57 alien species: Are we alone in the universe?
Are we alone in the universe? My natural inclination is to say no. It would be an incredible waste of unused real estate if the universe had gone through all this trouble to create only one habitable world in all its vastness. If the conditions for life are right for us in our relatively peripheral position within the galaxy, then surely somewhere out there is another form of life.
So it came as no shock, when according to the Disclosure Project, an organisation dedicated to uncovering UFO and alien truths, and Sergeant Clifford Stone, an ex-top-secret government worker, that we Earthlings have 57 alien species as potential inter-stellar neighbours. In 2001 the Disclosure Project publicised Stone’s extraterrestrial catalogue. But the conference was hardly convincing. To announce something like this one would need hard evidence, but there was scant mention of all fifty-seven aliens or their origins or purpose of visitation, or any accompanying graphic information. There were no grainy pictures or files or any detailed descriptions which would have been needed for absolute proof. Why couldn’t the Disclosure Project offer anything more than a substandard conference? Where are these aliens now? The most momentous news ever was reduced to a Kolchak moment.
The Disclosure Project also dropped another bombshell, alleging that various secret agencies and aerospace contractors had successfully reversed-engineered alien craft that can travel faster than light. Not only that, but these craft have been exhibited at air shows as advanced human-built craft. If the Disclosure Project had an agenda, I would say that it is to deny humans with the element of self-ingenuity. There was also no detailed analysis of the spacecraft’s technical workings or any physical/digital data for the public domain. Even Star Trek technical manuals have more believable specifications.
To be fair to Sergeant Stone there could indeed be other humanoid races in our galaxy, due to the physics and chemistry of our universe and its ability to create the seedlings of life. Stone is not afraid to come forward, though he will be doubted and his integrity challenged. But is he brave, a whistle-blower, disgruntled, a patsy, a conman, or just part of a military machine that occasionally spits out people who have seen too much? Sergeant Stone might have done better than present his story through the Disclosure Project, a rather obscure outlet, when he could have been better served choosing a more credible news source. How can any independent scientist or physicist verify Stone’s claims without evidence? He should have known this, so far his part Sergeant Stone has failed to convince me.
What did this conference tell us about the state of our national space defences and programmes, our politicians and scientists in on the secret, and the Disclosure Project itself? What is there to be gained? There is no fame from such claims except in UFOlogist and New Age circles; the wider public would not care. Does the Disclosure Project think that they can con people with claims that cannot be substantiated or are they after something bigger? How much publicity did the Disclosure Project get from Sergeant Stone? How many truths have they uncovered in the years since? Seven years later and we are still waiting for answers, waiting for the evidence, waiting for the fifty-seven aliens to be revealed. For their part, the Disclosure Project is just a forum for UFOlogists, alien hunters, and fringe technologists. There is no convincing substance to their project, they have also failed Sergeant Stone and they confirm to the public that they are as much in the dark as we are.
We may, after all, be alone in the universe, but the Disclosure Project and Sergeant Stone must feel even lonelier as they try to convince us otherwise. All that can be said is if the Disclosure Project and Sergeant Stone really believe in what they are saying then it is up to us only to believe them or not. And unfortunately I do not.
