![\"What](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-130020440,imgsize-59882,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/untitled-design-2026-04-04t184908.jpg\" "\\"<p>Representative")
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As the US heads back towards the moon and public curiosity over UFOs grows again, a familiar question has returned: if intelligent life exists elsewhere, what would it make of humans?That debate has picked up fresh momentum after former President Barack Obama said in February that aliens are \u201creal\u201d, while adding he \u201chasn\u2019t seen them\u201d and that \u201cthey\u2019re not being kept at Area 51\u201d. President Donald Trump later said he would direct the release of government files because of \u201ctremendous interest\u201d.The timing has added to the buzz. Interest in UFOs is also building as Nasa prepares for Wednesday\u2019s Artemis II mission, which will send four astronauts on a fly-around of the moon before they return to Earth.<\/p>\n Public belief in extraterrestrial life remains strong. A 2021 Pew Research Center survey cited by AP found about two-thirds of Americans believe intelligent life likely exists on other planets. Around half of US adults said UFOs reported by military personnel are \u201cdefinitely\u201d or \u201cprobably\u201d evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth.Bill Diamond, president and chief executive of the SETI Institute in California, was quoted by news agency AP as saying that the feeling is deeply human.\u201cWe don\u2019t want to think this is the only place in this extraordinarily and incomprehensibly large universe where life and intelligence and even technology have emerged,\u201d he said.\u201cIt sort of says about humans, \u2019We don\u2019t want to be alone.'”<\/p>\n For some scientists, the more uncomfortable question is not whether aliens exist, but how they would judge us.Theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, director of Harvard\u2019s Institute for Theory & Computation and head of the Galileo Project, gave a bleak answer in comments.\u201cIf I were looking at Earth from a distance, I would be pretty disappointed,\u201d Loeb said. \u201cMost of our investing is dealing with conflicts to prevent other people from killing us or us killing others. Look at the Ukraine war over a little bit of territory. That is not a sign of intelligence.”Loeb went even further, saying, \u201cThey might be laughing at us. They might be watching us … to make sure we will not become predators, that we will not become dangerous to them.\u201dUniversity of Michigan astronomy professor Edwin Bergin offered a similar view, saying any advanced beings would likely find humanity chaotic, according to AP.\u201cI would think that they would look at us like we were crazy … but they would come out,” he said. “I mean, why come here otherwise unless you\u2019re going to sit and observe.\u201d<\/p>\n America\u2019s fascination with alien life stretches back decades.Public obsession intensified after debris was recovered near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. The military first said it had found a flying disc, then later said it was a weather balloon.That reversal fuelled decades of conspiracy theories, while Hollywood helped shape the modern alien image \u2014 from flying saucers and little green men to the familiar \u201cgrey\u201d humanoids. April 5 is marked across the Star Trek franchise as \u201cFirst Contact Day\u201d, tied to the fictional 2063 date when humans first meet Vulcans.Priscilla Wald, a Duke University professor who teaches science fiction,said that pop culture\u2019s tendency to imagine hostile aliens says more about humans than extraterrestrials.\u201cIt seems to me it\u2019s a reflection on who we are, that we\u2019re projecting onto aliens the way we treat each other,” Wald said. “So the aliens are coming down, they want to conquer us, they\u2019re violent. Who does that sound like? It sounds like us.\u201d<\/p>\n The older term UFO is increasingly being replaced by UAP \u2014 unidentified aerial phenomena or unidentified anomalous phenomena.The Pentagon released hundreds of reports in 2024 involving unidentified and unexplained aerial phenomena, but its review found no sign that the incidents were extraterrestrial in origin.Diamond said that does not mean the objects are imaginary.\u201cAbsolutely, there are such things\u201d as UAPs and UFOs, he told AP.\u201cPeople observe things in the sky that they can\u2019t immediately identify or recognize as either human engineering such as planes or drones or helicopters, or animals, such as birds, and therefore they don\u2019t know what they are,” he added.Debbie Dmytro, a 56-year-old medical professional from Michigan\u2019s southern Oakland County, described the recent sightings. She said she saw a greenish object over Royal Oak on March 1 that did not resemble a plane or helicopter, though she accepted it could have been a drone.But she said a 2023 sighting in the same area was harder to explain.\u201cFour yellow lights, yellowish golden lights and they were all flying very, very low,\u201d Dmytro said.\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything so low without any noise and flying in complete uniformity,\u201d she said. \u201cIs it something man-made? Is it something that\u2019s not manmade? Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the strongest claims came from retired Rear Adm. Timothy Gallaudet, who says the government knows more than it has revealed.\u201cThe nonhuman intelligence that operates them or controls them are absolutely real,\u201d Gallaudet told AP. \u201cWe\u2019ve recovered crashed craft. We don\u2019t know if they\u2019re extraterrestrial in origin.”Gallaudet, who served as acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and took part in a 2024 congressional hearing on UAP disclosure, said Trump\u2019s promised release of files matters only if it actually happens.He also argued that classified material should be shared with scientists. AP reported that Gallaudet said the Navy is holding a \u201ctrove\u201d of UAP videos and that he personally viewed classified footage during his 32 years in the service.\u201cWhen you look at these things in our airspace having near collisions with our aircraft, that\u2019s a real valid concern,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are just not sure of what they are and what they intend to do with their interaction with humanity. That could be a national security threat, or not.”\u201cWhen has ignorance ever been a good national strategy?” Gallaudet added. “Whether it be scary, harmful or not, or a mix, I think seeking the truth is in our best interest.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of the secrecy around UAPs is linked to defence concerns rather than proof of aliens.Diamond said sensitive military and surveillance technology often detects objects that cannot be immediately identified, but the systems themselves are classified.\u201cWe have pretty advanced technologies, satellite, ground-based that are for various purposes mostly national security and defense that are pointing at the sky or things on board aircraft,\u201d Diamond said. \u201cSometimes these pick up objects. The technology behind it is sensitive and protected.\u201dStill, he also argued that a genuine extraterrestrial encounter would be almost impossible to hide.\u201cIf any civilization has mastered interstellar travel, they have technology and capabilities beyond our wildest comprehension,\u201d Diamond said. \u201cIf they want to interact, they will; if they don\u2019t, they won\u2019t. If they want to be seen, they will be, and if not, they won\u2019t be!\u201d<\/div>\n\nWhy Americans still believe \u2018the truth is out there\u2019<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
What aliens might think of Earth<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Roswell, pop culture and fear of invasion<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
UAPs, sightings and the push for proof<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Retired admiral claims \u2018nonhuman intelligence\u2019 is real<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Why secrecy remains tied to national security<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n