extreme environments, we do not expect anything similar from a complex lifeform. In other words, we can say that as the complexity of an organism increases, so do its requirements.

 

12.  The detection of intelligent alien life in another planetary system would also mean the end of our cosmic loneliness, as it would prove that we are not alone in the Universe. This has not yet happened, but that does not mean that we are the only thinking creatures in the Universe. We currently rely on programs to detect signals from extraterrestrial civilizations (such as SETI), and in the future our telescopes may become powerful enough to detect the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations from the chemical composition of the atmospheres of the planets these civilizations inhabit.

 

13.  Before, however, proceeding to a rough estimate of the possible number of habitable exoplanets and exo-civilizations, it should be pointed out here that both life and intelligence on other worlds may be very different from our own, as the conditions that have prevailed on another exoplanet where life has appeared may be very different from those that prevailed on our own planet. This is what makes an alien lifeform unique.

 

14.  Also, I would like to further support my belief that although primitive life may be abundant in the Universe, intelligent life must be rare. Life in the form of microorganisms has existed on our planet for about 4 billion years. But intelligent life has existed for the last 200-300 thousand years since the appearance of Homo sapiens. This gives us a ratio:

  

15.  Following the previous ratio, the percentage of exoplanets with intelligent lifeforms will be ten thousand times smaller than the percentage of exoplanets with primitive lifeforms. That is, if, for example, 1/100 of the planets in our Galaxy or in the Universe have had life at some stage of their existence, then it is most likely that only in a small percentage of these, let’s say, 1/10,000, the life that evolved can be considered intelligent. This is the assumption that makes an intelligent extraterrestrial lifeform, in addition to unique, rare.

 

16.  The ultimate logic of this austerity (the assumption that intelligent life is both unique and rare) will be explained below, where we will realize that we ourselves are not as intelligent as we think- a belief which, after all (that is, that we think we are intelligent), is in itself a sign of stupidity, and that the limits of intellectual development of a species are not unlimited.

 

E) There are some exo-civilizations that will have evolved before us

 

17.  Here we will attempt to make an estimate of the possible number, at least of the order of magnitude of that number, of extraterrestrial life forms. For this purpose, I will refer to two texts; the first is by Carl Sagan,[8] the second is mine.[9] In his text, Sagan mentions Frank Drake’s well-known equation:

 

where N is the number of exo-civilizations, R* is the average star formation rate in our Galaxy, f_p is the percentage of stars with planetary systems, n_e is the average number of habitable planets in each planetary system, f_l is the percentage of habitable planets on which life develops, f_i is the percentage of such planets on which intelligent life appears, and f_c is the percentage of those planets on which intelligent lifeforms are sufficiently advanced to be able to communicate with us; finally, L is the life expectancy of developed civilizations.

 

Sagan gives such an estimate of the parameters, that Drake’s equation takes the following values:

Regarding the estimation of the parameter L, i.e. the life expectancy of a technological exo-civilization, Sagan gives two diametrically opposed estimates. Either a technical civilization self-destructs immediately after reaching the communicative phase (L < 10² years); or a technical civilization learns to live with itself immediately after reaching the communicative phase. If it survives this stage (L > 10² years), it will be unlikely to self-destruct afterwards. In the latter case, its lifespan can be measured on a stellar evolutionary time scale (L ≫ 10⁸ years).

 

Sagan himself adopts a value for L = 10⁷ years, and thus a value for the number of technological civilizations in our Galaxy, N = 10⁶, i.e. one million exo-civilizations.

 

He also believes that there exists in our Galaxy a loosely integrated community of diverse cultures, cooperating in the exploration and sampling of astronomical objects and the inhabitants of other worlds. It follows that there is a statistical probability that Earth has been visited by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization at least once during historical times.

 

18.  We should of course note here that the phase during which an extraterrestrial civilization uses radio waves to communicate is finite, and that thereafter they will be able to communicate in ways that are completely unknown to us and therefore undetectable. Also, the one million extra-civilizations predicted by Sagan do not necessarily exist here and now. If we assume that the duration of an intelligent lifeform or, more generally, the duration of the cycle of existence of a species- because nothing lasts forever- is a few tens of millions of years (judging from the appearance of the first mammals on our planet) then just one thousandth out of one million civilizations (that is, a thousand) will exist here and now, since the history of our Galaxy is a thousand times longer (tens of billions of years).

