Read The UFO Singularity Online
Authors: Micah Hanks
The UFO Singularity (19 page)
SR-71 Jet.
When we stop to think about the variety of unexplained “natural phenomena” we encounter in our pursuit of knowledge, perhaps we should also consider the likely determinations our ancestors would have made about an advanced technology in their midst. It would be interesting, to say the least, if we learned that much of the natural world around us, and throughout the greater cosmos, were actually the result of such things as fingers on hands that were infinitely more advanced than ours, poking at the stars and planets in orbit. Even more simply, it could be that our apparent ability to sense such subtle things as “winds of change” were the mere result of great and billowing breaths cast from afar, blown in our direction by cosmic lungs that rest well past the edges of time.
Maleficium Intraspiritus: Dawn of the Soul Hackers
Beacons could exist in many modes and for many differing applications. All who study extraterrestrial phenomena should be alert to the possibilities, regardless of the portion of spectrum of immediate interest to them.
—
Charles L. Seeger,
SETI Program Office,
Ames Research Center, 1977
I
magine a distant future replete with starships, robotic intelligences, and advanced machines—the likes of which most of us know already courtesy of science fiction stories and films—in which humans populate the entire galaxy. There, in some far-off and distant region of space, where perils and threats must inevitably await those brave enough to plunge into their depths, an unknown enemy has intercepted a manned, unidentified starship. This newly discovered threat is both deadly and inhuman—a formidable hunter designed by a civilization long extinct, and for the mere purpose of destroying all varieties of life it comes across with extreme prejudice.
Hidden aboard his Fortress Ship, a lone individual has assessed this dangerous new enemy and is trapped amid demanding circumstances. He must conceive of a way to fool this deadly machine, which seeks to find the presence of conscious life aboard the spaceship it has discovered. The only way the killer outside may be evaded is through a complex and demanding trick: Our protagonist must escape by
simulating
another kind of intelligence—perhaps one that is artificial in nature—which resides aboard the vessel in his stead.
The scenario I’ve outlined here is quite similar to one that appeared in the 1963 short story “Without a
Thought,” which became the first in a long lineage of tales by author Fred Saberhagen involving a horrific machine intelligence known as the Berserkers. Saber-hagen’s famous creations were a kind of robotic intelligence, capable of self-replication, that were initially designed by a race known as the Builders for purposes of warfare against the Red Race, their rival civilization. The Berserkers were ultimately successful in wiping out the Builders’ enemies, but despite this victory, a subsequent malfunction caused the Berserkers to turn on their creators, destroy them, and eventually pursue the destruction of all known life forms elsewhere in the universe.
We often take for granted the idea that alien beings, with the technological advances required of a civilization in order to traverse the cosmos, would be benevolent and caring toward humankind. We assume that these beings, having harnessed sources of energy infinitely more plentiful and efficient than our own, would also frown upon our use of such things as nuclear power, and would seek kindly to steer us away from our present destructive path, favoring instead a sort of enlightenment that arrives concomitant with the attainment of more advanced sciences. To be fair, there are also those who have warned about the dangers associated with an aggressive, colonialist civilization that might seek to conquer, enslave, or destroy mankind. Fears such as these no doubt fueled the words of physicist Stephen Hawking, who famously said in 2010 that:
We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine [aliens] might exist in massive ships…having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach.
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Hawking is to be commended for guessing about the potential threats that might accompany some non-human technological presence. Indeed, the use of systems for Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligences (METI, or “Active SETI,” as it is sometimes also called) could present grave threats to humankind, should we inadvertently manage to signal our presence to a hostile or otherwise opportunistic alien race that might seek to exploit our resources to their advantage. However, there are other potentials worthy of consideration here, too. Far less often do we see mention of things that might exist outside the classic misperceptions and bold assumptions we’ve made about “alien life.” Specially, what if we were to consider the presence of a robotic intelligence—not entirely unlike Saberhagen’s
Berserkers
—that would be incapable of making decisions in the best interest of living organisms, based on the limitations (or advantages, depending on whose perspective we’re considering) of their artificial logic?
