Sushiksha

This week’s topic: Aliens.

Aliens. Who are they? Who can they be? Where have they come from? Do they even exist? How do they look? The questions are many. The sad part is we still do not have an answer to almost any of them. There are lot of incidents out there that, for a moment, make people realize that aliens could be real, but again, we have no proof whatsoever. May it be the UFO sightings of New Jersey, the Flying Triangle of Belgium or the more recent, Strange Monoliths around the world and the image of the mysterious hexagonal structure in space recently declassified by the US, science hasn’t been always able to prove them with enough proof or evidence to satisfy the general public. Even moviemakers weren’t to be left out. There were ones like ‘Koi Mil Gaya’, representing the exact cliché thought of people so as to how aliens look, travel and behave and also ones like ‘Arrival’ which entirely changed the concept of aliens and inter-galactic travel. The question whether aliens exist or not and if they do, have they ever visited us, still remains a big mystery.

There are 3 Primary schools of thought with regards to existence and origins of aliens or intergalactic species, as scientists like to call them: the first, obviously the group of people who do not believe in the existence of any such species. Surprisingly, this number is quite big and involve people from all around the world from all streams and backgrounds including science and politics. Since their only claim is denying the existence of aliens and any such creatures whatsoever and claiming that the objects are something else than some UFO or any other flying object, I will not be discussing this school of thought too much. The second: People who believe that Aliens are creatures from other planets or Galaxies who have discovered and invented technology that enables them to travel through space and time at the speed of light. Finally, the third: The group of people who think ‘Aliens’ are actually a group of people from the future that are returning back to the past using the technology they may have developed in the future. Although none of these groups usually contradict with each other or disagree with each other, the schools of thought are pretty distinct and right in their own way. I will try and discuss these two schools of thought in brief.

Aliens from the other sides of the world

The universe is a vast space and expanding at the rate of 67.4 kilometers per second per megaparsec roughly 3.3 million light years, generating new stars, planets and clouds of matter as it does so. It is estimated that there are 300 billion stars and more in our Milky Way Galaxy alone and at least that many or more planets, and that many chances that one more planet, other than earth, will have life.

Although many do agree that there could be planets out there with a suitable environment to support life, but whether these could actually be as smart as humans and have technology for inter-galactic travel, is still a topic for debate.

At this point it is also important to mention that ‘Aliens’ could be anything and they don’t necessarily have to visit us for us to know they’re real or exist. There could be species on planets that may be 1000 times bigger than earth, that could be as huge as an entire country and that may look like 10 legged spiders but may never the technology to visit us (Please, I hope they don’t, ever). Or they could be tiny as ants and have a language and ecosystem far more advanced than ours. Movies and impressionists have played an important role in fitting our minds with the default image of alien with a big brain, large eyes, small hands, bluish skin, etcetera, but in no way can these be confirmed nor denied.

Aliens from the future

This is a very interesting and intriguing school of thought, so much so, there is an entire TV series on this particular topic on History TV18: ‘Ancient Aliens’ where renowned experts discuss this particular school of thought in detail along with proof.

There have been things from the past that have been very confusing for even historians to interpret and understand. Who were gods? How did they have powers like flying? If they weren’t real, how is their description in various isolated parts of the world the same? They were known to have vehicles like ‘Pushpak Vimana’ what are those? They were known to have weapons that could cause destruction equal to the modern-day Atomic Bomb, where did they get the technology for this? How did Egyptians build massive pyramids without almost no technology? The answers to these questions are just as interesting as the questions.

Above is a mysterious image of carvings from two different parts of the world. The first from the left, a person driving a modern-day bicycle, is from an almost 1900-year-old temple in India whereas the other two, a carving of what looks like a mobile phone and an astronaut are from a Cathedral in Spain. Although these have been called fake and said to have been added a lot later when they were supposedly renovated, there is still no solid evidence or proof with regards to it. And even logically, how can a person get away by carving in a bicycle on a temple wall?

 Above is another mysterious image being circulated on social media, reportedly from a pyramid from Egypt as the old representations of helicopters and other flying objects. Even these have been called fake and illegitimate, but again, no strong proof to negate it strongly.

Even if we do disregard these drawings as manipulated media, there are tons of other facts from the past that haven’t gotten an exact explanation and still are, well, a mystery.

Aliens are a very interesting topic of discussion. Although there are a lot discrepancies with regards to the actual validity of most of the facts, the media, social media and enthusiasts are always on edge, ready to blow even a normal image of a small lighthouse, out of proportion and make it look like a UFO. Therefore, the validation of actual facts is very difficult and most of the times, impossible. The current technology to render out images that look just like an original, doesn’t help out either.

I have personally been a believer in Aliens. I do believe that there are other species out there who exist. Whether they have technology to travel through time and space is something that is soon to be discovered. Considering how the year has been going so far, I don't think that should take long.