Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation

Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraerrestrial Visitation

Introduction

The ever recurring question of why Earth has seem-
ingly not been visited by extraterrestrials (ETs) has
received considerable discussion under the topic of
‘Fermi’s paradox’. The problem originated as a quip
by Enrico Fermi to colleagues in Los Alamos over
lunch one day in 1950. Whether one assumes the
existence of only one other civilisation or of  many
alien civilisations in our Milky Way galaxy, and whether
one assumes colonisation involving interstellar travel
at near-light speed or far below, diffusion modeling
predicts colonisation or at least visitation of  all hab-
itable planets in the galaxy on timescales of  tens of
millions of  years, far less than the approximate 13 x
10

year age of the galaxy itself. Thus the paradox:

Where are they [1]?

Theoretical possibilities unknown to Fermi make

the paradox even stronger today. One can now ra-
tionally conjecture about prospects afforded by ad-
jacent M-brane universes [2]. Indeed, if the
multidimensions underlying superstring and M-brane

theory are correct, there could be inhabited universes
separated from our own by minute, orthogonal dis-
tances. Also, anthropic reasoning has recently been
applied to inflation theory, arriving once again at the
conclusion that we should find ourselves within an
enormously larger galactic civilisation [3]. While the
‘We are alone’ solution to Fermi’s paradox was once
a seemingly valid one, this answer is now incompat-
ible with the infinite universe and random self-sam-
pling assumption consistent with inflation theory. We
thus find ourselves in the curious position that cur-
rent cosmological theory predicts that we should be
experiencing extraterrestrial visitation. At the same
time, current physics and astrophysics suggest that
such visitation may not be as impossible as had been
thought.

Recent Scientific Advances

In recent astronomical discoveries, over 100
exoplanets have been catalogued, with detection

Inflation-Theory Implications for

Extraterrestrial Visitation

JBIS, Vol. 5

, pp.

43-50

, 200

J. DEARDORFF

, B. HAISCH

, B. MACCABEE

AND H.E. PUTHOFF

1. 1689 S.W. Knollbrook Pl., Corvallis, Oregon 97333, USA.
2. National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP), Post Office Box 1535,

Vallejo, California, USA.

3. Fund for UFO Research, Post Office Box 277, Mt Rainier, Maryland, 20712, USA.
4. Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin, 4030 W. Braker Ln., Suite 300, Austin, Texas 78759, USA.

Email: puthoff@earthtech.org

It has recently been argued that anthropic reasoning applied to inflation theory reinforces the prediction that
we should find ourselves part of  a large, galaxy-sized civilisation, thus strengthening Fermi’s paradox concern-
ing “Where are they?” Furthermore, superstring and M-brane theory allow for the possibility of  parallel
universes, some of which in principle could be habitable. In addition, discussion of  such exotic transport
concepts as “traversable wormholes” now appears in the rigorous physics literature. As a result, the “We are
alone” solution to Fermi’s paradox, based on the constraints of earlier 20

century viewpoints, appears today

to be inconsistent with new developments in our best current physics and astrophysics theories. Therefore we
reexamine and reevaluate the present assumption that extraterrestrials or their probes are not in the vicinity of
Earth, and argue instead that some evidence of their presence might be found in certain high-quality UFO
reports. This study follows up on previous arguments that (1) interstellar travel for advanced civilizations is not

a priori

ruled out by physical principles and therefore may be practicable, and (2) such advanced civilisations

may value the search for knowledge from uncontaminated species more than direct, interspecies communica-
tion, thereby accounting for apparent covertness regarding their presence.

Keywords:

Fermi paradox, extraterrestrial hypothesis, extraterrestrial visitation, UFO phenomenon, Condon

Report, SETI

J. Deardorff, B. Haisch, B. Maccabee and H.E. Puthoff

sensitivity now increased to the point where, in one
instance, a Jupiter-sized planet was deduced to be
in a Jupiter-like orbit around a Sol-like star [4]. In the
field of  exobiology, much recent activity suggests
that some of the building blocks for life may originate
in space as well as be transported by meteorites [5-
6]. The possibility of  widespread panspermia has
received new impetus [7-8]. These findings and stud-
ies make plausible the hypothesis that there is intelli-
gent life elsewhere in the universe. This is, of  course,
the fundamental assumption made by the proponents
of  SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
using microwave or optical means of  detection.