 

19.  I will now briefly refer to the second source I mentioned above, that is my own text, directly quoting the following table, with some simplifications I made:

 

Total number of stars in the Galaxy (100 billion)	Drake frequencies	Sum
Number of stars with planets	fP  = 1	100 billion planets
Number of planets which are habitable	fH  = 10-1	10 billion habitable planets
Number of planets with primitive life	fL = fP × fH = 10-2	1 billion planets with primitive life
Number of planets with intelligent life	fI = fH × fL =10-3	100 million planets with intelligent life
Number of developed communicating civilizations	fC = fL×fI = 10-5	1  million developed communicating civilizations
Number of developed civilizations capable of interstellar travel	fT = fI×fC =10-8	1000 interstellar civilizations

 

 

In the second column I have included Drake’s frequencies, with some variations. For example, the frequency f_H plays the same role as the frequency n_e in Drake’s equation.

 

I have additionally included the frequency f_T, which refers to the frequency of interstellar civilizations (that is, civilizations that can not only communicate by radio signals, but also travel from star to star).

 

20.  The characteristic of such a frequency distribution is that each subsequent frequency is obtained as the product of the two previous frequencies, with the exception of the first frequency. I should of course note that the purpose of this analysis is not to give the exact number of habitable planets and advanced lifeforms, since no observational data is available anyway. It is however indicative of the drop in frequencies as we progress from uninhabited planets, to habitable planets, to planets with life, to planets with intelligent life, etc.

 

21.  That is, even if there are as many planets in our Galaxy as there are stars (hundreds of billions), those with intelligent life will be significantly fewer, even if planets with primitive lifeforms could be common. For example, if we assume that on 1/100 of the planets in our Galaxy life has once appeared during their existence, the fraction of those that will have developed intelligent life will not exceed 1/100 of the previous ones, that is, it will not be greater than 1/10,000 in total. This rarity will be what makes intelligent life so sought after. But even if the chances of the existence of advanced civilizations are slim, these civilizations should exist.

 

F) Even if there is just one sufficiently developed civilization, that civilization will have conquered the entire Universe

 

22.  The previous proposition could be called the principle of selective progress. In other words, intelligence goes to intelligence. About the finite limits of intelligence that a species can develop, I shall say more later on. Here I will mention as an example the so-called Fermi paradox, which is based on the following sequence of reasoning:

 

• There are billions of stars in our Galaxy like the Sun.

• With a high probability, some of these stars have habitable Earth-like planets.

• Many of these stars, and therefore their planets, are much older than the Sun. If Earth is no exception, some planets may have developed intelligent life long ago.

• Some of these civilizations may have developed interstellar travel, something humans are trying to accomplish right now.

• Even at the slow pace of interstellar travel as we now imagine it, our Milky Way could be traversed from end to end in a few million years.

• Since many of Sun-like stars are billions of years older than the Sun, our Earth should have already been visited by some extraterrestrial civilizations, or, if not by them, at least by their probes.

• However, there is no conclusive evidence that this has ever happened.[10]

 

Hence the paradox: “Where are they?”

 

23.  However, if we look back at the assumptions we have initially made, a sufficiently developed civilization would go unnoticed, even if they paid us a visit. And this for two reasons: First, because their technology would be advanced enough so that they would go undetected. Secondly, because even if in some cases there were some indications of their presence (UFO sightings, for example), such indications would be misinterpreted (for example as weather phenomena, errors of our own observational instruments, or, simply, as eyewitnesses’ phantasies).

 

24.  The mere fact of the contact itself would create such panic in those experiencing the contact that, in most cases, the experience itself would be completely repressed, long before the eyewitnesses would even consider sharing their experience publicly. On the other hand, the governments themselves would do whatever necessary to prevent such incidents from getting widespread publicity, so that the governments themselves would not collapse by the social unrest. It is as if someone went to the church and confessed to a clergyman that the night before he saw God before him, and the clergyman told him to forget the whole incident, so that the clergyman wouldn’t show his ignorance about God, and thus lose his credibility.

 

25.  I personally believe that we have been visited repeatedly by more than one of such civilizations at various stages of our evolution. A sufficiently developed civilization would not even need to use spacecrafts, except perhaps exceptionally for direct sampling, since they could well monitor us from a distance with sophisticated means of observation. And all this applies to a sufficiently advanced technological (material) civilization, not, presumably, to beings so advanced that they will have lost their material form, so that they will exist as energy forms, and travel with their own thoughts wherever and whenever they like.

