Alien Intrusion Page 6

  Verne, although not a scientist, devoted himself to studying science in order that his novels, which were to achieve lasting worldwide fame, might have a realistic bent. His most well-known books include Journey to the Center of the Earth (1866), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1869), and Around the World in 80 Days (1872).[5]

  Verne was a prolific writer and produced at least two books a year for over 40 years. In his heyday, long before the advent of modern communications and media, he achieved global popularity. To this day, he remains one of the most widely read authors of all time.

  The power of one

  The person whom many regard as the father of modern science fiction is Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) - more popularly known as H.G. Wells. After marrying his cousin Isabel in 1883, he was a teacher and pupil at Midhurst Grammar School, and obtained a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in London. There he studied biology under Thomas H. Huxley, who in his day was the most vocal advocate of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution - so much so that he is known as "Darwin's Bulldog." Wells became bored with his study and left without a degree. But Huxley's influence upon Wells was profound. He became a Fabian socialist (like fellow novelist George Bernard Shaw). These views also led him to reject traditional Victorian morality based upon the tenets of Christianity, and advocate almost complete freedom, particularly with regard to sex. He also abandoned his wife, Isabel, for one of his students, Amy Catherine, whom he married in 1895.

  In an era of Christian-based morality, Wells became anti-establishment, and like his mentor Huxley, a passionate advocate of evolution. Wells' beliefs are reflected in many of his science fiction novels, which were social and political parodies of his time. Like Kepler, his world view dominated his fiction.

  Arguably, The War of the Worlds is his most famous novel. Even back in 1898, his view that alien creatures like Martians could exist was based on his belief in evolution. The opening passage of his book showed subtle condescension toward opposing world views:

  No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter.... No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most, terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment [emphases added].[6]

  Wells believed in evolution and advanced alien races, and as a result he ridiculed Christian ideals as arrogant by suggesting that they might feel compelled to dispatch missionaries to these "inferior"races.

  This famous passage has a prophetic quality about it, too, because it succinctly states part of the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) of today - including the belief that aliens are allegedly carrying out scientific observations on humans. Wells sums up his rejection of the Christian idea that an omnipotent God is the ultimate authority in the universe in his next statement:

  If all the animals and man had been evolved in this ascendant manner, then there had been no first parents, no Eden and no Fall. And if there had been no fall, then the entire historical fabric of Christianity, the story of the first sin and the reason for an atonement, upon which the current teaching based Christian emotion and morality, collapsed like a house of cards.[7]

  In other words, he was saying that the Christian world view, including its morality, is based on a Creator God as described in the Book of Genesis, which also describes the entrance of sin, death, and immorality into our world. If evolution is true, as Wells believed, then this Genesis account is false. So Wells consciously disregarded Christian morality. He was a self-conscious humanist. Humanism, as used by Wells, simply means that man decides truth for himself and that there is no infinitely wise God who knows best and thus sets rules or guidelines for the benefit of humanity. And mankind is thus not the central focus of the universe, as the Bible implies, so one should have no problem in invoking ET races elsewhere in the universe. Moreover, if advanced alien civilizations have survived for millions of years and have advanced to greater technological heights than humankind, then it only reinforces the irrelevance of God. In other words, "The aliens have got on quite well without Him, so who needs Him?" The "no need for a god" idea (at the least, no need for the supreme deity of Judeo-Christian religion) dominates most UFOlogy and science fiction stories.

  Another famous Wells story to be turned into a feature film was The Time Machine.

  {See The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells (1895)}

  In some of his prognostications, there is no doubt that Wells was a great visionary. He predicted a second world war, the airplane, the tank, the atomic bomb, and even crowded superhighways. Yet many of his predictions did not come to pass. Wells wrote over 100 books, but was pessimistic about the lasting influence of his work - a mistaken prediction in itself.

  The Time Machine was one of the first science fiction writings to promote the future evolution of life forms on Earth, different from today's. Applied to outer space, plus or minus a few billion years, modern writers reason that evolution could have produced millions, or even billions, of strange life forms on innumerable planets (see the following two chapters for a closer look at this idea).

