Who that?
From my early childhood to this very day I have been a fan of science fiction. I think I might have every John Carter of Mars paperback – albeit old and rag tailed. I read Asimov, Heinlein, Delany, Niven, Clarke, Bradbury, Dick, Le Guin, Herbert, Zelazny, Anderson, Silverberg, Pohl, McCaffrey, Ellison, and Norton. Maybe the golden age of science fiction was in my youth. Today’s writers are generally less gifted. I ended my subscriptions to Asimov’s and the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction because the stories tend to be dismal, antibusiness and leftist. Oh for another Robert Heinlein! Today’s authors that I do read include Joe Haldeman, Neil Gaiman (you must read Stardust), John Scalzi, the late Octavia Butler and Andy Weir (although I did not care for Artemis). I am also a fan of fantasy and Gaiman, Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Le Guin are in that category too along with Anne McCaffrey, J.R.R. Tolkein, Nnedi Okorafor and J. K. Rowling. I really like Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing despite all the foul language and explicit sex. The other two, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm are disappointing.
So given my love for science fiction and fantasy it probably comes as a surprise that I could care less about aliens (please no snide remarks about Appalachians) and UFOs. Given the vastness of the universe it would almost defy the odds if we were the only intelligent (?) life out here. Currently scientists are searching the stars to find life that is carbon based, on the same building blocks as ours. That may just be for convenience sake and is the easiest way to define intelligent lifeforms. We may find aliens – or more than likely they will find us. They may be benign as the first Vulcans who landed and encountered Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek. Or they may be Kanamits in Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone episode whose book To Serve Man turned out to be a cookbook.
But I really just don’t care. So when the Department of Defense released the long awaited UFO files and videos on government knowledge of extraterrestrial phenomena it was really a nothing burger. Just looked like a bunch of dots to me. Remember when former President Barack Obama told a podcaster that aliens were real and Fox’s Peter Doocy asked President Trump directly about the existence of aliens? Trump said of Obama “He gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that. I don’t know if they’re real or not. I can tell you, he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that – he made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information.” So there must be something there – right? Roswell anyone?
Here is Trump’s statement on the release of the information: “Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
My congressman Tim Burchett has in particular seemed obsessed with UFOs (no snide remarks about Appalachians remember). I wonder if he has read Jonesborough’s Tom Deaderick’s Lost Cove series? Burchett has been a vocal voice on Capitol Hill about investigating unidentified flying objects (UFOs), unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and outer space activity. He said I’ve been briefed by just about every alphabet agency there is. And, I’ll just say this, if they were to release the things that I’ve seen, you’d be up at night, worrying about, thinking about this stuff.” Burchett said he was briefed on an issue that “would have set the Earth” on fire if revealed. “This country would’ve come unglued, I think, if they [the public] would’ve heard all that I heard. They would demand answers.”
People magazine’s article said that “Burchett alleged that the reason why information fails to be made public is that those who are briefed on the situation go missing or die, referencing Newsmax’s report about multiple defense scientists who have reportedly vanished or died in the last year. Burchett then shared, “For the record, I’m not suicidal.”
https://people.com/congressman-alien-briefings-youd-be-up-at-night-11941777
I can just hear the Twilight Zone’s music in my ears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVSRm80WzZk&list=RDXVSRm80WzZk&start_radio=1
In the end, I remember my sainted mother remarking on a group of scientists sending radio signals into space to see if they could get a return message. The nearest galaxy is the Andromeda galaxy which is 2.5 million light years away. The closest dwarf galaxy is the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal galaxy which is 70,000 light years away. Mom said “It will take a million years for them to get a message from us saying “who that?” Then it will take another million years for us to get their answer, “who that that wants to know who that?””
Happy Mother’s Day
haroldblackphd.com 