Whatever the UFOs are -- or are not -- they continue to generate controversy. Congress held secret, closed-door hearings on January 12, 2024, about them. We are not being told much more than that.  

I have gradually become a UFO skeptic, based on news releases and documentaries, both recent and over the years. Most of them tend toward the assumption that UFOs are spacecraft, built by technologies “not of this earth.” My reasons for being skeptical are detailed on my UFO blog at THE UFO PARADOX blogspot dot com

Being a skeptic does not mean denying that there are unexplained aerial phenomena in our skies. The video and eyewitness evidence is compelling in that regard. My skepticism is based on one simple fact: there is no public, verifiable, physical evidence of nonhuman advanced technology -- anywhere. By physical evidence I mean such things as metal objects, or objects composed of other material, something so substantial that you can hold it in your hand and (in principle) hit it with a hammer. Such items of evidence, were they to be credibly presented, would have to fit at least two, preferably more, of the following criteria:

1. They would be clearly artificial, intelligently manufactured objects, not produced by nature, but made by no known earthly technology. 
2. They would be tangible, physical objects.  
3. They would not be merely photographic or computer-generated images, or testimony. 
4. They would be clearly designed to perform some purposeful function, even if we could not discern what that function is. 
5. They would possess physical properties, or performance characteristics, that cannot be explained by presently understood laws of nature. 
6. They would be coherent, assembled, systems or devices, such as flyable vehicles. 
7. They could include biological materials clearly unlike any known earthly forms of life. Complete organisms, whether dead or alive, would be the most definitive evidence. 

As far as I know, no such objects (or samples) exist. It seems implausible that any person or government could possess them and maintain secrecy for very long.

The more of these criteria that are met, the more credibly we could ascribe to such objects an origin from another planet. The complete absence of such evidence undermines the validity of the off-world hypothesis. Worse yet for UFO believers, no witnesses (to my knowledge) under oath have publicly testified that they have put their own hands on such objects, and independently found (by unbiased experiment) that they meet the specifications listed above. 

This is not to say that there are no known natural anomalies that defy physical description. There are. Dark matter and dark energy are two of them. Both are so controversial that some reputable scientists say that they do not exist. Most, however, can make a very strong case for them, despite not being able to define precisely what they are.

As a UFO skeptic, I place the UFOs in a similar category, that is to say, of real phenomena that defy explanation. UFOs are the “dark matter,” so to speak, of aerial phenomena. Absent tangible physical evidence, all the logic goes against UFOs being spacecraft. For one thing, any technology capable of making them could also make them undetectable. If, on the other hand, the supposed aliens intended to be detected, or did not care one way or the other, then we should see them often, under such conditions that no one would bother to deny their existence. 

Therefore, if the UFOs are under intelligent control, we should either never see them, or else quite frequently (and verifiably) see them. It makes no sense that they act as if they wish not to be seen, and then get seen anyway, but only under disputed circumstances. 

All this having been said, one must ask, given that UFOs are real, but their behavior seems paradoxical, then what are they? 

Image: dreese