  A "walking encyclopedia"

  One of the most famous science fiction writers to push belief in widespread evolution all over the universe was Isaac Asimov (1920-1992). He was almost unbelievably prolific, with over 500 books to his credit on subjects as diverse as anatomy, physiology, astronomy, the Bible, biology, chemistry, etymology, geography, Greek mythology, history, humor, mathematics, and physics. However, he is best known for his science fiction[8] - some of which have been described as the greatest science fiction books ever written. His most enduring work is Foundation, which formed the basis of many other related books. The first three books in the series became known as the Foundation Trilogy, which deals with the fall of the "Galactic Empire" and the establishment of a "Foundation" of "Psychohistorians" (supposedly a scientific method of predicting the future).[9] This fascination with the future (as reflected in the paragraph below, excerpted from Foundation) has become standard fare in UFO beliefs.

  While no one in power believes that a Galactic civilization that has endured for hundreds of generations could ever fall, they recognize that knowledge is power. If this "Psychohistorian" can help keep them in power, he is worth keeping around. They agree to let Seldon [Hari Seldon], and a number of his colleagues, set up a "Foundation," on a remote planet, to compile an encyclopedia of all of man's knowledge. This, Hari has told them, will lessen the fall and keep those in power safe. In reality, Seldon sets up two Foundations with another purpose. One that only a few know. Hari Seldon plots the paths of the Foundation, from its start to, one thousand years later, its leadership of the galaxy.[10]

  Isaac Asimov

  A prominent feature of Asimov's writing was robots. His novel The Positronic Man was converted into a movie called The Bicentennial Man. He often predicted that computers would eventually evolve into sentient beings and be treated as equals with humans.

  The inspiration for Star Trek: The Next Generation's Commander Data, an android with a positronic brain and circuitry,
was Asimov, and his character indirectly pays homage to him. Wordsmith Michael Quinion notes:

  He is usually credited with inventing the Three Laws of Robotics that are supposed to guide the actions of all sentient robots....

  He based the word positronic on positron, a subatomic particle similar to an electron, but with a positive charge instead of a negative one. This had been discovered and named by the American physicist Carl Anderson in 1932. It seems that there is no earlier reference to the adjective before Asimov

  began to employ it. Indeed, of the four citations for the word positronic in the Oxford English Dictionary, three are from works by him, which seems a touch excessive. Interestingly, all four of them relate to SF [science fiction] sources....[11]

  He adds:

  He [Asimov] needed a scientific-sounding term that would suggest the brains of his intelligent creations to be innovative and futuristic, and so he invented the word "positronic" to describe matter that was suitable for the construction of an artificial brain with "enforced calculated neuronic paths." Total nonsense, of course, as Asimov himself was the first to admit.[12]

  One would think that the idea of sentient or "self-aware" robots should have great appeal for those endorsing the view that the earth has been visited by intergalactic travelers. One of the great problems for any aliens visiting from distant stars is the insurmountable distances, which would take thousands or millions of years to traverse. In all of the accounts of alien visitations today, few have questioned why advanced alien races have not sent robotic proxies. All of the contacts thus far are claimed to be with organic alien beings. Even though the robot theme was played to great effect in the classic, and now cult, science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, to date there has been scant mention of robots among the myriad of UFO sightings.

  A graphic of the robot "Gort" from The Day the Earth Stood Still.

  Asimov's "Laws of Robotics" appeared in his novel I, Robot (1950), which subsequently became a major 2004 Hollywood movie. These insightful propositions set out his ideas about the required protocols for a sentient robot. They are:

  1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

  2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law.

  3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second laws.

  Although fictional, these ideas were held in high esteem and almost regarded as "truth" in some quarters. For years these laws dominated the behavior of robots in other science fiction stories also, demonstrating how influential and impactful science fiction ideas can become. However, in recent years, the idea of non-violent robots seems to have lost its appeal. In Star Trek, Data is certainly capable of killing, as are the millions of robot drones in Star Wars episodes 1 and 2.

  Asimov had an encyclopedic knowledge of "just about everything" and an opinion on just as much. This knowledge and the enormity of Asimov's work (both the range of subjects and the breadth of science contained therein) caused many readers to hold him in awe. Interestingly, having an almost worshipful following seems to be very common for science fiction writers. Asimov, in particular, still has an enormous number of followers, many of whom virtually hang on his every word. He was a futurist, and to some, he became a modern prophet. Many other science fiction writers have been held in similar high regard.

