New Unknown Signal System Detected Related to UAP Activity!
MUFON Gears Up for Its 2025 Symposium!
Hollywood Disclosure Alliance Achieves 200 Members!
UnX Publishing Releases New Book “All Monsters are Human!”
All This Plus UAP Photo of the Week, Future Events, And More!
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Highlight:
Hollywood Disclosure Alliance Marks Its 200th Member
Beverly Hills, CA, JUNE/JULY 2025 —The Hollywood Disclosure Alliance has announced that it has just secured its 200th member. The announcement was made by Dan Harary, The HDA’s Chairman/Co-Founder…Read More
What if time isn’t a single, smooth river but a hidden cascade of microscopic “droplets”? Blending hard science with speculative fiction, “The River of Time” follows Dr. Mara Lentz to CERN, where a mysterious program called Chronos may prove that every moment in the universe comes in indivisible ticks.
The river was frozen solid—or so it seemed. Beneath the glassy sheath of ice, water still slid forward, grain by grain, molecule by molecule, each one stealing an instant from the future and secreting it into the past. Dr. Mara Lentz stood on the footbridge and let her gloved fingers tap against the rail, her every heartbeat echoing the tick-tock she had sworn to conquer. In the distance, CERN’s cavernous domes glittered beneath the winter sun like watch gears strewn across the snow. Today, she promised herself, she would decide whether time was prisoner or jailer, river or clock.
Frozen River
The Invitation
A month earlier, the summons had arrived in a yellowed envelope, the handwriting achingly familiar to any physicist.
Mara, If you wish to see how deep the river of time runs—and whether it is made of droplets—come to Geneva. A. E.
Impossible, of course. Albert Einstein had been dead for nearly a century. Yet the looping letters were unmistakable, right down to the playful curl beneath the final E. A prank, she assumed, until the envelope yielded a security badge to CERN and a one-sentence note: “Ask for Chronos.”
Chronos
The man who met her at CERN reception looked nothing like a mythic god and everything like a graduate student in overwashed jeans.
“Call me Noah,” he said, steering her through a maze of elevators that plunged beneath the Earth.
“Chronos is more program than person,” he explained. “A string of algorithms built to test the most radical hypothesis on the table—that time itself has a dual identity.”
“A wave and a particle?” Mara asked, half-teasing.
“Exactly.” Noah’s eyes gleamed in the fluorescent gloom. “Just like light.”
They reached a vault-like door. Above the keypad a single line was etched into steel: FOR AS LONG AS WE HAVE BEEN HUMAN, WE HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO THE TYRANNY AND GRACE OF TIME.
CERN Control Room
Inside, the air thrummed with cooling fans and suppressed excitement. Monitors covered the walls, each looping equations Mara knew as well as her own pulse—general relativity’s smooth curves entwined with quantum mechanics’ jagged spikes.
The Duality
“For a century,” Noah continued, “we’ve known that if you watch an electron’s path, it behaves like a point particle. If instead you watch its spread, it becomes a wave. Wave-particle duality. Our question is whether time plays the same trick.”
“What if time flows in indivisible droplets?” she murmured.
“Chronons,” Noah supplied. “Each a jump of 10⁻⁴³ seconds—the Planck tick.”
Emergence
At the Planck scale, time does not flow; it hops.
Aggregating trillions of those hops, a seamless current emerges—just as a lake’s surface looks smooth though every molecule jitters.
The arrow of time appears only once enough chronons click in concert.
When fatigue blurred her vision, Mara imagined she could hear them: countless microscopic gears ratcheting reality forward—click … click … click …
The Rift
But the duality, however elegant, sat like an unsolved crime against everything Einstein had bequeathed. Relativity demanded a continuous spacetime; quantum mechanics insisted on discreteness. Chronos promised a bridge but offered no proof.
“Tools,” Noah groaned, rubbing bloodshot eyes. “We need instruments slim enough to slip between two ticks, to watch the droplet itself.”
CERN Control Room
“Or,” Mara countered, “we find evidence in the macroscopic world—patterns only quantized time could leave behind.”
Einstein’s Ghost
That night, Mara reopened the mysterious envelope. A translucent sheet she’d missed before drifted out, bearing Einstein’s familiar scrawl:
“The answer is not in the river or the clock, But in believing they are one; Watch the particle, see the wave— Then look away and they are gone.”
The River and the Clock
Back in the vault at dawn, Mara loaded gravitational-wave echoes from merging black holes. Traditional analyses assumed continuous time. She resampled the data at chronon intervals.
CERN Synchro-Cyclotron
A pattern emerged: micro-staccato pauses in the waves, like hidden commas in a cosmic sentence. They repeated every 10⁻⁴³ s.
Noah stumbled in with two coffees. One sloshed onto the floor as he saw the display. “Droplets,” he whispered. “A river of droplets.”
Convergence
Word sprinted through CERN, through Caltech, Tokyo, Cape Town. Observatories retuned their algorithms to chronon cadence. Within weeks, corroborating signals poured in. Everywhere physicists looked, the universe ticked like a flawless watch hiding inside a roaring river.
Epilogue
Mara returned to the frozen footbridge. Beneath her boots, the river still looked motionless, an immense silver ribbon. Yet she knew it for what it was: trillions upon trillions of glimmering beads—each an indivisible heartbeat of existence.
The tyranny of time remained—but its grace had multiplied. Every instant was a jewel, perfect and complete, and the future was nothing more than an undiscovered sequence of brilliant ticks.
And somewhere, maybe in the hush between those droplets, she imagined she heard Einstein laugh—soft as snow falling on the river that was also a clock.
Background:Is Time Both a River and a Clock?
A Dual Identity for Time?
What if time behaves just like a particle of light? This radical new idea from the frontiers of physics suggests that our most fundamental reality has a dual identity.
The Birth of the Arrow of Time
The dynamics of a collection of particles gains a direction in time, called the arrow of time, when there are many particles. And this arrow of time is absent for a single particle.
Tyranny and Grace: Time’s Two Faces
For as long as we have been human, we have been subject to the tyranny and grace of time. It is the steady, flowing river of our lives, as Einstein imagined it—a dimension that can be bent and stretched by gravity. It is also the relentless tick-tock of the clock, marching forward one second at a time. But what if both are true? What if time itself leads a double life?
A Quantum Clue to the Puzzle
On the cutting edge of theoretical physics, a fascinating proposition is taking shape. It suggests that time may not be one thing or the other, but could possess a dual nature, an idea borrowed directly from the strange and proven rules of the quantum world. While still speculative, it’s a powerful lens through which scientists are tackling the biggest unanswered questions in the cosmos.
The Lesson of Wave-Particle Duality
The concept hinges on an analogy to one of science’s most famous paradoxes: wave-particle duality. A century of experiments has shown that an entity like an electron or a photon refuses to be pigeonholed. If you design an experiment to track its path, it behaves like a discrete, pinpoint particle. But if you design it to observe its flow, it acts like a continuous, spread-out wave. The nature it reveals depends entirely on the nature of the measurement.