The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), that intelli-

gent life from ‘elsewhere’ in the universe could be
visiting Earth, has become less implausible through
suggestions that the velocity-of-light constraint—
‘they can’t get here from there’—is not as restricting
as had been assumed previously. This restriction
has its origin in the special theory of relativity, which
we do not question. However, within the context of
general relativity (GR) there are three approaches
which may permit legitimately bypassing this limit,
given sufficiently advanced (perhaps by millions of
years!) knowledge of physics and technology.

One approach popularised by Thorne and Sagan

concerns the possibility of wormholes, or cosmic
subways, a form of shortcut through the space-time
metric [9]. Using the standard GR as a basis, certain
mathematical requirements for traversable worm-
holes have been derived and published in the scien-
tific literature and it appears that there is the possi-
bility of engineering a wormhole metric, at least in
principle [10].

A second more recent approach published in the

GR literature has been dubbed the ‘Alcubierre Warp
Drive’ [11-12]. Unlike the speed of  light limit through
space, there is no limit to the speed at which space
itself  might stretch. Faster than light (FTL) relative
motion is part of  inflation theory, and presumably the
universe beyond the Hubble distance is receding
from us faster than

. It was shown that a spaceship

contained in a volume of  Minkowski space could in
principle make use of FTL expansion of  space-time
behind and a similar contraction in front, with the
inconvenience of  time dilation and untoward
accelerations being overcome. A related approach
involves constructing a ‘Krasnikov tube’ [13] to con-
nect spatially remote locales. Of  course so-called

exotic matter

would be required for either case.

If GR itself were to be reinterpreted in terms of a

polarisable vacuum as first proposed by Dicke [14],

this would open the possibility of  a different type of
metric engineering in which the dielectric properties
of  the vacuum might be altered in such a way as to
raise the local propagation velocity of  light. In effect
one would be creating a local index of refraction of
less than unity [15].

Finally, there is the conjectured possibility of mak-

ing use of the additional dimensionalities of M-brane
and superstring theory to transfer into adjacent uni-
verses where the speed of light limit may be quite
different and reentering our universe at the desired
location. This is by far the most speculative possibil-
ity.

Clearly when it comes to engineering warp drive

or wormhole solutions, seemingly insurmountable ob-
stacles emerge, such as unattainable energy require-
ments [16] or the need for exotic matter [17]. Thus, if
success is to be achieved, it must rest on some yet
unforeseen breakthrough about which we can only
speculate, such as a technology to cohere otherwise
random vacuum fluctuations [18]. Nonetheless, the
possibility of reduced-time interstellar travel by ad-
vanced extraterrestrial (ET) civilisations is not, as
naive consideration might hold, fundamentally ruled
out by presently known physical principles. ET knowl-
edge of the physical universe may comprise new
principles which allow some form of FTL travel. This
possibility is to be taken seriously, since the average
age of suitable stars within the ‘galactic habitable
zone’, in which the Earth also resides, is found to be
about 10

years older than the sun [19] suggesting

the possibility of civilizations extremely advanced
beyond our own.

