Could it be that people just don’t care anymore?
This month, the two major online sites for reporting UFOs – the National UFO Reporting Center and the Mutual UFO Network – both documented steep drops in worldwide sightings. The declines started around 2014, when reports were at a peak. They have since reduced drastically to 55% of that year’s combined total, many UFO interest groups have folded, and numerous previously classified government documents have been disclosed.
Do people just not care any more? Have they lost their faith?
Perhaps though, the declines in reported sightings may signify only an end to current trends in ufology. After all, from the 1940s aliens were originally characterised as saviours who could help humans transcend the cold-war paranoia of nuclear annihilation; especially marked at the time, after two world wars. But after events like Watergate and the Vietnam war fuelled distrust in government, UFOs came to be viewed more as a possible threat, and some came to believe their existence was verified in secret military documents. Philip Jaeckl, “What is behind the decline in UFO sightings?” at The Guardian
Maybe it is as simple as this: If a person is paying any attention to research on what’s out there, they soon become aware that we re indeed finding exoplanets and such. But they are just the sort of exoplanets and such that we can account for in a world that doesn’t feature intelligent aliens. In other words, the field of research has itself become normal and many people will feel the need to look elsewhere for non-traditional religious themes.
Note: Ottawa, the source for your UD news service, was hit by a tornado yesterday, which is why there was no service. Service is being restored slowly; thanks for patience.
See also: Atlantic writer loses his faith in aliens
Fixing the unfixable Drake equation
Obituary column: By the time we hear from the space aliens, they will be dead
ET still hasn’t phoned Frank Drake
and
Americans don’t fear the discovery of alien life. So why do some commentators insist they do?