Calling all Aliens_2of2_Contact in Space
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00:00There is a huge radio telescope in the Ukraine, one of two worldwide which can send powerful
00:10signals out into space.
00:13It's from here that a Russian scientist hopes to send messages to extraterrestrials.
00:23I am Alexander Leonidovich Zaitsev.
00:28It's my job to send news to our neighbours in space.
00:38Many people say it's a job for lonely crackpots, but for me it's an important job, even a mission.
00:54But when I try to explain it to people, I get some funny looks.
01:00I can conceive of no nightmare as terrifying as establishing such communication with a
01:09so-called superior or, if you wish, advanced technology in outer space.
01:15I'm pretty sure we're not the only living thing that breathes and thinks normal.
01:24If they were intelligent enough to contact us, they might have done so already.
01:31We saw a great big disk. It covered three, four city blocks.
01:37I would assume it's more like cell life or something like that.
01:44Five-minute flight is restricted to a three-foot altitude.
01:47Come in peace. We come in peace.
01:53Here we go. Here we go. Breathing again. Going down.
02:13My name is Lawrence Doyle. I'm a principal investigator at the SETI Institute.
02:25I look for extrasolar planets and I study animal communications with the idea of applying it to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
02:33We have a wonderful opportunity on this planet to begin to understand non-human communication systems.
02:45We are recording humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins and gray whales and other animals
02:55with the idea of eventually deciphering an extraterrestrial signal if we get one.
03:01The conditions are excellent today. This is perfect.
03:05This is about the best weather we could possibly ask for.
03:08They say that we've got less than a meter of swell, a good number of miles off the coast,
03:13so right now it's going to be pretty still out in the bay and it'll be really wonderful.
03:17For decades, researchers have been racking their brains,
03:21trying to figure out how they might one day decipher messages from extraterrestrial intelligence.
03:27The initial steps are being taken here in Monterey Bay.
03:30For the first time, an astronomer and a marine biologist are working together to research whale communication.
03:37Their goal is to find communications' universal determiners.
03:42Yeah, the first of the gray whales are coming up from Baja, California,
03:46and we're right at the edge of Monterey Bay here on the south side.
03:50And because there have been wild orcas in the bay itself, even though it's a good place to feed,
03:55a lot of the gray whales may opt to bypass Monterey Bay.
03:59So they have the option of coming in here with good feeding, but the potential of getting attacked by orcas.
04:04Or they can just run right across the bay.
04:07Sean Hanzer is preparing for underwater recording.
04:11He can only guess at what an extraterrestrial signal might sound like, but he knows whale voices.
04:17He's already recorded several types of marine mammals.
04:21Today, he hopes to eavesdrop on gray whales for the first time.
04:27This is a hydrophone, or an underwater microphone.
04:31So when we put it in the water, we can record many sounds, everything from very deep sounds
04:36to things that are much higher than we can hear.
04:39This one is one that we've been very pleased with, and we've had it for a few years.
04:43We've recorded a number of whale species with it.
04:46After two hours, a pod of gray whales comes into view.
04:50Yeah, so we've got a group of active whales.
04:53Looks like, what would you call it, a couple, three miles ahead?
04:56Right now, I'm trying to get an idea of exactly which direction they're going.
05:00Like you saw that last group, they do a lot of zigzagging.
05:05For three days now, they've been following the whales' movements, so far without success.
05:11Patience is one of Lawrence Doyle's virtues.
05:14While looking for extraterrestrial intelligence, he's grown accustomed to waiting.
05:21Here we go, here we go, breathing again, going down.
05:36Working with whales, I realize how really different they are.
05:40They grew up on the same planet, under the same stars we have.
05:44And yet, we don't share anything in common.
05:51And I think this is preparing us, if we ever get an extraterrestrial signal,
05:55to handle something really alien, and to stretch our thought,
06:01to deprovincialize our attitudes toward interspecies communication.
06:06We have enough trouble communicating with each other, and we're all the same species.
06:10It's a stretch to even communicate with other terrestrial species.
06:14If we get an extraterrestrial signal, we're going to have to have practiced.
06:21In Moscow, too, there are those who would like to communicate with extraterrestrials.
06:27Not in the distant future, but right now.
06:31Radio engineer Alexander Saitsev has developed a method
06:35by which he can communicate with extraterrestrials,
06:38in a way that will allow them to communicate with each other.
06:42Not in the distant future, but right now.
06:45Radio engineer Alexander Saitsev has developed a method
06:49by which he can shoot messages as far as the most remote corners of the Milky Way,
06:54to an unknown recipient.
