The Philip DeFranco Show - MS 5.18 Aliens Among Us?! Why Scientists Think It’s Possible!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, hello, hello, welcome to a bonus weekend video. My name is Philip DeFranco and today we're going to be talking about extraterrestrial life, UFOs, and the alien invasion that is definitely 100% going to happen. But first, in a crushous transition, a big thank you to Postmates and PostDeFranco.com for sponsoring this episode. An amazing delivery on demand app and when you use code PhillyD you will get $100 in free delivery fee credit. But, that said, while no, we are not actually gonna talk about aliens coming to kill us, we are gonna be talking about the possibility of intelligent life visiting Earth. UFOs and aliens have been a part of the American news cycle since the summer of 1947,

Starting point is 00:00:32 and that is when the famous Roswell incident took place. If you're not familiar with that, here is what allegedly happened. In June of 1947, there were rumors around Roswell, New Mexico that there was an object flying in the sky. A few days later, a rancher named W.W. Mack Brazel discovered some strange wreckage. The debris from the crash included tinfoil,

Starting point is 00:00:48 rubber strips, and sticks, and Brazel then brought some of those objects to Roswell's sheriff. The sheriff was unsure of what that object was, so he then contacted Roswell Army Airfield. The army came and collected the wreckage, and they then released a statement that was shocking, stating,

Starting point is 00:01:00 the many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Airfield, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff's office of Chavez County. That release was then picked up by the Roswell Daily Record newspaper. This article then gets run on July 8th, 1947. But the next day, the military ends up walking back that claim and said that the wreckage wasn't actually a flying saucer. And instead, they said that it was just a crashed weather balloon. And that explanation was logical enough that the story ended up fading away from the headlines.

Starting point is 00:01:31 But then, in 1980, a book called The Roswell Incident was published. And it claimed that the Army's weather balloon explanation was actually a cover-up. And since then, we've seen a number of theories pop up as to what really happened in the summer of 1947. We then fast forward to 1994, where the Air Force actually admitted that the story was a coverup, saying that there was never a weather balloon, but instead that it was actually a US spy balloon. But with all that said,

Starting point is 00:01:51 today we're not actually gonna be talking about more theories surrounding Roswell. Instead, we're gonna be talking about how in the past couple of years, serious scientists have recently explored the possibility of UFOs and aliens and the backlash that they have faced. And that's actually a big deal

Starting point is 00:02:02 because the scientific community hasn't always taken this seriously. As one reporter put it in 2018, "'Academia' doesn't put a whole lot of credence in the incessant claims that some of the thousands of UFOs sighted every year are actually alien craft." And just so we're clear, when we're talking about aliens and extraterrestrial life today,

Starting point is 00:02:16 we're gonna be talking about intelligent life forms, right? Not just like an amoeba hanging out on some foreign planet somewhere. And so with all of that said, to deep dive into this, to go down the rabbit hole to see what has happened over the past few years that as some believing scientists are taking the possibility of UFOs and alien life forms more serious, I hand you over to Alyssa Schenicke from the Rogue Rocket team. In September of 1961, Betty and Barney Hill were driving down winding country roads in rural New Hampshire. The married couple were returning to their home in

Starting point is 00:02:41 Portsmouth from a vacation in Canada. And as the two cruised along an isolated stretch of road, they noticed a strange light in the sky. As the light got closer, the Hills pulled their car over. Barney stepped out to take a better look. Then the flying object got even closer, and Barney noticed strange beings inside. Now frightened, Barney got back into his car and drove home with his wife. But when he and Betty finally arrived at their home, it was morning. And neither could remember hours of their drive. Their clothes were dirty, Betty's dress was torn, and Barney's shoes were scuffed. The couple would have strange dreams for years after that night. It got so bad that the couple eventually sought psychiatric help for their nightmares.

Starting point is 00:03:19 And while under hypnosis, they began to recall the events of that night. According to the couple's accounts, they were abducted by aliens and brought aboard a spaceship. Here's audio of Betty and Barney allegedly reliving that event while under hypnosis. They both had undergone strange medical examinations, and their story would eventually gain national attention after it was covered in a Boston newspaper. The Hill's story is considered the first widely publicized alien abduction account in U.S. history, and their story helped further spark American fascination with aliens and UFOs.

Starting point is 00:04:01 That infatuation has also captivated movie audiences for decades. In 1979, Ripley battled some less than kind aliens in outer space. A few years later, we met a more friendly extraterrestrial. Then in 96, the aliens were back at it again, this time blowing up the White House. And by 2011, we probably got the most alien Americana movie mashup we'll ever see.

Starting point is 00:04:22 But big budget box office smash alien movies, for the most part, haven't been based on true events or even scientific discoveries and theories. And when true accounts of aliens and UFOs are covered in the news, it's usually some sensational story. There's also these photos of marks on Stan's body, which he says were the result of alien testing. And they're usually in triangles, perfect triangles.

Starting point is 00:04:44 You can measure them and they're like an inch by an inch by an inch by an inch. One could argue, Stan, that these are self-inflicted. Yeah, they could argue that. I found some on my back, didn't even know I had them.

Starting point is 00:04:55 Now, how can I reach them back? You know? But like Phil said, recently we've had some pretty big names talking seriously about UFOs and alien life forms. And I'm not talking about celebrities who said they believe either.

Starting point is 00:05:08 If the UFOs may be products of another reality, that leads you into a mystery. They only land in isolated places. They have taken people, I believe. They do have technology. Different races are coming here and they're trying to win. I'm actually talking about some really well-respected scientists and researchers. In October of 2017, astronomers at the University of Hawaii noticed an object flying through our solar system. At first, researchers called the object a comet. But the object didn't look like any comet scientists had ever seen. It was missing a tail, and the object didn't follow the typical path of a comet either.