There are further reasons why the ‘We are alone’

solution to Fermi’s paradox should perhaps be set
aside in favor of  the ETH. A previously preferred
solution, that biogenesis is an exceedingly rare event
in conjunction with both panspermia and interstellar
travel being inoperative [1], is now scarcely tenable
in light of  the cosmological considerations already
discussed. The ETH appears to be the most viable
remaining solution, where ‘ET’ is taken in a general
non-Earthly sense that could include extra-dimen-
sional realms, as in M-brane and superstring theory.
Given the highly advanced ET science and technol-
ogy to be expected in considerably older civilisa-
tions, coupled with the many observational reports
since WWII of  highly advanced technology seem-
ingly operating at will within Earth’s skies, it is only
logical to search for evidence of  ET visitations in at
least a fraction of  the ongoing, unexplainable re-
ports popularly referred to as ‘UFO sightings.’ Re-
luctance to do so could result in our failure to realize

Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation

that observations of ‘genuine’ ET visitations have
been occurring. This approach, which we follow here,
explores the likelihood that ‘we actually do belong to
a large civilisation but are unaware of that fact’ [3].

U.S. Air Force Response

(1947-1969)

Reports of unknown objects in the skies, appearing
as some sort of  flying craft and exhibiting extraordi-
nary manoeuvres, first became known to the general
public in 1947. The first publicised sighting occurred
on June 24 of  that year, after which there were many
hundreds of  sightings during the following months.
The phenomenon has been continuing ever since
[20-24].

At first the U.S. Air Force collected the sighting

reports for analysis in its operation Project Sign
(1948-1949). This was succeeded by Project Grudge
(1949-1952) and then Project Blue Book (1952-1969)
[20,25]

. Some 20% of Project Blue Book’s sightings

from 1953-1965 were left unexplained, if their ‘insuf-
ficient data’ category is included [22]. The Battelle
Memorial Institute (BMI; Columbus, Ohio) discovered,
in their study of 3,201 reports from 1947 through
1952, that the percentage of unknowns (unexplain-
able sightings)

increased

with increasing quality of

the sighting information and reliability of  the observ-
ers [21]. A surprisingly high percentage, 30%, of  the
civilian sightings, and an even more surprising 38%,
of  the military sightings rated as excellent in quality
were listed as unknown. On the other hand, only
about 15% of the civilian and 20% of  the military
sightings rated as poor were unknown. The increase
in the percentage of  unknowns with increasing qual-
ity of  the report is an unexpected result if  sightings
were all explainable as mistakes (failure to correctly
identify the sighted phenomenon) by either the
observer(s) or the scientists who analysed the
sightings. In this collection of  3,201 sightings none
were listed as hoaxes and only 1.5% were listed as
caused by psychological effects. This result discov-
ered during the several year long BMI study refutes
the claim, made in the Condon Report [22], that UFO
reports are from ‘less well informed individuals,’ who
are ‘not necessarily reliable.’ It is worthy of  note that
Condon had access to the results of  the BMI study
but there is no reference to it in the Condon Report.

Project Blue Book culminated in 1969 with the

government sponsored Condon Report [22]. In the
opening section of  the Report its director concluded
that, after years of  investigation, the U.S. Air Force
had found nothing truly new—nothing that supported
claims of  new physics or the ETH—and that contin-

ued investigation probably would not find anything
truly new in the future. The Report recommended
that the Air Force end its investigation project, which
it did in late 1969.

The Condon Report (1968)

In the late 1960’s, the U.S. Air Force issued a con-
tract to the University of  Colorado to carry out a
scientific study of  evidence concerning the UFO phe-
nomenon. The director of  the project was Prof.
Edward U. Condon, a distinguished and influential
physicist who made no secret of his opinion even at
the outset that no substantive evidence for extrater-
restrial visitation was liable to result. The study was
relatively brief  (2 years) and had a notably low budget
(app. $500K) for a serious scientific study. When the
Condon Report was released in 1968, the American
scientific community accepted its apparently nega-
tive conclusion concerning evidence for extraterres-
trial visitation in a generally uncritical way, and to
some extent even an enthusiastic way since it of-
fered an end to a troublesome situation. An endorse-
ment of  the Report by the National Academy of Sci-
ences took place following an unusually rapid review
and the Air Force quickly used the Report as a justifi-
cation to terminate any further public involvement
with the topic.