06:57I'd like to make one thing clear.
07:00Some think our message should be short,
07:03while others say it should contain a lot of information.
07:06We've been discussing this question for a while now,
07:09and both sides have their supporters.
07:13Saitsev has already sent several messages into space
07:17on a directive from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
07:20The name of their project is METI, or Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
07:26Together with his Moscow METI group,
07:29Saitsev is planning the next transmission to the aliens.
07:33Before they reach that point, however,
07:35they will still have to decide which star they should send it to.
07:44It's like this.
07:46My mind is constructed in such a way that this field interests me.
07:50You know, some people are interested in saving up to buy a Lexus.
07:56Not me.
07:58And anyway, I don't earn enough for that.
08:01But planning interstellar radio messages?
08:04Now that I can do well.
08:15But not everyone is thrilled with the activities of the Russians.
08:19Astronomer and author David Brin thinks Saitsev is naive
08:23and his plans extremely dangerous.
08:26Brin fears that extraterrestrial lifeforms with malevolent intent
08:30could come to us and annihilate our planet.
08:35Physical harm is a possibility.
08:38A bomb sent through space is much easier to send
08:42than a starship full of colonists.
08:46There have been many science fiction scenarios
08:49in which intelligent bombs can be sent
08:53to a new civilization that is broadcasting into space
08:57in order to prevent them from becoming competitors.
09:05It is possible mathematically to create machines
09:08that can go from one place to another place
09:11and to mine raw materials and make copies of themselves.
09:15This is called a von Neumann mission.
09:28I am not claiming that there are a million deadly,
09:31horrible, evil von Neumann probes near our solar system
09:34ready to pounce on us.
09:36What I am saying is
09:38that there is no proof that there are not.
09:42Does this man truly pose a danger to humanity?
09:46He sees himself as an emissary representing Earth in space.
09:53In his laboratory, Alexander Saitsev
09:56is currently developing the technical specifications
09:59for a new message.
10:01He acknowledges criticism from the scientific community
10:04with magnanimity.
10:06Nevertheless, he keeps pushing his project forward.
10:09For the time being, no one can hinder him.
10:13In order to complete his mission,
10:15Saitsev needs a certain chip
10:17that generates analog signals from a computer file.
10:23The text of the interstellar message
10:26from a laptop
10:29comes here
10:31as an interface
10:34which transforms our digital information
10:37into the analog radio signal.
10:41For this purpose, we use this large-scale integrated circuit.
10:45And the old device with a similar function
10:50has a very large size.
10:53You may compare our new device with the old one.
10:58And after the transformation,
11:02this radio signal goes to the power transmitter,
11:08to the antenna and into the cosmos.
11:14A radio program aimed at aliens is currently broadcasting.
11:18Today, the producer is filming a commercial
11:21to increase his sales figures in space.
11:24Hello out there, I'm Dr. David Livingston
11:27and I'm the host and the founder of thespaceshow.com.
11:32I have a message for you.
11:34We need to know how to get affordable,
11:37low-cost space transportation that is safe on and off Earth.
11:42We need your help.
11:44I promise we'll be good participants
11:47in the intergalactic community.
11:50Guaranteed.
12:08This seemingly crazy radio transmission to aliens
12:12is made possible by an agency in Florida.
12:15With the help of a mobile transmission device,
12:18the company sends interstellar messages for just $99.
12:22For anyone who ever wanted to tell ET something
12:25but couldn't until now.
12:29The state of Florida issued a permit without question.
12:41My name is Jim Lewis
12:43and I'm with Deep Space Communications Network.
12:46We're sending private messages for various people
12:49and organizations into space.
12:51Jim transmits anything that is not morally objectionable,
12:55be it text, video or music.
12:58The customer must only prove
13:00that he holds the copyright on the material.
13:03The way it works, we process the video signal
13:06through the electronics equipment,
13:09send it to the RF transmitters
13:11and transmit the signal out the antenna to Deep Space.
13:16Hello out there, I'm Dr. David Livingston
13:19and I have a message for you.
13:21Some people email us the messages,
13:23some people upload them on our website
13:26and others send them to us if they're larger messages
13:29by CD or DVD or tape.
13:32Will you share your technology with us?
13:34Surely you're doing it somewhat better
13:37than what we can do with our chemical rockets.
13:39We need your help.
13:42Well, after every transmission, we fill out a transmission log.
13:45It's certified by the engineer.