Applying this same principle to time offers a startlingly elegant way to resolve a deep conflict in physics. It would mean that time’s identity is also dependent on context.
Relativity’s Smooth River
At our human scale—the world of falling apples and orbiting planets described by Einstein’s theory of general relativity—time behaves like a continuous wave. It is the smooth, flowing river we all experience, a dimension that warps and bends to create the force we call gravity.
Zooming to the Planck Scale
But if we could zoom down to the impossibly small Planck scale, a fraction of a second so tiny it’s written with 43 zeroes after the decimal point, we might see time’s other identity. Here, it would behave like a particle. In this view, time would not flow but “tick” forward in indivisible, quantized jumps. These hypothetical droplets of time, sometimes called “chronons,” would be the fundamental clockwork of the universe.
Emergent Time: River from Droplets
This isn’t just a philosophical parlor game. The idea aligns with a leading theory known as Emergent Time, part of the grand quest to unite Einstein’s relativity with quantum mechanics. This framework suggests that the smooth river of time we perceive is not fundamental at all. Instead, it *emerges* from the collective behavior of countless discrete, particle-like ticks at the quantum level—much like the smooth, liquid surface of a lake emerges from the chaotic interactions of trillions of individual H₂O molecules.
One Reality, Two Appearances
From this vantage point, there is no paradox. The “particle” nature of time is its true, fundamental identity, while the “wave” nature is what we perceive at our macroscopic scale. It’s one reality that simply appears differently depending on whether you’re looking at the individual pixel or the entire screen.
A Roadmap to a Theory of Everything
We do not yet have the tools to probe reality at such an infinitesimal scale to prove it one way or the other. But the proposition offers a tantalizing path forward. By daring to question the very fabric of our experience, scientists may be on the verge of solving the ultimate puzzle: creating a single, unified theory of everything. The answer may have been hiding in plain sight all along—not in the river or the clock, but in the profound possibility that they are one and the same.
References:
Amelino-Camelia, G. (2013). Quantum-Spacetime Phenomenology. Living Reviews in Relativity, 16(1), 5.
Isham, C. J. (1993). Canonical quantum gravity and the problem of time. In L. A. Ibort & M. A. Rodríguez (Eds.), Integrable Systems, Quantum Groups, and Quantum Field Theories (pp. 157-287). Springer.
Pulsars have puzzled scientists for over 50 years, and many mysteries remain. Some wonder if these cosmic signals could actually be alien beacons rather than natural objects.
You’ve heard of neutron stars and their eerily precise lighthouse flashes of radio waves. But did you know the world’s leading experts openly admit they still don’t know how—or even why—pulsars pulse? Despite more than five decades of dedicated research since their discovery, fundamental aspects of the mechanisms that govern pulsars remain incompletely understood.
WHAT THEY WON’T TELL YOU
• 50 Years of “Mystery Science” – Pulsars were discovered in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell. – The first pulsars were named “LGM” for “Little Green Men”, because they resembled deliberate intelligent signals from aliens. – The discovery was kept a secret for two years, until a “natural” explanation could be found. – Yet top reviews concede: “No consensus on how pulsars make coherent radio beams.” – Even their heavyweight magnetosphere models are “pure speculation,” say the academics.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered Pulsars in 1967
• Energy “Conversion” Conundrum – How does a spinning neutron star turn its spin into light and X-rays? – Experts shrug: “We don’t know where particles get accelerated… or how.”
• Interior Secrets Locked Tight – The neutron-star Equation of State? A “well-kept secret,” even on Wikipedia. – We can’t recreate these ultra-dense conditions on Earth—so we’re flying blind.
THE BIG QUESTION SETI WON’T ASK
If we’re this stumped by “natural” objects, could some pulsars actually be artificial beacons—designed by a super-advanced Kardashev Type III civilization? Imagine harnessing a stars energy to craft perfect, long-range lighthouses! Isn’t this a concept that the Kardashev Scale proposes?
Yet SETI protocols dismiss the idea outright: • They focus on faint, homely radio signals—never megastructures beaming across the Milky Way. • They’ve never seriously tested whether pulsar “noise” could be cosmic Morse code.
WHAT IF SOME PULSARS ARE ETI LIGHTHOUSES?
– Perfect timing, colossal power output, pinpoint beams… sounds like engineered tech! – A K-III society could be “pinging” planets for millennia, and we’ve assumed it’s just physics playing tricks.
CALLING ALL STAR HUNTERS
It’s time to break the dogma. We need to: 1. Re-examine pulsar data for hidden patterns or intentional modulation. 2. Expand SETI’s search to include high-power, pulsed signals. 3. Admit our ignorance—and embrace wild ideas to solve these cosmic riddles.
Until we dare to ask whether pulsars are aliens’ calling cards, we’ll remain stuck in the dark—waiting for E.T. to ring a bell we refused to check. Isn’t it time someone blew the whistle on astrophysics’ biggest oversight?
Scientists on the Limits of Pulsar Knowledge
Beyond the specific unsolved problems within subfields of pulsar research, there are numerous instances where scientists make overarching statements explicitly acknowledging the incomplete state of current knowledge regarding these enigmatic objects.
Several key publications and resources directly state the limitations in our understanding of pulsars:
Beskin, Chernov, Gwinn, & Tchekhovskoy (2015):
In their review “Radio Pulsars,” these authors plainly state, “Almost 50 years after radio pulsars were discovered in 1967, our understanding of these objects remains incomplete.” This is a clear and high-level admission of the persistent gaps in knowledge from experts summarizing the field.
Hankins, Rankin, & Eilek (2009):
The white paper “What is the Physics of Pulsar Radio Emission?” opens with the frank assessment: “Despite much careful theoretical and observational effort, the details of how these rapidly rotating neutron stars radiate are still a mystery.” While focused on radiation, this statement implies broader difficulties in understanding the core processes.
Contopoulos, Kalapotharakos, & Kazanas (2014):
In “A new standard pulsar magnetosphere,” the authors remark, “Though pulsars were discovered almost fifty years ago, they still remain mysterious stellar objects.” This general statement encapsulates the enduring enigmatic nature of pulsars.
NASA on PSR B0943+10:
When discussing the “puzzling pulsar” PSR B0943+10, a NASA resource notes that “astronomers… aren’t sure how the particles get stripped from the surface of the star and accelerated to high energies”. The observation of its inverse radio/X-ray pulsing “reignited debate,” indicating that any prior consensus on such emission behavior was either absent or fragile and that existing models were insufficient.
“Pulsar Electrodynamics: an unsolved problem”:
The very title of a research area or a specific paper can be telling. While there is a paper on this topic, the broader identification of “Pulsar Electrodynamics” as “an unsolved problem” is a direct admission of ongoing challenges. The source itself discusses unresolved issues like “charge starvation” and “current starvation” in electrodynamic models, implying these are areas not fully settled.
The Unknown Equation of State (EoS):
A “Well-Kept Secret” A critical unknown is the Equation of State (EoS) of matter at these supranuclear densities. The EoS describes the relationship between pressure, density, and temperature, and it dictates the macroscopic properties of the neutron star, such as its radius for a given mass and its maximum possible mass.
