Aliens Living Amongst Us on Earth
Over the past century, the idea that we are not alone in the world has become an increasingly popular idea. Sightings of UFOs and stories of abductions have run rampant online, and as time goes on, more and more people are beginning to believe aliens have visited Earth.
Source: Wikimedia
While some people suggest extraterrestrials live deep beneath the ocean, others have claimed they live in lairs within the Grand Canyon. Some have even claimed they live on celestial bodies surrounding the Earth.
Harvard Researchers Become Believers
Despite the possibility of aliens living amongst us on Earth sounding like an episode of a popular conspiracy theorist podcast, researchers from one of the world’s most prestigious universities are the proponents.
Source: Wikimedia
A new study, published by social scientists from Harvard University in Massachusetts aimed to explain the unprecedented number of unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP, sightings by suggesting they are aliens venturing around the Earth from their bases either underground or even on the moon.
Researchers Pull Paper From the Internet
The unconventional explanation for the UAPs was presented by researchers from Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Program, a department dedicated to studying the societal and ethical implications of scientific discoveries.
Source: Wikimedia
While the paper, which hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet, was originally published by ResearchGate, it has since been taken down amidst backlash for what some have deemed an outlandish theory, per Newsweek.
UAP Sightings On the Rise
A report released last year by the Office for the Director of National Intelligence detailed an increase in UAP sightings in 2022. According to their data, over 500 UAPs were reported that year, a significant increase from the 366 in 2021.
Source: Wikimedia
“Hypotheses for such phenomena tend to fall into two classes: a conventional terrestrial explanation (e.g., human-made technology), or an extraterrestrial explanation (i.e., advanced civilizations from elsewhere in the cosmos),” the Harvard researchers wrote in their paper.
Intelligent Beings Concealed in Stealth
According to the researchers, there is a third class of hypothesis, yet it’s “an unconventional terrestrial explanation, outside the prevailing consensus view of the universe.”
Source: Freepik
They continued, “This is the ultraterrestrial hypothesis, which includes as a subset the ‘cryptoterrestrial’ hypothesis, namely the notion that UAP may reflect activities of intelligent beings concealed in stealth here on Earth (e.g., underground), and/or its near environs (e.g., the moon), and/or even “walking among us” (e.g., passing as humans).”
Four Theories of Aliens Living on Earth
In their fascinating yet controversial paper, the Harvard researchers reference four theories that try to explain an extraterrestrial presence on Earth.
Source: Freepik
The first, dubbed “The Human Cruptoterrestrials theory,” suggests that an alien civilization far more advanced than our own has managed to live in secrecy on our planet.
Technologically Advanced Non-Human Species
The second theory promoted by the researchers suggests an advanced, non-human civilization evolved on Earth alongside Homo sapiens.
Source: Wikimedia
In this particular theory, the researchers postulate that an unknown ape-like hominid or even some “unknown, intelligent dinosaur” species evolved in secrecy on our planet.
Fairies Living on Earth
The third and final theories enter into a realm seldom touched by academic researchers. Number three suggests humans from the future are behind the UAP sighting.
Source: Wikimedia
The fourth attempts to explain the phenomenon by suggesting the existence of “magical crypto terrestrials” akin to “earthbound angels,” which the Harvard social scientists compare to “fairies, elves, nymphs.”
The Strangeness of the Theory
Speaking on the almost incomprehensible nature of the last theory, the researchers explain that the idea of fairies is often considered too far from the realm of possibility for the average reader.
Source: Wikimedia
“The principal weakness of [the final theory], by contrast, is its utter strangeness, particularly for readers schooled to limit themselves to modes of explanation within the bounds of, say, the standard model of physics,” the researchers wrote in the paper. While belief in extraterrestrials is tenable, belief in (something like) fairies is simply not a live option for many scientists.
Researchers Urge Readers to Have An Open Mind
Towards the end of the paper, the researchers called upon the readers to be open-minded and carefully consider the entirety of their work before they make a judgment of their own.
Source: Wikimedia
“Although this idea is likely to be regarded skeptically by most scientists, such are the nature of some UAP that we argue this possibility should not be summarily dismissed, and instead deserves genuine consideration in a spirit of epistemic humility and openness,” they wrote.
Australian Researcher Isn’t Convinced
Despite their attempts to convince readers of the existence of complex and intelligent aliens on Earth, researchers such as Jonti Horner, an astrophysics professor at the University of Southern Queensland, suggest they aren’t yet convinced.
Source: Freepik
“I think it highly, highly unlikely that any other civilization could have been living on Earth or the Moon undetected the whole time—I just don’t think that sounds feasible. In all honesty, I think UAPs will end up having interesting but natural explanations; that’s something I’ve seen time and time again in my life,” she said.