Alien Obsession: A New Societal Crisis ?

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Between popular fascination, political recovery and scientific challenges, this growing obsession says a lot about our relationship with the unknown and our trust in institutions. Humans are in a perpetual quest for answers, this is not new and the idea that we are not alone in the Universe exerts an increasingly strong attraction.

What was once only a subject of science fiction has become, for many, a deep conviction. But is this growing belief in the existence of extraterrestrial peoples turning into a real societal crisis ?

A belief in full expansion

The numbers speak for themselves: in the UK, around a fifth of the population believe that Earth has been visited by aliens, while 7% claim to have seen a UFO. In the US, the situation is even more pronounced (who could say worse??), with 34% of Americans considering UFO sightings as probable evidence of alien life, up from 20% in 1996 (according to a poll by YouGov). Even more striking, nearly a quarter of Americans report having personally seen a UFO.

This rise of this belief system may seem paradoxical, given the total absence of tangible evidence of their existence. The astronomical distances between star systems make it unlikely that extraterrestrial visitors could have come to see us discreetly on our planet.

However, the fascination with visitors from space continues to grow, fueled by a popular culture fond of mystery and slightly wacky conspiracy theories.

An unexpected political issue

Faced with the scale of the phenomenon, the political class, particularly in the United States, is forced to take a position. The Pentagon's disclosure of “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (UAP) information has sparked surprising bipartisan interest. This political focus is not new: from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton, numerous presidential candidates have promised to expose government secrets about UFOs.

This political recuperation often draws on familiar anti-elite tropes, feeding the idea that a secret cabal is hiding the big truth about alien existence. A 2019 Gallup poll found that 68% of Americans believed their government knew more about UFOs than it was saying. “we know” at its best.

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This distrust of institutions could have worrisome consequences, as the calls, at first humorous and then more threatening, for “storm ” Area 51. Looking back on the 2021 Trump-incited assault on the Capitol, this case shows that such scenarios can no longer be dismissed so easily.

A Challenge for Science and Culture

The pervasiveness of alien visitation theories poses a real challenge to legitimate science communication. Astrobiology, the discipline that studies the possibility of microbial extraterrestrial life, is struggling to make its voice heard in the face of the thriving ufology industry. For example, the YouTube channel History (partly owned by Disney), which regularly broadcasts programs about “ancient aliens,” has 13.8 million subscribers, while NASA’s astrobiology channel has only 20,000 subscribers.

Even more concerning, the narratives about little green men tend to hijack and rewrite the history and mythology of indigenous peoples. Under the guise of valuing these cultures, some ufologists do not hesitate to mix authentic indigenous stories with UFO fiction, presented as a hidden history. This cultural appropriation threatens not only indigenous traditions, but also our collective understanding of the past.

The growing obsession with extraterrestrials has now gone beyond mere amusing speculation. It raises fundamental questions about our relationship to science, history, and democratic institutions. In the face of this phenomenon, it is urgent to find a balance between legitimate curiosity and critical thinking, in order to preserve our ability to distinguish fact from fiction in an increasingly complex world.

As we gaze at the starry sky (or YouTube), perhaps we should also ask ourselves what this quest reveals about our own earthly aspirations and concerns. Because, in the end, this obsession with extraterrestrials perhaps says more about ourselves than it does about hypothetical visitors from elsewhere.

• Belief in extraterrestrial visitation is gaining ground, particularly in the United States, where 34% of people see it as probable proof of alien life.
• This obsession is even becoming a political issue, with promises of information disclosure and conspiracy theories that threaten trust in institutions.
• The phenomenon poses challenges to legitimate scientific communication and risks distorting the history and culture of indigenous peoples.

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