The question of whether aliens exist has been of concern to mankind for many years. Enough time has passed since people began to study space, but even today no one is able to finally confirm or refute the fact of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations. If there is no other life outside of our planet, then how can one explain the appearance of mysterious objects in the sky? And why are there no photographs and videos proving the presence of aliens on Earth? No one can give unequivocal answers to these questions today.

The birth of interest in UFOs

They started talking seriously about aliens in the 19th century. It was at this time that the first mention of visiting the Earth by incomprehensible creatures appeared. However, then no one called them aliens, and the cars on which they flew to our planet were UFOs. The question of whether there are aliens was of little concern to people in those days.

What fell under Roswell?

Detailed study of the question of the possibility of existence intelligent life outside the Earth began to approach in the middle of the last century. In 1947, information appeared in the media about the crash of an unidentified aircraft near the American city of Roswell (New Mexico). It was even rumored that the bodies of aliens who were in UFOs fell into the hands of the military. The news caused an unprecedented stir in society, but the American authorities managed to reassure the public, saying that not a flying saucer, but a weather balloon fell under Roswell. But many were skeptical about this statement, being sure that an object of extraterrestrial origin crashed in New Mexico, and the US government hid this information and classified it from others.

What is behind the Roswell Incident?

Was there contact with aliens in that distant 1947? History is silent about this, but over time, the news of the crash of a UFO has acquired new rumors. Witnesses of the disaster unidentified object they said that they noticed scattered bodies of aliens around the plate. Their number, according to various indications, ranged from three to five. The governor of New Mexico claimed to have seen four small male creatures after the crash, three of which were dead. They all had large heads, huge eyes, and thin mouths. The administrator of the Roswell City Hospital also said that she looked at the bodies of the dead aliens and remembers exactly that they had 4 fingers on their hands. There was also an eyewitness who claimed that he personally observed the surviving alien when he was in a military hospital. In addition, some of the military who took part in cordoning off the crash site admitted over time that they promised not to disclose to anyone what they had seen near Roswell.

Eyewitness accounts of the disaster largely coincided, but the US government has not confirmed the version of the crash of a UFO in New Mexico. People who are interested in whether aliens exist have not received an answer to their question to this day. It is unknown what happened to the surviving alien, if he really was. The story of the fall of a mysterious object was called the Roswell Incident and to this day attracts researchers of the unusual.

Contacts of ancient people with aliens: versions

Modern ufologists cannot fully confirm or deny the existence of intelligent life on other planets. But they have a lot of indirect evidence of the presence of mysterious creatures on Earth. Many scientists today are convinced that most of the ancient artifacts (Mayan complexes, pyramids in Egypt, Stonehenge, huge stone balls in Costa Rica, etc.) are of alien origin. They motivate their version by the fact that mankind in ancient times did not have the technologies and devices to create such structures.

Did ancient people have contact with aliens? Ufologists, having examined the drawings, which are several millennia old, are inclined to the version that aliens used to actively visit our planet and repeatedly caught the eye of people. Otherwise, why are there so many images of creatures with large heads and short bodies among the examples of ancient art? Scientists are sure that unusual little men are aliens, because people in ancient times sketched everything that surrounded them. But it is clear that this is only an assumption, since ancient images cannot be direct evidence of the presence of aliens on Earth.

Modern UFO Eyewitnesses

If one can only guess about the visits of the inhabitants of other planets of the Earth in ancient times, then what about the statements of our contemporaries who prove that they saw a UFO? The news that flying saucers, objects of a spherical, cone-shaped or cylindrical shape were seen somewhere, now and then excites the minds of fans of the unknown. Can there really be doubts about the existence of aliens after this? Photos of UFOs taken by eyewitnesses are available today to anyone. They recorded mysterious aircraft or an incomprehensible glow in the sky. However, it often turns out that the captured object in the picture is a cloud, satellite or aircraft of an unusual design, and the mysterious light and flashes are a common atmospheric phenomenon. But it is possible that some of the photographs do contain flying objects of extraterrestrial origin.

Encounters with Aliens

But what about people who claim to have made contact with aliens and even been abducted by them? Practice shows that such statements are most often made by mentally ill people and should not be taken seriously. It is customary to endow representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations with great intelligence, therefore, even if they visit the Earth, then they are unlikely to make contact with a person and thereby reveal their existence. But even against the background of such disappointing conclusions, ufologists do not cease to carefully study all the information about UFOs and aliens that come to them. It is not known whether there are aliens on Earth, but scientists tend to believe that there are guests from other civilizations on our planet and even have their own bases here, one of which is located in the Crimea.

