I would not say I have much free time but I do have some "down time" or some valleys between peaks of putting out fires. When I have conducted all the business, volunteer work, and writing I can do for the day, the kids have their homework and chores done, and Mrs. M. is busy with her own work, sometimes I will play a video game.
I cannot get into the First-Person Shooters. There is too much going on and the movement gives me vertigo. When I sit down at the computer for non-work-related activities I want to relax. I might pour a glass of peaty Scotch and open up a Realtime Strategy (RTS) game. On Moderate settings I can play at my own pace and slowly build up resources, working towards the dramatic conclusion.
My Go-To for years was a game from the 1990's called Age of Empires II. Mrs. M. asks me how I can keep playing the same game over and over. I tell her it is like chess; it is a different game every time. Also, like chess, the game may take hours to play but I can be done in one night.
Recently I have begun playing another RTS game, Sid Meier's Civilization VI. It is a game of world domination. I love this game, although it is a commitment. I may start it on a Friday night and not finish until Sunday night. Of course I will walk away and do things with the family or projects around the house during that time.
In Civilization, if you move several military units close to one of an AI player's cities the AI player will notify you that they are offended by your troop build-up on their border. You then have the option of telling them you were just passing by or you can admit your aggression and declare war on them or you can simply ignore the message and go about your business without revealing your intentions. This got me thinking about aliens and UFOs. (What else is new?)
UFOs vs. Nukes
Much has been publicized recently about the connection between UFOs and nuclear weapons. My appearance on Unidentified was lumped in with stories about UFO encounters at nuclear weapons facilities, titled, "UFOs vs. Nukes." For the record, I was guarding conventional weapons the night of my UFO encounter and I know of no nuclear connection. But maybe Lue and the guys at TTSA know something I do not - well, they probably know a lot of things I do not. Anyway, some of the other stories in that episode clearly did have a connection to nukes.
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| Not me, but a darned good representation of a young me |
More than one story talks about a UFO taking over control of a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silo. This is also discussed in the documentary The Phenomenon - it happened not only here in the US but also in Soviet Russia. This begs the question of whether or not China has also experienced this, although I doubt they would ever admit it. What about the other nuclear nations?
When I first saw one of these stories on my episode of Unidentified I got a chill. I had heard this before. My friend I will call "Falco" like the super cool German rock band from the 1980's, has an uncle who worked in a missile silo. The uncle will not speak with Falco about what happened to him while on duty but it disturbed him so much he mentioned it to his wife. Falco's aunt speaks freely about the time his uncle's missile silo was taken over by a UFO. This really happens.
Falco first told me this story when I ran into him at the Ridgefield High School. Our kids were practicing their sports in separate fields and we met in the middle. We made plans to get together and talk more about this and about doing podcasts but the plans fell through. I mentioned this shortly afterwards in my article Some UFO Psychology. I am providing these details for transparency, so it is clear I am not creating a new narrative to fit the current topic. Falco is a real person and he told me his uncle's story long before the similar stories appeared on Unidentified or in The Phenomenon.
Unfortunately, Falco's aunt and uncle do not want to talk to me about their experiences. I will keep pestering Falco to the point of annoyance until he gets them to relent or he gets pissed off at me and tells me to drop it. Then I will bring him a bottle of Scotch and either thank him or apologize for being a douche. It's all good.
Alien Civilization
When I play the Civilization video game my goal is usually world domination. In order to do that I need to build up a large arsenal of various types of military units. Other AI players are keeping tabs on my progress and will notice my military strength relative to their own. If I am weak they may attack me before I have a chance to get stronger. If I am strong they will likely leave me alone. Of course, I am doing the same with them.
When I am about ready to launch an attack I will begin moving my forces from their defensive positions towards the borders of the first foreign city I plan to take over. I need to be careful to get everyone into place and move en masse because as soon as the first few units arrive at the neighbor's border they will ask me what is going on - why am I placing military units on their border? If I am just passing by on my way to another civilization I will respond to let them know I mean no harm. Otherwise, if I am ready I will acknowledge their suspicions and declare war. If I am not ready I will ignore the question and continue amassing troops until the right moment. This will often cause this AI player to "Denounce" me to the rest of the world which hurts my standing amongst the other players.
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| Sid Meier's Civilization VI |
Drawing a parallel to real life, if the United States were to post 100,000 Army soldiers on the Mexican border and anchor a few dozen Navy ships off of both Mexican coasts President Obrador would likely have some questions for President Biden. Prime Minister Trudeau would do the same if US forces approached the Canadian border. They would react first with astonishment, "Really, America? Is this necessary? What are your plans for this troop build-up on our border? Are you threatening us?" Each of those leaders would then amass their own troops along their borders and assemble their Navies. There would be a stand-off until one side attacked or the US stood down. At some point, Mexico or Canada may even "lob a shot over the bow" of one of our ships - a warning shot to let us know they mean to defend themselves while also testing us to see if we actually intend to attack them.
This scenario has played out countless times around the world throughout history. At one time it was a regular occurrence along the DMZ border between North and South Korea. Leaders get edgy when when foreign powers threaten their sovereignty, as they should. This is human nature.
Would aliens react the same way? It is difficult to project "human" nature onto aliens. We know very little about their habits, their ways of thinking, other than their general reticence. But we do see the same behavior amongst virtually all animals on our planet. A herd of zebras will react to the presence of a lion. Likewise, lions fear humans.