The negative conclusion of the Report is more

apparent than real however, since there is a sub-
stantial discrepancy between the conclusion in the
“Summary of  the Study” written by Condon single-
handedly, and the conclusion one could reasonably
draw from the evidence presented in the main body
of  the Report. Such a dichotomy was possible be-
cause the study was a project for which the director,
Condon, had sole authority; it was not the work of  a
committee whose members would have to reach some
consensus conclusion. An analysis of  the Condon
Report by Sturrock [26] details the many disagree-
ments between Condon’s dismissive summary and
the actual data.

Given the thousand-page length of the Report,

one can safely assume that very few in the scientific
community would have devoted the time necessary
to read the entire document. The impact of  the Re-
port was thus largely due to Condon’s leveraging his
prestigious scientific reputation into an acceptance
of  his own personal views as representing the ap-
parent outcome of  a scientific investigation. Indeed,
as Sturrock documents, Condon actually took no part
in the investigations and indicated the conclusion he
intended to draw well before the data were properly
examined, hardly a scientific approach.

J. Deardorff, B. Haisch, B. Maccabee and H.E. Puthoff

The portion of the Condon Report that contains its

sighting analyses does not support the “Summary of
the Study” written by Condon [26]. Many of the events
presented within its Case Studies section do fall into
the ‘unidentified’ category of  UFOs, for which the
Report’s definition was, in essence: ‘A puzzling stimu-
lus for a report of something seen in the sky or landed
on the earth that could not be identified as having an
ordinary natural origin.’ In a detailed review of  this
Report, however, it was noted that ‘The sheer bulk of
the report, much of  it “scientific padding”, cannot
conceal from anyone who studies it closely that it
examines only a tiny fraction of  the really puzzling
UFO reports, and that its scientific argumentation is
often unsatisfactory. Of  roughly ninety cases that it
specifically confronts, more than thirty are conceded
to be unexplained’ [27]. Four of the cases, reanalysed
and reported in detail at the 1969 AAAS Symposium,
disclosed how unscientific the Condon Report’s treat-
ment of  them had been; the reanalyses have since
gone unrefuted. Hence we cannot agree with the
Condon Report’s assertion that the phenomenon pro-
vides no new subjects for science to explore, given
that many sightings were left unexplained. Further-
more, in many of  the cases that the Report claimed
to have identified, that goal was achieved merely
through

assuming

that the witnesses had seen some-

thing differing in detail from what they had reported.
Also, a committee of  the American Institute of  Aero-
nautics and Astronautics in 1971 found ‘it difficult to
ignore the small residue of  well-documented but un-
explainable cases that form the hard core of  the UFO
controversy’[28]. Clearly, the Condon Report was
left in an unsatisfactory state [20,24-26,29-30].

The primary conclusion of the Condon panel side-

stepped the main issue, the failure to explain every
sighting, by saying: ‘The evidence presented on Uni-
dentified Flying Objects shows no indication that
these phenomena constitute a direct physical threat
to national security’ [22]. This is not inconsistent,
however, with some fraction of unexplained reports
representing actual ET visitations.

Re-Evaluation of the

Phenomenon Needed

5.1 Sightings Since the Condon Report

The self-inconsistency of  the Condon Report, along
with the strengthening of  Fermi’s paradox through
recent developments in cosmology, physics, as-
tronomy and astrobiology, are but two reasons to
reevaluate the UFO phenomenon. Another reason is
that remarkable sightings did not cease with the pub-
lication of  the Condon Report in 1969. Many detailed

sightings since then have become available for ex-
amination. Scientists should not feel reluctant to
study these inasmuch as the Report’s executive sum-
mary stated that ‘any scientist with adequate train-
ing and credentials who does come up with a clearly
defined, specific proposal for study [of UFO reports]
should be supported.’