So do you believe in aliens?

Thanks to science fiction writers and films, people have formed the opinion that the alien looks like a little man with a big head, huge dark eyes, flabby skin and no genitals. But no one knows who the representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations really look like. How to understand if there are aliens? Photos of mysterious creatures now and then appear in the media, but the authenticity of these pictures is called into question by scientists.

Many are sure that ufologists today have much more information about aliens than it seems to ordinary citizens. However, all information relating to life outside of our planet is classified, and therefore not available to the general population. The plausibility of this version can only be guessed at. Only one thing is obvious: scientists today cannot or do not want to give an answer to the question of whether aliens exist.

There are questions that can be answered based on reliable, verified information. And there are questions that mankind asks and tries to answer them, but the answers to which are not so obvious. One of them is, do aliens exist? We will answer this question by analyzing the available information.

Is humanity alone in the universe?

In ancient times, people believed that the Earth is the whole world. Even famous ancient philosophers believed that the Earth is located in the center of space, limited by a sphere on which fixed stars are fixed. But with the development of astronomy, it became clear that the Universe is very large, and the number of stars like the Sun is enormous.

The Milky Way has hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy alone.

The conclusion suggests itself - if the Sun is only one of many stars, then surely some planets similar to the Earth revolve around them, on which life and intelligent beings arose.

True, there were scientists who suggested that the emergence of life, as well as man on Earth, is a happy accident. From their point of view, living organisms are too complex, so coincidence is necessary for the emergence of life. a large number unlikely events. So, it is quite possible that life on Earth is a unique phenomenon, and billions of planetary systems around us are empty and lifeless.

However, in order for life on Earth to be a unique phenomenon, the probability of its occurrence should be so small (on the order of 10 -22) that this seems completely improbable. Therefore, most scientists think otherwise. Logic suggests that the laws in space are the same, which means that if a certain phenomenon is observed on Earth, then with a high probability it will be observed on other planets. The variety of life forms even on our planet is huge, many of them are able to exist in the most extreme conditions, and the simplest living organisms appeared at the very beginning of the Earth's existence. Therefore, life certainly arose on many other planets, and on some of them evolution led to the appearance of intelligent beings. Even if we assume that the probability of the emergence of life near one of the stars is only 1%, then there should be more than a billion inhabited planets in our galaxy alone.

It is also obvious that many stars and planetary systems around them arose much earlier than the Sun and the Solar System. This means that humanity is almost certainly not the first kind of intelligent beings in the Universe, and even before the appearance of people in space, many extraterrestrial civilizations arose.

Why don't we see aliens?

But if extraterrestrial civilizations exist, why do we not observe traces of their activities, why, after all, did they not officially contact us and announce this? This problem even received a special name - the "Fermi paradox". Many versions have been proposed as an answer to the question.

1) Extraterrestrial civilizations are dying for some reason.

Our civilization arose quite recently, but has already managed to cause a lot of harm to the planet and create dangers for itself. In a short period, people have exterminated many species of animals and plants, and the number of others has been significantly reduced due to human activities. Industrial emissions and waste pollute the ocean and atmosphere, and in the future can lead to global climate change and ecological disaster. Everything more countries acquire nuclear weapons, and progress in the field of genetic engineering can lead to the emergence of artificial deadly viruses that will destroy all of humanity. Could it be that technological development is mortally dangerous, and any civilization that embarks on this path will inevitably destroy itself? Then we do not observe developed civilizations capable of reaching us because they all died due to dangerous technologies and experiments.

2) Extraterrestrial civilizations are losing interest in expansion for some reason.

There are many reasons for this. Maybe interstellar travel is too wasteful and extraterrestrial civilizations prefer to save resources. Maybe extraterrestrial civilizations have already discovered all the secrets of nature and have lost interest in further research and contacts. Maybe extraterrestrial civilizations prefer to build their own virtual worlds and live in them, instead of populating space.

3) Aliens hide their presence for some reason.

It is possible that extraterrestrial civilizations have found the Earth long ago, but do not reveal themselves, because they have special goals. For example, the Earth for them is a kind of experiment, or a special zone like a zoo, where they prefer to observe humanity and its development in natural conditions. It may also be that advanced civilizations have a special rule according to which, in relation to underdeveloped civilizations like ours, a policy of non-intervention is deliberately pursued.

4) Aliens do not establish contact, because they do not consider people to be intelligent beings.