Neutron star equation of state, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1387647310000564
Multiple sources unequivocally state the current lack of knowledge. Wikipedia’s entry on Neutron Stars, often reflecting expert consensus, asserts: “The equation of state of neutron stars is not currently known.” The entry elaborates that this uncertainty arises because the extreme densities are impossible to replicate in terrestrial laboratories, and theoretical modeling must incorporate General Relativity as well as complex aspects of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), potential superconductivity, and superfluidity of nuclear matter. Understanding the EoS is described as a “major unsolved problem in fundamental physics.”
This sentiment is strongly echoed in the scientific literature. A 2017 review by Chamel et al., “The physics of the neutron star crust,” notes that while the physics of the outer crust is relatively better understood, “the structure of the matter in neutron star cores and in particular its equation of state remain the well-kept secret of neutron stars”. The inability to definitively determine the EoS means that fundamental parameters, such as the precise upper mass limit for neutron stars before they collapse into black holes (the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit), remain uncertain, with theoretical estimates varying.
SIX-SIGMA:
Scientific Theories: When a theory encounters contradictory evidence or fails to explain a new observation, it is not a “defect” in the scientific process. Instead, it signals that the theory may be incomplete, incorrect under certain conditions, or in need of refinement. Such discrepancies are essential for scientific progress, often leading to new hypotheses or even paradigm shifts. This mindset may be exactly what’s needed to advance our understanding of pulsars.
Beskin, V. S. (2018). Radio pulsars. Physics-Uspekhi, 61(7), 655–686.
Hankins, T. H., Rankin, J. M., & Eilek, J. A. (2009). What is the Physics of Pulsar Radio Emission? Astro2010: The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, Science White Papers, no. 120.
Contopoulos, I., Kalapotharakos, C., & Kazanas, D. (2014). A new standard pulsar magnetosphere. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 443(1), L45–L49.
NASA. (2013, October 23). NASA’s Chandra and XMM-Newton Find Puzzling Pulsar. NASA Missions.
Petri, J. (2019). Pulsar electrodynamics: an unsolved problem. Journal of Plasma Physics, 85(5), 15850501.
Chamel, N., Fantina, A. F., & Zdunik, J. L. (2017). The physics of the neutron star crust. In The Physics and Astrophysics of Neutron Stars (pp. 57-95). Springer, Cham.
In 1985 I was living in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. I regularly raided the local library in Augustine Street for reading material. It no longer looks like this, but I remember walking up the stairs on the left:
Old Galway Central Library, Augustine Street, from memory
The Mysteries of Pulsars Capture My Imagination
There, I discovered a book about pulsars. As I read, I was struck by the remarkable characteristics of these cosmic phenomena—they emitted incredibly regular radio pulses, seemingly ticking like celestial clocks. Something about their precise periodicity raised a suspicion in my mind: Could these signals be of artificial origin? The idea gnawed at me. It seemed almost too perfect, too synchronized, to be purely natural.
Antony Hewish in front of 4.5-acre array, image by Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge.
Delays and Doubts: The Scientific Community’s Caution
What puzzled me even more was the fact that the researchers who first detected pulsars waited nearly two years before publishing their findings. When they finally did, they explained the regular radio transmissions as the result of some natural astrophysical process—perhaps rapidly spinning neutron stars or some other exotic object. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was being hidden, or at least not fully explored. Why delay the publication? Why rush to explain away the strange signals with a natural cause, when they could just as easily be a message—or evidence—of intelligent life?
First Observation Of Pulsar, image by Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge.
A Personal Mission: Reaching Out to a Nobel Laureate
I found myself unable to let go of the thought. I decided I had to try and get some answers directly from someone who knew the science firsthand—Professor Antony Hewish himself, the Nobel laureate who played a key role in the discovery of pulsars.
The walk to the phone booth on Eyre Square was not long—just a few minutes—but to me, it felt like a journey into the unknown. I passed by the familiar sights: the cobblestone streets, the bustling cafés, and the distant clang of the clock tower. The square was busy with people, their conversations and footsteps creating a constant hum. I could feel the cool breeze on my face, carrying the faint smell of brewing coffee from nearby cafés, mingling with the crisp air of a typical Irish day.
Pádraic Ó’ Conaire statue on Eyre Square, Galway
Making the Call: Asking the Expert About Artificial Origins
As I approached the square, I paused briefly to steady my breathing. I reached into my pocket, clutching the handful of Irish pound coins I had carefully gathered for this purpose. I looked at the phone booth—a small, glass-panelled box standing at the corner of the square, slightly worn but functional. Its faded paint and the faint smell of old metal reminded me of countless moments of waiting and hope.
I stepped inside, feeling the cool metal of the door handle against my hand. The interior was dimly lit, with the faint glow of the coin slot and dialing pad. I took a moment to collect myself. The hum of the city outside seemed to fade into the background as I lifted the receiver and inserted the coins one by one into the slot, hearing the satisfying clink as they dropped into place.
The phone was a rotary-style model, but it worked—reliable and straightforward. I stared at the dial pad, my fingers trembling slightly as I entered the number for the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. The line was long-distance, and I had only a limited amount of coins. I whispered a quiet prayer that the call would go through.
The Interview
Finally, I heard the connection click. A calm, measured voice answered.
Antony Hewish on the phone (AI generated)
“Hello?”
“Professor Hewish?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Yes, speaking,” came the reply.
I hesitated for a moment, my mind racing with questions. Then I blurted out, “I’m calling to congratulate you on the discovery of pulsars.”
There was a brief pause, and I could almost hear him smiling on the other end of the line.
He thanked me politely, then I took a deep breath and asked, “I find the subject absolutely fascinating, and I was wondering—are you absolutely certain that pulsars are not of artificial origin?”
He responded with quiet confidence, “Yes, I am certain.”
And then he proceeded to explain, his voice steady and reassuring:
“Pulsars are fascinating objects. They are highly magnetized, rapidly spinning neutron stars—remnants of massive stars that have gone supernova. As they rotate, their intense magnetic fields funnel particles toward their magnetic poles, which act like cosmic lighthouse beams. When these beams sweep past Earth, we detect them as highly regular radio pulses.”
Reflections Under the Galway Sky
I listened intently, my mind swirling with his explanations—ones I’d heard before, yet they only deepened my curiosity. I asked again, perhaps more insistently:
“And you are 100% sure that pulsars are not of artificial origin?”
Hewish chuckled softly on the line, “Yes, absolutely certain.”
I thanked him for his time, and before used up all my coins, I ended the call. Stepping back onto the street, I looked up at the grey, cloudy sky, pondering the vastness of space and the mysteries it still held. The conversation left me with a lingering question: could we someday truly find signs of intelligent life out there?
One Second of Error in 30 Million Years
The universe’s most precise timekeepers—the most stable pulsars—are so remarkably accurate that they would drift by only a single second over tens of millions of years. Their stability rivals—and in some respects even surpasses—that of our most advanced atomic clocks.