One example of sightings worth studying are those

that occurred on December 31, 1978 off  the north-
east coast of  South Island, New Zealand. These in-
volved several channels of  information recorded on
tape and film during the sightings, correlated visual
air- and ground-radar detections and light phenom-
ena recorded on colour movie film as well as reports
by the eight witnesses who were involved. Analysis
of  the recorded data and of  the witness testimony
indicates that unknown objects emitting bright light
were detected on radar, filmed and apparently moved
in response to the motions of  the airplane carrying
the witnesses. The sightings have defied all mun-
dane explanations [31-32].

Some investigations of unexplainable sightings

have been sponsored by governments outside the
U.S. Since 1977 the French Space Agency has car-
ried out an official investigation of  UFO reports with
its project GEPAN, later called SEPRA. In the Bel-
gium sighting wave of  1989-90, civilian and military
officials cooperated in sharing eyewitness, radar and
video-image data of  triangular-shaped craft.

5.2 Withheld Information Now Available

The Condon investigators did not have full access to
the information and analysis compiled previously by
the U.S. Air Force Office of  Intelligence (AFOIN) or to
all the information collected by Project Blue Book.
Much of this information has been disclosed in the
years since 1968. The information release has come
about on five fronts. First, the U.S. Air Force released
the complete files of  Project Blue Book in 1975. This
release included the previously unavailable files of
the Air Force Office of  Special Investigation (AFOSI).
Second, the U.S. Freedom of  Information Act, which
went into effect in the mid 1970s, resulted in the
release of relevant information from other agencies
(Federal Bureau of  Investigation: FBI, in 1977; Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency: CIA, in 1978; etc.), though
often in a censored form [23-24].

A third new source of information is the collection of

previously withheld reports and analyses carried out
by the AFOIN in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This
information has been released in the last 20 years as a
result of standard declassification requirements for

Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation

old documents. It shows that Air Force intelligence
privately concluded that as many as 5% of the sightings
were unexplainable even though they were apparently
accurate reports made by credible observers, thus
contradicting the public statements of the Air Force
that all sightings could be explained. The documents
provide an explanation as to why Air Force intelligence
told the FBI in August and again in October, 1952, that
some top Air Force officials were seriously considering
the ‘interplanetary’ explanation [33].

Fourth, governments of countries other than the

United States, over the last 25 years, have released
relevant information collected by their armed services
and police. Not only has the French government, through
GEPAN and SEPRA, released sighting documents but
also England’s Ministry of Defense recently released a
number of documents. The governments of Spain and
Canada also released documents in the 1970s and
1980s. Moreover, some governments besides that of
France have official investigative groups on this topic.
In 1997, in response to civilian and military sightings
over the previous years, the Chilean Air Force formed
the Committee for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena
(acronym, CEFAA in Spanish) directed by a former Air
Force general and headquartered in the Technical
School of Aeronautics in Santiago. One of us
(Maccabee) was invited to Chile in 1999 to lecture at a
symposium sponsored by the CEFAA and to discuss
the sightings. The Peruvian Air Force set up a similar
group in 2001. Brazil and Uruguay also have compara-
ble investigative groups.

A fifth new source of information not available or

utilised by the Condon group consists of  the many
witnesses to events in the 1940-1960 decades who
had worked for the government or the military and
after reaching retirement age, have come forward to
divulge their first-hand knowledge [34]. They have
felt it was more important for the citizens to know
what has been taking place than to continue to obey
instructions to maintain silence about it. A reluc-
tance to report UFO events arose because of  a cur-
tain of ridicule which, since the 1950s, had settled
over the subject. It was induced in part by the CIA’s
1953 Robertson panel that recommended a debunk-
ing programme against the reality of  the phenom-
enon [20,22-23].

The debunking is most often implemented by an

authority figure asserting, at his own volition and
without interviewing the witnesses, that whatever
was observed and reported as extraordinary was
instead the misidentification of something mundane.
This is demeaning to sincere, credible witnesses.
The major news media quickly picked up on sarcas-

tic phrases like ‘little green men’ and ‘UFO buffs’,
then gradually weaned themselves away from the
topic—reporters, editors and corporate owners fear
ridicule, whether just or unjust, as much as do scien-
tists and politicians. The refusal of the U.S. Air Force
in the 1950s and 1960s to release sighting data it
had collected only added to the problem, since evi-
dence collected by the government was not avail-
able to support the witnesses [33].