People have a high opinion of their mind, believing themselves to be the crown of nature, but since extraterrestrial civilizations have long overtaken humanity in their development, from their point of view, such an idea can be simply ridiculous. After all, if people cannot agree among themselves on the most key issues, resolve the problems of their society, stop wars, what kind of contact with the higher mind can we talk about? From the point of view of aliens, people may look too primitive, wild and insane creatures to be accepted into the community of advanced civilizations.

5) Aliens have long been in contact with humanity, but information about this is hidden or ridiculed.

According to polls, more than half of US residents believe that the government has real data on aliens and probably has come into contact with them for a long time, but hides all information from ordinary citizens. While astronomers are trying to pick up alien signals from space with radio telescopes, UFO enthusiasts are bringing up thousands of evidence of aliens on Earth. Among them are photos and videos of UFOs, eyewitness accounts, including those who, according to them, had direct contact with aliens, material traces, such as UFO crashes, crop circles, etc. At the same time, reports of UFO sightings often get into the media, and among those who talked about the reality of the existence of aliens, there are many famous people such as American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts, Canadian Minister of Defense, President of Kalmykia Ilyumzhinov, and others. US President Jimmy Carter said that he had observed UFOs, and astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who flew to the moon, claimed that the US government was hiding information about contact with aliens.

Video: one of the many UFO compilations

Of course, much of the information associated with UFO sightings and contact with aliens is an illusion (for example, when UFOs are mistaken for natural phenomena or Balloons), and even outright fiction. However, there are many cases that have been witnessed by many people and which cannot be given the usual explanation.

There are also popular theory associated with this version is the paleocontact theory. Its supporters claim that the aliens came into contact with people in ancient times, leaving many material traces and memories in the form of myths and legends about powerful gods from the sky.

The Inca Golden Airplane is one of many strange artifacts whose existence confirms the paleocontact theory.

In addition, references to UFOs constantly come across in historical chronicles dating back to times when no aircraft created by man could not be. For example, in the descriptions of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, disc-shaped UFOs are mentioned, resembling "silver shields", sometimes flying over the army. And in the writings of Plutarch, an episode is described that occurred in 73 BC. e. not far from the Dardanelles, where the troops of the Roman commander Lucullus and the Bosporus ruler Mithridates were preparing to enter the battle: “... Suddenly, completely unexpectedly, the sky opened up and a large fiery body appeared, like a barrel, which rushed down between the two armies. Terrified by this sign, the opponents dispersed without a fight.

Summing up

Probability theory suggests that aliens certainly exist. It is also almost certain that extraterrestrial civilizations arose long before mankind and are far superior to us in development. In addition, taking into account the fact that mankind in just a few thousand years has gone from making stone tools to space flights, aliens probably mastered interstellar travel long ago and found the Earth. In addition, it is likely that extraterrestrial civilizations differ from humans not only in the level of technological development, but also in moral and intellectual development. Scientists who talk about the “great silence of the Universe” usually try to project onto extraterrestrial civilizations the motives and way of thinking that are characteristic of the current level of development of their own civilization, which is obviously a mistake. For example, it is assumed that aliens will strive for constant expansion and colonization of all planets for the sake of resources, and upon contact with another civilization, they will make official contact. It is also often assumed that aliens will use Earth-like technology for space-based communications and planetary exploration (such as sending radio signals or automated research stations into space), which is also likely to be a mistake. More likely is the assumption that the level of development of extraterrestrial civilizations is high enough to conduct covert surveillance and, perhaps, even unofficially influence events taking place on Earth. Thus, the arguments of the supporters of the version about the hidden presence of aliens on Earth have every reason, although, of course, all information of this kind should be treated critically due to the huge number of fictions, speculations and arbitrary interpretations of facts.

Aliens exist or not? At first glance, the question may seem rhetorical. But let's turn to dry and dispassionate information. Let's start, perhaps, with the well-known Roswell incident. It happened in the summer of 1947 near the city of Roswell (New Mexico). It is a mountainous region in the southwestern United States bordering Mexico. "Land of Enchantment" - this is the official name of the territory of the state.

Roswell Incident
A certain farmer Bill (according to other sources, Mark) Brazel lay peacefully in his bed. The time was late. The man had already begun to enjoy the embrace of Morpheus, when suddenly loud noise The explosion frightened off the god of dreams.
The farmer jumped up, dressed and left the house. There was impenetrable darkness all around. The sky was gloomy, covered with black clouds. The stars were not visible. The moon did not shine in the night sky either. Bill or Mark Brazel waited for a while, but there were no more explosion sounds. The man returned to bed and still waited for the fearful god.

