If we define “UFO” as a spacecraft piloted by extraterrestrial beings, then I maintain this is science fantasy, delusion, and perhaps wishful thinking all rolled into one.
This is not to say that rational creatures don’t exist except on planet Earth. On the contrary, as Carl Sagan explains in his 1996 book “The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, the odds are quite good for other intelligent life in the Universe.
Science to this point just hasn’t found any. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
However, an examination of the many claims of UFO encounters generally (although not always) share commonalities that should arouse skepticism in a scientific mind.
There has never been one CLEAR photograph of an alien spaceship. There has not been even a single “little green man” (or woman) produced. The largest radio telescope in the world (in Puerto Rico) hasn’t found even a lone radio signal that could have been generated by intelligent life, and we’ve been looking for decades.
Beyond the total lack of physical evidence, there is the credibility of so-called witnesses to these supposed encounters with galactic travelers. Many are swayed by feelings and not by logic. Some are highly educated, so intelligence is not the barometer for truth; evidence is.
Roswell, New Mexico is a fine example of how this myth is perpetrated for a very basic reason: money. It’s great business for a town few would bother visiting otherwise. This in no way brings any credence to the claim of an alien ship crashing near there.
Of course many are not motivated by money but perhaps for notoriety. I’m quite sure some are totally sincere; but so are Muslim terrorists and yet we do not believe their claims about 72 virgins in Heaven for crashing planes into buildings. It really is the same thought process: acting on “personal experience” and emotional urges rather than examining a truth claim with a requirement for facts.
In Michael Shermer’s excellent 1997 volume; “Why People Believe Weird Things”, he addresses extraterrestrial beliefs and encounters. Shermer has a doctorate in experimental psychology, and is a renowned authority on debunking supernatural and questionable beliefs that offer no evidence. His findings point to widespread belief in aliens because:
1) Credo Consolans: People believe weird things because they want to.
2) Immediate gratification: Psychics are offered as an example. It feels good to be given an answer even if it makes no sense.
3) Simplicity: Just as some religious beliefs are very dubious, easy is often wrong.
4) Morality and meaning: The acceptance of UFO’s offers the irrestistable taste of a “solved” mystery. This offers a panacea (and sometimes a hysteria) for many “believers”, just as the thought of a global war excites those who look for this as a fulfillment of the “Rapture” prophecy and Jesus’ return.
5) Hope springs eternal: In our pursuit as a species of “bigger and better” and more fulfilling lives, we are willing to take lazy shortcuts and accept ideas that have no basis in fact.
As a scientist I do not mock anyone who “believes” in UFO’s. However, I leave you with this challenge: produce tangible evidence or irrefutable observation, not folksy tales of an experience along a deserted road at three in the morning (and conveniently lacking any good photos), and I’ll “believe” too.
