Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

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The belief that aliens are making a bee-line to Earth is a prevalent societal problem.

That assertion is espoused by Anthony Milligan, a research fellow in theology and religious studies at King’s College London. He argues that believing extraterrestrials are trekking to our world is no longer a quirk, but a widespread societal problem.

In a recently published paper, Milligan says that alien visitation claims are a societal problem when they:

• move into the mainstream of discourse to the extent that government policy has to respond to them;
• when they generate background noise which impedes science communication; and
• when they become entangled with indigenous origin narratives, making it hard to recover the latter.

Anti-elite tropes

Taking his case to The Conversation, Milligan points out that the belief is now rising to the extent that politicians, at least in the U.S., feel they have to respond.

GOFAST
Credit: DOD/U.S. Navy/Inside Outer Space screengrab

“The disclosure of information about claimed Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs rather than UFOs) from the Pentagon has got a lot of bi-partisan attention in the country,” Milligan notes.

“Much of it plays upon familiar anti-elite tropes that both parties have been ready to use, such as the idea that the military and a secretive cabal of private commercial interests are keeping the deep truth about alien visitation hidden. That truth is believed to involve sightings, abductions and reverse-engineered alien technology,” Milligan writes.

Damaging consequences

It is increasingly clear, Milligan feels, that belief in alien visitation “is no longer just fun speculation, but something that has real and damaging consequences.”

The result: Ultimately, it is encouraging conspiracy theories, Milligan continues, “which could undermine trust in democratic institutions,” citing numerous calls to storm Area 51, the purported spot of concealed UFO reverse engineering work. “And after the storming of the Capitol in 2021, this now looks like an increasingly dangerous possibility.”

Up close and personal! Scene from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers circa 1956.
Credit: Columbia Pictures

Background noise

There is far too much background noise about UFOs and UAPs, Milligan asserts, and that can also get in the way of legitimate scientific communication about the possibility of finding microbial extraterrestrial life.

Periodic debunking looks like a failed paradigm, Milligan explains in his research paper. “Something closer to a scientific research program (SRP) might be called for, at some point.”

However, Milligan concludes, “it is not clear that we are already at the stage where an SRP is required, but such a requirement does seem to be on the near horizon.”

Go to “Belief in alien visits to Earth is spiraling out of control: Why that’s so dangerous” by Tony Milligan in The Conversation at:

https://theconversation.com/belief-in-alien-visits-to-earth-is-spiralling-out-of-control-heres-why-thats-so-dangerous-237789

Also, go to Milligan’s paper – “Equivocal encounters: alien visitation claims as a societal problem” – at:

https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/293600954/IAU_Equivocal_Encounters_Paper_2024.pdf