Location on the map where the Roswell Incident took place
In the morning, the farmer decided to find out the nature of the mysterious sound. He mounted his horse and rode into the field. After 500 meters, metal fragments began to come across. In appearance, they resembled very thin sheets of tin. In addition to metal, some obscure dark objects also came across. Bill or Mark dismounted from the horse and picked up one of these items. It turned out to be almost weightless, but solid, like a bar of steel. The metal also looked unusual. Despite its fragile appearance, it could not be bent by hand.
After driving a couple more kilometers, the man saw a large metal object. In its form, it resembled a disk. Its body was torn, mangled and had many dents. Next to the object, Brazel found motionless bodies resembling human shapes. Some of the creatures showed signs of life. But the farmer, unburdened by medical knowledge, could not help them. He thought it most prudent to report the terrible find to the authorities.
The power is the sheriff. He immediately transmitted information to the US air force base, which was based near Roswell. It was the legendary 509th Aviation Regiment, whose strategic bombers B-29s dropped atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The regimental commander, Colonel William Blanchard, assigned Major Jesse Marcel to verify the message. He went to the scene, examined it and immediately gave the order to cordon off the area. But these measures came too late. Many people already knew about the disaster. Nosy journalists did not stand aside either.
Lieutenant Walter Hout, in charge of public relations, issued a statement in which he directly indicated that a crashed alien disk with the bodies of pilots had been found. Apparently no one authorized the lieutenant to say such things, since the base commander completely refused to confirm the words of his subordinate.
mysterious object was taken to the territory of the base, and then transferred to the high command. Where the remains of the pilots and the mangled hull were sent, what research was carried out - all this remained a secret with seven seals. Generals from the Pentagon did not say a word to the press about the incomprehensible flying object, saying that there was no incident. As for the farmer and the young lieutenant, they saw an ordinary radar probe. Many of these fall in open areas. Brings them from the Alamogordo training ground. The very one where on July 16, 1945, nuclear weapons tests were carried out for the first time in the history of mankind.
This event was called the Roswell Incident, thanks to a book of that name written by Moore and Berlitz (author of a book about bermuda triangle) in 1979. In it, the authors tried to recreate the chronology of those mysterious events that were reliably hidden from the public by senior military officials.
Witnesses to the incident were interviewed. They turned out to be more than enough. There was even a photographer who allegedly photographed the disk itself and the bodies of dead aliens on the instructions of the military. There are big doubts about the photographer, since he was a civilian. The air force, of course, had its own specialists in photography. Therefore, to involve an outsider in this case, and besides, a civilian who does not obey military orders, would be the height of stupidity.

Frame from a secret film
Military medics perform an autopsy on a deceased alien
Film has already appeared in the 21st century. It shows military medics performing an autopsy on an alien corpse. Whether this is a genuine newsreel or not is difficult to judge. But the shots look very natural and believable. By the way, in 1994, the investigative body of the US Congress requested documents relating to the Roswell incident from the military archives. Nothing secret or unusual was found.
At the same time, the secret military project Mogul became known. Its purpose was to monitor nuclear tests conducted in the USSR. In this project, weather balloons stuffed with acoustic devices were used. At the air force base near Roswell, they knew nothing about the tests.
The Congressional committee concluded that no mysterious object of alien origin was available. Moreover, there were no alien bodies. The weather balloon really did crash, and rich imagination people have been turned upside down. Thus, the Roswell incident received its logical conclusion. But many researchers disagreed with the decision of the investigative body of Congress and remained unconvinced.

Flying saucer

A flying saucer or UFO (unidentified flying object) is also indirect evidence that aliens exist. This object is a mysterious luminous phenomenon in the sky of the Earth. Sometimes it emits a very faint silvery light and becomes volumetric forms resembling a round disk.
This disk moves at great speed, and turns at a right angle. At the same time, it is absolutely silent, instantly disappears from the eyes and also suddenly appears in the sky. All this looks fantastic and unrealistic. Hence the great interest in such a mysterious phenomenon.

