It’s one of the great questions that humans have been pondering for virtually all of recorded history and likely even before we came up with the concept of a written language. Are we alone in the universe, or are there other civilizations out there, possibly even species that are vastly technologically more advanced than us? And if that’s possible, have any of them been able to cross the daunting interstellar darkness and visit us? These are all questions that are tackled this week by former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon in an article titled “The Paradox of Fermi’s Paradox.”

Back in the 1950s, Enrico Fermi posed a series of questions regarding life in our universe. People have long speculated that there must be countless other civilizations out there, given the staggering number of stars in all of the galaxies we can see. But, Fermi essentially asked, if life is so abundant, “where is everybody?” Why haven’t we seen them? There have been a variety of suggested answers to that question. Some believe that the distances involved are too great for anyone to ever make the trip. Other’s speculate that there may have been countless civilizations in our own galaxy, but technologically advanced races have a limited lifespan since they will probably destroy themselves. (As we seem to be trying to do today.)

But as Mellon points out, the math simply doesn’t support the theory that life only arose once in a Genesis on our own planet. Even if you assume that life only arises and evolves to a technologically advanced state on a minuscule fraction of earthlike planets situated in the habitable zones of their parent stars, scientists who have gone through the calculations have concluded that there should be hundreds if not thousands of intelligent civilizations right here in the Milky Way galaxy. So, as Fermi asked, why haven’t we seen them? Chris Mellon also sees a paradox, but it’s one of a different kind. He calls it “the UAP paradox.” In short, there are bizarre things flying around in our skies all the time, and even the United States government now openly admits that not only are they real, but we have no idea what they are or who built them. How is it that it still seems to be verboten among “serious thinkers” to ask whether or not they really came here from somewhere else?

I perceive a paradox as well, although it is a paradox of a different sort. I call it the “UAP paradox.” What strikes me as paradoxical is that at the same time Enrico Fermi was asking, “Where is everybody?” UAP were flying around Los Alamos like moths around a candle. More broadly: Why are so few scientists willing to consider UAP as potential alien probes when there is such extensive evidence of mysterious craft in our skies demonstrating capabilities otherwise found only in science fiction? …

Does it not seem ironic that recurring visits by greenish fireballs and supersonic silver disks were prompting major security concerns for Los Alamos Labs at the same time Dr. Fermi was asking, “Where is everybody?”

This vignette regarding Dr. Fermi is a perfect illustration of the strangely blinkered views of the scientific community, the press, and mainstream America as a whole. Even with the Defense Department officially acknowledging the existence of hundreds of UAP incidents, few journalists, scientists, or citizens seem interested in what may soon become the greatest discovery in human history.

These are some compelling arguments that we’ve heard before. If you accept that there are unknown pieces of technology in our skies (and even in our oceans or in orbit near our planet) they had to have been built by somebody. If it’s the Russians or the Chinese, we would probably all be speaking a different language by now. If it’s ours, then our government has been lying to us for ages and concealing technological advancements that could have vastly improved life for everyone. If you reject both of those assertions, then that only leaves… somebody else.

Mellon concludes that “the extraterrestrial hypothesis seems the only explanation fully consistent with a large and rapidly growing body of compelling data.” That’s my personal favorite as well, but I’m not yet at the point where I’m convinced it’s the most likely answer and I certainly don’t think it’s the only other possibility. First of all, I will never rule out the idea that our own government or the governments of other countries have engaged in a massive web of lies and done terrible things. A brief overview of history will confirm that for you.

Also, as smarter people than myself have suggested long before I entered the conversation, little green (or more likely gray) men from other physical worlds orbiting other stars aren’t the only other possible option. The more physicists learn about the underlying nature of our universe, the more complicated and bizarre it seems. Reality may stretch into many other dimensions beyond the three we experience with our human senses. Perhaps “someone” has figured out how to cross those boundaries. It’s also been suggested that time travel may one day become possible. Could we be seeing ourselves from the future coming back to study how things became so totally messed up? If so, the early 2020s probably wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

And what if we aren’t actually seeing aliens and “spaceships” at all? What if these anomalous things are all manifestations of some larger “phenomenon” that involves interactions with our own consciousness? What if they’re angels? Or perhaps demons? These possibilities have been suggested in a serious fashion as well.

As for me, I’m still content to simply say “I don’t know.” But I hope we find out and I’m crossing my fingers that it happens in my lifetime. If ET is really out there, I wish he would phone home.