 

26.  As for other civilizations somewhat more advanced than ours, so that they could just reach our own world, the distances between different star systems are so formidable, and interstellar travel seems to be so unprofitable, that the chances of such a marginal visit are very small- the same as those of detecting their weak radio waves. Such a contact would of course be of historical significance, as it would greatly reduce our cosmic loneliness and egoism as a species, but it would not change the central idea of ​​the problem- that is, our acquaintance with our gods and creators.

 

G)  A sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from God

 

27.  The best explanation for Fermi’s paradox is therefore our own disbelief. Why would an exo-civilization that has discovered and reached our solar system try to communicate with us, if we are eager to shoot down their spaceship at the first chance, or if we simply don’t care about their existence?

 

28.  I recently happened to read Descartes’ ‘Method,’ which I believe represents the most convincing proof for the existence of God. According to Descartes’ reasoning, the fact that “I think, therefore I exist” presupposes the existence of God. For if there were no God, who is perfection, I would not have had any idea of ​​perfection, so I would not be thinking, and therefore I would not exist. Therefore, the fact that I am thinking presupposes the existence of God.[11] Whether God’s perfect nature is absolute or relative is, of course, another question.

 

29.  But what will be the form of God? While we usually imagine God as an immaterial Being, and even consider the immaterial, spiritual world superior (I wander why) to the material, everyday world, God could, along with us, have been evolving, originating from the world of ideas, therefore of instincts, reincarnated in the first primitive forms of life, reaching even the stage of the most developed civilization that will ever appear in the Universe.

 

30.  Such a civilization will have appeared long before us, passed the threshold of self-destruction, and will now be able to move freely through the Universe, travel from world to world instantaneously thanks to its very advanced technology, and modify, or terraform so to speak, these worlds to give them life, at will. The technology of such a civilization would certainly be inconceivable. Even the form of such a civilization may be inconceivable, since, in all likelihood, they will have already lost their material appearance, having transferred, for example, to use modern terminology, their consciousness to the memory of a supercomputer.

 

31.  Arthur Clarke’s saying that a sufficiently advanced civilization will be indistinguishable from magic, is well known. We could slightly paraphrase the previous statement by saying that a sufficiently advanced civilization will be indistinguishable from God. Essentially, these two concepts (of a sufficiently advanced civilization and of God) are identical.

 

32.  So, Sagan was not wrong when he believed, as we mentioned above, that the most developed civilizations within our Galaxy, and even within the visible Universe, will have established a kind of federation, with the purpose of cooperation and resolving differences between the different civilizations. But why have we been excluded from this process? Do they despise us because we are too inferior compared to them, or is it just that we ignore them because of our own suspicion and prejudice?

 

33.  I personally believe that as our species evolves, we will become increasingly receptive to an eventual contact with them, in a process which I call cosmic preparation. Such a preparation begins initially with some vague feelings about the existence of extraterrestrials, together with the corresponding sightings of flying objects, and ends up with an actual contact with another extraterrestrial species. In this sense, our experiences and achievements as a species will progress to the same extent as our physical evolution in the history of the Universe.

 

H) The scope of intellectual development of a species is not unlimited

 

34.  Although one might think that the scope of our species with respect to progress is limitless, this could in itself  be a product of ignorance and arrogance. It is certainly not bad to believe in progress, but it is better to set some limits on progress at the same time. Let’s take the monkeys, our ancestors, for example. While monkeys can learn some things, such as using tools (for example, they can learn to put a twig into an anthill to pick up the ants that bite it), they cannot read a book, or handle a computer. This does not necessarily mean that monkeys are stupid; but it means that they are not qualified for such tasks.

 

35.  On the other hand, we humans, while we can all read, write, and operate computers and complex machines, not all of us are able to deeply understand the theory of relativity- and this is not because we are not interested in learning the theory, but because, even if we tried, our mental powers would not be enough.

 

36.  This is related to the so-called Gaussian distribution, which we can examine here in relation to the well- known intelligence quotient (IQ). A characteristic of this distribution is that the results we get are distributed in such a way that the distribution takes the shape of a bell, with most results clustered near the top of the distribution (at the mean), while the most extreme results are found on its edges. In terms of IQ, the average is considered 100, while IQs above 145 are considered rare, if not unthinkable. Here is a diagram for better understanding:

 

Normal distribution and IQ results

 

50% of IQ scores lie between 90 and 110 (0.67σ)

70% of IQ scores lie between 85 and 115 (2σ)

95% of IQ scores lie between 70 and 130 (3σ)

99.5% of IQ scores lie between 60 and 140 (4σ).