The first director of the CIA assessed the situa-

tion in 1960 as follows: ‘Behind the scenes, high-
ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned
about UFOs. But, through official secrecy and ridi-
cule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown
flying objects are nonsense… to hide the facts, the
Air Force has silenced its personnel’ [35]. The Condon
Report also added to the problem, since it demon-
strated that men of science could simply allege that
witnesses are mistaken or dishonest and they would
be believed by most of  their colleagues even though
they had no evidence to back up their allegations.
This in turn led to greater reluctance on the part of
witnesses to come forward. As a result, ‘the most
credible UFO witnesses are often those most reluc-
tant to come forward with a report of the event they
have witnessed’ [27]. This ridicule factor has pre-
vented many serious investigators from even attempt-
ing to report their findings within the journals pre-
ferred by most scientists. Therefore, one of  the rec-
ommendations made by the moderator of  a 1997
panel of  scientists is that journal editors should
change their policy of  refusing to even seriously con-
sider publishing articles related to the UFO phenom-
enon, so that this difficulty may be alleviated [36].

Inferring an ET Strategy

If  one allows that at least some unexplainable
sightings may be manifestations of  extraterrestrial
intelligence, then there is yet another reason for
reevaluation: a growing recognition over the past
two decades that a large part of  the behavior mani-
fested can be viewed as being quite rational. The
topic of  ET behavior has received considerable dis-
cussion in connection with SETI in the past three
decades. SETI has proceeded on the assumption
that Fermi’s paradox is to be solved through contin-
ued and enhanced searching of  the sky for electro-
magnetic signals indicative of  ET communications
[37]. Several possible reasons for lack of  success to
date have been proposed [1,37-38].

Since the 1970s advocates of a covert ET pres-

ence in our vicinity have also been advancing their
hypotheses or scenarios. They reject as improbable

J. Deardorff, B. Haisch, B. Maccabee and H.E. Puthoff

the assumption that space-faring ETs must be domi-
nated by the most evil and aggressive of their kind—
an assumption whose consequence would be that
we should not be existing as a freely developing civi-
lisation within a fully colonised and/or explored gal-
axy. Contact optimists instead presume that many
advanced ET groups are at least as ethical as we
are, while still attending to their own safety and se-
curity. The ET motivation for space travel could be to
increase their knowledge through exploration of
space rather than to colonise and seek domination
[39]. Thus hypotheses have been set forth regarding
why such ETs would be aware of our presence but
not yet have contacted us overtly. Among these are
the zoo, nursery and quarantine or embargo hypoth-
eses [1,38,40-42].

Most of these posit that the ETs

involved have frequently scouted us out semi-cov-
ertly and have concluded that we are either not yet
mature enough for open contact, or not prepared for
it, since any abrupt, overt contact could cause
societal chaos and governmental downfalls. Also pos-
tulated is that ET interference with our society would
prematurely bring an end to our civilisation’s contin-
ued development if it occurred before our knowl-
edge has progressed to the point that we could un-
derstand where the aliens could have originated and
how great their head start over us could be [39].

A serious inconsistency in this reasoning, how-

ever, is that maintenance of  total ET covertness to-
wards Earth and the solar system would still lead to
societal chaos whenever the covertness or embargo
was eventually lifted, unless the ETs carried out a
programme of gradual disclosure—a ‘leaky’ embargo
[1,43]. Although the zoo or embargo hypothesis may
be unverifiable, the leaky-embargo hypothesis may
be verifiable if the UFO evidence is taken into ac-
count. Much of  this evidence appears to constitute
just such a leak in the embargo: a grass-roots educa-
tional programme in the form of the phenomenon,
which has been in operation since 1947, if  not be-
fore.