13:47It tells the time, the power that the transmitters were set at,
13:51the elevation and azimuth of the transmission antenna,
13:55so you can get some calculations
13:57of where the message went in space.
14:00And we certify it and we send that to whatever client
14:03we've sent the message in the space field.
14:06The people at Deep Space have been warned
14:08of all the possible dangers.
14:10Still, Jim Lewis doesn't have a guilty conscience.
14:14After all, they are not the only ones.
14:17All our TV stations are sending images into space every day.
14:24I think it's quite naive to think
14:26that we're not sending messages into space every day
14:29through various forms of electronic communications equipment
14:32we have on Earth,
14:33so we're constantly sending messages into space.
14:44However visible we are,
14:46they want to make us more visible.
14:50And they seem to think it's necessary
14:52to make us more visible
14:54in order to achieve their end
14:56of going, yoo-hoo, yoo-hoo, hello.
15:00So, this whole business of saying
15:02that we're already visible is nonsense.
15:07They want us to be more visible.
15:09That is their goal.
15:11And all we want is to say
15:14let's meet with the world's scientists
15:17and with wise people
15:19and talk about it.
15:30The worldwide boom in scientific and private transmissions into space
15:35moved the International Astronomical Society into action.
15:39Every year, the big guns of the space travel industry
15:42meet to exchange information
15:44about the newest technical and political developments.
15:53At their congress in Valencia,
15:55an international agreement is on the docket.
15:58It's supposed to forbid the transmission of messages
16:01to extraterrestrials.
16:03For some scientists and politicians,
16:05the threat to the Earth from aliens
16:07has long been more than the stuff of science fiction.
16:10Former US diplomat Michael Mishaw
16:13helped start this initiative.
16:16If you travel at one-tenth the speed of light
16:19and you're coming from the nearest star,
16:22it would take 43 years for you to reach the Earth.
16:26That sounds like a long time to a human.
16:29But what if the spacecraft coming in this direction
16:34is not inhabited but is a machine?
16:37It doesn't care about the passage of time.
16:40What if the people who send it,
16:42or the possibly machines who send it,
16:46have indefinite lifespans?
16:48What if they live for thousands of years?
16:50A 43-year trip may not matter.
16:54The conference in Valencia is divided.
16:57Those in favor of the agreement
16:59warn of the danger that could be lying in wait for humanity.
17:03The others see their scientific work
17:05being threatened by such an international agreement.
17:08Alexander Tsaitsev is not present at the Congress.
17:12But in the end, there's good news for him.
17:15The group working on the agreement can reach no accord
17:18and Tsaitsev may continue transmitting completely legally.
17:22Michael Mishaw, meanwhile, must continue to fight for a treaty.
17:26This is something that will change the picture again at any rate.
17:31The important thing is that there be international consultation
17:35before we send out a powerful message to another civilization.
17:41As early as 1989,
17:43Michael Mishaw began working on a UN agreement
17:46to regulate communication with extraterrestrials.
17:49It forbids scientists from responding to signals from deep space
17:53without prior consultation with the international community.
17:57The general sending of messages, however,
17:59is not regulated by this agreement.
18:02Mishaw and others want to correct this oversight now.
18:05Their proposed treaty, however,
18:07is far from being put into practice internationally.
18:11It's disputed in the scientific community
18:13and the UN at this point is showing no interest in it.
18:18You have to look at the possibility
18:22that there might be civilizations that are not sympathetic to us,
18:27that do even regard us as a potential threat in the long term.
18:33I don't know what the answer to this is,
18:36but what we need is a discussion among intelligent people
18:40that reviews all the possibilities
18:44and gives some weight to what is most likely to happen.
18:48And then hopefully we can reach a conclusion
18:51that will enable us to either send a very carefully drafted message
18:56or perhaps to do nothing at all.
18:59But messages have already been on their way through space for a long time
19:03and no one can stop them.
19:05The most spectacular one was the Voyager project in the 1970s.
19:10Two space probes were supposed to examine
19:13the outermost planets of our solar system.
19:16Once their task was completed,
19:18they would disappear into the expanse of the universe
19:21as deep space scrap metal.
19:23But NASA quickly realized
19:25that Voyager could take on a much greater task
19:28as humanity's ambassador in space.
19:35Because Voyager was going to be
19:37the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space,
19:40it was decided to put on it a message from Earth.
19:43And the message was in the form of an old-fashioned analog record
19:47which has grooves in it,
19:49but was done in such a way that it has not only sounds
19:52but also images of Earth.