 

According to the previous data,[12] Einstein is considered to have had an IQ above 160. The statistical deviation (σ) in the previous example is 15. That is, Einstein’s IQ was 4 statistical deviations above the mean (100). Also, according to the same website, the IQ can reach up to 200, i.e. up to six statistical deviations (6 σ) above the average. I personally believe that Einstein’s IQ was no more than 145 (3σ), and that results more than three statistical deviations from the mean (i.e. more than 145 in this case) are not particularly meaningful, basically because nobody is that smart to determine them (also because sufficiently intelligent people do not make such determinations).

 

37.  Now, just as there is a normal distribution for the intelligence quotient (IQ) of humans, we could imagine a corresponding distribution for the IQ (which in this case I would call the extraterrestrial intelligence quotient, or ETIQ) of intelligent beings in the Galaxy. According to some calculations I made in my aforementioned paper, I concluded that the ETIQ of humans is above average, but that there will be exo- civilizations with much higher ETIQ.

 

38.  Let me also quote a table from my same work, for the sake of greater completeness and better understanding:

 

Type of civilization (K)	ETIQ (Κ×100)	Interpretation
0.052- 0.405	5.2- 40.5	A lifeform is not aware of its existence. All its functions are instinctive.
0.405- 0.758	40.5- 75.8	A lifeform is aware of its existence, but not aware of its intelligence. Although it has sufficient intelligence to alter its natural environment, its behavior remains instinctual.
0.758- 1.111	75.8- 111	A lifeform is aware of its own intelligence, but is unaware of the existence of other advanced lifeforms. Although it uses its intelligence to override its instincts, its behavior remains irrational and destructive.
1.111- 1.464	111- 146	A lifeform is aware of the existence of other advanced lifeforms. Its intelligence has superseded its instincts, and the species has become socially sensitive and environmentally responsible. It is capable of producing specialized artificial intelligence, but does not know how to reproduce intelligence at a fundamental level.
1.464- 1.817	146- 182	A lifeform has sufficient knowledge of its environment, and has communicated with other lifeforms. It is able to create and manage life on other planets. Although the species is fully integrated with artificial intelligence, its natural state is still material.
1.817- 2.17	182- 217	A lifeform has sufficient knowledge of its environment and of the existence of life on other planets within the Universe. It is able to manage intelligence and create life on a fundamental level. It has surpassed artificial intelligence, and the natural state of the species has become immaterial.

 

The Type K of an exo- civilization is according to the so-called Kardashev type, which is given as follows:

 

where P is the power the civilization consumes or produces.

 

For example, in 2021, the total energy (power) consumption on our planet was 18.87 TW (1.887×10¹³W),[13] corresponding to a Kardashev Type 0.73, using the previous equation.

 

The extraterrestrial intelligence quotient (ETIQ), including our own, is given by the simple relationship:

 

Our corresponding ETIQ, according to the previous equation, would be 73. This result may seem small compared to the common intelligence quotient (IQ), but, in this case, the average ETIQ is 40.5, so that our ETIQ will be about one statistical deviation above the mean (the statistical deviation σ here is 35.30).

   

Regarding the first column of the previous table, the Kardashev Type of the exo- civilization is derived according to the solar mass analog (for more information you can refer to my above-mentioned paper). It doesn’t matter so much how these numbers were arrived at, as much as the fact that our ETIQ as a species (although above average as I mentioned earlier) will never reach that of the most advanced beings in the Universe. This is not because we have not yet evolved enough, or because they appeared before us˙ it has to do with the fact that the IQ (as presumably the ETIQ) transition to higher values ​​has some limits. For example, just as a mentally retarded person (e.g. IQ < 70) will never be able to read and write like an average person (IQ = 100), so an average person will never understand in depth Einstein’s theory of relativity or Kepler’s theory of Universal Harmony (e.g. IQ > 130), so an Einstein or Kepler (e.g. IQ = 130) will never understand the deeper origins, the broader consequences, and the ultimate generalization of the aforementioned theories (e.g. IQ > 160).

 

39.  Whatever the correspondence in terms of extraterrestrial intelligence, the bottom line is that there is a limit to the scope of IQ improvement in human terms, and by extension in terms of a species in the Universe, so that I would say that 2 statistical deviations, in all likelihood less, is the margin of improvement (that is, one born with an average intelligence (IQ = 100), will never be able to reach an IQ = 130, no matter how hard one tries) while, at the same time, there could be beings in the Universe who, on the human scale, their average IQ would be, proportionally, 160.

 

40.  Such species will occur naturally in the Universe, in places where conditions will be extremely favorable, and where evolution will take place at a more constant rate than in our own world. These beings will have expanded into the Galaxy and the Universe, they will be making plans to create new worlds, and when they visit us, for one reason or another, they will see us with compassion, just like we (at least the best of us) are dealing with a chimpanzee or a mentally retarded person.

