Throughout history, humans have pondered what extraterrestrial life might look like, but we seldom consider the reverse question: How would alien visitors view humanity?
This inquiry might yield some troubling responses for those of us living on Earth.
“If I were looking at Earth from a distance, I would be pretty disappointed,” says theoretical physicist Avi Loeb. “Most 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.”
Discussion about extraterrestrial visitors and unidentified flying objects intensified this past February when former President Barack Obama told a podcast host that aliens are “real,” though he “hasn’t seen them” and “they’re not being kept at Area 51.” Following this, President Donald Trump posted on social media that he would order the disclosure of classified government documents due to “tremendous interest.”
Growing curiosity about UFOs coincides with America’s return to lunar exploration through Wednesday’s launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission. The four-person crew will orbit the moon before heading back to Earth.
Given our planet’s ongoing struggles with warfare, social unrest, environmental challenges, and political divisions, one might question how extraterrestrial observers would perceive our species and its difficulties. Regardless, most Americans share the belief expressed in “The X-Files” motto: “The truth is out there.”
Research from the Pew Research Center in 2021 revealed that roughly two-thirds of Americans believe intelligent life likely exists beyond Earth. Approximately half of adults in the United States think military reports of UFOs “definitely” or “probably” represent evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.
“We don’t want to think this is the only place in this extraordinarily and incomprehensibly large universe where life and intelligence and even technology have emerged,” explains Bill Diamond, president and chief executive of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
“It sort of says about humans, ‘We don’t want to be alone.’”
American fascination with extraterrestrial life began after debris recovery in 1947 near Roswell, New Mexico. Military officials first claimed the materials came from a flying disc, then changed their story to say it was weather balloon wreckage.
Entertainment media embraced the concept. Space vehicles, little green beings, and eventually gray humanoid aliens became cultural staples. The “Star Trek” universe even designates April 5 as “First Contact Day,” commemorating when humans supposedly first encountered Vulcans in 2063.
Popular culture often portrays aliens as hostile. Priscilla Wald, who studies science fiction at Duke University, has a hypothesis about this trend.
“It seems to me it’s a reflection on who we are, that we’re projecting onto aliens the way we treat each other,” Wald explains. “So the aliens are coming down, they want to conquer us, they’re violent. Who does that sound like? It sounds like us.”
The Pentagon disclosed hundreds of reports about unidentified and unexplained aerial phenomena in 2024. However, their analysis found no evidence suggesting extraterrestrial origins.
Debbie Dmytro witnessed unusual objects twice in the skies above southern Oakland County, Michigan. The green-colored object she observed on March 1 over Royal Oak, Michigan, resembled neither aircraft nor helicopter. Dmytro, a 56-year-old healthcare worker, admits it might have been a commercial or delivery drone.
Her 2023 sighting in the same Detroit-area region proves more difficult to explain.
“Four yellow lights, yellowish golden lights and they were all flying very, very low,” Dmytro recalls. She estimates the lights hovered about 100 feet above ground at their closest point.
“I’ve never seen anything so low without any noise and flying in complete uniformity,” she notes. “Is it something man-made? Is it something that’s not manmade? Who knows?”
The mystery persists. UFOs, the traditional term for unidentified flying objects, has recently been replaced by UAP — unidentified aerial phenomena or unidentified anomalous phenomena.
“Absolutely, there are such things” as UAPs and UFOs, states Diamond, whose SETI — Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — works to explore, search and understand the nature of life and intelligence in the universe.
“People observe things in the sky that they can’t immediately identify or recognize as either human engineering such as planes or drones or helicopters, or animals, such as birds, and therefore they don’t know what they are,” Diamond explains.
Like many others, Dmytro seeks transparency about government knowledge. “I think there’s more information out there. I’m open to learning more,” she states. “I have an open mind. It’s always about scientific proof.”
Former Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet claims evidence clearly demonstrates UAP activity in both airspace and oceans.
“The nonhuman intelligence that operates them or controls them are absolutely real,” Gallaudet declares. “We’ve recovered crashed craft. We don’t know if they’re extraterrestrial in origin.”
Gallaudet previously served as acting administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He testified at a 2024 congressional hearing about UAP disclosure and supports Trump’s promised file release, though he hopes the president will follow through.
Given the billions of galaxies containing billions of stars each, the probability of life developing elsewhere appears quite high, according to University of Michigan Astronomy Professor Edwin Bergin, who teaches courses on searching for extraterrestrial life. He theorizes that intelligent beings capable of interstellar travel would reveal themselves — despite humanity’s tendency toward chaos.
“I would think that they would look at us like we were crazy … but they would come out,” he suggests. “I mean, why come here otherwise unless you’re going to sit and observe.”
Loeb, who directs Harvard’s Institute for Theory & Computation and leads the university’s Galileo Project for the Systematic Scientific Search for Evidence of Extraterrestrial Technological Artifacts, accepts the probable existence of extraterrestrials.
“They might be laughing at us,” he speculates. “They might be watching us … to make sure we will not become predators, that we will not become dangerous to them.”
Government secrecy surrounding UFOs and UAP stems largely from national security considerations, Diamond explains.
“We 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,” Diamond notes. “Sometimes these pick up objects. The technology behind it is sensitive and protected.”
Government information, including a “trove” of UAP footage held by the Navy, should be shared with researchers for scientific study and better understanding of these objects’ characteristics, argues Gallaudet, who spent 32 years in naval service and has viewed classified UAP recordings.
“When you look at these things in our airspace having near collisions with our aircraft, that’s a real valid concern,” he emphasizes. “We 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.”
“When has ignorance ever been a good national strategy?” Gallaudet questions. “Whether it be scary, harmful or not, or a mix, I think seeking the truth is in our best interest.”
Meanwhile, Diamond doubts any “true alien encounter could be kept secret.”
“If any civilization has mastered interstellar travel, they have technology and capabilities beyond our wildest comprehension,” he concludes. “If they want to interact, they will; if they don’t, they won’t. If they want to be seen, they will be, and if not, they won’t be!”