The most stable known millisecond pulsar, designated PSR J1713+0747, exemplifies this extraordinary precision. Its rotational period is so consistent that it would accumulate an error of just one second after approximately 30 million years.
When we talk about the superiority of pulsars as cosmic clocks, we’re referring to their ability to keep perfect time over millennia—far beyond the reach of any human-made clock. Engineers can build clocks that lose only one second in 300 billion years, but such devices are fragile, often breaking down within a few decades. Pulsars, on the other hand, can continue their steady ticking for billions of years, offering an unmatched cosmic standard of time.
Commemorating the historic Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting—24 June 1947 (Full transcript and link to original radio interview from the 26th of June, just two days later.)
THE SIGHTING THAT STARTED IT ALL
Seventy-seven years ago today, a 32-year-old Idaho businessman and experienced pilot named Kenneth Arnold unwittingly ignited the modern fascination with unidentified flying objects. While flying his CallAir A-2 over the Cascade Mountains on 24 June 1947, Arnold spotted nine silvery objects weaving in formation near Mount Rainier. He later described their motion as “like a saucer if you skip it across water,” a phrase newspapers soon shortened to “flying saucers,” forever branding the phenomenon.
ON-AIR EXCLUSIVE
The broadcast of the first radio interview with Kenneth Arnold itself has its own remarkable backstory: for over forty years, the KWRC interview existed only in second-hand reports—until researcher Pierre Lagrange uncovered the original vinyl in 1988. This pristine recording finally lets us hear Arnold’s exact words and raw emotion in the immediate wake of his sighting and the media storm that followed.
Kenneth Arnold interviewed by Ted Smith, KWRC, 26 June 1947:
“Every newspaper across the nation has made headlines out of it, and this afternoon we are honored, indeed, to have here in our studio the man himself, Kenneth Arnold, who we believe can give us a first-hand account of what happened. Kenneth, first of all, if you’ll move a little closer to the microphone, please tell—in your own words, as you told us last night in your hotel room and again this morning—what you were doing and how this entire thing started. Go ahead, Kenneth.”
ARNOLD RECOUNTS THE FLIGHT
(Kenneth Arnold) “Well, at about 2:15 p.m. I took off from Chehalis, Washington, en route to Yakima. Every time any of us fly over the country near Mount Rainier, we spend an hour or two searching for the Marine plane that’s never been found; they believe it’s in the snow somewhere southwest of that area, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet.
I had made one sweep close to Mount Rainier and down one of the canyons, looking for any object that might be the Marine ship, and about fifteen minutes later, as I came up out of the canyon, I was approximately 25–28 miles from Mount Rainier. I’d climbed back to 9,200 feet when I noticed, to my left, a chain that looked like the tail of a Chinese kite—weaving and moving at terrific speed across the face of the mountain.”
FIRST IMPRESSION
“At first I thought they were geese, because they flew like geese, but they were traveling so fast that I immediately decided it had to be a formation of new jet planes.”
TIMING THE OBJECTS
“As the objects reached the edge of Mount Rainier, heading about 160° south, I thought I’d clock them. It was such a clear day, and I could use Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams as reference points—pilots love arguing about speed. They flipped and flashed in the sun like mirrors, and the glare through my Plexiglas windshield nearly blinded me.”
TAILS—OR LACK THEREOF
“It was about 2:59 p.m. when I started timing them with my sweep-second hand. I kept looking for their tails; they had none. Thinking something might be wrong with my eyes, I turned the plane around, opened the window, and looked out—still no tails.”
BRIEF BUT MEMORABLE
“The entire observation lasted no more than two and a half minutes. I could see them clearly only when they tipped and reflected the sunlight. They looked like a pie plate cut in half with a convex triangle at the rear.”
UNCONVENTIONAL FLIGHT
“I thought perhaps they were jet planes with their tails painted green or brown and didn’t think much of it, but I kept watching. They didn’t fly in the conventional formation taught in our Army; they wove in and out above the mountaintops and even dipped into canyons—probably by about 100 feet. Against the snow on Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, they were unmistakable.”
INCREDIBLE SPEED
“When the last one passed Mount Adams, I checked my watch: 1 minute 42 seconds. Later, using my map, I calculated their speed. Allowing for error, it was roughly 1,200 mph—even if I stretched the flight time to three or four minutes, they’d still be exceeding 800 mph. To my knowledge, nothing but some German rockets could do that.”
LEVEL FLIGHT, NO DIVES
“They maintained a more or less constant altitude—no climbing or diving, just straight and level. I joked with the fellows at the airport that they must have had a tailwind, but the joke didn’t help much.”
HAND ON THE BIBLE
“To the best of my knowledge, that is exactly what I saw. As I told the Associated Press, I’d be glad to confirm it with my hand on a Bible.
Kenneth Arnold in front of his CallAir A-2 plane
Whether it involves our Army or Intelligence, or some foreign country, I don’t know. But I did see it, and I did clock it. I just happened to be in the perfect position, and it’s as much a mystery to me as to anyone who’s been calling me for the last 24 hours.”
NEWSROOM FRENZY
(Newscaster Ted Smith)
“Kenneth, thank you very much. I know you’ve been busy these last 24 hours—I’ve spent some of that time with you myself—and both the Associated Press and United Press have been after you every minute. This story has been on every newscast and in every newspaper I know. United Press in Portland has made several telephone calls to Pendleton—to me and to you—and New York is clamoring for details.”
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
“We may have an answer before nightfall. If it’s some new type of Army or Navy secret missile, there will probably be an announcement and that will be the end of it—or perhaps we’ll finally get a definite explanation. I understand United Press is checking with the Army and Navy now, and we hope for something concrete soon.”
STAY TUNED
“We certainly want to thank you, Kenneth, for coming into our studio. We’re pleased to give our KWRC listeners this first-hand report. Listeners, keep tuned to this station: any time we get something on our United Press teletype—from New York, Chicago, Portland, or any bureau across the nation—we’ll have it on the air.”
A CALL FOR SERIOUS INVESTIGATION
“We’ve seen something—hundreds of pilots have seen something—in the skies. We have dutifully reported these sightings, yet it seems we need fifteen million witnesses before anyone looks into the problem seriously. This is utterly fantastic—more fantastic than flying saucers or people from Venus or anything else, as far as I’m concerned.”
MUFON Live Stream to Present “Materials Unknown” On July 19!
New Billy Meier Film “Singularly Authentic” Now Available!
Make Contact with Star People via Global CE-5 Event, June 28!
Sir John Ventre Releases New Book About the Templars!
Special Guest Columns: The History of “Who’s Who in the Cosmic
Zoo?”; The Discovery of a Massive Unknown, Underwater Structure in
Malibu; “How to Fine Tune Your Frequency”;
And “Why Don’t People Want to Believe?
All This Plus UAP Photo of the Week And More!
Cincinnatti, OH, JUNE 2025 — MUFON will be presenting its 2025 Symposium July 17-20 in Cincinnatti, Ohio. And on July 19, MUFON will present a Special Live Stream Event. For a preview of these events, please CLICK HERE
Bay Area, CA, JUNE 2025 — On June 28, 2025, Kosta Makreas, the Founder of both The People’s Disclosure Movement and ETLetsTalk.com, invites you to join his group in “The Global CE-5 Initiative” ET/Star People contact event to be held all-day everywhere on Planet Earth. The People’s Disclosure Movement is comprised of over one-million people globally.
