I think it would be a disaster. The extraterrestrials would probably be far in advance of us. The history of advanced races meeting more primitive people on this planet is not very happy, and they were the same species. I think we should keep our heads low. Professor Stephen Hawking
Travis Walton argues that he failed the test because he was excessive nervous as a result of his recent encounter with aliens. Horizon: The Case of the UFOs, BBC 1982
It’s a hot and humid July in 2001. And something very strange has happened on planet Earth. Here is southern India many villages are the focus of a possible alien invasion. It starts with rain. Red rain. The local people were horrified. Horizon: We Are the Aliens? 2006 re downfall of red rain southern India, BBC 2001
The particles weren’t dust at all. They were alive. But what was this mysterious life-form? There was only one way to find out: take a look at the DNA. The results came back: there was no DNA. It was life but not as we know it. ibid.
The discovery of DNA in the red rain cells has been corroborated by another lab. Yet this recent finding has done nothing to dent Chandra’s unshakable belief that the red rain is extraterrestrial. He believes that all life in the cosmos will probably share various types of DNA. ibid.
Around the world there are a group of highly intelligent and highly trained scientists that share a surprising belief: for these scientists the vastness of our universe can mean only one thing: the existence of life. Horizon: Are We Alone in the Universe? BBC 2008
Back in 1960 Frank Drake went about creating an equation that would answer the big question once and for all. ibid.
Gliese 581c: the smallest and most-Earth-like exoplanet ever discovered. ibid.
For decades some have suspected there might be others out there. Beings capable of communicating with us. Even visiting our world. Horizon: Strange Signals from Outer Space, BBC 2017
The Lorimer Burst: ‘This signal that was so bright and apparently so far away it was completely unlike anything they’d seen before.’ ibid. Duncan Lorimer
A deafening lack of any communication from extraterrestrials has become known as the Great Silence. ibid.
The Wow! Signal: the most famous cold case in the search for extraterrestrials. ibid.
Have We Visitors From Space? Life magazine, 1950s article (Marilyn Monroe front cover)
Throughout history, looking at many cultures around the world, we often hear of beings coming down from the sky. And we often read of imagery of UFOs. They would have arrived in their ancient spacecraft. They would have had an unusual appearance. They would have spoken with a lot of wisdom and knowledge, so primitive man would have been overwhelmed by these experiences, and fell into the trap of worshipping them as gods ... We have depiction of UFOs in artwork. Matthew Hurley, The Alien Chronicles
We have to have an open mind. Open your mind to the possibility that a civilisation could exist that is a million years ahead of us. I say, find me a law of physics that prevents contact between civilisations that are a million years ahead of us. Professor Michio Kaku
So let me make a prediction – and that is some time by mid-century we might make contact with an intelligent civilisation in outer space. Michio Kaku, address Physics of the Future
No Government agency is currently responsible for investigating UFOs because there is no factual evidence that alien life exists on other planets or that UFOs are related to aliens. NASA letter to President Clinton
I did attempt to find out if there were any secret government documents that revealed things. If there were, they were concealed from me too. And if there were, well I wouldn’t be the first American president that underlings have lied to, or that career bureaucrats have waited out. Bill Clinton
If suddenly there was a threat to this world from some other species, from another planet outside in the universe, we’d forget all the local differences that we have between our countries. Ronald Reagan
Cannot swords be turned to ploughshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war? Ronald Reagan, address to UN September 1987
What if all of us in the world discovered that we were threatened from a power from outer space from another planet? Wouldn’t we all of a sudden find that we didn’t have any differences between us at all? Ronald Reagan
The UFO phenomenon is not necessarily flesh and blood beings but are a race of highly evolved spiritual entities who have attained what we refer to as godhood and power over the elements of Nature and Physics. Age of Deceit: Fallen Angels and the New World Order, 2012
There’s a fascinating frailty of the human mind that psychologists know all about, called ‘argument from ignorance’. This is how it goes. Remember what the U stands for in UFO? You see lights flashing in the sky. You’ve never seen anything like this before and don’t understand what it is. You say, ‘It’s a UFO!’ The U stands for unidentified.
But then you say, ‘I don’t know what it is; it must be aliens from outer space, visiting from another planet.’ The issue here is that if you don’t know what something is, your interpretation of it should stop immediately. You don’t then say it must be X or Y or Z. That’s argument from ignorance. It’s common. I’m not blaming anybody; it may relate to our burning need to manufacture answers because we feel uncomfortable about being steeped in ignorance. Neil deGrasse Tyson, ‘Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier’
How did the universe, our planet, how did we ourselves come to be? Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nova: Origins: Where are the Aliens? PBS 2004
Faces with two eyes, two nostrils and a mouth below – this configuration came from a common ancestor. ibid.
Drake reasoned that if aliens were transmitting radio signals of their own we might be able to detect them. ibid.
Frank Drake came up with an equation to guide him ... The now famous Drake Equation. ibid.
Human beings are under the control of a strange force that bends them in absurd ways, forcing them to play a role in a bizarre game of deception. Dr Jacques Vallee, Messengers of Deception p20
The UFO phenomenon represents a manifestation of a reality that transcends our current understanding of physics ... The UFOs are physical manifestations that cannot be understood apart for their physic and symbolic reality. What we see in effect here is not an alien invasion. It is a control system which acts on humans and uses humans. ibid. pp 209-210
The structure of abduction stories is identical to that of occult initiation rituals. Dr Jacques Vallee
In the deepest sense the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves. Carl Sagan
Occasionally, I get a letter from someone who is in ‘contact’ with extraterrestrials. I am invited to ‘ask them anything’ ... So I ask things like, ‘Please provide a short proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem. Or the Goldbach Conjecture’ .... I never get an answer. Carl Sagan
When that truth of alien intervention in our planet’s affairs and our ongoing contact with an alien culture is finally revealed, it won’t be frightening even though it will be a shock. Colonel Philip Corso, former President Eisenhower’s National Security Council staff 1997
I have been over the years very sceptical like many others. But in the last ten years or so, I have known the late Dr Alan Hynek – who I highly admire. I know and currently work with Dr Jacques Vallee. I’ve come to realize that the evidence is building up to make this a valid and researchable question. Further, because my personal motivation has always been to understand our universe better, and my own theoretical work has convinced me that life is everywhere in the universe that has been permitted to evolve, I consider this a very timely question ... By becoming more involved with the serious research field, I’ve seen the evidence mount towards the truth of these matters. I rely upon the testimony of contacts that I have had – old timers – who were involved in official positions in government and intelligence and military over the last 50 years. We cannot say that today’s government is really covering it up – I think that most of them don’t know what is going on any more than the public. Dr Ed Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, MSN interview 1998
I feel that they’re everywhere out there and they’re doing interstellar travel – we’ll think differently about ourselves once we accept that. Story Musgrave