For the sake of objectivity, it must be said that 90% of all UFOs eventually turn into OLOs (identified flying objects). But there remains 10%, the true nature of which people cannot explain. That's a lot for the planet.
Nowadays, not only ufologists, but also government officials take this issue very seriously. In all countries of the world, scrupulous records of flying saucers are kept. In most cases, they are not seen by huge masses of people, but only by those who, due to their official duties, are in places remote from the earth's firmament. These are pilots flying on supersonic aircraft, sailors sailing in the open ocean; astronomers conducting observations of the cosmic abyss, astronauts who are at a great distance from the blue planet.
But sometimes a flying saucer appears in front of thousands of people. This happens in the so-called "windows". These are the places where UFOs appear most often during a certain period of time. Then the "window" is moved to another location. As a rule, in sparsely populated areas, mysterious substances manifest themselves much more often than near large cities.
But if such an anomaly is above a large locality the event is widely covered in the media. You can, for example, call the Petrozavodsk phenomenon. It happened on September 20, 1977 in the sky of the city of Petrozavodsk (Russia, Republic of Karelia).
A flying object of an oval shape and very large size hovered over city buildings. A thin beam of golden color emerged from the object. He started making oscillatory movements. This went on for about 15 minutes. Then the beam disappeared, and the object soared high into the air and disappeared. After that, people found round holes in many windows. No glass shards were found.
In 1978, UFOs appeared and disappeared over Washington for several days with enviable regularity. They resembled cigar-shaped silvery formations. And on January 20, 2009, during the inauguration of the 44th US President Barack Obama, a cigar-shaped silver object also appeared in the sky not far from the Capitol.
The inauguration was covered by thousands of TV channels from all over the world. Tens of thousands of journalists gathered that day in Washington. The mysterious object was caught in the lens of many television cameras. It didn't look like a helicopter or a big bird. Something strange was moving in the sky. Then it suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace.
There are hundreds of such cases. A flying saucer appears in the sky, emits a white glow, sometimes a beam descends from it to the ground. Then it soars up with great speed and disappears into the boundless blue. Such phenomena can be explained only by interference in the life of earthlings by alien entities. Other more or less reasonable and scientifically sound arguments do not come to mind.

Contacts with aliens.

An important proof that humanity regularly experiences alien invasion is contacts with aliens. It sounds incredible, but there are thousands of testimonies confirming that people with enviable regularity come close to mysterious creatures.
Of course, everyone understands that most of these eyewitnesses have never seen any aliens. These people are driven by the desire to become famous, to get on TV screens, in magazines and newspapers. Therefore, experts are very skeptical of such statements. But among the tons of outright garbage, there are also statements by those who really experienced the impact of extraterrestrial entities. In particular, people who have been on alien ships acquire paranormal abilities. They become clairvoyant, receive an amazing gift to heal other people from various diseases. That is, such a person begins to live a completely different life. At the same time, he remembers almost nothing of what the aliens did to him.
Why do extraterrestrial guests come into contact with humans? Apparently they are studying the human body, testing its capabilities, getting an idea of ​​the potential of the brain. At the same time, such contacts can be described as kidnapping, because they occur against the will of a person. In addition, it is not known how many earthlings forever disappear from the blue planet. Cases of people disappearing without a trace are estimated in the millions a year. You can't put them all down to a high crime rate.
In a word, contacts with aliens do not carry any positive. From them only harm. Representatives of other planets look at people in the same way that people themselves look at the same ants. Aliens are not interested in the thoughts of a person, his feelings. For them, he is just a living experimental creature. In some cases, having received all necessary information, aliens return people to Earth, but much more often they apparently simply destroy them as waste material.
Therefore, it is hardly necessary to rejoice at a meeting with brothers in mind. Those may turn out to be soulless, like a machine, creatures. They will be guided only by their own interests, and the motives of people for them will be an empty sound.
In such a situation, the policy of the governments of many states deserves to be understood. High-ranking officials, of course, have information about unearthly creatures, but are in no hurry to share it with the public. Why do we need extra excitement, inspiration, spiritual uplift of huge masses of people. Meeting with aliens can end tragically for the whole human civilization. It is not at all excluded that this has already happened on the sinful earth.
The aliens themselves in the representation of people have two legs, two arms, walk vertically. They have large heads, huge eyes, small stature and gray skin. True, some eyewitnesses claim that the aliens are tall. Similar creatures were observed by several hundred schoolchildren in 1983. This event took place in a summer camp near Krasnoyarsk (Russia, Siberia).
After the morning lineup, a group of schoolchildren stumbled upon a strange creature sitting near one of the houses in which the children lived. The incomprehensible creature had an elongated small head, on which large dark eyes stood out in contrast. The creature's arms and legs were long and thin. The body resembled a thin log and had a dark gray color.
The disciples, seeing the mysterious creature, rushed around screaming. The creature also felt uncomfortable. It stood up to its full height, which exceeded 2 meters, and disappeared behind the house.
The educators combed the entire camp, but they did not find any traces of the mysterious creature. However, an incomprehensible entity appeared several times during the day in different parts of the camp. She terrified the children and tried to immediately disappear from sight. By evening, a few more incomprehensible creatures appeared.
Several dozen schoolchildren came across this group. The humanoids were standing next to the sports ground, and when they saw people, they abruptly turned and headed towards the fence surrounding the camp. They easily jumped over it. At the same time, they did not scatter, but simply jumped up and found themselves on the other side. The whole group hid in the woods and was never seen again.
Such incidents are quite rare. But it is precisely thanks to them that the images of aliens are recreated. In general, the aliens are absolutely not like people. The only common thing is the number of limbs and the fact that guests from other planets walk vertically. Sex in humanoids is almost impossible to distinguish. Apparently, it does not exist at all. This leads to the conclusion: the reproduction of alien beings has nothing to do with the reproduction of people and animals living on the blue planet.

