Where are the Aliens?

Where are they?
You know… The aliens.
It boggles the mind how big our universe is and how many stars with planets are out there.
… And yet, crickets.
Groups of humans are searching for any signs of life.
Like SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which has been around for a long time and has found nothing so far.

 

And yet, do we know what we should do if we find anything? Is there any plan in place for dealing with aliens?

Do we really want to find them? You know, considering how very co-operative we are with our own species. Would finding other intelligent species work out all that well?

Here’s a recent Hubble picture of star Monocerotis V838. Might alien life be there?

There is a series of explanations that you may be familiar with called the Fermi Paradox due to the famous Italian Enrico Fermi.

He gives several reasons why we haven’t found aliens so far.
I wanted to share these thoughts with you.

Do you have any other suggestions as to why we appear to be alone out here?

I picked The Fold by Peter Clines this time around because his story has man’s first encounter with aliens in it, and it raises the question: Do we really want to find them?

Secret experiments, supposedly involving teleportation, are being conducted out in the desert of California somewhere, but Reggie Magnus, the Department of Defense official in charge of overseeing the project, feels that something is off. He has already authorized hundreds of millions of dollars, but the group of scientists on the project are still dragging their feet on releasing any significant details of their work. The funding committee wants more information, and the scientists will not disclose their process.
Reggie goes to his long time friend who currently teaches high school English and is brilliant. (Why, naturally!)

Leland (Mike) Erickson has eidetic memory and an off-the-chart IQ. He hides out teaching high school English in order to live a normal life. However, when his old friend, Reggie, high up in government comes calling, the idea of teleportation intrigues him. He agrees to observe and report on a top secret project called the Albuquerque Door.

And indeed, during an experiment, he watches one of the scientists walk through the gate, disappear, and arrive at an installation several miles away. All seems as advertised until Mike begins to notice discrepancies in behavior and gaps in explanations. Something is amiss.

He begins to suspect The Albuquerque Door is not as advertised. The scientists are too focused on fame and fortune that will soon come their way if only they can iron out a few disturbing kinks. They feel Mike is trying to stop their precious project and distrust him. Mike believes they are hiding things. And they are. Then, events begin to spiral out of control, leaving Mike as the only one who understands what is happening. But it may be too late.

This book asks the questions: What responsibilities do scientists have for their discoveries? If we can do a thing, should we? Who decides what science can or cannot do? Should or should not do?

It also presents the question of aliens, and what would we do if they were really dangerous?

Questions we should be thinking about before it’s too late.

To continue in this universe, you can also read 14 by Peter Clines.

And here are kittens… because they’re fun, even if this pair sometimes acts like wild aliens..