British scientists from King’s College London have concluded that people’s belief in aliens and their visits to Earth has become a public issue rather than a harmless quirk. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union (PIAU).
The analysis showed that in the United States alone, the proportion of people who believe in the existence of UFOs increased from 20% to 34% from 1996 to 2022. Almost one in four Americans (24%) say they have seen flying saucers with their own eyes.
According to researchers, widespread belief in the secret activities of aliens on our planet fuels various conspiracy theories and generally reduces public trust in government institutions. In the long run, this could lead to a recurrence of crises similar to the one that stormed the Capitol by supporters of former US President Donald Trump in January 2021.
Experts stressed that the hype surrounding UFOs has diverted attention from astrobiology, a science that studies all forms of extraterrestrial life, including microbial ones.
Instead of pandering to pseudoscientific theories and conspiracy theorists, the report’s authors recommend focusing on real scientific discoveries in astrobiology.
Former Serbian philosopher recommended A new explanation of the Fermi paradox, according to which statistically speaking, Earthlings should already have detected signals from extraterrestrial civilizations, but this has not happened so far.