Appearance of an alien.

This is a completely different world, completely different entities. They do not look like a person, not only externally, but also internally. Their spiritual life remains a mystery behind seven seals. Therefore, when meeting with aliens, it is necessary to exercise maximum caution, and not run towards them with open arms. Better to overdo it than underdo it. This is the only way to ensure maximum security.

And yet contacts with aliens remain a big question. Under the same big question is the very invasion of aliens on Mother Earth. There is no hard and fast evidence here. It is possible that no aliens ever existed. Majestic pyramids, huge ancient cities can be explained by the fact that on the blue planet long before our civilization there were other highly developed cultures of earthlings.
They all went through certain stages of development, and then disappeared from the face of the Earth for a number of completely natural reasons. These could be natural disasters, nuclear wars, epidemics. Between these civilizations there are time intervals of hundreds of thousands, and maybe millions of years. It is quite natural that ruthless time destroyed all traces. They can only be found at the bottom of the oceans, and under many kilometers of volcanic lava. So great discoveries are yet to come.

Announced the discovery of 1,284 new planets. They all orbit around stars outside of our own. solar system. The total number of such "exoplanets", whose existence was confirmed thanks to the Kepler telescope and other search tools, today exceeds three thousand.

This is a real revolution in our knowledge of the planets. Ten years ago, the discovery of a single exoplanet immediately became a scientific sensation. Much has changed today. Thanks to the improvement of the technique and technology of astronomical observations, we have moved from retail to wholesale discovery of the planets. For example, we now know that every star in the sky has at least one planet in orbit.

But the planets are only the beginning of the story. Everyone wants to know if these worlds are inhabited by aliens. Is our newfound knowledge of the planets helping us get closer to answering the this question?

Actually, yes, albeit a little. In the May issue of the journal Astrobiology, I published a paper with astronomer Woodruff Sullivan in which we show that although we do not know anything about the existence of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy today, we have enough information to conclude that that they must have existed at one point or another in cosmic history.

In the scientific community, there is the so-called Drake equation. This is a formula used to determine the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy with which we have a chance to make contact. In 1961, astronomer Frank Drake was asked by the National Academy of Sciences to hold a scientific meeting on the possibilities of "interstellar communication." Since the chances of making contact with extraterrestrial life are determined by the number of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that exist in the galaxy, Drake deduced seven factors on which this number depends, and included them in his equation.

The first factor is the number of stars born in a year. The second is the proportion of stars that have planets. Then comes the number of planets per star that orbit in places where life can form (based on what life requires liquid water). The next factor is the proportion of planets where life actually originated. And there is also such a factor as the proportion of planets where life has developed to a reasonable one, and advanced civilizations have appeared (capable of emitting radio signals). And the last factor is the average life span of a technically advanced civilization.

Drake's equation is completely different from Einstein's formula E=mc 2 . This is not a statement of a universal law. It is a mechanism that facilitates an organized discussion, a way to understand what we need to know in order to answer a question about alien civilizations. In 1961, only the first factor was known, the number of stars formed each year. We remained in this ignorance until recently.

That is why discussions about extraterrestrial civilizations, no matter how scientific they may be, have long been reduced to the usual expressions of hope or pessimism. What, for example, is the proportion of planets where life forms? Optimists can put forward complex molecular biological models, arguing that it is great. Pessimists, on the other hand, cite their own scientific data, arguing that this proportion is closer to 0. But since we have only one example of a planet where life exists (our own), it is rather difficult to understand which of them is right.

