The UFO Singularity (6 page)

That said, although the ideas and attitudes leading up to the formalization of the Singularity concept were many and varied indeed, today there are much more distinct
views held among futurists and proponents of an intelligence explosion lingering in our future. According to the Singularity Institute, which defines Singularity as being simply “the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence,”
¹⁸
there are much broader implications native to the concept that evoke questions about how we will define intelligence in the coming years. For instance, will it matter if a conscious entity is a living biological being, rather than merely an intelligent machine, when it comes to major decisions that will take place in future societies? Furthermore, when it comes to distinctions between biology and machines, will there even be any discernible difference once A.I. reaches a point that it cannot only replicate itself, but might also
improve
its “offspring”? Indeed, such a future technology may effectively blur any existing distinctions between man and machine, perhaps allowing the focus to shift solely toward the unobstructed pursuit of technological growth—and despite whatever intelligence may ultimately come to exist behind it. This concept, as outlined in an overview provided on the Website of the Singularity Institute, supposes that A.I. would be best suited for initiating such a trend, though it also surmises that biologically augmented humans would be capable of the same:

Smarter minds will be more effective at building still smarter minds. This loop appears most clearly in the example of an Artificial Intelligence improving its own source code, but it would also arise…from
humans with direct brain-computer interfaces creating the next generation of brain-computer interfaces, or biologically augmented humans working on an Artificial Intelligence project.
¹⁹

Given the scenario previously outlined, our concept of an “intelligence explosion” is thus realized. But additionally, perhaps notions of “biologically augmented humans” and A.I. capable of “improving itself” presented here also begin to evoke stirrings in the minds of those familiar with UFO literature. Arguably, among various theories pertaining to UFO origins, ideas such as visitors from the future—as well as the more popular notion of aliens from other planets—could both easily incorporate futuristic post-Singularity concepts into attempts at drawing likely explanations.

For instance, the presence of nanotechnological wonders like J. Storrs Hall’s
foglets,
which are described as swarms of miniature devices working in tandem that represent “one conceptual design for creating real morphable bodies,”
²⁰
might easily be used in attempts to explain the behavior of supposed alien beings. In Ray Fowler’s
The Andreasson Affair,
abductee Betty Andreasson describes how extraterrestrial visitors had entered her home by literally passing through a closed wooden door, moving “in a jerky motion, leaving a vapory image behind.”
²¹
Armed with the predicted issuance of something similar to foglet-technology, we might go so far as to suppose that some artificial intelligence comprised of a moldable swarm
of nanobots would be capable of passing through physical objects in this way, thus engaging in self-reassembly after breaking apart for purposes of moving through something like a wooden door.

However, especially within the scope of our present discussion, an anthropocentric approach becomes far too easy with our examination of how future technology will lead to things that are quite “alien” by our scientific and cultural standards today. Indeed, nanotechnology, in addition to the incredible possibilities afforded to us by brain-computer interfaces or advanced A.I., are less often projected beyond their expected physical augmentations of the human body. This, of course, applies well to the discussion of presumed alien life forms, as described throughout the accounts of UFO abductees. However, when we consider the behavior of the actual UFO aircraft, based on eyewitness descriptions, there are indeed a number of elements that are equally strange by nature—if not seemingly impossible—but that also bear some similarity to the forecasts of our futurists today. Rather than speeding off into the stars at tremendous speeds and disappearing into space, UFOs just as often seem to simply disappear,
period.
As Vallee and many others have observed already, they will often tend to vanish outright, or will sometimes seem to begin entering or merging with the
ground
when making their exit—whatever is really necessary, perhaps, so long as they are removed from the view of humans who may be observing nearby.

And yet, the sheer number of reports, and perhaps more importantly, the hypothetical number of presumed UFO landings based on computer models, would have their appearances far outranking the numbers expected, for instance, with regard to an alien survey of planet Earth. In his book
Dimensions,
Jacques Vallee writes, “[T]aking a conservative multiplying factor often leads us to the staggering conclusion that the UFOs…must have landed here no fewer than
three million times
in two decades!”
²²
This is indeed a tremendous number of landings, and one that far exceeds the amount of time spent on Earth needed for mere completion of a survey of this planet (though again, here we are judging the intentions of UFO occupants according to our own understanding of science, cultural values, and so forth). Nonetheless, such deviations from the anticipated models of space exploration have led Vallee, along with a few others throughout the years, to propose notions so bold as the literal staging of UFO appearances by whatever intelligence may represent them:

This is one of the little recognized facts of the UFO problem that any theory has yet to explain. The theory of random visitation does
not
explain it. Either the UFOs select their witnesses for psychological or sociological reasons, or they are something entirely different from space vehicles. In either case, their appearances are
staged
!
²³

