Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick had a few choice words for the public on his way out the door of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office
Sean Kirkpatrick was once the man in charge of a D.C.-backed agency tasked with investigating claims into unidentified anomalous phenomena, the new term for what most people still call UFOs. He stepped down from the position in December, and has now published a excoriating farewell letter in Scientific American detailing some of the reasons why.
So why did he stop hunting for UFOs on behalf of the American government? In short: Because congressional leaders believe in conspiracy theories with absolutely no substantial proof. “Our efforts were ultimately overwhelmed by sensational but unsupported claims that ignored contradictory evidence yet captured the attention of policy makers and the public, driving legislative battles and dominating the public narrative,” Kirkpatrick said in Scientific American.
There would be a reason to destroy Earth if you were an alien species and the reason some scientists say we should silence our communications to the rest of the universe. Namely, to eliminate us as a potential threat/competitor. SETI has written about it themselves. The example given is from Greg Bear’s novel, The Forge of God:
In Bear’s story, the Earth is visited not by laser-wielding aliens but fully autonomous Von Neuman machines. These are self-replicating interstellar probes that spread out among star systems using the resources they find to generate more versions of themselves. The premise of Bear’s fictional Universe is that with the laws of physics keeping interstellar travel slow (it takes a long time to travel among the stars even at near light speed) all intelligent technological species will, essentially, be in the dark about what is out there.
Thus for some cultures the best defense will be a good offense.
The Von Neumann machines of Bear’s story are killer probes. Once our stray radio broadcasts are picked up, the probes arrive, try to build more versions of themselves and, essentially, disassemble our planet. No explanations. No monologue of evil intent. Just mindlessly eliminating potential competition and potential threats. Then it’s on to the next system.
This is an answer to the Fermi paradox. The idea that one species grows so xenophobic or territorial or whatever as to destroy all other life.
The good news is that such an end would be quick, so I tend to not worry about it.
The other answer is… they actively avoid us. Which seems more reasonable and optimistic.
