This seems to be space aliens night. Everyone’s here except the aliens. Which is typical. In fact, so, far, universal.
Barack Obama offered, on James Corden’s Late Late Show:
“When it comes to aliens, there are things I just can’t tell you on air,” Obama said.
He elaborated, adding: “The truth is that when I came into office, I asked. I was like, ‘Is there a lab somewhere where we’re keeping the alien specimens and space ships?’
“They did a little bit of research and the answer is no.”
The former president did share some tangible information in a more serious manner.
“But what is true – and I’m actually being serious here – is that there’s footage and records of objects in the sky that we don’t know exactly what they are,” he said.
“We can’t explain how they move, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. I think people still take seriously [the task of] trying to investigate and figure out what that is. But I have nothing to report to you today.”
Clémence Michallon, “Barack Obama answers questions about aliens on James Corden’s show” at MSN
We wonder, if former president Donald Trump had said it, would the same people take the aliens seriously? How much of this is just cultural folklore?
Say what you want, the aliens are good for the cultural fluff news business, whether they exist or not. Better, on the whole, if they don’t. Just like if you own an inn and you can somehow get a reputation for it that it is haunted, you’ll get lots of free publicity (= advertising).
See also: At Science: Water bears most likely did not survive a crash land on the moon. What impact does the test have on panspermia, the hypothesis that life might travel between planets via comets? “some parts of a meteorite impacting Earth or Mars would experience lower shock pressures that a tardigrade could live through, Traspas says.”
and
Christian Scientific Society webinar May 29: Topic is space aliens The title is “Is there intelligent life in outer space? What are the stakes?” Free with registration.
Hat tip: Ken Francis, co-author with Theodore Dalrymple of The Terror of Existence: From Ecclesiastes to Theatre of the Absurd