 

I) Evidence for their existence

 

41.  We have seen that our Galaxy, and by extension the Universe, is full of star systems that bear planets, many of which may be habitable, and therefore have life. Even if the transition from primitive to intelligent life is difficult, there will be some civilizations that will have passed the  primitive stage of self- destruction, and will now be able to travel to the stars. Therefore, some of them must have already visited us. So let’s follow their possible tracks.

 

Petroglyphs from Val Camonica, Italy. Proponents of the ancient astronaut theory believe that these images resemble modern astronauts.

 

42.  According to Wikipedia, proponents of the ancient astronaut hypothesis argue that humans are either descendants or creations of extraterrestrial intelligence, beings that landed on Earth thousands of years ago. They suggest that this contact influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies, religions and human biology.

 

They also argue that evidence for ancient astronauts comes from documentary gaps in historical and archaeological records, and that absent or incomplete explanations of historical or archaeological data point to the existence of ancient astronauts. The evidence is claimed to include archaeological objects considered anachronistic, or beyond the accepted technical capabilities of the historical cultures with which they are associated.

 

Other scholars counter that the gaps in modern knowledge are not proof of the existence of ancient astronauts, and that proponents of the ancient astronaut theory have not provided any convincing evidence or physical evidence of an artifact that could be the product of contact with some form of extraterrestrial intelligence.

 

In their book ‘Intelligent Life in the Universe (1966),’ astrophysicists Joseph Sklovsky and Carl Sagan devote a chapter to arguing that scientists and historians should seriously consider the possibility of extraterrestrial contact during recorded history. However, they stressed that these ideas were hypothetical and unproven.[14]

 

43.  I took a look at a Wikipedia’s list of UFO sightings from ancient times to the present day.[15] Generally, these reports speak of “discs of fire that floated in the air,” “ghost ships that shone in the sky,” or flying chariots that raced among the clouds,” etc. Obviously there is no way to confirm these reports, since no such object has ever been excavated.

 

44.  As far as contemporary references are concerned, there are several examples. I will leave aside well- known incidents, such as the incident in Roswell, New Mexico, or the alleged alien abduction of Barney and Betty Hill, or even the interpretation by some, such as Erich von Denniken, that the Nazca Lines were a runway for alien spaceships, and I will focus on the incident with the US aircraft carrier Nimitz.

 

In connection with this incident, several pilots from the Nimitz were directed to intercept one of several unidentified flying objects that had been detected by radar. The pilots reported a visual encounter, and recorded an infrared video. The Navy verified that the video was taken by Navy personnel, and said it has not yet determined the nature of the sightings, which they describe as unexplained aerial phenomena.

 

Specifically, on November 14, 2004, Nimitz pilot David Fravor was dispatched to investigate a flying object off the coast of southern California that had been detected on radar two weeks prior. This object, according to reports, had appeared at an altitude of 24,000 meters, and then descended rapidly towards the sea and stopped at 6,100 meters, where it remained for an hour. Fravor said in his report that he saw an object, white and oval, hovering over an ocean disturbance. He estimated the object to be about 12 meters in length. The same pilot even said in an interview that a total of four people (two pilots and two weapon systems officers in the back seats of two planes) watched the object for about 5 minutes. He also said that as he descended to approach the object, it began to ascend until it disappeared. A second wave of fighter jets took off from Nimitz to investigate the incident, and captured the FLIR video.

 

Two more videos, GIMBAL and GOFAST were taken in 2014- 2015 by fighter pilots of the US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt when UFOs were spotted off the east coast of the United States. All three aforementioned videos are online.[16]

 

45.  Some of the characteristics of modern UFOs are considered to be:

 

Antigravity: Unlike any known aircraft, these objects have been observed to overcome earth’s gravity with no visible means of propulsion. They also lack flight surfaces, such as wings. In the Nimitz incident, witnesses describe the objects as tubular, in the shape of a Tic- Tac candy.

 

Sudden and instantaneous acceleration: Such objects can accelerate or change direction so quickly that no pilot could survive such accelerations. In the Nimitz incident, radar operators say they watched one of the UFOs fall from the sky at 30 times the speed of sound.

 

Supersonic speeds without exhaust gases: If an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound, it usually leaves an imprint, such as vapor trails or sonic booms. Many UFO reports note the lack of such evidence.

