A fellow student at RHS recalls peering into the mystical lens of a telescope and being truly shocked at the questionable object that passed by quickly like the flash of a camera– one moment there and the next, nowhere to be found. Because of this life-changing moment he experienced, he strongly believes in the existence of aliens. But is he right? Are we the only organisms in this universe or are there other extraterrestrial beings out there?
For many people, an image of creepy, weird-looking creatures found in famous movies comes to mind when aliens are mentioned. However, this term can refer to any living organism outside of our world, including bacteria, fungi, and algae. In order to gather some insight on if we should really believe whether such types of foreign beings are real, I asked a few students at RHS about what they think.
Of the 60 people interviewed, 16 claimed that there are no other organisms besides us in the universe, 4 said that they probably do exist, and 40 asserted that there are–without a doubt– other beings in the universe. Many also had varied responses as to why they hold their opinion on this matter.
One that particularly stood out to me was one of the individuals who did not believe in the existence of aliens. She said, “if one were to believe in aliens, they are falling for the illusion that the government has portrayed to us.” In her perspective, we should not believe anything anyone says– including the government– unless we have valid proof, which many people agreed with as well.
Another student asserted, “If we can believe in ghosts, why can’t we believe in aliens?” To this, one person responded that she believes in ghosts because they are beings who were once alive on this planet whereas aliens are creatures whose existence has not been proven.
One student also pointed out that the reason she strongly agrees with the fact that there are other organisms besides us is because of the well-known events like the Roswell incident and the 1952 Washington D.C. UFO incident. To put it simply, the Roswell incident was when a rancher in Roswell, New Mexico discovered questionable objects in his sheep pasture which, consequently, was gathered by the Roswell Army Air Force Base. Soon it was revealed in the newspaper that the materials found were fragments of a weather balloon, but people still argue if this is really true or if they were indeed part of an alien spaceship from another world.
As for the 1952 Washington D.C. UFO incident, air traffic controllers at the Ronald Reagan Airport reported movement of unexpected aircraft on their radars with speeds that were undetectable by their screens. After other eye-witness accounts surfaced dealing with possible UFO sightings, the Air Force finally decided they needed to respond. They stated that these sightings were linked to meteors and meteorological phenomena which leaves some very skeptical, even now.
It seems as though many people around us believe that there are unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the sky above us in nearby towns like Harrison, New Brunswick, Jersey City, North Arlington etc. You can even read NJ UFO sightings where you can read real reports of sightings, the duration of each sighting, and what the eyewitnesses report each object looked like.
All in all, even if we choose not to believe in beings that are somewhat like us watching and observing with their spaceships, isn’t it logical that we at least consider the notion that bacteria or other organisms are present in other galaxies? We have only discovered and examined a small fraction of the universe and not found any forms of life, so isn’t it possible that one day we will come across new evidence proving that they do in fact exist? After all, we once thought that living on Mars was impossible but present-day information suggests otherwise. Either way, the anticipation of alien contact thrills many people and will continue to for many years to come.
