A.D. After Disclosure: When the Government Finally Reveals the Truth About Alien Contact (42 page)

If Disclosure occurs first, it will likely speed up the coming of the Singularity. After all, while shocking the scientific community and psyche to the core, Disclosure will nonetheless spur it to an unprecedented degree. Computer science will undoubtedly be one of the key areas of study, if for no other reason than to deal with possible defense implications.

One thing to consider is how the approach of the Singularity will affect Disclosure. For the closer we approach the Singularity, the more likely that Disclosure will occur. As the power of the computer becomes overwhelming, as the interconnectivity of our world becomes ever more pronounced, as our ability to detect other intelligences continues to broaden and deepen, it becomes ever more likely that something will give. The unknowns are when it will happen and what will trigger it.

If the Singularity occurs sooner, so will Disclosure. If, as some of the Singularity “optimists” would have it, that event is likely to occur in or around 2030, then Disclosure will probably arrive a year or two before—barring, of course, the accidental mass sighting or some other unforeseen act—say, a surprise statement by a powerful figure. If, however, the Singularity is slower to arrive, for instance 2080 or 2090, this will make Disclosure predictions a little more interesting, and certainly more difficult.

All we can say is that time does not stand still, and the world of tomorrow will not resemble the world of today. Somewhere along the line between now and the post-Singularity world will be a moment when the sum total of intelligence and computing power in human civilization will see the obviousness of an advanced non-human presence here on Earth. Exactly where that moment will be along the line is impossible to know, but that we will cross it is undeniable.

Religion and Science:
New Paradigms From an Old Conflict

One of the most fascinating results of Disclosure will be a new relationship between religion and science. The two modes of thought have been uneasy bedfellows since the modern age of science began four centuries ago, and, in fact, the basic conflict extends back more than 2,000 years to the ancient Greeks.

Two elements of the conflict must be distinguished. The first concerns what philosophers would term
epistemology
—that is, how do we know what we know? What constitutes valid evidence for knowledge?

Accounting for certain variations and distinctions among them, religions usually claim to acquire their knowledge by revelation. The assumption is that an important element of reality is normally hidden from humanity, but can be revealed at certain times. These revelations often come as flashes of insight appearing to a single person. The source of the revelation is usually understood to be divine. Such revelations are not usually debatable; believers are meant to accept them without argument. After all, how could God be wrong?

Such an attitude toward truth is unacceptable to a scientist, who is constrained to adhere to a certain method—the scientific method. This means, above all, collecting data through observation and experimentation, then formulating and testing a hypothesis. Such testing must also be repeatable. Someone else must be able to be duplicate the test. This is a critical point. The hypothesis, in order to be valid, must be testable, or to use the word that scientists themselves use, it must be “falsifiable.” Simply put, the hypothesis may be true, or it may be false. But if you can test it to find out one way or the other, then at least it is falsifiable.

It is unlikely that Disclosure will alter this distinction between scientific and religious thought. These are two systems of thinking that are fundamentally different. They comprise a basic philosophical divide. And yet, this does not mean they cannot coexist. Many of our best scientists possess a faith in God. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, said eloquently that “reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation.” To do this, one must think with the spirit as well as the mind. “You have to hear the music, not just read the notes on the page. Ultimately, a leap of faith is required.”
³⁴

Disclosure and the God Hypothesis

There is another element to the conflict of Religion vs. Science. To describe it, we need to speak in more general, approximate terms. Yet, the conflict is real. It is about something that religious thinkers believe in, and something about which most scientists remain agnostic or even doubtful.

Parting the heavens. The Big Picture begins to emerge
. Photo courtesy of NASA/STSci.

We are talking about the existence of a spiritual realm, the existence of God, and all that goes along with it. In other words, will Disclosure will offer us proof for this belief, or at least strong supporting evidence?

Within UFO research literature, there is no shortage of claims that the “aliens” possess their own spiritual orientation. People who recall abduction experiences have occasionally commented that the beings took them to pray. Indeed, it seems possible that these beings themselves exist in what we might loosely call the spiritual realm.