 

Low visibility, or distraction: Even when such objects are observed, obtaining a clear and detailed image of them- visually, with a camera, with radar, or by other means- remains difficult. Witnesses generally see only the glow or haze around the objects.

 

Movement in different media: Some UFOs have been observed to move easily in different media and environments, such as space, the earth’s atmosphere, or even water. In the Nimitz incident, witnesses described a UFO hovering over a water disturbance just below the otherwise calm surface of the ocean, leading to speculation that another craft was in the water.[17]

 

46.  A well- known program that recorded UFO incidents for the US Air Force between 1952 and 1969 was Project Blue Book. The purpose of this program was twofold. On the one hand, to determine whether UFOs posed a threat to US national security, and, on the other hand, to analyze scientific data related to UFOs.

 

According to the review of the findings of this program, none of the UFO incidents reported, investigated, and evaluated ever resulted in an indication of a threat. Furthermore, none of the sightings categorized as ‘unidentified’ represented technological developments or principles beyond the range of modern scientific knowledge. Furthermore, there was no evidence to suggest that these sightings were related to extraterrestrial vehicles.

 

By the time Project Blue Book ended, 12,618 UFO reports had been collected, and the conclusion was that most of these reports were misidentifications of natural phenomena (clouds, stars, etc.) or conventional aircraft. Some of the reports could even be explained as flights of experimental military planes. However, 701 reports were classified as unexplained, even after rigorous analysis.[18]

 

47.  The 701 unexplained reports out of a total of 12,618 in Project Blue Book make up about 5% of the cases. A characteristic, I imagine, of these cases is the difficulty of identifying the flying object, or even the purpose of the investigation, because apart from any superior UFO technology which makes them invisible and unapproachable, there is also the difficulty of identifying the reason why we deal with and investigate these objects or phenomena. If our only interest is to find out if we are in danger, or if we can recover some secret weapon to defeat our enemies, then we are not accomplishing great things for our progress as a species.

 

48.  It is noteworthy that in some of these sightings involving our own fighter jets, the UFOs seem to play with them, as if to learn the limits of our technology. Obviously if they wanted they could make their observations completely unnoticed. But it seems that they have come several times, that they have collected as much material as they need about our planet and its species, and that they are now trying to find some way of contact or communication, or perhaps they are even trying to gradually prepare us before manifesting themselves without any guise.

 

49.  Of course, this has to do with exo-civilizations ‘slightly’ more developed than us, for example a few thousand years, not with lifeforms more advanced by millions, or even billions, of years. Because such super- advanced lifeforms, which I have previously identified with our gods, do not even need spaceships to visit us, nor would it make sense to engage us in aerial dogfights. Of course, how far their supervision or sympathy for us could go, nobody knows. After all, these are beings who have reached perfection, an aspect which we may consider but will never reach as a species, as we have already mentioned.

 

J) What is the best we can do?

 

50.  We have seen that, according to the principle of mediocrity, we should not regard our own planet as an exception in the Universe, and that we should therefore expect lifeforms, some of them advanced, to exist on other planets as well. Observational data, after all, which confirm the abundance of planets in other star systems, suggest so.

 

51.  We emphasized, however, that in addition to the principle of mediocrity, we could posit an opposite principle, which we can call the principle of scarcity- that is, although primitive life in the Universe may be abundant, intelligent life must be rare. The very nature of the Gaussian distribution, which we set out above, dictates this: the very clustering of many cultures with the average Kardashev Type (or average ETIQ index) near the mean of the distribution, presupposes the existence of a few highly developed cultures allocated at its extremes.

 

52.  We have already identified these few very advanced civilizations with our gods, and we further formulated the hypothesis that the concepts of God and of a very advanced civilization are identical. I also considered necessary for us to realize not only our ignorance, but also the limits of our knowledge, within the framework of our intellectual capabilities as a species, because these capabilities are not unlimited.

 

53.  So, after these statements and findings, what is the best thing we can do?

 

We look once more at the starry sky, and realize:

 

·       We cannot be alone in the Universe.

·       There will be other civilizations like us to communicate with, while some more advanced civilizations have already visited us. However, they did not consider it necessary to contact us, since we also did not pay attention to them.

·       One day, as things go, we too will reach the stars. But we will not achieve this until we learn to respect the planet we live on, because going to other worlds to destroy them does not make sense, and we may not be allowed to.

·       But no matter how much we evolve, no matter how many other worlds we explore and conquer, we will never reach the place where the gods dwell. Our original specifications as a species are not sufficient for such a thing.