Beverly Hills, CA, June 2025 – Beginning Monday, June 16, at 12-noon Pacific Time, the brand new, one-hour documentary film entitled INSIDE HOLLYWOOD: ALIENS, UFOS AND THE QUEST FOR DISCLOSURE will be made available for free viewing. To View CLICK HERE
I am writing this rebuttal in regard to the June 6, 2025, Wall Street Journal article, “America’s UFO Mythology,” by Joel Schectman and Aruna Viswanatha: Since my name (Robert Salas) was mentioned in this article (page 7) with respect to an incident I experienced while I was a Minuteman I (ICBM) missile launch officer, in command of a Launch Control Facility (LCF) in Montana, designated “Oscar 1” and false representations were made, I find it necessary to respond to those statements in the referenced article here, with this rebuttal.
Most of us will never see a strange light dart across the night sky, let alone claim to be whisked aboard a craft not of this Earth. Yet, tucked away in public databases, government archives, and academic journals lie more than 200,000 firsthand accounts from people who insist such events happened to them. It makes one wonder if there is an extraterrestrial message hidden among the accounts.
No, I don’t have the time to read all those accounts personally, so I told Gemini AI DeepResearch to analyze them all for me. That’s what Large Language Models are good at. An unexpected picture emerged from the mountain of testimony: the alleged visitors, if real, seem far less interested in dazzling us with technology than in warning us about the way we run our planet.
How Many Cases Are We Really Talking About?
• Public databases: Roughly 170,000 sighting and contact reports sit in the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) catalogue, with hundreds added every month. • Declassified government projects: Project BLUE BOOK’s 12,618 files and the FBI’s post-war “Vault” documents add a further trove. • Academic & clinical work: Thirty-plus peer-reviewed psychology papers (from Harvard, Goldsmiths, and others) and at least half-a-dozen social-science surveys have examined self-identified abductees and “channelers”—people who claim to relay telepathic messages from non-human intelligences. • Independent qualitative studies: Another six to ten book-length investigations—by scholars such as the late Harvard psychiatrist John Mack or the late Temple University historian David Jacobs—bring the formal research count to “just over forty.”
Summary
The tenor of over 200,000 UFO reports from credible experiencers, military personnel, and contactees is delivering the same urgent warnings, and it’s time we listened. There appears to be a deliberate, intelligent effort to guide humanity away from self-destruction. Here’s what they’re telling us:
Cosmic Wake-Up Call: Five Urgent ET Messages for Humanity’s Survival
“Disarm Now—Or Face Extinction” (Nuclear Warnings: A Clear Pattern) Resonance: Moderate to Low, with pockets of High Concern. Politicians & People in Power: While there’s widespread acknowledgment of the catastrophic potential of nuclear weapons, the urgency of immediate and complete disarmament is a highly contentious issue.
UFOs didn’t just happen to appear over nuclear facilities during the Cold War—they were intervening. Missiles mysteriously deactivated. Radar systems jammed. Military witnesses confirm: Something was sending a message. The message? “Your weapons are a threat to the entire cosmos.” This isn’t speculation—it’s documented.
“Earth is Dying—Act Immediately” (Environmental Crisis: A Dire Alert) Resonance: High in Acknowledgment, Moderate to Low in Sufficiently Urgent Action. Politicians & People in Power: There is now widespread, almost universal, acknowledgment among world leaders and major institutions that climate change and environmental degradation represent a significant, even existential, crisis.
From Jim Sparks to countless abductees, the message is consistent: “Your planet is in critical condition.” Crop circles, telepathic warnings, and visions of ecological collapse aren’t coincidences—they’re a galactic SOS. ETs aren’t just observing—they’re urging us to change before it’s too late.
“You Are Starseeds—Awaken” (Spiritual & Evolutionary Guidance) Resonance: Extremely Low to Non-Existent in mainstream political discourse. Politicians & People in Power: This type of message, rooted in specific spiritual or esoteric beliefs like the “Starseed” concept (which posits that some humans originated from other planets or dimensions to help Earth), generally does not resonate in mainstream political circles or among those in positions of secular power.
The most profound encounters aren’t about fear—they’re about ascension. Contactees describe downloads of cosmic knowledge, sudden healing abilities, and an overwhelming sense of universal connection. This isn’t fantasy—it’s a consciousness upgrade. ETs are trying to help humanity evolve beyond war, greed, and separation.
“Unite or Perish” (A Call for Global Solidarity) Resonance: Moderate, with Fluctuations based on Context. Politicians & People in Power: The idea of global solidarity is frequently invoked in international forums, especially when addressing transboundary challenges like pandemics, climate change, economic crises, and major conflicts.
The idea that ET contact could end human conflict isn’t wishful thinking—it’s inevitable. Once we accept we’re not alone, borders, religions, and ideologies will seem trivial. The message? “You are one species. Start acting like it.”
“The Great Filter is Real—Don’t Fail” (Warning of Civilizational Collapse) Resonance: Low in terms of the specific “Great Filter” terminology; Moderate in terms of underlying concern about civilizational threats.
Politicians & People in Power: The specific astrobiological/futurist concept of “The Great Filter” (a hypothesis suggesting that some event or condition prevents life from becoming an advanced space-faring civilization) is not commonly part of mainstream political discourse.
Advanced civilizations may have already fallen to the same traps we face: war, environmental abuse, and technological recklessness. UFOs could be survivors—or even guardians—trying to steer us away from the cliff.
The Truth is Here—Will We Listen?
This isn’t random noise. The patterns are too consistent, the witnesses too credible, and the stakes too high to ignore. The messages are real. The question is: Will humanity wake up in time?
1. Disarm Nuclear Arms 2. Heal a Dying Planet 3. Awaken Your Cosmic Heritage 4. Foster peace and unity 5. Avoid the Great Filter
An Overview of Online UFO Experiencer Reports: Accessibility, Themes, Hostility, and Messages for Humanity
The Enduring Mystery of UFOs & UAPs
The phenomenon of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), now more commonly referred to as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), continues to captivate public imagination and spark intense debate. At the heart of this mystery are the firsthand accounts of individuals who claim encounters with these unexplained objects—or even their alleged occupants. These UFO experiencer reports serve as a unique body of qualitative data, offering insights into personal interpretations of extraordinary events.
This report examines: ✔ The accessibility and estimated number of online UFO reports ✔ Core themes and narratives in experiencer accounts ✔ The spectrum of reported interactions—from hostile to benevolent ✔ Potential messages for humanity embedded in these encounters
Given the diverse and often controversial nature of these reports, a comprehensive approach is necessary—one that acknowledges both scientific skepticism and the profound personal impact these experiences have on those who report them.
🔍 Accessibility & Estimated Number of Online UFO Reports
The internet serves as a vast repository for UFO-related information, with numerous platforms hosting firsthand accounts, government documents, and independent research.
