The UFO Singularity (16 page)

Why—if we take UFO abduction accounts at face value—are the “advanced aliens” using an old technology, an Earth technology, a technology that may soon be rendered obsolescent, if it hasn’t been so rendered already? I am reminded of the charming anachronisms in the old Flash Gordon serials, where swords and spaceships clashed continually.

Do they also watch black-and-white television on Zeta Reticuli?
¹⁵

To be specific, the sorts of “obsolete” technologies to which Cannon refers are perhaps best represented in the antiquated methods of testing for pregnancy that abductees claim to have undergone, much like the circumstances described by abductee Betty Hill during her 1961 encounter. It should be noted, of course, that the amniocentesis procedures Hill seemed to describe
were
indeed quite advanced at the time of her encounter. Cannon, however, takes issue with the assertion that this represented a highly advanced alien race:

Some ufologists rashly assume that Betty Hill’s “pregnancy test” is evidence of advanced
extraterrestrial technology, since her 1961 account pre-dates the official announcement of amniocentesis, which does indeed make use of a needle inserted into the navel. But we now have much less invasive means of testing for pregnancy than amniocentesis. True, amniocentesis is still sometimes used to gather information about the fetus, but the wielders of a highly evolved technology would certainly use other methods of determining the existence of pregnancy in the first place.
¹⁶

Seemingly in contrast to this, other varieties of technology begin to surface that
do
seem, at least superficially, to be more advanced in nature. Consider, for instance, the stories of alleged “implants” recovered from various places within the bodies of the abductees that include the nasal passage and, in more extreme cases, even from directly within the skull. Sometimes these foreign objects are located in conjunction with a small scar, typically described as resembling a “scoop mark” or series of similar markings on the skin; in other instances, foreign-looking bits of metal and other substances appear in the complete absence of any external scarring at all. The latter circumstance has especially contributed to the presumption that the alleged “alien implants” are being inserted by individuals with technology so advanced that they can do so without leaving any evidence of surgical intrusion whatsoever. We might consider, however, the steady advances seen with every passing year regarding varieties of minimally invasive surgeries; in addition to
such procedures as laparoscopy performed in the abdominal region, think for a moment how well plastic surgeons are getting at covering their tracks, especially when the surgeries involved are for cosmetic reasons, aimed at improving the appearance of various parts of the body! And there still could be far more natural explanations underlying a few of the alleged “implants,” if we stop to consider medical conditions like channelopathies and ion channel mutations, which might in some cases contribute to the appearances of seemingly “foreign” deposits of minerals and other substances taken into our bodies in small amounts as we digest the foods we eat.

If nothing else, we can begin to recognize that even the seemingly foreign implants found within the bodies of some claiming to have undergone abductions could have underlying prosaic causes. But the point here is not to dismiss or attack the claims of the abductees themselves. Quite the contrary, our discussion of potential causes behind such things as implanted probes and other physical objects found within parts of the body will help to
substantiate
those claims. After all, Occam’s Razor might again be invoked with the assumption that implanting such objects within the human body
must
be the work of a highly advanced form of technology. However, this becomes quite unlikely (or outright impossible) in the event that Earth is
not
undergoing visitation by advanced extraterrestrials. On the other hand, if we had proof that the technologies in use during such clandestine surgeries were indeed quite easily attained in the here-and-now,
the claims of the abductees might not seem so “out of this world” after all—and hence also may be far more accurate and rooted in truth than most realize.

Cannon goes on to note a discourse that took place in 1953 between the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and sensory deprivation researcher John C. Lilly, as recounted in Lilly’s biography. Lilly was apparently asked “to brief the CIA, FBI, NSA and the various military intelligence services on his work using electrodes to stimulate directly the pleasure and pain centers of the brain.”
¹⁷
Lilly seemed to indicate non-compliance with this request, noting that his associate, Dr. Antoine Remond

[h]as demonstrated that this method of stimulation of the brain can be applied to the human without the help of the neurosurgeon; he is doing it in his office in Paris without neurosurgical supervision. This means that anybody with the proper apparatus can carry this out on a person covertly, with no external signs that electrodes have been used on that person.
¹⁸

Keep in mind, again, that although this may sound far less interesting (or relevant) to us in the 21st century, the processes being described here were already taking place in Paris
as far back as 1953
(and thus, the reader is encouraged here to imagine what other similar sorts of technology might have been in use already by 1953, or even a decade later, by which time the famous Hill abduction incident had already taken place). Lilly went
on to note: “I feel that if this technique got into the hands of a secret agency, they would have total control over a human being and be able to change his beliefs extremely quickly, leaving little evidence of what they had done.”
¹⁹

Although the above circumstances being related have to do with the potentials for such technology being harnessed by covert agencies, there are other ways that advances in the sciences might be used to control or manipulate an individual. Cannon points out that, much as we discerned earlier with regard to advanced “airships” that may have been under construction covertly by the end of the 19th century, military interests aren’t always the only medium through which the advancement of secret technology can occur:

There are important elements in the scientific community, powerful people, who are very much interested in these areas…but they have to keep most of their work secret. Because as soon as they start to publish some of these sensitive things, they have problems in their lives. You see, they work on research grants, and if you follow the research being done, you find that as soon as these scientists publish something about this, their research funds are cut off. There are areas in bioelectric research where very simple techniques and devices can have mind-boggling effects. Conceivably, if you have a crazed person with a bit of a technical background, he can do a lot of damage.
²⁰

Again, this is supposing that such research is taking place as a result of
private interests,
and largely away from public perception. In the event that such technology does eventually fall under the observation of government agencies, we can see that it would no doubt
remain
clandestine.

