Persuasive Essay: Extraterrestrial Life
Kylie Surles Ex·tra·ter·res·tri·al. adj. Originating, located, or occurring outside Earth or its atmosphere. Example: Extraterrestrial life. Also known as aliens. It is currently unknown whether there are living, breathing beings outside of the planet Earth. SETI, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, along with other organizations has spent years researching and looking for signs of life on numerous planets, moons and stars. They are confident that the alien reports and alleged “alien abductions” are true. They are simply trying to find proof. On the other hand, some firmly believe that the existence of life outside of the earth is absolutely impossible. Those individuals feel that other life would have been discovered by now if it were real. Articles have been uncovered, revealing information about NASA forbidding its astronauts from expressing what it truly saw on its trip to the moon. There is no guarantee that these articles have any bit of truth to them. However, there is more reason to believe in the possibility of extraterrestrial beings rather than the nonexistence of them. Greek philosophers believed that there were vast amounts of different worlds, all with inhabitants and societies. Later, the view that the Earth is unique, and is the only planet able to sustain life, became supported. However, Copernican ideas in the 1600’s suggested there may be life on other planets or even the moon. But when it was discovered that the moon has no atmosphere, the idea of life diminished. When atmospheric carbon dioxide was discovered on mars in 1947, hopes began to rise again. Specifically in the 1920’s there were claims of alien radio signals, but interest seemed to decrease again by the 1950’s. Many unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings were reported beginning in the 1940’s, but by the 1960’s most of these claims were discredited. While the spacecraft landings on the moon and Mars have yet to prove any forms of life, the idea is still lingering.

New tools are constantly being used in an effort to detect new life on other plants. In 2006, scientists began using an “Alien ID Chart” that compares the Earth’s so called atmospheric “fingerprint” to other planet’s fingerprints over time of evolution. This device and others like it will help researchers in finding even the smallest amount of evidence of life. Lisa Kaltenegger, an astrophysicist with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics believes that the first Earthlike planet will be located within the next 10 or 15 years (Handwerk, Nationial Geographic). “Something is monitoring the planet, and they are monitoring it very cautiously, because we are a very warlike planet,” said Mike Gravel, a former democratic senator from Alaska who ran in both the Democratic and Libertarian presidential primaries in 2008 (Andrew Siddons, New York Times). Mr. Gravel and his fellow panelists are apart of the Paradigm Research Group, which is committed to ending the governments secrecy about their extraterrestrial knowledge. Stephen Bassett, the Executive Director of Paradigm Research Group, sent an open memo to President Obama in July of 2012 discussing the words of many highly respected individuals who discussed their experiences witnessing proof of aliens. Charles Brandon of the CIA, Department of Defense, and many other notable positions, described his encounter with secret information in a vaulted area at the CIA Headquarters to be his “single validating moment” of proof that extraterrestrial life exists. A government program called Project Blue Book selected US Air Force pilots as investigating officers of reported UFO sightings. They worked in conjunction with the university of Colorado in analyzing the various sightings to determine if they were extraterrestrial or not. Roy R. Cunningham, retired US Air Force colonel, was appointed as an official UFO investigating officer in the early years of his career as a captain and pilot in the 1970‘s. According to Colonel Cunningham, people in the Air Force were chosen due to the fact that they are very knowledgeable in areas of weather, aircrafts, aerodynamics, and atmospheric phenomena. In an interview with Colonel Cunningham, he explained in detail several experiences that stood out to him during his time as a UFO investigator. One incidence in particular that struck Colonel Cunningham was a time he spoke with a 14 year old boy in Omaha, Nebraska. The boy claimed to have seen a large saucer flying low over their backyard. He was also lucky enough to take pictures on his Polaroid camera. Of the three photos that the boy took, Colonel Cunningham took two to send to the University for research. He let the boy keep one. As reported by Colonel Cunningham, the UFO could certainly be a government experiment, however, he is familiar with planes and doesn’t believe that the government would experiment over houses and populated areas that could endanger civilians. Colonel Cunningham concludes “I believe that there is something to it. I don’t know what it is… but it is not imagination.” Crop circles, otherwise known as an area of standing crops that has been flattened into circles or other patterns, have been reported in the fields of southern England since the 1970’s. Some believe these mysterious designs are the artworks of the Circlemakers, a group that claimed to be responsible for them. Paranormal researchers and scientists, however, propose that these crop patterns could not possibly be the result of human efforts. According to the article by Richard Taylor in the August 2011 issue of Physics World, certain astronomical crop pictures, including images of our solar system and lunar phases, have seemingly predicted future comet outbursts. The article also shows pictures of a crop circle that showed pi to ten digits using a rotary encoder, clean and untouched in a barley field after a night of heavy rain. When seen from the air, this photo imitates a famous geometric work of Archimedes. The likeliness that this particular design was made by a human is significantly slim, considering its complexity and intricacy. The chance of unearthly beings existing has become increasingly higher as investigations and research continues to be conducted. The everlasting advancement of technology has allowed opportunity to explore many different theories and approaches. Since the studies are currently deemed inconclusive, the door remains open to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Research should continue in order to determine if in fact there are other life forms existing outside of planet Earth.