Archived websites from MUFON, NUFORC, and UFO forums.
📌 Estimated Total Online Reports: 200,000+
NUFORC: ~170,000
Project BLUE BOOK: ~12,000
CORGIS/GitHub datasets: ~80,000
FBI & other archives: Thousands more
👽 Core Themes in UFO Experiencer Reports
Analysis of these reports reveals recurring patterns in abduction narratives, entity descriptions, and emotional responses.
🛸 The Abduction Narrative
Many accounts follow a structured sequence:
Capture – Sudden inability to move/resist.
Examination – Invasive medical procedures (often reproductive).
Communication – Telepathic messages or warnings.
Return – Often with missing time or physical marks.
👾 Reported Alien Entities
✔ Grey Aliens (most common in North America) Small, large-headed, slanted black eyes. ✔ Nordic Aliens (often described as benevolent) Tall, human-like, blond hair. ✔ Non-Humanoid Beings (less common but reported globally).
✔ Fear & Trauma (most common in abduction cases). ✔ Mystical or Spiritual Awakening (some report profound love/connection). ✔ Sense of Purpose (belief in being part of a “cosmic plan”).
⚠️ Recurring Warnings
✔ Environmental Collapse (“Our planet is dying”). ✔ Nuclear Danger (UFOs frequently seen near nuclear sites). ✔ Humanity’s Self-Destruction (warnings about technology outpacing wisdom).
⚔️ Hostility vs. Benevolence in Alien Encounters
Reports vary widely—from terrifying abductions to uplifting contact.
🔴 Hostile Encounters
✔ Forced Abductions (loss of bodily autonomy). ✔ Medical Experiments (often described as painful). ✔ Animal Mutilations (linked to UFO activity in some cases). ✔ Military Concerns (UAPs in restricted airspace seen as potential threats).
✔ Early Contactees (1950s) – Aliens as peaceful guides. ✔ Spiritual Experiences – Feelings of universal love. ✔ Even modern abductees sometimes report healing, guidance, or spiritual uplift. ✔ Environmental Warnings – Urging humanity to change.
⚖️ Neutral/Ambiguous Cases
✔ UFO Sightings Without Interaction (most common). ✔ Observation-Only Encounters (no clear intent).
🌍 Potential Messages for Humanity
While no verified extraterrestrial communication exists, recurring themes suggest:
🌱 Environmental Crisis – Urgent warnings about Earth’s future. 25-35%
🕊️ Call for Unity – Speculation that contact could unify humanity.
🚀 Technological Caution – Fears of self-destruction via unchecked advancement. 15-25%
📌 Key Takeaway: These “messages” may reflect human anxieties.
How is society responding?
Popular culture, for one, has embraced the subject with gusto. Streaming platforms feature dozens of alien-abduction docuseries, while TikTok’s #uaptok hashtag has sailed past half a billion views. Mental-health practitioners quietly report more clients looking for “experiencer support groups” rather than traditional PTSD counseling, suggesting that people who believe they were taken no longer feel entirely alone.
Mainstream science moves more cautiously. In 2023, NASA convened an independent study that called for “serious, stigma-free data collection,” and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics followed suit with its own UAP committee. Medical literature still explains abduction memories largely in terms of sleep paralysis, dissociation, or fantasy proneness, yet outright dismissal is no longer the reflex it once was.
Politics remains the slowest arena. The 2024 U.S. National Defense Authorization Act ordered every federal agency to hand historically significant UAP files to the National Archives, marking an unprecedented bid for transparency. The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has already analyzed more than 800 military encounters and promises a civilian reporting portal. France, Japan, and the United Kingdom have reopened or expanded their public UAP desks. Even so, no head of state has addressed the substance of the alleged messages—neither the nuclear warnings nor the environmental pleas. The United Nations has never tabled a resolution on them. In the halls of power, stigma still whispers more loudly than data.
Are we listening?
Polls by Pew and IPSOS show that a slim majority of Americans now believe intelligent life is visiting Earth. Only twelve percent, however, think their elected leaders treat the subject seriously. Meanwhile, global carbon emissions continue to rise, and the world’s nuclear stockpile just grew for the first time in two decades. If the visitors’ messages are real, we remain stubbornly off script.
A quiet crossroads
The existence of the data is no longer in dispute: more than 200,000 public reports and at least forty formal studies document the phenomenon. Stripped of lurid headlines and Hollywood tropes, the core warnings are surprisingly consistent—dial back nuclear brinkmanship, mend the biosphere, and evolve beyond tribal conflict. Governments have begun to lift the veil of classification, but policy inspired by those warnings is still in its infancy.
Perhaps the most telling statistic is not how many files exist, but how few decision-makers have read them. Disclosure, in other words, is happening. Whether we choose to heed the cosmic nudge remains an open question—one whose answer may determine whether humanity, too, becomes just another cautionary tale in someone else’s sky.
INSIDE HOLLYWOOD: Aliens, UFOs & The Quest for Disclosure Disclosure Advocates Call for Signing of the UAP Disclosure Act Petition! Capt. Robert Salas Responds to Erroneous Wall St. Journal Story! MUFON to Unveil “Materials Unknown” at their July Symposium! Canadians for Disclosure Seek Advocates for House of Commons! Contact from the Pleiades Book by Brit Elders Wins “Silver Award”!
ContactProject.org: Is humanity ready for contact with extraterrestrial intelligence?
ETI is already near Earth, either in the form of drones, UAPs, or UFOs—whatever you prefer to call them. That is the premise of the Contact Project. The project proposal is therefore simple: instead of broadcasting a pinpointed message to a potential civilization far, far away, we can use simple, inexpensive, and widely available omnidirectional antennas to invite communication from objects or phenomena in Earth orbit. Moreover, this effort should not be limited to a short period of time; it should be sustained and undertaken with the broad agreement of people on every continent.
The message in the Contact Project might resemble the following:
“A Beacon in the Galaxy: Updated Arecibo Message for Potential FAST and SETI Projects” https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.04288, by Jonathan H. Jiang, Hanjie Li, Matthew Chong, Qitian Jin, Philip E. Rosen, Xiaoming Jiang, Kristen A. Fahy, Stuart F. Taylor, Zhihui Kong, Jamilah Hah, Zong-Hong Zhu.
A potential ETI is, of course, capable of decoding any human transmission we are already broadcasting, but the point of the Contact Project is to address ETI directly, acknowledge their presence, and actively seek contact.
Demonstrating such openness would prove humankind’s readiness for contact. By doing so, we would not be giving away anything new—such as our position—beyond what we already broadcast. It would simply be a friendly hello, as envisioned by the Contact Project organization.
“I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello.” The Beatles ‧ 1967
Why Liu Cixin’s Chilling Vision May Exaggerate the Dangers – in Space and on Earth
Dark Forest Hypothesis
1. A Tale of Two Dark Forests
Liu Cixin’s award-winning trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Past (commonly called The Three-Body Problem series) popularized the Dark Forest Hypothesis: in a universe where every civilization fears annihilation and resources appear scarce, the safest strategy is absolute silence – or a pre-emptive strike on anything that betrays its position.