19:54Frank Drake was one of the creators of this record.
19:58A duplicate is still in his attic today
20:01and for special occasions he gladly brings it out again.
20:06This is the cover of the box which holds the golden record
20:09on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.
20:20I designed all the diagrams which are on this cover
20:23including the part that looks to be like a spider,
20:27that's actually showing the location of the Earth
20:30with respect to other stars,
20:32and the hydrogen atom which is used as the time standard.
20:36The message from Earth was supposed to be recognizable
20:39at first glance by extraterrestrials
20:42and it was therefore decided
20:44to attach it to the exterior of the probe.
20:47That meant that it had to be well protected
20:49against the ravages of space and time.
20:52After all, its discoverers could be listening to it
20:55millions of years from now.
20:57The best material for the record and its casing proved to be gold.
21:01To make it easier for its discoverers,
21:03Drake provided an instruction manual and a playback device.
21:07The question that challenged him most
21:09was what information the golden record should contain,
21:12what would interest extraterrestrials the most.
21:18We recognized that it was silly to send scientific information,
21:21they know all that.
21:23But they would want to know the nature of our planet
21:26because it's probably special
21:28and particularly what we are like physiologically
21:32but also sociologically.
21:38Images from Earth were encoded in the grooves of the golden record.
21:42Frank Drake made every effort to construct
21:45as balanced a picture of our planet as possible,
21:48capturing a snapshot of our civilization in the 70s.
21:53We now had the technology for the first time
21:56to take such a message beyond the solar system
21:59into interstellar space.
22:01So it was just one more example of the state of our technology
22:04that allowed us to in fact send this message out deep into space.
22:10Greetings in 22 languages.
22:16Hello from the children of planet Earth.
22:19Hello from the children of planet Earth.
22:27Sounds from the Earth.
22:38And music from Louis Armstrong to Johann Sebastian Bach.
22:44Our sun is going to expand and consume the Earth
22:47in about four billion years from now.
22:50Yet these two records will still be flying through space
22:54and may be the only thing which will show anybody
22:58after that time that we ever existed.
23:02And so I think these have a very special significance
23:06and I'm proud to have been part of making them.
23:14And in this millennium,
23:16another interstellar message in a bottle is being planned.
23:20A space travel company is working on spreading
23:23the last secret of human existence throughout the universe.
23:27They plan to send our genetic code out into space
23:30with best regards from children all over the world.
23:36Greetings from the planet Earth.
23:40Greetings to the aliens.
23:42Space, space, I am Earth. I want to establish contact, establish contact.
23:46Dear aliens, be good and we will welcome you to our Earth.
23:51How do you live there? If you want, come to our Earth.
23:55We are also good.
23:59The project plans to include a hair from each child,
24:02the idea being that a hair's root contains our DNA
24:06and by extension, everything that a highly developed civilization
24:10needs to know about the human race.
24:26Hello, my name is Tasia.
24:28I want to give you my hair so that you can make me the same.
24:34So that aliens can make my hair.
24:39Greetings from another planet.
24:43Will strange beings one day clone these children?
24:47Just because a space travel company wants to make money?
24:51There are warning voices.
24:59The SETI community had this image
25:02that all advanced alien races are altruistic.
25:15I don't know that that's true. There's no evidence for this.
25:19It is possible that there may be advanced alien races out there
25:24that are not altruistic.
25:28If so, do they have ways to harm us?
25:31I don't know.
25:33That's the key point. We don't know.
25:39Alexander Saitsev has sent several messages from this Black Sea location.
25:44The Yevpatoria radio telescope
25:47is one of only two giant antennae in the world with mega transmitters.
25:51Still, Saitsev's visit to the Ukraine can become problematic.
25:56He knows that he hasn't exactly made friends everywhere with his plans.
26:09It's a difficult question, as I'm sure you understand.
26:13It's clear to me, more or less.
26:16But when I start to explain it to people who have a different point of view,
26:20they don't understand me.
26:22I only know a few people who share my position.
26:29Although Saitsev has had his appointment with the telescope for months,
26:33no one will open the gate for him.
26:36In the past, the telescope belonged to Saitsev's institute in Moscow.
26:40But since the demise of the Soviet Union,
26:43it falls under the domain of the Ukrainian science ministry.
26:47The science ministry in Kiev has informed Saitsev
26:50that although the mission is indeed approved,
26:53nothing can be done about the resistance in Yevpatoria.
26:56For Saitsev, the silent criticism of his colleagues in the Ukraine is incomprehensible.