Researchers who publicly discuss theories along these lines may remain in the minority, for now. However, there are at least a few who have taken steps to pose ideas
regarding the potential interrelationship between technological Singularity, post-Singularity civilizations elsewhere in the universe, the dangers associated with SETI and METI operations, and even the risks associated with human-alien contact in general. One of these individuals, Alexei Turchin, a Russian Transhumanist and expert on global catastrophes, uses Bayesian logic to determine existential risks associated with a variety of different subjects. The term
Bayesian
refers to the English mathematician Thomas Bayes, who presented a theorem relating to probabilities associated with different sets of possible causes for an observed outcome, in which he argued that the likelihood of an outcome could be discerned based on knowledge of the causes, and the probability of each.
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In short, this allows the user to determine the probability of an outcome, while remaining open to a variety of different potential factors that could influence it.
Interestingly, in his study of various potential global catastrophes, Turchin has also employed a Bayesian approach to a thorough assessment of the UFO enigma. This is detailed in his essay on UFOs as a global risk, which the author has made available online for download.
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In it, Turchin discusses the concept of technological Singularity, especially in relation to potential nonhuman intelligences that may exist behind UFOs:
[Whether] these beings may be post-singular—that is, with intelligence infinitely superior to man—remains an open question.… [I]n general, the existence of UFOs as some special [variety of]
beings should not only mean a new form of life, but also the existence of a new medium for the dissemination of information and energy.
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Also, with direct relevance to the idea, mentioned previously, that METI and Active SETI practices could “invite” harmful nonhuman intelligences to visit Earth, Turchin has a few more thoughts:
We may encounter [the potential for] a SETI attack (i.e. an upload of hostile Artificial Intelligence, which uses our planet [and its resources] for future replication)…or we will attract their attention through our actions…similar to how, [using] radio METI, we could draw the attention of aliens from outer space.
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Finally, Turchin also addresses the potential avenues by which some highly advanced (and perhaps artificial) intelligence—in essence, a kind of
super-intelligence
—might be capable of harming humanity through its actions:
The main feature of super-intelligence is that it is not tied to its carrier. As a result, if we are talking about the intelligence of a substance or of a computer, we immediately have in mind that this is a limited intellect…[but] intellect is a versatile weapon. If a
superhuman
intellect wants to do us harm, it will have thousands of ways to do it—from entering our computer networks, to the application of unknown physical effects.
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Despite the obscure nature of his research (in addition to the occasional challenge presented by our rather minimal language differentials), I found Turchin’s research and various theories to be broad and insightful in their scope. Following a series of correspondences via e-mail, in October 2011 Turchin was kind enough to allow me to interview him on the subject of different risks that pertain to UFOs, as well as the kinds of advanced technology associated with their presence
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:
Author: | Given your thoughts on UFOs, what are the greatest risks you feel may be associated with their presence? |
Turchin: | The greatest risk is, above all, human extinction. So we should ask, first of all, whether this phenomenon could somehow lead to that. And the main risk |
| The risk factors are aggravated further by the fact that the phenomenon seems to have several properties that could potentially cause death and global destruction. First, there is some obvious form of intelligence that the phenomenon demonstrates, and |
| The second property is the powerful source of energy employed by this phenomenon. It also has a unique ability to penetrate virtually all areas of the globe, and even some apparent ability to change or influence people’s thoughts. These factors suggest an ability that UFOs may have to cause catastrophe on a global scale. |
| But perhaps the strongest source of risk is that, soon, humanity itself will meet thresholds that were previously unknown to us. Our technologies are growing and expanding very rapidly, and maybe as soon as within the next 20 years, this could bring us very close to discovering the true nature |