Yet, just as children often overestimate the terrors of a literal dark forest, adults may be overestimating the hazards of its cosmic counterpart. Both fears rest on questionable assumptions about scarcity, detectability, and universal hostility.
2. How Dark Is the Cosmic Forest – Really?
2.1 Abundant Resources • Asteroid mining makes most “resource wars” unnecessary. – Example: NASA’s current Psyche mission targets a metal-rich asteroid whose contents have often been cited – though the estimate is highly speculative – as being worth about$100,000 quadrillion. – Lower gravity and higher ore purity mean it is far easier to extract metals in space than to invade a habitable planet.
• Science-fiction authors anticipated this logic well before the 1970s, from Garrett P. Serviss (1898) to Isaac Asimov (1953) and Poul Anderson (1963-65).
2.2 Alternative Solutions to the Fermi Paradox
The silence we observe could stem from: • the brevity of civilizations’ effective ‘radio window‘ (50-70 years); • the Sanctuary Hypothesis (ETI nurture developing planets without revealing themselves); • crewed or uncrewed craft-based exploration rather than radio beacons (compare UAP/UFO debate). These sightings challenge the premise of universal silence.
ABC 7 NEWS, December 2024
2.3 Humanity Has Already Broadcast
Humankind has been broadcasting TV and radio signals since the 1930s. These signals can be received hundreds of light-years away. This may have triggered ETs curiosity.
Then, between 1945 and 1961, Earth detonated more than 2,000 nuclear devices. Each blast produced an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) strong enough to be detected light-years away.
If an advanced civilization had been listening to early broadcasts of the Olympics, for instance, they’d have been surprised to see Earth suddenly erupting in artificial, high-energy flashes at irregular intervals.
In effect, we have already shouted our existence into the forest; worrying about a polite radio greeting now is like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.
The Ostrich Problem: Silence Isn’t Safety
If ETIs detected our radio signature, broadcast or EMP, but hear no follow-up, they might assume:
We’re hiding (suspicious).
We’re unstable (dangerous).
We’re ignorant (vulnerable).
3. Game-Theory Revisions: Three Big “What-Ifs”
Here are some of the big “what ifs” that challenge the whole “hide or attack” idea:
3.1 Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) on a cosmic scale If retaliation is credible – and especially if the cost of failure is extinction – first strikes lose their appeal, exactly as they did with Cold War nuclear strategy. Think about our own history with nuclear weapons. The concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) is a huge deterrent. What if that applies on a cosmic scale too? Let’s say there’s a certain chance of a successful attack. And, crucially, if an attack fails, the attacking civilization faces a really nasty consequence – let’s call it the disaster of retaliation. We’re talking about something far worse than just wasting resources.
Here’s how that changes the math for choosing to “Attack”:
If one civilization tries to hit another:
There’s a certain chance it pulls it off. The attacker survives, though it still pays the cost of the attack, while the other civilization is wiped out.
But, there’s also a chance the attack completely flops. In that nightmare scenario, the attacker is the one facing the disaster of retaliation (or even total annihilation if the other civilization hits back hard), and the target is still around and really angry.
So, when you consider whether to attack, you have to weigh these probabilities. If the chance of a successful attack is low, or if the disaster of retaliation is utterly catastrophic (like in MAD), then the appeal of attacking first plummets. It might even make more sense to just stay hidden, which totally undermines the “attack first” logic.
Flaws in the Dark Forest game theory
3.2 The Impossibility of Hiding
Sufficiently advanced telescopes detect radio signatures and other technosignatures whether or not we transmit on purpose. Admittedly, humankind has only transmitted purposefully for only a bit over 67 hours in its entire history. But this doesn’t reduce over a century of radio and TV signals that are already out there. Within this 130 light-year bubble (260 light-years across) there exist between 700-1,140 habitable worlds. If stealth is futile, the strategic game reduces to “communicate or attack,” and communication becomes the cheaper, more mature, safer option.
The Dark Forest idea hinges on the ability to stay hidden. But what if detection is inevitable? Imagine super-advanced telescopes that can spot signs of life without anyone broadcasting a thing. In that case, the “Hide” strategy basically becomes the same as “Broadcast” – you’re going to be found either way. The whole benefit of trying to hide just disappears.
If being detected while hiding is as bad as outright annihilation, then: – If both civilizations hide → annihilation. – If one hides and one broadcasts → annihilation. – If one hides and one attacks → annihilation.
This scenario pretty much pulls “Hide” off the table as a viable survival strategy. It forces civilizations into a choice between broadcasting or attacking, since there’s no real hiding place left.
3.3 Civilizational Diversity Assuming every species is paranoid and violent ignores the probability distribution of motives. If even a modest fraction are cooperative, expected-value calculations tilt toward cautious outreach rather than universal suppression.
“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization”, Mahatma Gandhi
Perhaps the biggest assumption of the Dark Forest is that every civilization out there is a paranoid, aggressive killer. But is that realistic? We can think about different “types” of players in our cosmic game. What if there’s a certain probability that a civilization is hostile, and also a probability that it’s cooperative?
Now, the overall benefit of broadcasting changes dramatically, depending on who you meet. It’s a blend of the risk of annihilation if you meet a hostile civilization, and the potential benefit of survival and cooperation if you meet a friendly one.
If the probability of encountering a cooperative civilization is high enough, and the benefits of cooperation are truly significant, then suddenly, broadcasting might actually be a better bet than attacking. It opens the door to the idea that some civilizations might actually try to say “hello” rather than “kaboom.”
So, while the Dark Forest is a chilling thought experiment, these added factors suggest the universe might be a bit more complex than just a cosmic shooting gallery.
4. Earth’s Own “Dark Forests”: Fear vs. Fact
U.S. National Parks – millions of annual visits into true wilderness – average roughly 0.11 deaths per 100,000 recreational visits. The leading causes are drownings (20.9%), car accidents (17.3%), medical events (12%), and suicides (12.4%), not wolf packs or bear maulings.
A global study of carnivore attacks from 1950 to 2019 documented 5,440 attacks, with about one in three being fatal. Likewise, tiger attacks in India average 34 deaths per year; direct wildlife fatalities in the United States hover around eight. Our imagination inflates the danger of forests much as it inflates the peril of first contact.
Star Trek: First Contact
In the Star Trek movie “First Contact,” the Dark Forest of the human heart (causing a nuclear Armageddon) proved much more dangerous than the meeting with the Vulcan emissary.
5. Why Would ETIs Attack Us?
Possible motives beyond resources:
First-strike paranoia (fear of future competition).
But if aliens wanted resources, they’d mine asteroids, not Earth. (Take that, Zecharia Sitchin – your ancient alien gold-mining slaves theory doesn’t hold up when space is full of purer, easier-to-extract metals.)
6. UAPs & the Pentagon’s Admission: Are They Already Here?
If Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) are extraterrestrial probes:
They’ve seen our nukes, satellites, and wars.
Silence may look like hostility.
A controlled message (math, music, science) could be safer than ambiguity.