Or let's think about the average lifespan of a civilization. People have been using radio technology for only about 100 years. How long will our civilization last? A thousand years? One hundred thousand? Ten millions? If the average lifetime of a civilization is short, the galaxy is most likely uninhabited most of the time. But again, we can only use one example, and that brings us back to the battle between pessimists and optimists.

But our new knowledge of the planets has removed some of the uncertainty from this debate. Three of the seven factors in the Drake equation are known today. We know the number of stars born each year. We know that the proportion of stars with planets is about 100%. And we also know that 20-25% of these planets are in a place where life can form. Thus, for the first time, we can say something definite about extraterrestrial civilizations - if we begin to ask the right questions.

In our latest work, Professor Sullivan and I have shifted the focus on the Drake equation. Instead of asking how many civilizations there are at the moment, we decided to find out what is the probability that our civilization is the only technologically advanced civilization that has ever appeared. By asking this question, we managed to bypass the factor of the average life expectancy of a civilization. Thus, we were left with only three unknown factors, which we reduced to one "biotechnical" probability: the chances of the emergence of life, the chances of the emergence of intelligent life, and the chances of technical development.

It can be assumed that such a probability is small, and therefore there is little chance of the emergence of another technically advanced civilization. But our calculations showed that even if such a probability is extremely low, the chances that we are not the first technically advanced civilization are quite high. Specifically: if the probability of the emergence of a civilization on a habitable planet is less than one in ten billion trillion, then we are not the first.

Context

Is humanity alone in the universe?

Forbes 23.06.2016

On the way to the reflective planet

Project Syndicate 06/19/2016

Search for life on the red planet

The Verge 15.03.2016

This is what the planets sound like

La Vanguardia 09.02.2016

Multimedia

View from space: breathtaking images of the planet's nightlife

InoSMI 18.05.2014
Let's introduce some context for a better understanding of the numbers. During previous discussions on the Drake Equation, the one in ten billion chance of civilizations forming was considered very pessimistic. According to our calculations, even in such conditions, a trillion civilizations should have appeared in the entire history of the cosmos.

In other words, given what we know today about the number and orbital position of planets in the galaxy, the degree of pessimism required to doubt the existence of an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, contrary to common sense.

Finding a question that can be answered with data in hand can be an important step forward in science. This is exactly what we did in our work. As for the most important question - whether there are other civilizations today - then here we will have to wait a bit until the relevant data appears. But we must not underestimate the progress we have made in such a short time.

Adam Frank is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester, co-creator of the blog 13.7 Cosmos and Culture, and author of About Time: Cosmology and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

Do aliens exist? Definitely - yes, aliens and aliens really exist, they visited and visit our planet. The existence of alien structures is known: a secret world government, space agencies, high-ranking politicians and some military. This information is kept strictly confidential.

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Here are some facts that will help answer the question - do aliens really exist?

1 fact of the existence of aliens.

Pyramids. The most famous are the Egyptian pyramids - a place that some researchers consider well studied, others say that even over the years of research, we have not come close to unraveling the construction of structures one iota. Every year, questions are added to which no one gives an unambiguously correct answer.

• Why location Egyptian pyramids in the Giza region corresponds to the location of the stars of the constellation Orion?
• Why did the builders disguise the principle of building the pyramids?
• What kind of energy is generated in the pyramids?
• How did multi-ton megaliths move?
• Why the location of all the earthly pyramids is combined into a single complex and strictly systematized.
• Pyramids on - earth clones or vice versa?

Researchers are looking for answers and warn that human history will soon have to be completely rewritten.

In 2002, the whole world was looking forward to unraveling the mystery of the Giza pyramids, when the National Geographic TV channel team began an operation to open the secret door of the Cheops pyramid, to which 10 years were approaching. The drill carefully made a hole in the slab, clearing a passage for the camera. The general expectation again ended in a fiasco. Behind the door was a new door, and even with a crack that no one was ready to open.

If we are not able to understand the principle of structures, the method of construction, what can we say about people who lived hundreds of years BC. There is no information, drawings confirming the construction of the pyramids by the Egyptians, there are no additional roads, complex technological systems to unravel how the blocks were delivered to the construction site and hoisted tens of meters into the air.

Pyramid complexes are located all over the Earth, subject to strict mathematical calculations. In Tibet, E. Muldashev discovered a hundred pyramid-shaped structures and monuments, oriented to the cardinal points, located within the radius of the mysterious Mount Kailash.