Many sightings have been of a nature to attract

attention to their craft and let isolated groups of
witnesses know that its occupants are aware of  us
[24,44]. A key category of  such cases involves re-
ports wherein persons within a traveling vehicle fran-
tically witness an object pacing them even though
their automobile or aircraft makes turns that rule out
the sighting of  an astronomical or other ordinary
object as any explanation. Similarly, in a number of
the aircraft cases the unknown object, which was
either pacing the aircraft or presenting itself  to it,
was detected on radar as well as visually [23-25,27].
The object’s extraordinary appearance, manoeu-

vreability and oft-times coincidental interference with
the vehicle’s electrical system additionally rule out
mundane explanations [23-25].

Although individual, localised and usually brief

sightings may have provided sufficient evidence to
be convincing to the observers and sighting ana-
lysts, the fact is that, since the widely-reported
sightings began in 1947, no event has persisted in a
prominent place a sufficient number of hours at a
time, or demonstrated its abilities to enough wit-
nesses at a time, for the news media to congregate
and publicise it to the world. Nor have they left quite
enough evidence behind to be totally convincing to
very many scientists [25]. We suspect that this chary
behavior may be no accident.

To put it another way, from the viewpoint of in-

vestigators studying such phenomena, individual
close-encounter and other sightings can be very
intrusive and overt. However, from the viewpoint
of  the scientific community and society as a whole,
this is not the case, because of  the relative rarity
in time and space of  convincing sightings and be-
cause of  the limited numbers of  witnesses in most
instances. The inference is that, by not providing
sufficient evidence to make their reality totally ob-
vious to scientists and society in general, the ETs
are following a strategy or programme that avoids
inflicting catastrophic shock to society as a whole,
which any overt contact could cause, while pre-
paring us for eventual open contact. This could
say something about their level of  ethics.

Proposing a certain level of ET ethics is not new; it

was suggested in 1981 that advanced ETs may abide
by a Codex Galactica that would require them to
treat emerging civilisations delicately [1,45]. Such a
standard of  behavior is consistent with reality of  the
UFO phenomenon and the fact that not in the past 56
years, nor in past millennia, have we been colonised,
conquered or exterminated, nor has society been
traumatised by any ETs or by their sometimes postu-
lated robotic probes [1,41]. It is also consistent with
the failure of  investigative panels to find that UFOs
constitute any direct threat to national security. On
the other hand, it appears all too evident that ETs
have not intervened in world affairs in any benevo-
lent manner that would have forestalled human war-
fare, famine and disease. In fact, ample cases exist
wherein the witnesses, when too close, were injured
or harmed. Other cases exist, however, in which a
witness was healed of  some injury or medical condi-
tion [46]. All this suggests that ET interactions with
humans are based on a neutrally benevolent ethical
level overall.

Inflation-Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation

Conclusions

Despite the UFO phenomenon having continued now
for over two generations, the huge technological head
start of  the presumed ETs would still come as a great
shock to many scientists as well as citizenry, as the
Brookings Report indicated [47]. It could be so great
as to seriously challenge our consensual reality, a
not insignificant danger. The implication that we
would be powerless relative to their presumed capa-
bilities and evolutionary advantage may be most un-
welcome, with it being no surprise that science would
have difficulty coming to terms with the situation
[48]. Nevertheless, the reality of  the phenomenon
and of  our having long since been discovered by

S. Webb, “

If the Universe is Teeming with Aliens…Where

is Everybody

Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the

Problem of Extraterrestrial Life

”, Copernicus Books, New

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advanced ETs now may be more probable than that
Fermi’s paradox is to be resolved through either the
non-existence of advanced ETs or their inability to
explore or colonise the galaxy. Hence open scientific
research on the subject is needed with special atten-
tion paid to high quality UFO reports exhibiting ap-
parent indications that ET intelligence and strategy
are involved.

Acknowledgments

We thank P. Sturrock of Stanford University and T.
Roe of the National Aviation Reporting Center on
Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) for suggested im-
provements.

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(Received 29 March 2004; 29 April 2004)

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