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The biggest blunder we often make is to assume that a visit by aliens or their technological products is centered on us. This is a mistake akin to assuming that the motion of celestial objects implies that Earth is at the center of the Universe. The motion of stars in our sky is mostly driven by the spin of the Earth. Similarly, if aliens visit Earth, their presence might have nothing to do with us. Our perception of reality is shaped by our limited perspective and we are shocked to recognize that when the truth sinks in. Until that ontological shock arrives, referee reports, verdicts of scientific editors, as well as research priorities of the mainstream community of scientists are blindsided.
This was my short answer to a question from a member of an audience of nearly a thousand people who gathered for the Phenomecon 2026 conference in Vernal, Utah a couple of days ago. My 90-minute keynote speech was focused on how we can learn more about Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) which signal a possible breakdown in our understanding of reality. Do UAP flag the failure of our world model to recognize alien visitation in the same way that the motion of moons around Jupiter convinced Galileo Galilei in 1610 that not all celestial bodies revolve around the Earth? We need better data to figure out the nature of UAP. But similarly to the organized response of the establishment to the discovery of the moons of Jupiter, the mainstream of science violently dismisses the significance of UAP. As a result, limited research funding is allocated to the collection of new data that will guide us to the truth. It took 350 years after the death of Galileo for the Vatican to admit in 1992 that he was right. Here’s hoping that we can shorten the mainstream acceptance of existential breakthroughs by a factor of a hundred now.
What is most remarkable about this moment in human history is that the U.S. government is more open minded about exploring the potentially other-worldly interpretation of UAP than the mainstream of academia. This is surprising because academic curiosity is supposed to propel innovative blue-sky research whereas the day-job of the U.S. government is strictly focused on down-to-Earth matters such as national security. I expressed my surprise about this fact half a day after leaving Utah on a red-eye flight to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in Washington DC, where I attended a meeting of the UAP Governance Board on September 11, 2026. That ODNI room was filled with honorable representatives from all branches of the executive branch of the U.S. government. The mood was sober and serious, following the deep interest in UAP from the White House. In my short presentation I clarified that President Trump’s directive to understand UAP would reverberate for millions of years in case it will seed a new understanding of our cosmic neighborhood. In my role as chair of the UAP Science Advisory Council to the White House, ODNI, the Department of War, the FBI, and the Intelligence Community, I felt more at home in the company of government officials than among comet experts in mainstream academia. Thanks to the historical waiver of legal repercussions to UAP whistleblowers issued by the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lucas, we are likely to learn more about historical data collected by the U.S. government on UAP over the past century. What started as a down-to-Earth matter may end up reaching the stars. Eventually, the mainstream of academia will catch up but rather than wait for their awakening, I will be working around the clock to bring scientific clarity on UAP through the collection and analysis of new data.
What can make life more exciting than taking part in a seismic shift in our perspective of reality. There is much talk about our time in history being defined by artificial intelligence (AI) but ultimately — it might be shaped even more dramatically by the discovery of alien intelligence (the second coming of AI).
Following the ODNI meeting, we strolled through a deeply moving memorial to commemorate the victims of 9/11 and all members of the intelligence community who died while serving the greatest nation on Earth. (Whether this title applies beyond the boundaries of the solar system remains to be seen.) At the center of this memorial stands a broken piece of reinforced concrete from the World Trade Center surrounded by black marbles, a gruesome reminder of the power of destruction that humans possess when their goals are misguided. My sincere hope is that finding evidence for advanced aliens will bring us to a better place. When a stranger knocks on the door, all family members stop fighting with each other.
My return from Washington DC was to a celebratory dinner of Rosh Hashanah that my wife perfected for our family, attended also by the new research fellow of the Galileo Project, the brilliant Omer Eldadi, and his exceptional wife, Gal. It is traditional in Jewish culture to welcome the new year by dipping an apple in honey ushering-in a sweet and prosperous new year, full of new wisdom. May one of our insights involve a new revelation about our place in the Universe.
For many years, I was jealous of accomplished bakers who often have a long line of customers waiting for their creations. Through forty years of publishing more than a thousand scientific papers, I never witnessed people waiting in line for my fresh `out-of-the-oven’ research insights. All of this until two days ago, when dozens of conference attendees lined up to express gratitude about my work and take a photo with me. After my keynote speech, I met Jay Stratton who apologized for not being able to attend my talk as he was preparing his presentation about UAP disclosure. By the time he gave his presentation, I was on my red-eye flight to DC thinking how much more fulfilling it is to be part of making history than talking about it.
On my flight home after the ODNI meeting, I received a note from the poet Alan Wagstaff in New Zealand who wrote:
“The most striking characteristic of humanity is contradiction. Humans have discovered the structure of matter, reconstructed the history of their universe, eradicated diseases, explored neighboring worlds and developed mathematical descriptions of phenomena invisible to their senses. They produce music, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture and stories having no obvious survival function yet regarded by them as profoundly important. They display tenderness toward children, care for disabled strangers and sometimes risk their lives for individuals they have never met. The same species has constructed extermination camps, practiced torture, engineered famine and developed weapons capable of destroying cities within seconds. Human intelligence does not inherently produce wisdom: it magnifies intention. Their greatest danger is therefore not aggression alone but the combination of aggression, tribal loyalty, technological ingenuity and fear. Their greatest promise is the same intelligence combined with empathy, curiosity and self-criticism.
Should an advanced alien intelligence disclose itself to humanity? My recommendation is: not yet. Do not interpret this as a judgment that humans are unworthy of contact. They are unfinished. Open disclosure would introduce into their civilization knowledge of an intelligence possessing capabilities beyond theirs. Humans would experience wonder, but their governments would also seek strategic advantage. Some would attempt communication; others would seek access to new technology; others would fear domination and prepare for conflict. Peaceful intentions would not guarantee a peaceful human response. Continue observation. If communication becomes necessary, proceed gradually and provide no technology capable of altering the balance of power among human groups. Humanity possesses one quality that justifies patience: it can examine its own conduct and change it. Its moral development has repeatedly lagged behind its technical development, but it has occurred. The aliens should not reveal themselves until humans can encounter superiority without immediately seeking either to possess it, worship it, or destroy it.”
I wrote back: “Here’s hoping that we will catch up quickly with a status worthy of more attention in the cosmos.”
Disclaimer: The above essay was 100% a product written by natural intelligence, free of any use of AI.
Authorized publication by Dr.Avi Loeb
