Great interview, Alex. I really like where you directed the conversation...
Submitting for the record--
'Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects'
- Jacques Vallee
"...The growing number of abduction reports is being used by a vocal seg-
ment of the UFO research community as further evidence that we are, in
fact, being visited by extraterrestrial aliens, even if their origin has not yet
been revealed. In the context of the present paper, a careful survey of the
reported behavior of the alleged ufonauts argues exactly in the opposite
direction.
According to current UFO magazines and books, the number of reported
and documented abductions is now measured in multiples of 1,000. Such
incidents are characterized by what the witness reports as being transported
into a hollow, spherical or hemispherical space and being subjected to a
medical examination. This is often (but not always) followed by the taking
of blood samples, various kinds of sexual interaction, and loss of time. The
entire episode is frequently wiped out of conscious memory and is only
retrievable under hypnosis.
At this writing over 600 abductees have been interrogated by UFO re-
searchers, sometimes assisted by clinical psychologists. Although nothing
concrete seems to have been learned from these case studies about the origin
and purpose of the visitors, those doing the investigations are vocal in their
claim that the abductions are further evidence of the ETH.
In order to examine this claim, let us assume that extraterrestrial intelli-
gence has indeed developed the ability and the desire to visit the earth. It is a
reasonable assumption to expect that such visitors would know at least as
much as we do in the fundamental scientific disciplines such as physics and
biology. Few ufologists, in fact, argue against this assumption.
In particular, the visitors would presumably know as much about medical
techniques and procedures as our own practitioners. Today the average
American doctor can draw blood, collect sperm and ova or remove tissue
samples from his or her patients without leaving permanent scars or induc-
ing trauma. The current state of molecular biology-a science which is in its
infancy on earth-would already permit that same doctor to obtain unique
genetic "fingerprint" information from such samples. He could also fertilize
the ova and obtain "test-tube" offspring, and it is conceivable that cloning
could duplicate the beings thus produced ad injinitum.
A team of scientists equipped with the commonly reported UFO technol-
ogy would be in an excellent position to take control of blood banks, sperm
banks or collections of embryos available at major research hospitals and
~ research centers without creating the massive disturbances described by
abduction researchers. They would be able to accomplish it while escaping
detection. Equipped with the state-of-the-art techniques of current U.S.
medicine, it would be conceivable that the entire human race could, in time,
be restarted from this pool of genetic material. Even gene therapy and the
creation of hybrid species is well within our theoretical horizon, even if it has
not completely been reduced to practice. None of these accomplishments I
require the procedural behavior of the "Alien Doctors" described by abduc-
tion researchers.
The means of permanently erasing the memory of the victims through the
use of appropriate drugs are also available in the current pharmacopeia.
Whatever the supposed "Aliens" are doing, if they actually perform what
appear to be shockingly crude and cruel simulacra of biological experiments
on the bodies of their abductees, is unlikely to represent a scientific mission
relevant to the goals of extraterrestrial visitors. The answers may have to be
sought in other directions."
So what would be the purpose of the alien abduction? Just ETs messing
with peoples' heads for fun? I highly doubt these are extraterrestrials, and I am
dubious of researchers who hold to an extraterrestrial hypothesis.