  The adulation of many sci-fi writers is probably due to the visionary nature of their work, and the "quest for meaning" we mentioned in the first chapter. Perhaps another reason is that many of their predictions have been correct. Their futuristic visions have an alluring quality of their own, and are regarded as the best hope for a "courageous new world." However, many predictions have not turned out to be true, so logic dictates caution about revering the words of people who make mistakes. Leaders of many UFO cults have been proven wrong time and time again, some followers even being led to death by their self-deluded "messiahs" (see chapter 9 on the UFO cults). But in the UFO cults, and even in evangelical Christian circles today, there is a proliferation of prophets whose predictions often prove to be unreliable. Has the "allure of the future" infiltrated the Christian church? Many of their "prophets" are elevated to an iconic status, a phenomenon that is certainly common to, and prevalent in, many other religions and cults. One only needs to take a look at the predictions of the science fiction-based UFO cults to see this "fascination with the future." Because science fiction often takes on religious proportions and has enormous sway over individuals and society in general, it is worthwhile examining the underlying beliefs of science fiction writers.

  The faith of ideas

  Like Wells, Asimov was a proud atheist and similarly vocal about his own religious view. Remember that atheism, by definition, is also a religious view. The word "religion" comes from the Latin religare (re: back, ligare: to bind), expressing the idea that one is bound to one's beliefs, which guide all of one's actions. Religion can therefore include the belief that there is no supernatural realm.

  Asked about the opposing world view that God is Creator, he said:

  In my opinion, the biblical account of the creation of the universe and of the earth and humanity is wrong in almost every respect.[13]

  For him, this leaves only one other option - evolution. Understanding how men like Asimov viewed origins is critical to understanding their writings and the ETH in general. It is clear that alien life could have come into existence by only one of two ways - it evolved (natural), or a supreme God or intelligence created it (supernatural). An author's view about the origin of life is foundational to everything else he believes, as will be discussed in the next chapters.

  Although he did not believe in a deity/Creator, Asimov was a religious man and had the "faith to prove it," as he proudly proclaimed:

  I have faith and belief myself. I believe that the universe is comprehensible within the bounds of natural law and that the human brain can discover those natural laws and comprehend the universe. I believe that nothing beyond those natural laws is needed. I have no evidence for this. It is simply what I have faith in and what I believe.[14]

  He acknowledged that it requires faith when it comes to "believing" how the universe came into existence. Interestingly, even though he opposed the traditional Western Christian world view, he acknowledged the necessary link to spirituality in science fiction when he said, "....it is impossible to write science fiction and really ignore religion." [15]

  Author Michael Brummond has written in detail about the religion in Asimov's writings. He noticed several parallels to Christianity in Foundation. In that book, Asimov wrote:

  ....all this talk of about [sic] the Prophet Hari Seldon and how he appointed the Foundation to carry on his commandments that there might some day be a return of the Earthly paradise: and how anyone who disobeys his commandments will be destroyed for eternity. They believe it.[16]

  Brummond says:

  The parallelism to Christianity is apparent: the Prophet Hari Seldon represents Jesus Christ, the Foundation is organized religion, the commandments are similar to those given to Moses in the Old Testament, the Earthly paradise is Heaven, and to be destroyed for eternity is the Christian idea of Hell… . Overall, it can be seen that Asimov does use religious themes in his works, and often they resemble Christian motifs. The use of religion is not intended, according to Asimov, to burlesque religion, but to profess his beliefs against the existence of a god, or an afterlife.[17]

  Asimov believed that God was a man-made invention. The modern UFO movement, which generally believes that a new age is dawning upon the earth courtesy of our extraterrestrial "space brothers" (as they have been called), parallels these ideas, as we shall see later. As an "expert on everything," Asimov became a sought-after social commentator. He also used his writings to spread his opinions and influence the culture. His science fiction, in particular, inspired many
to adopt his evolutionary world view and the notion that civilized alien races could have arisen on other planets.

  A vision of future past

  In profiling the most influential science fiction writers of our time, no list would be complete without Sir Arthur C. Clarke (December 16, 1917-March 19, 2008). Author of more than 60 books, he has won just about every conceivable science fiction award from his peers.

  His most remembered work was adapted as a blockbuster film called 2001: A Space Odyssey. This was inspired by Clarke's short story "The Sentinel." In recognition of his co-authorship of the movie script, he shared an Academy Award nomination with director Stanley Kubrick.

  {See 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)}

  This movie had a strange ethereal quality. It evoked the mysterious but did not quite give us the answer to the mysteries it raised - or did it? At the time, space was the "flavor of the month" due to the Apollo program, which had its zenith shortly after in 1969 when Apollo 11 landed on the lunar surface. Moviegoers saw the movie time and again, trying to understand the vision. One website devoted to the riddle of "2001" said: