The Scientific Approach to UFOs  

Following widely reported sightings of strange aerial phenomena which came to be known as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in the summer of 1947, popular imagination has been gripped by the idea of visitors from other planets.  In previous columns, I have discussed government research and public interest in UFOs.  In this column, I am going to explore a scientific approach to the UFO enigma championed by Jacque Vallee, a veteran researcher who was the basis for the French scientist in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and an advisor on the picture.

The UFO phenomena has many dimensions and variations.  Bizarre visual elements include glowing clouds, strange illumination of areas at night, focused multicolored beams, and spheres and disks of light.  Many different types of metallic craft have been reported such as spheres, flattened ovoids, disks and cigar shapes.  Among the various entities reported have been humanoid figures ranging in size from dwarfs to giants.  They may appear to be perfectly human or have any of the following variations: strange huge eyes with strange or no irises; strange or no noses; strange or no ears; strange or no mouths; skin colors of grey, white or metallic; hairless or covered with hair; odd clothes, metallic suits or bare skin; strange helmets or headgear.  Communication has been through normal speech, a "voice in the head", a sense of the content of the communication, or vague feelings of comfort, serenity, or terror.  Messages have been reported of desires to help the human race from a position of cultural superiority and charity, the need for help from the human race due to disasters on their home planet, the need to interbreed with human beings due to genetic problems or even a contemptuous intent to exploit the human race or individual in experiments or as sources of needed biological substances or food.  Abduction reports have been obtained under hypnosis in which the aliens examined the humans with crude laboratory techniques, extracted and/or implanted something, or even initiated sexual intercourse.  There have been some reports of impregnations and the subsequent removal of fetuses.  There have been many absurdities reported such as nonsensical statements, contradictory statements or predictions that did not come to pass.  Altered states of consciousness have been experienced such as dizziness, disorientation, confusion, and dream-like or hypnotic states of suggestibility.  One important issue raised by this diversity is the question of whether we are dealing with a unitary phenomena or multiple causes.

The impact of the UFO experience on individuals also varies.  There have been physical results such as strange rashes which could be radiation induced, oddly shaped marks on the skin including bump and lumps which come and go, breaks in the skin as if left by injections, and fevers and headaches.  Some people have died following UFO encounters.  The psychological results include disturbances of sleep and dreams, changes of personality, depression, hypermania, delusions of grandeur, cult conversions and messianic complexes.  It has been pointed out that all of these symptoms could have natural causes.

A wide variety of social repercussions have followed from these individual experiences.  Due to a great deal of both serious and frivolous media coverage, there is widespread public belief in the existence of UFOs and frequent interaction between their crews and human beings.  Despite decades of debate and research by both government and private groups and many claims of tangible evidence, no solid proof of their existence or nature has emerged.  Opinions vary from absolute skepticism to a reverent acceptance of the reality of UFOs.  Real or imaginary, UFOs have had a profound social impact.

The first modern classification system for UFO phenomena was created by Aime Michel and Jacque Vallee in 1961.  Type I covered all landings and interactions with aliens.  Type II dealt with cigar shaped clouds which were very prevalent in France in the 50's but have virtually vanished from the scene.  Type III were sightings of flying objects which had some discontinuity of trajectory such as stopping, hovering, changing direction or speed, etc.  Type IV were objects with uninterrupted flight.

In 1972, J.  Alan Hyanek elaborated this system.  He expanded the close encounters of Type I into three subcategories.  CE1 were objects which appeared on the ground or at a short distances from the observer.  CE2 gathered incidents in which there were some sort of physical effect or physical traces were found.  CE3 involved all reports of contact with aliens except those which were repeated many times.  He also created 3 subcategories for Type IV.  NL stood for lights seen at night.  DD meant daylight disks which were objects seen during the day.  And TV were radar visible objects.  The title of the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was taken from this classification scheme.

In 1985 and 1986, Jacques Vallee developed a computer expert system which is able to analyze reports of sightings and offer possible conventional explanations.  He has also recently developed a more sophisticated classification system.  It is based on a two dimensional matrix.  There are four rows.  "Anomalies" (AN) are bizarre phenomena which often accompany UFO sightings.  "Fly Bys" (FB) include all objects with uninterrupted flight.  "Maneuvers" (MA) represent all objects which perform some sort of maneuvers or have interrupted trajectories.  "Close Encounters" (CE) are all observations of landings or close approaches to the observer.  The five columns of the matrix consist of sightings, physical effects, living beings, reality transformations and lasting injury. 

He also developed the three digit SVP credibility rating.  The first digit covers 5 levels of reliability of the source from unknown or unreliable to first hand interviews with a source of proven reliability.  The second digit covers visits to the site of the observation.  The 5 levels run from no visit at all to a visit to the site by a skilled analyst.  The third digit deals with possible explanations.  The 5 levels ranges from data consistent with a known object or cause to evidence which has no possible natural explanation.

When computers analyze large numbers of UFO sightings, some interesting patterns emerge.  There is no demographic correlation for sighting.  People of all education and intelligence levels, economic classes, ages, races, and religions have reported sightings.  The sightings seem to come in waves every few years with each wave concentrated in a particular area and lasting from 3 to 6 months.  A new area of activity may appear anywhere in the world.  All countries have reported sightings.  UFO activity has two daily peaks, one at 10:30 PM and another at 5 AM.  When coupled to the fact that most people go to bed before 10:30 PM and get up after 5 AM , this suggests that there is an actual peak at about 2 AM.  In the last forty five years, there have been thousands of unexplained sightings.  Perhaps the most bizarre fact is that sightings seem to have an inverse probability to population density. 