In the Chinese province of Shaanxi, a grand city of pyramids was discovered in the middle of the last century. The highest of them (300 m) exceeds the height of the Cheops pyramid by 2 times! The authorities of the Chinese Republic do not allow foreign researchers to study the monuments of ancient foreign researchers, and also modestly talk about successes. Buddhist monks claim that the pyramids were built a very long time ago, when emperors ruled in China - "the sons of the Gods who descended to earth on fiery metal dragons."

For the first time in the spring of 2006, on the slope of the Vysocica hill (Bosnia), geologists discovered processed and polished stone blocks with which the alleged pyramid was lined. Insufficient funding did not allow giving complete information about what is hidden behind the layer of earth, however, the historian Semir Osmandzhik has no doubts that this is a pyramid, since its slopes are 30 °, and under it there are voids resembling underground corridors. Despite the fact that people appeared here seven thousand years ago, they were not able to create such a monumental structure.

Earthly pyramids say that it is impossible to build them with the help of primitive slave labor, although there are 30 different hypotheses for their construction. This requires advanced technology, a powerful production base and knowledge that modern man not available.

Video: Aliens really exist

2 fact of the existence of aliens.

Pictograms in the margins. Until 1980, geometrically correct anomalies occurring in the fields of wheat or other grains, few people heard, except for local farmers. But today the circles are unequivocally recognized as a supernatural phenomenon, the result of the work of aliens trying unsuccessfully to establish contact between our civilizations. There is even a science - geoglyphology, which studies such an ambiguous phenomenon.

On November 16, 1974, an attempt was made to contact aliens by sending an encrypted message into space, to the constellation Hercules. On August 20, 2001, a giant pictogram appeared near the British Observatory. It depicted a man and a humanoid with a large head and long arms.

A year later, the message was repeated, but they could not decipher it to the end, so the dialogue did not work. Is it any wonder that real contact between civilizations has not happened if we cannot understand each other at the most primitive level. confirm that aliens exist and they are talking to people who are able to tune in to the high vibrations of alien structures.

Crop circles have been documented in 40 countries. If we discard the games of adults in drawing circles to attract attention, 90% of the incomprehensible remains - how did the pictograms arise? Modern drawings are complex, reaching hundreds of meters. They depict animals, hieroglyphs, mathematical equations, DNA helixes, intricate signs that no one can unequivocally read yet.

The extraterrestrial origin of the circles is confirmed by the stacking of ears. The ears in the drawings are neatly bent (flattened), ornately twisted, but not broken. In the same pictogram there are ears of corn twisted into different sides, or layers, which is unrealistic for a person to do. Moreover, errors are excluded: all figures are mathematically accurate and flawless. Currently, we do not have any technology to imitate at least one hieroglyph.

3 the existence of aliens.

Mysterious caves of China. 26 years ago, in Zhejiang province (China), local residents decided to drain the reservoir, having discovered, after finishing work at the bottom, the entrance to the cave. The discovery was reported to the authorities, and soon 36 grottoes of incredible beauty and architectural complexity were discovered, carved into hard rock at a depth of 30 meters.

Steps, passages, bridges, columns are technically processed, and all the walls of the halls are evenly covered with parallel carved lines, reminiscent of a pattern that remains after a mining machine. But this association relies only on our, human, experience, because scientists cannot explain the appearance of drawings on such grandiose structures.

The version of the man-made labor of slaves is excluded by the scale of construction. During the years of excavations, neither tools nor any records of unusual project, there are no access facilities, there are no millions of cubic meters of withdrawn underground rock. It seems that the aliens stopped on Earth for a week, and in order to have a place to live, they built themselves a small temporary "dugout".

That before which we bow our heads from greatness and beauty did not take long for intergalactic guests. Technology allowed them to build housing quickly, ennobling the walls with different animals that they saw here: horses, birds, fish. Having rested, they left the Earth, never to remember and not to return, and not assuming that a person one day will get to the grottoes and begin to fantasize about a grandiose plan that was not even in sight.

The grottoes are unusually well preserved in an unfavorable humid environment and did not acquire vegetation and fish. One of the versions is special kind energy generated by underground structures.

The researchers note that the rooms have excellent acoustics. Concerts organized for experimental purposes in underground multi-tiered tunnels confirm that they were not cut spontaneously, but relying on complex acoustic calculations (difficult for us).

For those who claim that the Longue Grottoes were built by ancient people, we recommend trying to recruit a team of like-minded people, arm yourself with a digging stick, a stone chisel and build at least one analogue of an underground cave.

For two decades, not a single question has been answered: who, for what purpose, for how long, with the help of what technologies built large-scale structures. And the answer lies on the surface - only aliens could throw us such an architectural riddle.