Exobiology: UFOS: Case Studies: Earlier Is Better

Exobiology was the original term given to the sciences central to the question of life-in-the-Universe. It’s now been largely replaced by Astrobiology, but I’ll stick with the original. Assuming one or more extraterrestrial civilizations with advanced, interstellar spaceflight capability exists; then they know about Planet Earth. Say ‘hi’ to those pesky UFOs. If UFOs are any sort of evidence that extraterrestrial intelligences exist in our Universe, then that best evidence will be early evidence – before the rot set in.

The UFO phenomenon is now well over 60 years old. The public in this 21^st Century has been well and truly saturated with UFO stories, mythology and lore. Thus, if Mr. or Mrs. Joe Blow Public reports anything UFO related today, well they have had a lot of previous bits and pieces to draw on – assuming they are making things up. However, if Mr. or Mrs. Joe Blow Public reported something from 1947, say through 1952, then that public saturation with all things ufological must have been quite a deal less. Thus, earlier reports seem to me to be more, all else being equal, credible – far less media, Hollywood, etc. coverage that could have had influence on the public mind.

Further, for the first couple of years of the modern UFO era or perhaps I should say ‘flying saucer’ era since UFO wasn’t a term yet in vogue or used, the public did not acquaint these flying discs with extraterrestrial spaceships. Early thoughts ran to advanced secret Russian aircraft, or maybe they were American or something that originated out of research done in Nazi Germany. They were terrestrial, and if not nuts-and-bolts, the psychological creations of Cold War fever. So, early ‘flying saucer’ reports weren’t tainted with the word ‘alien’, unlike something seen after the early 1950’s when explanations started swinging away from terrestrial to extraterrestrial.

That’s of course not to say that everything post 1952 is bunk and junk. There have been many substantial solid cases over the most recent five decades. It’s just the percentage of those types of cases, relative to the total, was probably higher and slightly more credible before the mythology solidified.

Abductions are an exception as the typical UFO abduction case didn’t exist in the 40’s and 50’s; ditto astronaut sightings. But on balance, I’d place greater reliability and credibility in those earlier cases. One other reason for doing so is that today’s CGI digital processing and manipulation of images can provide mind-boggling (but fake) UFO film and photographic ‘evidence’. It was much harder to fake images in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.