The UFO Singularity (3 page)

Then again, the mere notion of aliens bringing such incredible technology to Earth with them may not best represent the mystery in all its likely aspects. Indeed, we would be very unwise not to consider the potential
that such intelligence may exist right here in our midst and that perhaps some suppressed terrestrial technology could be behind aspects of the UFO mystery just as well. It is often said that the technology available on the consumer level today is several decades behind what governments and secret organizations may already be utilizing. Again, keep in mind that futurists and proponents of Transhumanism—chief among them Ray Kurzweil—predict that the beginnings of a coming Singularity will likely become apparent by around 2029. When considering the short amount of time we have before the expected arrival of such boundless technology of the future, even a secret technology, with capabilities exceeding those available at the consumer level by so little as two decades, would already be enacting the kinds of innovations our present-day Transhumanists are forecasting for the future. Not surprisingly, innovations that would allow for humans to travel through space more efficiently, as well as things like artificial intelligence, highly sophisticated nanotech, and a host of other futuristic sciences can be incorporated with ease into possible explanations for things we have already deemed “alien” or extraterrestrial in the various UFO literature.

There is, however, a final awesome potential worthy of consideration, with regard to how greater-than-exponential technological growth might factor into our eventual understanding of the UFO mystery. As we have already discussed, a number of the mystery elements so
concomitant with UFO reports today mirror the technologies of tomorrow, as forecasted by leading present-day futurologists. Then again, who can say that if the same kind of sweeping technological revolution were to occur here on Earth that the matter of
when
it transpired would be of any real concern? For all we know, a highly advanced technological society in humanity’s own future may have developed unique methods of manipulating space and time, in addition to performing alterations on themselves that are equally as advanced and futuristic by our standards in the present day. Quite possibly, the UFO enigma so many of us marvel at is representative of a future
Earthbound
intelligence, nonetheless capable of interacting with past epochs of humanity as simply as you or I would cross from one end of a room to the other.

Given the scope of the argument presented here, our possible hypothetical interpretations of how Singularity and the technology it would comprise may be introduced on Earth, at least within the context of ufology, include the following:

A post-Singularity extraterrestrial technology that may have traveled to Earth from elsewhere.

A secret military or private industrial presence that may have utilized fringe technology “behind the scenes” for several decades, attaining elements of a technological Singularity well in advance of mainstream science.

A post-Singularity extraterrestrial technology introduced to humans, perhaps through recovery of crashed aircraft and reverse engineering; the result may be a combination of both terrestrial and non-terrestrial intelligences that now utilize technology exceeding levels of natural human intelligence.

Humans from our future, having harnessed a technological ability to displace temporality, and thus achieving a form of “time travel.” These beings and their advanced technology may literally be so different from present-day humans that aspects of their presence, perceived by you or I, would seem “alien.”

Given this set of criteria for understanding a potential UFO-Singularity connection, when we consider again the factual basis for strange aerial phenomenon that exists in declassified official documentation—as well as the better civilian investigations of the same—to deny a link between forecasts of the future and the behavior already associated with UFOs amounts to placing limitations on thought. Ufologist and physicist Jacques Vallee has argued thusly that “UFO reports may provide an existence theorem for new notions of space and time—
and breakthroughs in technology innovation
[author’s emphasis].”
¹
By this justification, we might assume that even an element so simple as our choice in studying UFOs could play an important role in the process of reaching Singularity, and thus the potential for a better future. More likely, their presence
as a greater-than-human intelligence already in our midst will eventually betray more about itself, as our own technological prowess increases, thus bearing even greater potential for serving as catalyst to an eventual intelligence explosion. But at very least, maybe the careful examination of the history of UFO phenomenon, when compared with potentials for a coming technological Singularity, will reveal new secrets about the UFO enigma as it has grown and developed through time; perhaps it is a phenomenon that we will begin to recognize as something that has run parallel to our own existence for decades or more already, though somehow kept well out of sight of the general public.

