NASA Expert Urges to Take Alien Claims Seriously – ‘There Must Be Life’

by Sebastian Kettely                 March 19, 2019                       (express.co.uk)

• With the rocket-based space travel, it is estimated that it would take between 5 and 50 million years for a civilization like ours to colonize our Milky Way galaxy. This should have happened several times already with previous civilizations in the history of our galaxy. But there is still no hard evidence of space faring civilizations. This discrepancy has been dubbed the Fermi Paradox.

• While a growing community of UFO researchers are certain that aliens visit Earth on a regular basis, such claims are immediately dismissed by the scientific community. Scientists demand solid proof – “smoking gun” evidence – which could once and for all prove the existence of UFOs.

• A former NASA researcher and physicist at the University of Albany, Kevin Knuth, argues that such immediate skepticism to all UFO-related theories is counterproductive. “I think UFO skepticism has become something of a religion with an agenda, discounting the possibility of extraterrestrials without scientific evidence, while often providing silly hypotheses describing only one or two aspects of a UFO encounter reinforcing the popular belief that there is a conspiracy,” says Knuth. “In the end, the skeptics often do science a disservice by providing a poor example of how science is to be conducted.”

• Knuth does not rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial UFOs visiting the Earth. “[S]ince little is known, the extraterrestrial hypothesis cannot yet be ruled out. “The fact is that many of these encounters… defy conventional explanation.”

• Knuth said it would greatly benefit the scientific community to try and better understand alien visitors should they ever arrive. “[T]his would present a great opportunity for mankind, promising to expand and advance our knowledge and technology, as well as reshaping our understanding of our place in the universe.”

• William Borucki, the principal investigator for NASA’s Kepler mission, said, “If we find lots of planets like ours we’ll know it’s likely that we aren’t alone, and that someday we might be able to join other intelligent life in the universe.” The biggest problem faced by human explorers today is the lack of speedy and efficient interstellar travel technology. “Unless we get lucky, the search for signs of life could take decades.”

NASA’s hunt for proof of alien life is at the forefront of the space agency’s deep space exploration. But here on Earth, many conspiracy theorists and self-appointed UFO-hunters are already certain aliens visit Earth on a regular basis. Most of these alien claims, supposed UFO sightings and stories of mysterious crop circles appearing overnight are immediately dismissed by the scientific community. A former NASA researcher and physicist at the University of Albany, however, has argued immediate scepticism to all UFO-related theories is counterproductive.

Kevin Knuth, an associate professor at Albany, argued in an opinion piece for Cosmos Magazine, the odds of life existing outside of Earth are pretty high.

The “unsettling and refreshing” possibility is exactly why, he argued, more attention needs to be paid to what is happening in the skies.

Dr Knuth said: “I think UFO scepticism has become something of a religion with an agenda, discounting the possibility of extraterrestrials without scientific evidence, while often providing silly hypotheses describing only one or two aspects of a UFO encounter reinforcing the popular belief that there is a conspiracy.

“A scientist must consider all of the possible hypotheses that explain all of the data, and since little is known, the extraterrestrial hypothesis cannot yet be ruled out.

“In the end, the sceptics often do science a disservice by providing a poor example of how science is to be conducted.
“The fact is that many of these encounters – still a very small percentage of the total – defy conventional explanation.”

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