So why do we bring all this to the table here, if not to try and dispel the mythos surrounding what many perceive as the phenomenon known as “alien abduction”? The information presented here begins to show us that, in addition to affirmation that government agencies are often working with technology a few decades ahead of that which the public is made aware, this sort of technology could, rather obviously, be implemented on a population in covert ways, aimed at achieving various methods of control, misdirection, and other not-so-savory purposes. And to further justify such assumptions, a large swathe of the
known
research by government agencies into areas involving mind control, hypnosis, and covertly monitoring individuals has been made public knowledge, as a result of Senate hearings on CIA projects that include infamous names including MKULTRA, among others.
²¹
Orwell might indeed be rolling over in his grave at the very thought of such gross overreaches of power amid various government agencies; what’s even worse is that a strong likelihood remains that such practices may have continued well beyond the MKULTRA years, and have done so, at least in part, beneath the Fabian façade of a nonhuman, extraterrestrial presence in our midst.

In short, if the abductees are correct, they’ve been made unwilling recipients of
some
variety of control and manipulation, with the strong likelihood that they were all the while being misled to think their interactions were otherworldly. Hence, the victims of such encounters are made out to seem like crazy buffoons, ceding to the ails of an overactive imagination, or an unstable lust for involvement with matters not entirely of this world. When viewed in this way, aspects of the alien abduction enigma can even become tragic, in a sense. And of course, at the end of the day we’re still no closer to cracking the great cosmic egg that contains the golden heart of the UFO mystery.

Or are we?

Perhaps there are a few things we can surmise from this scenario after all. The supposition that there may be a terrestrial, anthropocentric element to the abduction phenomenon would entail that there is indeed an entire host of advanced technologies working covertly to orchestrate the appearance of an enigmatic, extraterrestrial presence. Such things as amniocentesis in the Betty and Barney Hill abduction might suggest that, rather than being the work of aliens that are potentially
several thousands
of years more advanced than we, we are seeing a technology that was perhaps within just a few years of that in common use by 1961. Thus, supposing that the suppression of certain discoveries might further contribute to the appearance of seemingly “exotic” technologies, we are again confronted with the possibility that human organizations might be involved. Additionally, we must consider that
if they are in the neighborhood of being one or two decades “ahead of the curve,” so to speak, today that would place them in the same ballpark of approaching near-Singularity technologies.

That is, of course, if Kurzweil and the others of his futurologist ilk are right about their projected arrival of the so-called
knee of the curve.
This term references the period where humanity is expected begin its rapid, greater-than-exponential ascent toward technological hyper-development, which will precede the emergence of artificial intelligence that matches or exceeds human abilities and, ultimately, the event we call the Singularity. But if the Singularitarians aren’t taking into consideration what clandestine technologies might be in use
behind the scenes
already, it stands to reason that humanity could actually be far closer to reaching Singularity than the majority of us are aware of. Again, to borrow Kurzweil’s own words, the Singularity could be very near, indeed.

In this context, the apparent presence of alien abduction offers just one more avenue by which we are made potentially aware that the “UFO enigma” could have been exploited, to some degree, for purposes of masking more highly advanced technologies right here in ours midst. And yet, although some (or even all) abduction hypotheses might be explainable along the lines of underlying Earth-based projects and organizations, it still seems that there may be
something more
going on here—something beyond what most in the mainstream sciences, or even certain areas of officialdom, are aware of or willing to consider.

In previous chapters, I’ve touched on the possibility that at least certain aspects of the broader UFO mystery could constitute a form of technology emanating from our own future. Conceivably, this might also exist without the presence of a literal “time traveling” apparatus as depicted (often whimsically, and in romantic fashion) in popular fiction. It is beyond the scope of the present argument to speculate as to precisely how this might occur, though later we will revisit the idea and its implications more in depth. For the time being, however, so as to be sure and take all possible variables into consideration, we will turn our attention again toward the potentials for alien life that may exist elsewhere in the universe, and what potentials such a technological presence may yield. Arguably, whether it be the case that UFOs are evidence of time travelers from our own future, secret earthbound technologies being used by our world governments or—as we’re about to consider more fully—literal alien beings from other worlds, there is hardly a better place to look for evidence of what future science may yield than in the wake of these strange and enigmatic UFO visitors that, at least seemingly, arrive here from the heavens.

No matter what their true origin may be, we nonetheless must accept the likelihood that UFOs and their associated technologies will likely prove to represent some form of what we could call
near-
or even
post-Singularity
intelligence. And in the event that they
are
actually extraterrestrial beings traveling here from other worlds, there simply may be no other alternative that could effectively
explain all the awesome, seemingly impossible feats they achieve—things that previous authors on this subject have already chronicled admirably, with purposeful, determined, and unwavering consistency.

Though it hardly requires any mention here, I sense that I fall short of qualifying among the ranks of such chroniclers. With any luck, however, my present treatise on this great and enduring mystery will nonetheless be viewed in hindsight by future generations as a successful thought experiment, set forth by a man with his own resolute and rather atypical sense of discernment. Hopefully, in retrospect, it will also be one that managed to yield certain results. As I suspect that even the man of some distant future epoch will at some point find himself saying,
only time will tell.