What if these beings claim to be the “divinities” worshiped by early human societies, or that they created us? Even if they made no such claims,
what if many people gain that impression? Five thousand years ago, the ancient Sumerians wrote about their gods, calling them the Anunnaki. What if some of these beings are interpreted as such? What if they have something provocative to say about Jesus Christ, Mohammed, or other important spiritual beings of human history? In other words, what if Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha are seen as one of “them?” Events like these would spark intense reaction by people everywhere. Some would believe the claims; others would call them deceptions. Even barring something so spectacular, it is conceivable that the Others may have insights into other dimensions, insights that people come to accept.

Throughout the history of modern ufology, there have always been “nuts and bolts” researchers who have taken a strictly materialist point of view of these other beings. The assumption is that the Others are flesh-and-blood entities, probably from another planet somewhere else in the universe, and have come here to investigate us. However, not everyone agrees. For sure, the UFO phenomenon has often been strange, and has suggested various non-materialist aspects. Telepathy seems to be involved. Time sometimes seems to be manipulated in some way that we cannot yet understand. And there are many people who claim to receive channeled or telepathic communications from ET beings. None of this proves that the Others are spiritual entities of some sort, but it may be that this is sometimes the case.

Ultimately, we may learn that the concept of “mind over matter” is not only valid, but true. Admittedly, this is a definite
if
, but
if
the Others can demonstrate that all humans possess inherent spiritual gifts that have been denied throughout much of our history,
if
we as a species learn to awaken that part of us which may be dormant,
if
we learn to “see” reality from a broader, deeper perspective than we have previously seen, clearly that would change religion, and it could well change science, too. This is because, for humanity would then have upgraded its operating system. In such a situation, much of the old software would probably be upgraded, too. This does not mean rejecting old beliefs and values, which seems unlikely. It would be more like expanding our circle of understanding to incorporate new realities.

Our eyes would see more, our minds would grasp more, our hearts would feel more. No thinking person can deny at least the possibility of our ability to attain such a state. The question is, will knowledge of the Others spark such an awakening? After all these years and all these debates, where lives have been lost and ruined on both sides, it is possible that somehow the Others will be instrumental in bringing about something we have yet to do ourselves: fuse spirituality and science.

If so, then our current debates between religion and science will seem pedantic and irrelevant to people a century from now. If they are lucky, they will have graduated to the next grade level in the grand school of God’s universe.

Hey, Robb! Did you see the numbers for
Above and Below?!
They were bigger in week two than the first week w/o the lead-in or the promo on the big show. We have a monster on our hands. Just make sure that they know they can’t miss a production deadline—if they’re having trouble with access, let me know. I like tunnels, they’re great, but if we can get an alien in one of them, I know that’s asking a lot, but just keep your eyes open, okay? Maybe you see something in the shadows, and you go searching….

Also, I had a chance to look at these pages on the
Breakaway
pilot last night. I think we gotta pull the trigger on this one, too. We’re gonna sell this as a true story, so tell them to stick to only what they’ve read from a good source and to use our consultant. We’re paying him for his story, we might as well use him.

Shiloh

Chapter 8
Exopolitics Rising: Moving From First Contact to Informed Contact

Divide and rule,
a sound motto.
Unite and lead,
a better one
.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Whether or not the Others choose to engage with us in the A.D. world, we will begin to engage with them. At that point, questions will abound: Who will speak for humanity? What issues will be on our agenda? Where, how, and when will formal contact take place? What will our world be like? How will Disclosure change
us
?

The answers will be determined the same way humans deal with other problems: the practice of politics. In countries around the globe, from China to Israel to the United Kingdom, this process is often nasty, and the other side is often characterized as evil, stupid, or both. When practiced between nations, outcomes can be positive and cooperative, or aggressive and violent, ranging from the eradication of smallpox to global war. When practiced between humans and another intelligent life form, one can only imagine the outcome—which is what we will do in this penultimate chapter.

The Politics of Exopolitics

Throughout the years, the UFO phenomenon has prompted the creation of new terms and concepts:

Ufology, as the study of the UFO phenomenon.

CE1, CE2, CE3, CE4, and CE5, to describe levels of “close encounters.”