Australian UFO sightings are up this year, and during the winter there, when sightings typically dip due to weather.
This comes on the heels of the report that UK sightings have reached a record as well. The Ministry of Defense recently released their records of UFO sightings for several years, under their Freedom of Information Act.
In Newspapers in the U.S., sightings are up as well. With a Google search you can find either news of a new sighting once or twice a week, or an examination of a sighting from years ago.
I think there are three possible explanations for these increases and for the increased coverage.
The first reason is cultural. The new X-Files movie is out. People are ready to believe, and their minds are open. Like the movie, they "want to believe".
It's exciting to think you might have glimpsed an emissary from a distant world.
I happen to be one that believes that life imitates art, and that we are influenced by the stories we hear, even if we know it's fiction. So we are not so quick to dismiss the lights we see in the sky as swamp gas, the moon through the clouds, etc. Other series, such as Star Trek, Star Gate, and others have paved the way as well.
Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great thing. With a more open mind, we are more likely to look closely at an anomaly. Often, it will be nothing of interest. But sometimes, we might actually see something we would have dismissed without a second glance, had our minds been more closed.
The second reason is more scientific, but has the same effect. We are hearing scientists tell us they are find more
and more evidence that life, however rudimentary, might have actually
existed on Mars. If any form of life could have been on Mars, is it
such a great leap to think that intelligent life could have developed
somewhere in this vast universe?
As I noted earlier, the Ministry of Defense in the UK has released several years of reports. Not just from party goers and kids on Lover's Lane, but from trained observers, policemen, pilots, and others.
We have invested millions of dollars in the Seti program, and have people dedicated to sitting there, pretty much listening to static. If these people think it is worth their time and money, is it so far out?
These things again prime our minds to believe, or at least to accept that there might be something out there. We are ready to look with an open mind, and perhaps see what we would have dismissed.
These reasons taken together could account for the increases. We are simply more ready to believe, to keep an open mind about what is out there. If you have ever known a old Vermonter, or Texan, you know the practical minds they had. They were not given to over stimulated imaginations, and many of them would never report seeing something so out of the ordinary as a UFO.
Times have changed. Science, and our culture is more ready to back up our claims, or at least not dismiss them as the crazy ranting of a drunken friday night.
Perhaps there is no more activity than any other time in our history. It is just that we are more willing to see, and to report what we see.
I said that there were three reasons. Tomorrow I will examine the third. To be honest, I am too tired to develop it well, and this post is getting longer than I like.
Australian UFO Sightings Surge
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