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Monday, August 07, 2017

The Never-Ending Search for UFOs and Extraterrestrial Intelligence

The Never-Ending Search for UFOs and Extraterrestrial Intelligence

     Back in 1950, during a lunch break at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, several scientists were trading wisecracks about a recent spate of UFO reports when Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi offered an observation that has echoed through the decades. Given the number of places where life could exist in the vast universe, and
By Sarah Kaplan
The Washington Post
8-4-17
the length of time it has had to evolve, the skies ought to be teeming with beings from advanced, space-faring civilizations — but nothing incontrovertible has shown up. You have to wonder, as Fermi did, “Where is everybody?”

His colleagues chuckled, but the “Fermi paradox” perfectly frames the profound absurdity of the search for life beyond Earth. Humans have beamed beacons into space, robotically visited every world in the solar system and discovered thousands of planets circling stars far from our own. Yet all we’ve encountered is a chilly void.

Still, the possibility that something is out there calls to us.

Three new books approach the mystery from distinctly different perspectives: the unlikely believer in UFOs, the visionary dedicated to rigorous investigation and the cadre of scientists who still plug away at the problem, probing the universe for an answer.



1 comment :

  1. Just a quick note to you, Sarah, regarding your piece in the Post regarding ET. You join a long line of ‘scientists’ and ‘science reporters’ who have, for the last 70 years, towed the government line on this subject.  I understand. The cost of joining the lunatic fringe of those who take this subject seriously is high.  Try getting the Post or the NY Times to publish anything with a more objective point of view. 
     
    My challenge to you is take a look at the work of Robert Hastings, UFOs and Nukes, the book, the website and the video.  In order to dismiss his work you have to make the assumption that the government  selected a bunch of psychogically unstable men to operate our nuclear missiles back in the 60s and 70s.
     
    One more thing.  Carl Sagan and all of the other scientists who rely on government funding to support their work, knew all to well the cost of supporting the notion that we are not alone on this planet. 

    Michael McAnaney PhD

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