 

54.  This will probably be accomplished by the next species to succeed us- and I am not referring to robots, but to a new, more advanced, biological species when our own cosmic cycle ends. I don’t know how long our cosmic cycle will last. According to one estimate, the lifespan of a species can vary greatly. The fossil record shows that the average lifespan of an invertebrate species is about 11 million years, while mammal species live for about 1 million years. The species that exist today are only a small fraction of the species that have ever existed. If we assume that the average lifespan of a species is 5-10 million years, and that multicellular organisms have been present on Earth for a period of 600 million years, the plant and animal species living today do not exceed 1-2% of the total number of species that have ever existed.[19]

 

55.  If we consider a number of 5-20 extinction events in the last 500 million years[20] (the number obviously depends on the definition and severity of an extinction event), this will give us an average cosmic cycle of 25-100 million years. A cosmic cycle can be defined as the average time period during which a species is given the opportunity to emerge, evolve, and advance enough to avoid its destruction at the end of the cycle. The character and duration of such cycles can be identified with events either natural (e.g. tectonic activity, comets, supernovae, etc.), or artificial (if the extinction event is caused by the same species).

 

56.  In our time we are experiencing the so-called Anthropocene extinction. According to the 2022 WWF Living Planet Report, an average decline of 69% in species populations since 1970 is recorded. In particular, freshwater populations have seen an 83% decline since 1970, more than any other group of species.[21] Mass extinctions are characterized by the loss of at least 75% of species in a geologically short period of time. The modern species extinction rate is estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times higher than the background extinction rate, the historically typical rate of extinction (in terms of the natural evolution of the planet). Also, the current rate of extinction is 10 to 100 times higher than in any of the previous mass extinctions in Earth’s history.[22]

 

57.  Therefore, while we are on the brink of a mass extinction (which has already begun) in our time, the damage we have already done to the environment is irreversible, as it is also believed that it takes around 2 million years for a new species to appear.[23]

 

58.  That is, even if we stopped destroying the environment right now, it would take 2 million years just for new species to start appearing to restore the lost biodiversity. This would mean a prolonged Middle Ages in the evolution of our species, in order to restore the natural balance- before we can move on to the next stage of our cosmic evolution.

 

59.  Some, of course, in our time, are thinking about relocating people to Mars. But what would be the point of being a supposedly technologically advanced species if we were to inhabit a desert planet like Mars? Wouldn’t it be better to live on a green planet, in harmony with nature, even with less technology, or until we find the right technology that won’t destroy the environment?

 

60.  If we consider that the dinosaurs disappeared 65 billion years ago, also taking into account that dinosaurs existed on the planet for hundreds of millions of years, then we may suppose that our cosmic cycle, i.e. the time span of our own species, is in the order of tens or hundreds of millions of years. However, such a span of time seems rather vast compared to the rapid rates of development of our species in just the last few centuries. This is why some have spoken of the so-called technological singularity, that is to say, that modern humans will be fully integrated with artificial intelligence.[24]

 

61.  Personally, however, I believe that our evolution will be completely different. Sooner or later we will discover that artificial intelligence, no matter how fast it is at processing information, cannot acquire the basic properties that distinguish natural intelligence (for example, functions such as intuition, foresight, inspiration, etc.), and, therefore, ‘biological machines’ are clearly superior lifeforms (whereas artificial intelligence cannot even be considered ‘alive’). One way or another, that is, we will understand that protecting the environment and living in harmony with nature should be our first priority, and that traveling to Mars or reaching the stars should be second priority.

 

62.  Our planet will continue to exist for about another 5 billion years (as long as the Sun will exist). If the cosmic cycle of a species is in the order of tens or hundreds of millions of years, then there is room in the future for dozens, or even hundreds, of more advanced lifeforms to appear on our planet. If the next lifeform that succeeds us will be as advanced from us as we are from the dinosaurs, then imagine the IQ of the hundredth species in the line of succession.

 

63.  Evolutionary time is measured on cosmic scales. Trying to imagine what our species will become in the future, how it will evolve, and how the succession from our own species to the next and superior species will come about is as futile as trying to see the petals of a blooming flower opening; but this succession, in the end, will take place without us realizing it.

 

64.  So the best thing we can do, I believe, is to reduce the current rate of uncontrollable progress, in order to give the planet a chance to recover. In any case, we will have to wait 2 million years just to see new species appearing, so that the biodiversity we have destroyed will be restored. In the meantime, we will have to learn to be more spiritual as a species, so that we can integrate ourselves with nature and get closer to God.

