Man, as a kid I was totally fascinated by stories of magicians and wizards who could make the impossible happen with just a wave of their wand—crazy stuff. Now as an adult, I find myself wondering about a new kind of magic - the possibility of extraterrestrial life out there.
| That childlike sense of wonder carried over into my love of sci-fi and aliens too. Movies like E.T. I'll never forget the iconic image of E.T.'s glowing finger touching Elliot's - it was so profound, like a connection across species. |
The idea of a cute little alien befriending a child, with advanced tech, missing home...it totally captured my young imagination.
While E.T. represented the friendly alien, other films like Alien and Invasion of the Body Snatchers played upon our fears of menacing extraterrestrials. But whether they came in peace or to harvest our organs, the movies collectively implanted the idea of advanced alien civilizations into our cultural psyche.
I mean, Arrival really made me stop and wonder, how would we even talk to extraterrestrial beings?
Annihilation's surreal, mutating landscape evoked aliens as an unknowable force transforming nature. And Dark Skies' portrayal of alien abduction in suburbia gave a haunting, modern twist to extraterrestrial visits.
But are any of theseCell-like extraterrestrials real? Controversial conspiracy theorist David Weiss believes so. Weiss, a flat Earth proponent, cites classified government documents and first-hand accounts describing UFO sightings and alien bodies recovered at crash sites. Now Weiss, sure, many see him as a fringe conspiracy nut. But his loud voice keeps the government secrecy around aliens out there.
| Whether based on truth or paranoia, people really want to believe in something greater than themselves. |
All this media turns our eyes upwards, wondering when we'll detect life out there beyond Earth. Yet the scientific community remains skeptical of definitive evidence of alien existence. Some say space is just too darn big for aliens to ever visit us here. Others point to the lack of clear contact as proof we're still alone. But a few scientists hold hope. Astrophysicist Avi Loeb controversially believes some UFO sightings could represent extraterrestrial technology. And projects like SETI continue quietly listening for any alien broadcasts.
We're drawn to stories of alien visitors not just as entertainment but as a reflection of human loneliness. A vast universe without another intelligent species just feels depressing, you know? Just as magic gives us hope that our understanding of the world is incomplete, aliens represent an aspirational belief in something incredible yet undiscovered.
Our hunger for magic sustains us because we wish the mysteries of the cosmos contained more than can be readily explained. We gaze in curiosity at magicians because we want to witness the impossible. And we peer into space dreaming of alien life because we long to find we're not alone.
While reality may prove underwhelming, our openness to magic and aliens channels our unending faith in forces larger than ourselves.