There are a number of compelling reasons to question the assumption that UFOs are spacecraft.  When the statistics for the demography and frequency of unexplained sightings are analyzed, the projected number of occurrences runs into the millions.  Primitive human space science can conduct detailed scans of planetary surfaces from near orbit.  A few samples of plant and animal life can yield huge amounts of detailed biological information.   Millions of landings would not be necessary for any advanced race to learn about life on earth.  If there had been that many actual landings, there would certainly be a great deal of physical evidence collected by now. 

Whatever UFOs are, they often appear to defy physics too completely to represent Actual physical objects.  Not only are incredible speeds and maneuvers reported but also appearing and disappearing, changing shape, merging and dividing, and passing right into the ground.  Even if there are intelligences behind this phenomena, it is difficult to believe that they are advanced material craft with humanoid pilots.

The reported crews of UFOs vary enormously in size, shape, color and features.  Some of their characteristics seem to be beyond the expected range of variation such as no mouth, no face or no head.  On the other end of the spectrum, some appear perfectly human which is just not logical.  If they speak, they use normal English or whatever language is spoken in the area where they have landed.  They have been seen to rapidly change shape and size and even disappear.  Their behavior is not just incomprehensible, it is ridiculous involving meaningless or contradictory statements and false predictions.  This does not sound like some extraterrestrial species. 

The testing reported in abductions is very primitive.  Human science can take a few cells of skin and analyze the entire DNA structure of a creature.  Advanced diagnostics equipment such as ultrasonic scanning, nuclear magnetic resonance and PET scans can image internal systems in great detail without any pain or discomfort.  Human technology is rapidly leaving dials, gauges, knobs, toggle switches, levers and racks of equipment behind.  Advanced star traveling races would have refined technology which would not look like the inside of a flying saucer in a cheap science fiction movie. 

The common perception that UFO activity started just after the war is mistaken.  Reports of similar bizarre occurrences can be traced throughout history going back 6000 years to ancient Sumer.  Mythologies all over the world contain references to magical creatures from other realms which interact with and abduct human beings.  The founders of Judaism, Christianity and Islam reported interactions with angels, demons and deities which involved strange lights and altered states of consciousness.  Folk tales are a rich source of reports of strange races of humanoid creatures who have magical powers and interact with, interbreed with and abduct humans beings.  Finally, there are historical records of strange craft with human or nonhuman crews who demonstrated extraordinary powers and kidnaped human beings for their own use.

In each age, these sightings are interpreted according to the prevailing cultural framework.  In the distant past, they were the work of gods and goddesses.  In the Middle Ages, they were angels and demons.  In the past few hundred years they were fairies and trolls.  And in our own age, they are space travelers from distant planets.  It is interesting to speculate what they will be seen as in the future.            

The popular explanation for UFO's as highly sophisticated spacecraft visiting Earth from other planets now seems unlikely given the sheer volume and extent of reported sightings and experiences of similar phenomena for over 6000 years.  Even if UFOs are not spacecraft, they may originate somewhere else in physical space.  The idea has also been brought forward that they originate somewhere else in time.  Some of the behavior of UFOs are more consistent with optical phenomena than material objects suggesting some sort of projection.  Scientist have speculated that there are other dimensions beyond the familiar space-time continuum and some UFO researches feel that UFOs are manifestations from those other dimensions.  Recent theories of physics have explored the possibility that there may be a level of phenomena more primal than the known arena of matter-energy-space-time.  UFOs may originate at this level.  It has also been suggested that these phenomena exist only in human consciousness but multi-person sightings indicate that there must at least be an external trigger.  UFO experiences may be caused by natural occurrences such as solar flares or changes in the electromagnetic field of the earth induced by strains in the crust.  Regardless of the ultimate nature of UFOs, there is obviously some sort of strange phenomena which has been affecting large numbers of people from ancient times right up to the present.

One important question about UFOs is whether or not they are under the control of other conscious entities.  If there is intelligence behind them, what could the motive be? Some people believe that we would not be able to understand the behavior and motivation of more advanced entities.  This could explain the incomprehensible elements, but what about the contradictory and/or inaccurate statements made in plain English? UFO sightings are so bizarre that the rational mind of the individual and the rational processes of civilization are unable to deal with them.  They penetrate into the unconsciousness of the individual and society and have a profound effect.  Such unpredictable and powerful experiences have been found to be very effective for psychological conditioning.  There seems to be an almost mythological component operating in the UFO experience.  Contactee cults have sprung up all over the world sharing the concept of salvation to be brought about by external and supernatural entities.  One possible motivation for such phenomena could be long term social manipulation.  It seems that whatever process or agency is behind these occurrences is currently beyond human comprehension or control.  This has frightening implication for the evolution of a peaceful and rational society in the 21st century.

It is absolutely essential that UFO research be taken seriously.  Whatever these phenomena are, an understanding of them will definitely advance our understanding of the human mind and the physical universe, and may be crucial for the continued world trend toward democratic societies.  None of the explanations of UFO phenomena by any of the current groups or researchers can be viewed as definitive.  There are no easy answers.