 

65.  When our gods understand our true conversion, and recognize our diligent efforts to become a universal species, then they may take the trouble to contact us in order to assist us in our evolution, always within the scope of our capabilities. By that time, of course, in all probability, we will have become so different as a species, or simply been replaced by some other species that will appear in the future, that the whole discussion will have to be transferred to another level.

 

2/22/2023

Painting: ‘The Baptism of Christ,’ Aert de Gelde, 1710. This painting shows a flying saucer-like object emitting 4 columns of light downwards, where the baptism of Christ takes place.

[https://sports.yahoo.com/ufos-discovered-historical-paintings-114905870.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADU6C7A6Na-GGlIYJijHdZhBcCW9ihLo3m6ygz-gHGik41CwydqnxNKr5LdYjKRETP0J4v3Isqxqp6FfSjrQO47yyVtUMANaMffU-DC0KfVc2bX8USlQsDaP9dq_Hdbqqmc8kfJWi0F2lOpuVvymISAKKYDEnxZpDo_QriRgFeXZ]

 

[1] It is thought that with the naked eye we can see up to 10,000 stars.

[https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/how-many-stars-could-you-see-on-a-clear-moonless-night/]

[2] The mediocrity principle simply states that the average prevails in nature. If some things happen to us, the same things should happen to others. If any physical laws apply in our own world, the same physical laws will apply throughout the Universe. Therefore, if there is life on our own planet, there must be life on other planets like ours. In other words, we should not see ourselves or our world differently or preferentially in relation to nature and the Universe.

[3] Around 5,000 confirmed exoplanets have been detected so far, in around 4,000 star- systems.

[https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/]

[4] The first lifeforms that appeared on Earth were colonies of microbes, the so-called stromatolites, about 3.5 billion years ago.

[https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/teaching-resources/life-science/early-life-earth-animal-origins#:~:text=The%20earliest%20life%20forms%20we,is%20produced%20by%20living%20things.]

[5] A well-known experiment of creating organic matter from inorganic matter, a process called abiogenesis, is that of Miller-Urey. The experiment was carried out using a glass container, in which were placed basic inorganic elements, such as water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen. The mixture, which was heated to create water vapor, was also provided with energy in the form of electrical sparks, which simulated natural lightning in Earth’s primordial atmosphere. This water vapor was then cooled, and collected from the base of the vessel, in the form of a liquid solution. After a week during which the experiment lasted, the experimenters managed to locate in the solution 5 of the basic amino acids that make up DNA. Later experiments succeeded in producing even more amino acids, more than those which are found in the genetic material of living beings.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller%E2%80%93Urey_experiment]    

[6] Panspermia is the assumption that life can exist in the Universe, and can be transported through celestial bodies, such as comets, or even through spaceships, thus causing a kind of inadvertent microbial contamination.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia]

Moreover, some scientists argue that the first lifeforms on our planet appeared after the Great Bombardment (meteor shower that fell on Earth 4 billion years ago), thanks to the chemical elements they brought with them.

[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171002161248.htm]

[7] As for hydrothermal vents, which exist in the depths of the oceans, not only microorganisms have been found in them, but also animals, such as fish and crustaceans, which feed on or benefit from the chemical elements and energy released by these vents.

[8] ‘Direct contact among galactic civilizations by relativistic interstellar spaceflight’

[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19630011050/downloads/19630011050.pdf]

[9] ‘Drake’s equation and Fermi’s paradox: Technological singularities and the cosmological exclusion principle’

[https://www.scribd.com/document/599966718/Drake-s-Equation-and-Fermi-s-Paradox]

[10] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox]

[11] “Consequently, as I considered that I doubted, and that, therefore, my being was not perfect (for I clearly saw that it was a greater perfection to know than to doubt), I resolved to seek the source from which I had learned to think something more perfect than myself, and I came to the inescapable conclusion that this must come from some nature which was actually more perfect... in a word, God.”

[https://rauterberg.employee.id.tue.nl/lecturenotes/DDM110%20CAS/Descartes-1637%20Discourse%20on%20Method.pdf]

[12] [http://www.wilderdom.com/intelligence/IQWhatScoresMean.html]

[13] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale]

[14] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts]

[15] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reported_UFO_sightings]

[16] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_UFO_videos]

[17] [https://www.history.com/news/ufo-sightings-speed-appearance-movement]

[18] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Blue_Book]

[19] [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/life-span]

[20] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event]

[21] [https://livingplanet.panda.org/]

[22] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction]

[23] [https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-surprise-for-evolution-in-giant-tree-of-life-20150505/]

[24] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity]