For decades now, many if not most people across the globe have wondered, who else is out there? Are we alone? Can our species really be the only intelligence in the immensity of the Cosmos? And as our understanding of the mind-boggling vastness of the physical universe has grown exponentially over time, along with the development of a much more nuanced fine-tuned understanding of just how many galaxies, star systems and planets that likely entails, the preposterousness of the notion that we’re “all alone” has only escalated. And in that endeavor, we’ve been sending probes out into our solar system, and now beyond, as well as exploratory rovers to neighboring worlds like Mars, in hopes of answering that question.

But from that very large collection of nearly everyone on the planet who’s asked the question about us being alone in the universe, there is a subsection that asks a different question: are we alone, here? Right here, on Earth? Or is it possible that we have already been, and perhaps are presently being, surveilled by an alien presence much more advanced that us — to the point where our intelligence gathering capabilities have thus far failed miserably in our attempt to answer that question, even though tantalizing hints exist almost everywhere we look — especially since our sensing tools and apparatus have taken gargantuan leaps in capability over the last couple of decades.

As I say, tantalizing hints exist suggesting that we are not alone — even here, in our own backyard, as it were. These hints include verified unidentified flying objects, or as they’re currently referenced in government intelligence circles, “unidentified aerial phenomena”, buzzing in and around our airspace, even some of our most supposedly secure, protected military airspace. Many of us would go much further, arguing there is actually persuasive evidence, for those unbiased enough to really look with clear vision, to suggest the question as to their presence here on and around the earth is a long settled one: in the positive.

But if they’re here, as we asked in last week’s podcast, why the hiddenness? Why are their operations so evidently clandestine? Many experiencers who’ve claimed contact with these Others share a familiar narrative regarding the reason they’ve been told about: they (the Others) are waiting – not passively, but while employing various means to speed the process along – for a consciousness upgrade, as it were, amongst the human race, so that we can arrive at a point in our history where a revelation of a superior alien presence would be welcomed and considered “good news” for humanity and the planet.

Some are frustrated with this proposed reasoning. Surely the revelation of a more technologically capable, benign alien presence would be good news today, this very day, were these Others to suddenly, in some worldwide, plain-as-day way, make themselves known to human civilization. And surely countless challenges – including disease, climate change, international and inter-religious strife, etc. could be well on their way to being resolved, were this to happen. I actually think that perspective is misguided, and makes various assumptions about the nature of the world as it presently exists, that simply don’t hold water. So what would really happen if a superior alien intelligence suddenly made its presence known on a global scale? An intriguing question: one that is the topic of this, the 9th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.