I do a bit of hiking, sometimes deep in a wild forest. There, I may come across coyotes and bobcats or even wolves, cougars, and bears. Thankfully I have never seen one of these animals up close. But I know what I would do if I did. First, I would try not to threaten them. If they feel threatened they may attack. Instead, I would slowly and quietly back away until they were out of sight and then would quickly leave the area. Hmm... this sounds exactly like what UFOs do...
If I were to inadvertently threaten a North American predator they would likely charge at me. There is little chance I would outrun them. Instead, depending on the size and nature of the predator, I would likely stand my ground and make myself look bigger. I would raise my arms in the air. I would make loud noises. I would try to scare the animal away. I would acknowledge their fear with a reason to be afraid. I would not want to hurt the animal but if it comes down to him or me I would make every effort to get out of there unscathed.
This is not just human nature, it is interspecies nature. Each species has learned over millions of years to fear other species and to react to each other in a way that will preserve their existence. It is reasonable to assume that aliens play this same game with humans and with the inhabitants of all other primitive planets like ours. They know it is dangerous to get out of their vehicles or even to touch down on the surface of our planet. If we feel threatened we will defend ourselves. We are like wild animals to them.
On a larger scale, if humans were to somehow amass troops in the orbit of an alien planet they would feel threatened. They would ask us what our intentions are. They would take a defensive position - perhaps they would even fire a shot over our bow. We would react the same way to them.
The moment the first Space Force ship arrived at "Planet X" the preceding series of events would begin. Far prior to that, like in the game Civilization, aliens would know we were creating a space force. They would be watching us to see what kinds of capabilities our Space Force ships had. How do we maneuver? What kinds of weapons can we deploy?
Anyone who can get from there to here (wherever that is) would have weapons capabilities we cannot even imagine. There is little in Humanity's conventional arsenal that could stand up to an alien warship, just as I cannot outrun a bear in the woods. But we do have one (not-so-secret) weapon which would create massive devastation on an alien planet. That weapon sits at the tip of a rocket capable of leaving Earth's atmosphere - the ICBM nuke.
Interspecies Nature would tell any alien civilization that our nukes are a problem for them. The bombing of Japan would have raised the first alien eyebrows. (Do they have eyebrows? They must wax because they are never depicted with any. Maybe they do electrolysis.) In 1945 humans did not have enough of these weapons to cause much damage to an alien planet and the payloads had to be dropped from airplanes which could not leave our atmosphere. But soon afterwards the Cold War instigated incredible advancements in Humanity's ability to destroy ourselves (or was it the other way around?). Aliens would likely have interpreted this as Humanity's ability to destroy them - that is just smart thinking, scanning the horizon, seeing around corners like a good business person does every day.
At one point in the mid-1980's there were over 70,000 active weapons of this type around the world. This could have been viewed by alien civilizations as being akin to a troop build-up on their border. We did not physically put these weapons along their borders but we equipped the warheads with the ability to travel outside our atmosphere. We humans know that there was no intention to launch a strike against another planet; it was a stand-off between two human civilizations in a game of mutually assured destruction. In a game of Civilization we would have told the aliens we are just passing by - no need to worry. But still, they would want to come here and check us out. They would want to know our intentions.
I believe this is the reason UFO sightings dramatically increased in the 1950's. Soviet Russia kicked off the Space Race in 1957 with the successful launch of the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and subsequent launch of Earth's first satellite, Sputnik. The US followed suit as fast as possible culminating with putting a man on the moon as well as the greatest arms build-up in history.
Between 1947 and 1969 the Air Force's Project Blue Book investigated over 12,000 UFO sightings. Prior to that, UFOs were practically unheard of. The term UFO did not even exist until 1953. It stands to reason that the dramatic increase in UFO reports following the first nuclear attack and enduring through the end of the Cold War is a result of alien concerns about Humanity's troop build-up along their borders vis-à-vis the nuclear arms race.
This is likely the reason there are multiple eye-witness accounts of nuclear missile silos being taken over by alien spaceships. Accounts vary between completely disarming the missiles and initiating a launch sequence but the end results are all the same: aliens were able to take over the controls of our most dreaded weapon, the ICBM nuke. They lobbed a shot over our bow to test us. We did nothing in return - probably good that we did.
Why would aliens do this? Clearly they were trying to send us a message. That message is, "Don't even think of it." They probably do not care about the real reason for the arms build-up, mutually assured destruction. Their maps of Earth may not have national borders drawn on them. They would just see one unified planet with 70,000 nukes.
Witnessing this, aliens cared about their own security. We were the bear in the woods. Aliens wanted to make themselves appear bigger and scarier. They wanted us to acknowledge that we were threatening them and that they were not afraid of meeting that threat. They would meet our fear with a reason to be afraid.
Aliens can disarm our nukes or launch them if they want. They do not want to harm us (because if they wanted to they could have by now) but they will if it comes down to us or them. In the meantime they will continue to explore our wild planet, watching us from afar. If they are spotted they will cautiously back away and then zip out of sight. If they are confronted they will display a show of force to get us to back down. If we amass "troops" on their borders they will increase their observations, investigate, and then demonstrate why we should not attempt anything stupid.
Falco's Rock Me Amadeus
Thank you for reading and keep an eye on the sky.
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