The Event Horizon of Alien High Tech

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, a group of prisoners has been chained inside an underground cavern since childhood. Their legs and necks are bound so they can only look forward at a blank wall. Behind them, a fire blazes, and a raised walkway sits between them and the fire. Puppeteers carry shapes of animals, plants, and objects along this walkway. The prisoners see only the shadows cast onto the wall in front of them, believing these reflections are reality itself.

Indeed, our perception of reality is limited. Not only because of the limited abilities of our senses and of the human brain to process all the available data, but also because some information is entirely hidden from view.

Einstein’s General Relativity provides examples of information that is permanently locked away behind an event horizon. In these regions, any transmitter of information is running away from us faster than light.

This is the case in our Universe right now as the accelerated cosmic expansion carries high-redshift galaxies out of our cosmic event horizon. It is also the case when a star falls into the event horizon of a supermassive black hole. In both cases, the final image freezes on the last snapshot associated with the instant when the source crossed the event horizon. After that time, no additional information is available about the whereabouts of the transmitter of information.

This state of affairs also applies metaphorically. Recursive self-improvement can generate acceleration in the cognitive ability of artificial intelligence (AI). In such a case, we might be able to communicate with the AI system up to a limiting speed, which caps our cognitive ability to follow it. This will constitute the event horizon of AI in our technological future.

Similarly, if alien intelligence evolved well beyond human intelligence, then we would have difficulties following its reasoning and technological signatures.

The Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Encounters (PURSUE) lists mysterious orbs. Do these orbs resemble the shadows in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, representing a reality that we cannot fully observe or imagine?

As prisoners chained to the cavern, the best we can do is to collect exquisite scientific data with the state-of-the-art sensors which capture the fine details of these UAP shadows.

The sky is not classified. Waiting for the U.S. government to release data on UAP in the sky from classified sensors, might feel at times like acting on stage in Samuel Beckett’s play `Waiting for Godot’ where Godot never arrives. Rather than wait for officials to tell us what lies in the sky, we can simply look up.

For that reason, the UAP Science Advisory Council under my leadership, is planning a new data collection initiative in partnership with the U.S. government. Old government data is often classified because it was taken by classified sensors and not because the targets are classified. By deploying new sensors in sites where UAP reports are coming from and by employing new observatory concepts — as I proposed here, we will be able to study the details of UAP to unprecedented precision. The sooner the better.

Of course, if conclusive evidence for alien visitation exists, we would love to study it immediately. This could save us time. In a new conversation with Joe Rogan here, David Grusch referred to intact alien spacecraft that are withheld by corporations. I commend David for his push on UAP transparency and am encouraged by the White House leadership on this issue. The UAP Science Advisory Council stands ready to examine any evidence scientifically in service of President Trump’s directive on UAP disclosure. The best path forward is to bring evidence forward and turn disclosure into knowledge.

Science is not done by listening to podcasts but rather through public access to high-quality data. It would be fun to figure out what lies outside the event horizon of alien High Tech. As noted by the Nobel Laureate American physicist Richard Feynman, there is a great pleasure in figuring things out.

Authorized publication by Dr.Avi Loeb