Starting point is 00:05:43 So then they thought, maybe it's an asteroid. But that didn't seem right. The object was accelerating strangely, and it was moving rapidly, almost 2 million miles per hour. That's when scientists realized what they had. This was the first interstellar object to be detected within our solar system. Meaning this was the first object ever seen in our solar system that we know has originated somewhere else.

Starting point is 00:06:03 So astronomers named the object Oumuamua, which in Hawaiian loosely translates to first-time visitor from far away. More than a year later, two astrophysicists at Harvard released this paper about Oumuamua. It's titled, Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain Oumuamua's Peculiar Acceleration? And at a glance, the paper looks like what you might expect from two Harvard astronomers. There's detailed equations, graphs, and tables. Paragraphs on interstellar travel, tensile stresses, and tidal forces. And a list of references to academic sources from reputable astronomy journals.

Starting point is 00:06:34 None of that makes this paper particularly interesting for the average person. But towards the end of the paper, there's a single sentence that has angered scientists and delighted alien believers. That sentence reads, Alternatively, a more exotic scenario is that a muamua may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth's vicinity by an alien civilization. So basically, Harvard scientists just said it was possible an alien spacecraft entered our solar system, and it was sent here on purpose. And that shocking line brought headlines like these. But that sentence also brewed tons of controversy in the science community. Paul M. Sutter, an astrophysicist at Ohio State University, tweeted,

Starting point is 00:07:10 no, Oumuamua is not an alien spaceship. And the authors of the paper insult honest scientific inquiry to even suggest it. Theoretical astrophysicist Ethan Siegel wrote in Forbes the paper was, quote, a shocking example of sensationalist, ill-motivated science. And Neil deGrasse Tyson had this to say to NBC News. If there's something that happens that you cannot explain, the most extraordinary account to explain it is probably not the correct one.

Starting point is 00:07:38 That's just the statistics on this. Is it an alien craft coming from, or is there some natural phenomenon that requires a little further explanation, a little further probing to account for it? But despite objections, the Harvard astronomers are sticking to their statement. The controversial paper was written by the chair of Harvard's astronomy department, Avi Loeb, and a Harvard postdoctoral fellow. Here's Loeb defending his theory to Tech Insider.

Starting point is 00:08:03 I prefer to adopt the maxim of Sherlock Holmes that if you rule out the impossible, whatever remains, as improbable as it is, must be the truth. And while Loeb's paper may be attention-grabbing, this isn't the first time he's been in the spotlight. In 2012, Time magazine selected Loeb as one of the 25 most influential people in space. And Loeb told The New Yorker, notoriety wasn't the reason he developed the controversial theory, stating, My motivation for writing the paper is to alert the community

Starting point is 00:08:31 to pay a lot more attention to the next visitor. Loeb also noted that he wishes others in the science community were more open to the possibility of alien life forms, stating, What we're talking about today is part of science. We have seen an object from outside the solar system, and we are trying to figure out what it is made of and where it came from. We don't have as much data as I would like.

Starting point is 00:08:50 Given the data that we have, I am putting this on the table, and it bothers people to even think about that, just like it bothered the church in the days of Galileo to even think about the possibility that Earth moves around the sun. But Loeb isn't the only notable person in the science community speaking out. There's also at least one scientist at NASA who's publicly said it's possible aliens may have already visited Earth. Last year, a NASA scientist named Silvano Columbano presented this paper at a conference held by the SETI Institute. In that paper, he argued SETI, a non-profit scientific research institute and research contractor to NASA, isn't taking UFOs seriously

Starting point is 00:09:25 enough. He wrote, high likelihood of hoaxes, mistaken perceptions, or even psychotic events in UFO phenomena. And three, the general avoidance of the subject by the scientific community. And he also argued there should be a more aggressive approach to finding alien life forms, stating, in the very large amount of noise and UFO reporting, there may be signals, however small, that indicate some phenomena that cannot be explained or denied. And since making those statements, NASA has decided to take a more aggressive approach to searching for aliens.

Starting point is 00:10:12 Just a few months ago, they opened the Center for Life Detection Science. The center has a full-time team of scientists entirely dedicated to finding life beyond Earth. So over the past couple of years, we've actually seen some pretty reputable people come forward with theories and ideas about intelligent life visiting us and it's been very interesting to see these Scientists not back down from their theories even when they've been met with some controversy But with all of that said it's the part of the video where of course we pass the question off to you What are your thoughts in general?

Starting point is 00:10:36 Also, do you think that it is good that we're seeing more high-profile people talk about the potential of intelligent alien life? Do you think that it is good that some are calling for a more aggressive search? Do you think we're alone? What do you think about any of the theories? I personally have the belief that it makes no sense if there's no other intelligent life. As to whether we have been visited, I think that is a different question. But yeah, let me know what you're thinking.

Starting point is 00:10:54 Also, maybe while you're writing that, if you wanna take a second to support the channel, support this video, just hit that like button, maybe share it. Also, if you're new here, you want any of the seven videos we upload every single week, be sure to hit that subscribe button. Shout out again to Postmates and postdefranco.com

Starting point is 00:11:08 for sponsoring today's episode. It is truly a fantastic delivery on demand service. It has become vital to my life. Link and code down below. But with all that said, thank you so much for watching. I hope you're having a fantastic day and I will see you right back here on this channel tomorrow.

Your Ad Here

The Philip DeFranco Show - MS 5.18 Aliens Among Us?! Why Scientists Think It’s Possible!

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.