Thinking along these lines, a number of intriguing facets begin to emerge from within the UFO literature. For instance, when we look back at classic stories of “mystery airships” from the late 19th century, one will find potentials that may yield a basis for understanding how various technological innovations—and those that might be on par with early UFO reports—could have had their beginnings, and yet still remain secret from the public. Granted, right off the bat we can discern that a majority of these airship reports were fabricated stories, intended to raise the readership of various daily newspapers across the United States and abroad. However, there are a handful of reports that might warrant further inquiry; a few of these are traceable to military pilots and others who served as part of official bodies that were reporting unidentified “airships” even prior to World War I. Could
a few of the “mystery airships” of the late 19th and early 20th centuries—viewed by many as cultural predecessors to the more commonly reported UFO phenomenon that began to emerge during the World War II era—represent the progression of some kind of technological presence in our midst that had its innovative beginnings more than a century ago? Could we even be so bold as to speculate that such circumstances might detail how a private industry might develop here on Earth, which eventually could have gone on to involve itself in our international affairs for the next several decades to come? Though remote, it seems possible, especially when taking into consideration the vast connections that authors like Robert Hastings and others have outlined that already link UFOs to nuclear weapons sites, our space programs, and a host of other activities. Whatever their presence may actually entail, it has become hard to deny that UFOs have shown an express interest in our operations that involve nuclear weaponry and the further armament of major superpowers; perhaps they would stand to lose far too much in the aftermath of some mutually assured destruction event, unless their true origins involved anyplace other than right here on Earth.

And yet, to many among the mainstream scientific intelligentsia, this sort of scenario would seem not only remote, but also absurd. Having adopted a hard-line stance against anything deemed “strange phenomenon,” UFOs will be relegated by such individuals to areas of the fringe that are seldom afforded even a serious glance—despite
the multitude of evidence that not only supports, but proves with little doubt that
something
is indeed going on. Because of this latter sentiment, I would argue that serious consideration of how such futuristic technology seems to exist right here in our midst—whatever its source may actually be—does indeed warrant further attention. Looking at the problem from the opposite extreme, many of those who would dismiss such notions as a terrestrial technology, whether it originates from our past, present, or the distant future, would no doubt go on to favor instead a solution to the UFO question that is far less likely in terms of being scientifically justifiable: that these strange craft originate from some distant planet. This possibility cannot be discounted, of course. But again, in terms of having irrefutable scientific proof to justify such a claim,
where is the hard evidence?
All things considered, the alternative theories we’ve touched on already, involving a terrestrial or even a futuristic intelligence, seem just as likely at this stage of the game.

Then there are the reports of the alleged occupants of these UFOs, stories of which date back even to those early encounters with the “mystery airships” of yesteryear. Interestingly, the occupants described in those airship reports, while often claiming to be from other planets, nonetheless looked quite human for the most part. This trend would continue on into the 1960s (despite the colorful interpretations of exotic “alien” life depicted in science fiction), before reports of more ghastly entities that were merely
humanlike
began to reveal themselves. This
was especially the case with early abduction encounters such as the famous abduction of Betty and Barney Hill in 1961, the details of which only became public knowledge several years after the fact, which involved the now-popular “grey aliens.” It should be mentioned here, nonetheless, that 19th-century fiction author and futurist H.G. Wells had not only seemed to predict the eventual presence of the greys in our culture, but also penned an article as early as 1893 titled “Man of the Year Million,” which drew a connection between such beings and humanity’s future. In that piece, Wells envisioned people of the distant future that had evolved into grey-skinned, diminutive beings with large heads, and which bore a striking resemblance to the more famous aliens of modern abduction lore.

Is there any real significance to these sorts of observations, or do they merely outline some of the more outlandish areas of the UFO phenomenon, as perceived through the fallible senses and colored by culture through time? Arguably, such things could be interpreted in any number of ways; drawing lines in the proverbial sand, we might begin to consider two fairly extreme possibilities. On the one hand, with reports of alien contact we may indeed be looking at the handiwork of liars, whose fictional claims were really no more imaginative, by comparison, than the science fiction of their day might have allowed. But if any reports of alleged UFO contactees could be taken seriously at all, we might have to consider a unique alternative: that, for whatever reason, at least some of these
UFO entities have appeared to become less human as time has passed. The question here, with direct pertinence to the notion of an intelligence explosion, artificial intelligence, and a coming Singularity, is this: Could reports of encounters with UFO occupants display a change through time primarily on account of the way the technology or other influences behind the phenomenon may have been progressing?