The Signal
A Science Fiction Short Story: In a universe filled with mysteries, signaling UAPs could change everything.
7. Synthesis: From Paranoia to Policy
Accept the beacon we have already lit (Radio and TV bubble, nuclear tests) and
Study apparent probes (UAPs/UFOs) with scientific rigor, but get out of the denial-loop.
Prepare a diplomatic framework – a “UN for exocivilizations” – before we need it.
Invest in asteroid-mining technology; abundance is the best antidote to resource anxiety.
The universe may contain dangers, but the data – from asteroid economics to wilderness safety statistics – suggests we routinely overrate them. Instead of cowering in silence, humanity should engage with the cosmos thoughtfully. We must do so armed with game-theoretic prudence, technological optimism, and a clear appreciation of how rarely the monsters in our dark forests turn out to be real.
Liu Cixin’s *Remembrance of Earth’s Past* trilogy, commonly known as “The Three-Body Problem” series, is a sweeping hard science fiction epic that explores humanity’s first contact with an alien civilization and the existential threats that follow.
1. The Three-Body Problem (三体): humanity learns an invasion fleet will arrive in 450 years; physics itself is sabotaged by proton-sized “sophons.”
Initial Setup & The Cultural Revolution: The story begins in China during the tumultuous Cultural Revolution, where astrophysicist Ye Wenjie witnesses the brutal death of her father. Disillusioned with humanity, she is later recruited to a secret military project called “Red Coast,” a deep-space listening station. There, she discovers a method to amplify radio signals using the sun and, in a moment of profound despair, broadcasts a message into space, essentially inviting alien intervention.
Present Day Mystery: Decades later, in the early 21st century, a series of mysterious suicides among prominent scientists plagues the world. Detective Shi Qiang (Da Shi) investigates, collaborating with nanotechnologist Wang Miao. Wang becomes entangled with a mysterious online VR game called “Three Body,” which simulates a chaotic planet experiencing extreme climatic shifts due to the gravitational pull of three suns.
The Trisolarans Revealed: Through the game and his investigation, Wang uncovers a vast conspiracy: the Earth-Trisolaris Organization (ETO), a secret society formed by humans who worship the Trisolarans and desire Earth’s destruction. The Trisolarans are the inhabitants of the chaotic “Three-Body” planet. Their civilization has been repeatedly destroyed by their unpredictable system, leading them to seek a new, stable home – Earth. They are on their way, but their fleet will take approximately 450 years to arrive.
Sophon Blockade: To prevent humanity from developing technology capable of resisting their invasion, the Trisolarans deploy “sophons” – proton-sized supercomputers that unfold into higher dimensions, act as omnipresent spies, and subtly disrupt fundamental physics research on Earth, creating the illusion that science is failing. The first book ends with humanity aware of the impending invasion but hamstrung by the sophon blockade.
2. The Dark Forest (黑暗森林): Luo Ji invents cosmic MAD – threatening to broadcast Trisolaris’s coordinates – and forces a temporary peace.
The Crisis Era and Wallfacers: With the Trisolaran invasion fleet on its way and sophons making all human communications transparent to the aliens, humanity enters the “Crisis Era.” To develop secret strategies, the United Nations designates four “Wallfacers” – individuals granted immense resources and autonomy to devise plans that remain entirely within their own minds, impenetrable by sophons.
Luo Ji and Cosmic Sociology: Among the Wallfacers is the initially reluctant and cynical astrophysicist Luo Ji. Unlike the others, he doesn’t have a clear military or scientific background. He slowly develops the “Dark Forest Hypothesis” (based on insights from Ye Wenjie): the universe is a “dark forest” filled with advanced civilizations, each acting as a silent, paranoid hunter. Any civilization that reveals its location becomes a target for pre-emptive destruction, as there’s no way to guarantee another civilization’s intentions are benign, and rapid technological explosion makes any unknown a potential existential threat.
The Deterrence Era: Luo Ji’s seemingly bizarre actions as a Wallfacer lead to his plan: he threatens to broadcast the coordinates of the Trisolaran home system to the entire galaxy, a suicidal act that would doom both Trisolaris and Earth (due to Earth’s proximity). This threat, known as “Dark Forest Deterrence,” forces the Trisolarans into an uneasy peace, as they realize Luo Ji can enact mutual annihilation. This ushers in the “Deterrence Era,” a fragile peace enforced by the constant threat of a “Swordholder” (Luo Ji) initiating the broadcast.
The Great Fleet Annihilation: Humanity flourishes during this era, building powerful space fleets, believing they have achieved parity with the Trisolarans. However, when the first Trisolaran probe (“the Droplet”) finally arrives, it effortlessly annihilates Earth’s entire space armada, revealing the vast technological superiority of the Trisolarans and shattering humanity’s hubris.
3. Death’s End (死神永生): deterrence fails, higher-dimensional weapons collapse the Solar System, and the protagonists ultimately sacrifice themselves so the universe can “bounce” and begin anew.
New Challenges and the Swordholder: The Deterrence Era continues, but Luo Ji is aging, and a new “Swordholder” must be chosen. The burden falls upon Cheng Xin, a kind and compassionate aerospace engineer. Her appointment is a calculated move by the Trisolarans, who correctly predict her moral nature will prevent her from activating the deterrence in a crisis. When the Trisolarans test the deterrence by attacking Earth’s broadcast stations, Cheng Xin hesitates, allowing them to take control of Earth.
Humanity’s Flight and Cosmic Revelations: A few human starships that had escaped the initial Droplet attack (including one that had gone rogue much earlier) manage to broadcast the Trisolaran coordinates, leading to the destruction of the Trisolaran home system by a higher-dimensional alien weapon. Earth, however, is then also targeted by a “Dark Forest” attack.
Two-Dimensional Attacks: The ultimate “Dark Forest” weapon, a “photoid,” collapses the Solar System into two dimensions, an irreversible process that kills almost all of humanity.
Light-Speed Travel: Cheng Xin and a few others escape on a light-speed capable ship. They encounter the former “brain-only” ambassador, Yun Tianming, who sends cryptic fairy tales that contain vital information about higher-dimensional physics and the nature of the universe.
Micro-Universes and The Big Bounce: The narrative expands to encompass the universe’s ultimate fate. It’s revealed that advanced civilizations, to survive cosmic catastrophes like dimensional collapse, create “mini-universes.” However, the proliferation of these mini-universes is draining mass from the main universe, preventing its “Big Bounce” (a theoretical cyclical collapse and rebirth).
The Final Choice: Ultimately, Cheng Xin and a few companions, after millennia of wandering the cosmos and witnessing countless cosmic events and the end of the universe itself, are faced with a profound choice: contribute their own remaining mass to the main universe’s rebirth, effectively ceasing to exist, or remain in their isolated mini-universe. They choose to return their mass, hoping to contribute to the cycle of universal renewal.
The trilogy is renowned for its grand scale, complex scientific concepts, and unflinching exploration of humanity’s place in a vast, indifferent, and dangerous cosmos. It presents a grim, yet intellectually stimulating, vision of interstellar survival.
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