On September 20, 2019, a mass march is planned in which over 2 million people have signed up, who intend to lay siege to Area 51 to force the US government to reveal the alien remains allegedly held by it. Prof. Jason Wright, a researcher of extraterrestrial life, explains why they are not in the hands of the government - it is because they have not been discovered until now
THE CONVERSATION editor's note -: What started as an internet joke caused a military alert after more than 2 million people signed a petition to block Area 51, a secret military facility in southern Nevada that has been described for decades by conspiracy theorists as a place where the government hides evidence of m that crashed with aliens in it. The purpose of the planned operation is to lay siege to the facility until the government releases the The remains of the aliens so that they can see them in the article, structured in the form of questions and answers, Jason Wright, professor of astronomy and astrophysics of the University of Pennsylvania, explains the public interest in answering the age-old question: Are we alone?
Q: Since ancient times scholars have shown an interest in extraterrestrial life and have even written about the possibility of intelligent civilizations on Mars or Venus. I guess you didn't sign up for the sale in area 51?
A: In all honesty, I was not aware of this promotion until someone brought it to my attention. I am a researcher in SETI, the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence project, and believe me, no one wants to find evidence of extraterrestrial life more than us researchers in the field. Or scan the sky for evidence of extraterrestrial technologies using the most sophisticated telescopes in the world to understand what is happening in the years. And we haven't found anything so far. However, we do not follow what is happening in Area 51.
Q: Do you think the public knows enough about Area 51? Or is the thing that spread on the internet about the siege just a sign of the people's frustration that it seems to them that the government is hiding something there?
A: I don't know much about Area 51, but I can say that the massive interest in getting there is related to public interest in what kind of life exists elsewhere in the universe.
Q: "Have you yourself tried to do real research into what is happening in Area 51?
A. "Not exactly at Area 51. The closest thing was a lecture by a physicist who described the amazing science being carried out by the military in the XNUMXs, in particular Project Mogul, which launched microphones on balloons to see if they could detect nuclear tests in the Soviet Union. This is an excellent example of engineering genius in the field. Physics. When one of these balloons with the disc-shaped microphone and radar reflectors landed on a farm in Roswell, N.Y. Mexico He helped fuel the whole alien craze that is still with us today. It's a shame, because the sci-fi alien conspiracy theories are - from my point of view - far less impressive than what actually happened there.
Q: There were times when the federal government provided researchers with money for research and teaching about extraterrestrial life. The matter is stopped. If you had your way, how much federal money would you like the government to invest in alien research or evidence of alien existence?
"The search for life in the universe is a priority for NASA and the American research community. Many of the missions to Mars and the space telescopes were designed to detect biological signatures - signs of life such as microfossils or evidence of metabolism in the atmospheres of distant planets. However, despite the billions of dollars spent on these missions, I think many in the public will be surprised to learn that NASA and the National Science Foundation themselves spend almost nothing on the search for intelligent life in the universe, including technological life that may be easier to detect. I think that science funding in this area should be determined as In the other fields of science, through competitive, peer-reviewed studies, therefore I cannot say what the level of funding is required, but I know which is not zero.
You won the Drake Prize for 2019. What is the Drake Prize, why did you win it and what are you planning to expand awareness of the field?
"The Drake Prize is named after the first person to receive it, Frank Drake, who was primarily responsible for opening up SETI as a scientific field thanks to his first studies using a radio telescope. He also calculated the first calculation - using what we now call the Drake formula - the number of alien intelligences for the Milky Way who may try to contact us. The Drake Award is given from time to time by the STE Institute, a research center for understanding man's place in the universe. I see the award as confirmation of my work that has helped advance the field of SETI as an academic discipline. And to encourage Congress, NASA and the public that the field is worth public investment. After all, the scientific approach will answer one of the most fundamental questions we've ever asked - is life on Earth unique or are there other creatures like us in the universe?
For an interview at THE CONVERSATION
More of the topic in Hayadan:
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It's time to stop adapting reality to theory and start adapting theory to reality. Enough reliable evidence has accumulated that intelligent beings of extraterrestrial origin have arrived here. The research on the subject should start from this point of view.
With so many versions of the truth and everyone is sure that only they know and the rest are lying, I have no choice but to rely on a simple statistical calculation of its components:
1- The chance that in the entire universe life has not yet developed on any planet other than Earth. low. Apparently it happened somewhere. If it happened once here, it means it is possible. Even if the probability of this is very low, when you multiply it by the number of stars in the universe (which is a few septillions to the power of Maltantelavim) you get - almost certainly.
2- The chance that at least in some of these cases the life that was created developed into an intelligent civilization advanced enough to visit our planet. low.
3- The chance that this culture exists and travels in the universe in the current window of time. After all, at the extreme age of the universe, the chances are that it will not fall exactly on our current time, which is actually appropriate. And here every comma is hundreds of millions of years so.. very low
4- The chance that all of this is happening, but that incredibly advanced extraterrestrial culture manages to visit here, but in a hidden way, and does not appear in front of the whole world on the o'clock news and say I am here. I mean they are sophisticated enough to get here, but somehow crash in the desert or land straight in the basements of NASA without any reliable source being able to document beyond any doubt. And today when everyone has a close-up camera it should have been simple.
In conclusion - this cut-off group of all the scenarios together is sizeless in statistical terms, especially when you put all the other scenarios together in front of it - there is no life in the universe either (there is life and they can't get here either) or (there is life that can get there and there is also reliable evidence in abundance - that is, in Shmona's news),
All this leaves little choice but to wish two million Americans good luck and a good day.
Trying to discover intelligent life through radio transmissions is "a mockery of Resh"
Already today we know about the transfer of data and particles by "quantum entanglement".
It's like searching the universe for the transmission of transmissions by a fire with a wet towel
What a liar, it's a shame to present such an article, he speaks on behalf of those who want to hide, SETI is a fraud
what a liar on behalf of the government
Shame on the website that brought such an article
Who is the idiot who wrote this article? And quoting some expert Alec on the study of life in the universe. Hahaha come on. There are aliens in Area 51 and many other underground bases all over the world. Stop lying to us like we have no brains
The SETI organization is looking for the coin under the flashlight, trying to find electromagnetic signals that are transmitted from space.
Intelligent and advanced extraterrestrial civilizations transmit through consciousness-based technology, and in higher dimensions that do not give a whisper of electromagnetic energy.
The CE5 initiative in the world has achieved much more success in establishing communication with extraterrestrial civilizations.
You forgot that they can also activate the cloaking device of the Klingons and mask the entire camp
It's time to stop outsourcing the linguistic editing of your articles to outsiders. It will take them another millions of years to reach a sufficient level.
What idiots that gave such a long notice to the people of Area 51. Now they will put all the aliens and spaceships and everything into their time machine and push them to next week. And also the time machine itself. The invaders will only be left with empty hangars to stare at, mostly in their frustration.