Earth— The truth is out there. And according to a new Harvard study, or “speculative thought piece” so are aliens.
That’s right.
Here.
Living among us on Earth.
"This new Harvard study is a bit of a thought experiment essentially. It says ‘could there be some other possibility? Time travelers from the future? Some sort of parallel civilization that’s evolved alongside us on Earth…’ It’s just really designed I think to get people thinking that there might be more exotic possibilities that we haven’t even thought of,” said UFO investigator Nick Pope.
Published by Harvard and Montana Technological University, the paper points out that for centuries, people worldwide have seen UFOs, or UAP, unidentified anomalous phenomena.
“Traditional arguments about UFOs have settled on two possibilities. Either this is misidentifications of ordinary objects or phenomena, or we’re being visited by extraterrestrials. Also some of these UFOs in our airspace are likely adversarial technology from other nations," said Pope.
Pope, who examined UFOs in the 90s for the British Armed Forces, said he investigated 200 to 300 sightings each year.
“Our own military pilots were seeing these things where they were simultaneously tracked on radar performing speeds, maneuvers and accelerations that we couldn’t match. Also, we had physical evidence like photographs and videos.”
The study took a deep dive into the concept of ''cryptoterrestrials'' -- beings living among us disguised as humans, originating from Earth's future, or descending from intelligent dinosaurs.
Here’s how they broke it down:
Human Cryptoterrestrials: A technologically advanced ancient human civilization mostly destroyed long ago, but continued to exist in remnant form
Hominid or Theropod Cryptoterrestrials: A technologically advanced non-human civilization consisting of some terrestrial animal that evolved to live in stealth (e.g., underground). These could be an ape-like hominid descendant or descendants of "unknown, intelligent dinosaurs."
Former Extraterrestrial or Extratempestrial Cryptoterrestrials: These beings arrived on Earth from elsewhere in the cosmos or from the human future and concealed themselves in stealth, such as in the Moon.
Magical Cryptoterrestrials: Entities that are less like homegrown aliens and more like "earthbound angels." These beings relate to the human world in ways that are less technological and more magical, such as "fairies, elves, nymphs."
A Pentagon study released in March examined reported sightings of UFOs over nearly the last century found no evidence of aliens or extraterrestrial intelligence. The conclusion was consistent with past U.S. government efforts to assess the accuracy of claims about the phenomena. That said, there are still those who believe.
“There have been rumors in the astronomy and astro physics community for several months that the James Webb Space Telescope has already found something, maybe evidence of a biosignature on an exoplanet," shared Pope. "The British government is actually working on a study designed to explore how we might announce the discovery of extraterrestrial life."
Pope wasn’t involved in recent U.S. congressional hearings about UFOs but finds it very refreshing.
“It’s one of these rare subjects where Republicans and Democrats are working together to push for answers. We’ve had classified briefings but also open public hearings," said Pope. "The subject has transitioned from fringe to mainstream and there is definitely going to be more to come... I think people should watch this very closely because no longer is this the stuff of conspiracy theories and Sci-Fi. It's real"
Harvard and MTU researchers did emphasize that their paper was " in all likelihood false, but nevertheless believe it still merits scientific investigation."
Annie Gimbel