This is certainly a possibility, though there would need to be a hefty reason for using technology so advanced as that displayed by UFO craft for mere purposes of staging psychological experiments with humans. Granted, Vallee’s interpretation here was not intended entirely as justification for any sort of “staging” along these lines. Instead, his hope was to draw attention to the bigger question: What could possibly allow these UFOs to have such prolific interaction with Earth and its inhabitants,
especially
if the intelligence behind them were extraterrestrial? Furthermore, does this warrant our consideration of other explanations, especially those that are terrestrial in nature? Could we stand a better chance in terms of accounting for the inconsistencies present within UFO literature if we begin to divorce ourselves from the old notion that flying saucers and similar aircraft are the
obvious
work of aliens from outer space? What about an interdimensional intelligence, whose presence is betrayed by physical anomalies that become apparent in our skies? Might indigenous
cryptoterrestrials,
to borrow the convention of the late author Mac Tonnies, be a factor worthy of consideration here? And yes, might we stand to gain anything from exploring notions of
temporal displacement,
in the event that some future intelligence has harnessed an ability to move across points in time as simply as you or I might stroll through an outdoor garden?

Artificial intelligence, advanced bioengineering, anti-gravitational aircraft, and perhaps even time travel are all things that could account for various UFO
technologies. However, each of these possibilities is equally fastened to the idea of a coming technological Singularity just as well. It is time now that we begin to cross-examine these mutual potentials and see where the
real
similarities may indeed lay. The results of our present foray will no doubt amaze us, and at times may even be troubling. But perhaps most importantly, they will serve in helping us better understand the technology underlying these mysterious and enigmatic UFOs, as well as their curiously reticent occupants. For all we know, our perception of supposed extraterrestrial technologies may one day reach a point of convergence, where those things “alien” to us now will unite with our expectations for life on Earth in some distant epoch. Perhaps by the year 2112, in addition to no virtual distinctions remaining between man and machine, there will be just as few that exist to separate what we call
human
and
alien.

“Man of the Year 2112” by Caleb Hanks.

The false but widespread assumption that a UFO is, of necessity, an alien spaceship is usually the reason the term generates such an exaggerated and confusing range of emotional responses. A recognition of the extraterrestrial hypothesis as being a valid, although unproved, possible explanation worthy of further scientific scrutiny is something entirely different from approaching the subject of UFOs as if this discovery had already been made.

—Leslie Kean,
UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government
Officials Go on the Record

S
ince my early youth, I admit to being wholly absorbed with all the compelling possibilities that surrounded the UFO mystery. Even the grainiest and least aesthetically impressive black and white photographs that had emerged into the wide and ever-expanding dossier of UFO reports up to that time boasted a certain degree of promise in my young mind. To me, each of those otherwise-unimpressive images, depicting amorphous globs of light and barely discernible shapes coasting through the airspace above our planet, might have held the potential for incredible realities and bold new kinds of life that might have come from, of all places, somewhere outside this little celestial island we call Earth.

It is rather strange to me now, thinking back to those years of eager and hopeful early exploits in the field of ufology, that notions regarding the origins of those strange saucers—at least so far as being from someplace other than outer space—had seldom crossed my mind. Today, things are quite different, and I can state with certainty that the man I would eventually become, equipped with a more complete understanding of the scientific methodology that any serious researcher must apply in his or her respective field, has illuminated a number of new potentials in the realm of what UFOs might be. If anything, my thought processes regarding the possibilities
this complicated mystery may yet afford us have only continued to broaden, especially the further I get from that old notion that UFOs, quite simply, are interstellar spacecraft from another world.

To be fair, the reasoned scientist should not (nor would he in practice) eliminate
any
possibility on the mere grounds that available evidence seemed to be lacking in one particular area or another. For all we know of the UFOs themselves—or the
presumption
that they are occupied by some kind of physical beings like you or me, for that matter—the ongoing enigma of the flying saucers very well may be representative of alien life from some distant star system. Therefore, far be it from me, let alone the staunchest skeptics among us, to hope to derail anyone else’s belief in alien visitation here on Earth. The bottom line is that
we simply don’t know what, exactly, we may be dealing with when it comes to UFOs.
At present, we only have a few reasonably good ideas.

Based on this fundamental notion that UFOs could either be
nothing
we have yet imagined, or that they are represented by a variety of different unexplained aerial phenomena, I have long advocated the use of a reasoned, philosophical process of inquiry we might call “speculative ufology” for use in their study. Although many in the scientific field lapse into a state of rhetorical cringes and curls at the mere utterance of that word—
speculation
—there must be some way to proceed with the unraveling of complex mysteries through the use of filling in certain blank areas, so as to ponder a more likely outcome
or resolution to any given set of circumstances. Think for a moment of how a skilled mathematician or physicist is given license, by virtue of his trade, to balance equations that are intricate in their difficulty by brainstorming a host of different
variables.
That is, he will go about the problem-solving process by replacing certain unknown elements with quantities that may, in the end, bring resolution to a group of numbers arranged in such a way that they represent the complex mysteries surrounding things like time, space, gravity, and the cosmos. At the outset of his inquiry, this brilliant man of science will likely not be equipped with every piece needed to solve the puzzle before him; and thus, he
improvises.
This sort of educated guesswork is integral to the eventual unraveling of any great and complex mystery our universe may have to offer.