Posthuman Blues

The Center for the Study of Life in the Universe

"We live in an awesome universe, rich in remarkable, complex, phenomena. Every advance in our observing capabilities reveals new and often unpredicted objects, such as other planetary systems, and processes in the universe. Of all these phenomena, the most marvelous, and at the same time of the greatest interest to us as human beings, is life in the universe. How many planets exist which might support life? Indeed, what is required for life to exist? How does life start? How does it evolve, and what fabulous creatures can evolution produce? How often do intelligent creatures appear in the giant tapestry of life?"

I have little or no doubt that we share the Cosmos with other intelligent beings; in fact, I think it's very likely that we've already been visited, either by ETs themselves or their robotic emissaries . . . if such a distinction can be drawn. If we have indeed been visited by extrasolar aliens, the prospect that we're still under ET surveillance can't be readily dismissed. Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the UFO data seems to indicate an ongoing extraterrestrial presence on our planet, albeit of an exceedingly enigmatic nature.





But while I'm sympathetic to the idea of flesh-and-blood aliens visiting from afar, I'm unsure if the extraterrestrial hypothesis (as popularly conceived) is the best explanation for the many encounters with apparent aliens that litter our folklore. John Keel, a controversial proponent of "ultraterrestrial" visitation, thinks our so-called visitors inhabit Earth alongside us, originating from different levels of a "superspectrum" of consciousness.

Keel's many critics within the UFO community equate the concept of meddling ultraterrestrials with medieval demonology; Keel himself has dubbed ufology a "demonology of the 20th century" with no irony intended. Interestingly enough, Jacques Vallee -- who by and large enjoys the respect of scientifically inclined UFO researchers -- has presented ideas basically similar to Keel's, even if they differ on certain theoretical aspects. Most significantly, both share the conviction that the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) is inadequately strange if it's to account for the spectrum of absurdity reported by close-encounter witnesses throughout historical and contemporary times.

In addition, both Keel and Vallee share a pronounced distaste for tales of crashed alien hardware a la Roswell; according to Keel's take, a physical event as pronounced as a crippled UFO is effectively impossible, as his "aliens" are largely immune to dangers posed by the world of gross matter.

Some speculators make the mistake of thinking that the revisionist, postmodern cosmology advanced by Vallee and Keel is incompatible with the hallowed ETH. But in truth both models are anything but mutually exclusive. It's even possible to imagine technological aliens from some distant star developing the ability to access Keel's "superspectrum" for reasons we can only guess.

Aliens? Demons? Labels are inherently limiting, even deceptive. If we're to make sense of our evident heritage of nonhuman visitation, we must dispense with preconceptions, foremost among them the romantic notion that "aliens" are necessarily advanced beings from space.