Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from ...

210 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
and mutilate our cattle. The very vastness of space makes that
unlikely. Even with highly advanced technology, it would be a lot
of work to explore every star and planet in the Milky Way. And if
their technology is so advanced, how come they crashed here in
Roswell in 1947? It seems unlikely that we would be able to shoot
down a spaceship; that’s like cows being able to take down a
fighter plane. And if their technology is so advanced, why would
they crash a few kilometers from the end of a journey that lasted
for trillions of kilometers?
Many people assume that faster-than-light travel is possible.
Although there is no real evidence for it, let’s assume that travel
through hyperspace, warpdrive, or some other method is feasible.
If that’s true, and some alien race knows about it, where are
they?
Our civilization has been around for a few thousand years, and
we are starting to explore the near reaches of space. If we had
faster-than-light travel, we could populate the entire Galaxy in just
a few thousand years. Even with slower-than-light ships we could
do it in a few million years at most.
That may sound like a long time, but not in the galactic sense.
Elsewhere, a star like the Sun, only a few hundred million years
older, might have had a booming civilization on one of its planets
while trilobites swam in our own oceans. If this civilization decided
to colonize the Galaxy, then by now the whole place should
be filled with them.
Yet we have no proof they are here, so you have to assume
that they have some sort of Prime Directive, as in Star Trek, to
leave young civilizations alone. But then, why do we see so many
of their spaceships? UFO enthusiasts want to have it both ways;
they believe that incredibly advanced aliens come here in spaceships,
yet these aliens are still so dumb that a bunch of primitives
who barely understand atomic energy can photograph them ten
times a day. That stretches credulity beyond the breaking point. I
think the Truth Is Out There. It just isn’t down here.
It frustrates me to see true believers claim that every light in
the sky is an alien spaceship. However, it gives me pause when I
remember that I was once fooled by a flock of ducks on a dark