Author: | Do you feel UFOs are terrestrial, extra-terrestrial, interdimensional, or a variety of different things? |
Turchin: | I try not to “feel” anything really, and instead keep my mind open. I use a Bayesian approach, which allows for many hypotheses to exist. But my personal feeling is that UFOs are not alien spaceships with pilots inside them. Any civilization that could travel from one star system to another likely wouldn’t need to send physical, flesh-and-blood “pilots.” |
| I prefer the idea that UFOs are connected with the quantum nature of our world; they are like Schrödinger’s cat, which could exist only under conditions of low concentration of the attention of its observers. This could explain why many attempts at taking UFO photos seem to fail, or end up looking like hoaxes. It could also explain how they are connected with our unconscious mind. |
Author: | What sorts of risks might be associated with alien nanotechnology? Could the same risks remain present if UFOs were found to be terrestrial vehicles, or even something like interdimensional phenomena? |
Turchin: | One risk involves another part of Transhumanist thought, which pertains to the idea of self-replicating nanorobots that could be created in Earth’s near future, perhaps as soon as 2030 or 2040. These could be used in fields such as medicine, manufacturing, and even warfare. Clouds of nanobots could be used to create what we might call “clever matter,” which could conceivably take any form or function. Obviously, an alien civilization would have developed nanobots long before it began to travel to different star systems. Hence, we could ask: Is it possible that we may find alien nanotechnology somewhere in the solar system, and if the answer is yes, then what will it look like, and how will it behave? Individual nanobots would be very small, and even if there were a lot of them, say, in a single room, for instance, I wouldn’t be able to find them myself without using similar nanotechnology. But if they unite in the form of a “clever matter,” they could take virtually any form—and here, one could ask about the seemingly ever-changing forms UFOs seem to take—maybe some are clouds of alien nanorobots? |
| For the time being, this is just an idea, and it can’t explain all manifestations of the UFO phenomenon. Taking a different perspective now, if UFOs are some kind of secret military technology, they could be used as a means of transportation for nuclear weapons or other instruments of war; and the world seems less stable with such unpredictable and potentially dangerous technology, hence the risks this scenario might present. |
| Finally, if we speak about interdimensional phenomenon, we should distinguish between material “air ships” from another three-dimensional world like our own, and the potential existence of “multi-dimensional beings.” In the first case, beings like us could bring such things as harmful bacteria from another world, which could eat away at our biosphere. In the second case, multi-dimensional beings could behave in relation to us like capricious gods, or like a child in a meadow that plays with ants; she may not harm them at first, but she could easily destroy their entire anthill, if any single ant were to bite her. |
Author: | What are your general feelings about physical anomalies and time travel? |
Turchin: | I think that many physical anomalies, if they do exist, have the same general qualities and physical aspects shared by UFOs. |
Author: | In terms of being a cultural phenomenon, what role do you think UFOs play in our reality as humans? |
Turchin: | UFOs are a reflection of our fears. They represent a certain kind of taboo, and are often a scapegoat in the absence of real science. Unfortunately, they have also become useful as a sort of “freak test”; someone can easily be labeled a nut if he or she shows any interest in the subject. Therefore, UFOs are often used to test the edges of our rationality, or our ability to rationally and soberly look into the unknown. |
Author: | You’ve been described as a Transhumanist. Do ideas regarding technological Singularity where technology merges with humanity, the likes of which Ray Kurzweil, Vernor Vinge, and others have described, interest you, and do you feel they could be related somehow to UFOs? |
Turchin: | Yes, I am a Transhumanist. I think that in the near future, we will see the appearance of several super-technologies that will change |
| Unfortunately, the fields of Transhumanism and UFO studies exist separately at present, but each field is capable of bringing new ideas to the other. For example, the Transhumanist Nick Bostrom created (and has mathematically proven) a theory that involves how the reality we live inside is very much like a computer simulation. And if we live in such a simulation, there could be occasional “glitches in the Matrix,” as well as “Agent Smiths,” or even |