27:21I can't understand that there is this sort of Kafkaesque theatre of the absurd
27:27here on the holy ground of Crimea.
27:30I don't understand.
27:32Does anyone understand this?
27:35Because I don't.
27:38It's such an idiotic situation.
27:41It couldn't be more absurd.
27:44But what can I do?
27:46Sadly, I have to say that I must take my leave of Yevpatoria.
27:51Farewell, Yevpatoria.
27:53Farewell.
27:55Farewell.
27:57Farewell.
27:59Farewell.
28:01Farewell.
28:03Farewell.
28:05Farewell, Yevpatoria.
28:08That's it.
28:17What kind of messages does a species,
28:20whose communication we cannot understand, send?
28:24To decipher unknown signals,
28:26Lawrence Doyle and Sean Hanzer
28:28are calculating the mathematical structure of communication systems,
28:32first of whales, and then later, perhaps, those of extraterrestrials.
28:44We can record whales from a pretty good distance.
28:46Their vocalizations travel well, especially the low ones in the water.
28:51So we're going to actually put in the hydrophone
28:54and allow them to approach and pass us
28:56and record the sounds from the whales as they go by.
29:00When I speak, you're going to hear me on the other side.
29:02The recording begins, and then they hear it.
29:05The whales' communication.
29:07The sounds seem as though they come from another world.
29:17For his research, Doyle uses information theory,
29:21a branch of applied mathematics and engineering.
29:24This method was invented for the telephone industry
29:27and calculated the quantity of information being imparted
29:30during conversations over distance.
29:33Doyle is the first to apply information theory to dolphins and whales.
29:38We think there's survival value in animals
29:41being able to recover lost signals, especially whales.
29:45They have to signal each other in order to mate.
29:47They have to coordinate fishing and feeding behavior.
29:52And so applying information theory to them
29:55is helping us understand the complexity of their communication system better.
29:59By the way, for an extraterrestrial signal,
30:03it will also allow us to figure out how complex that communication system is.
30:10SETI
30:22There are those that claim SETI researchers
30:25would be better off aiming their receivers at Los Angeles than into space.
30:29And perhaps there is some truth in that.
30:32After all, the physiognomy or physical form of extraterrestrials
30:36was not created in space.
30:38But here.
30:40For years, Hollywood has been providing answers to science's questions.
30:45All children know what aliens look like.
30:48And at night, famous figures from horror and science fiction movies
30:52meet along the Walk of Fame.
30:59This is the workshop of alien designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff.
31:03These two Oscar winners have played a significant role
31:06in helping to create our image of extraterrestrials.
31:10Well, when we're called upon to create an alien, especially for a movie,
31:14our goal is to come up with something that is going to satisfy,
31:18first of all, the needs of the story.
31:21Sometimes the alien is supposed to be dangerous.
31:24Sometimes they're supposed to be more thoughtful or benign.
31:28Sometimes their motives are supposed to be in question.
31:30So our goal is to create a look of a creature
31:33that can be interpreted by the audience to fulfill those needs.
31:36There is a theory in xenobiology
31:40that in order for there to be life on another planet,
31:44it would probably be in some way similar to some version of life
31:49that we have here on this planet.
31:51In other words, you wouldn't have things that are completely unreal
31:56or completely illogical.
32:00You'd have things that live in extreme environments,
32:02like tube worms that live in high-temperature water,
32:06sulfuric water at the bottom of the ocean or something.
32:09And that's about as alien as you can get.
32:12My philosophy has always been that the weirdest things
32:15are right in your front lawn.
32:19For his utopian picture book Worlds,
32:22Alec gathered inspiration from the Earth
32:24and combined the measurements of limbs from different species.
32:30In this manner, he created believable beings.
32:34But there is disagreement within the scientific community
32:37as to whether extraterrestrial life must resemble that on Earth.
32:46Perhaps creatures await us whose form is beyond our perception.
32:50In any event, Hollywood sets very practical standards for how aliens look.
32:56This is the alien from Alien Resurrection.
32:58The creature has a very long neck,
33:00and part of that is a design consideration
33:02that we like to give it a sort of long vulture neck.
33:06But in reality, Tom's head is right in this area,
33:09and we've given him these little sculptural details
33:11that he can see through and breathe through.
33:14So not only do we have to think about designing for the movie
33:18and for the character, we also think about
33:20how practical is it going to be for the performer inside the suit.
33:24This was meant to be very deadly,
33:27very dangerous and very ominous, scary looking.
33:30The omen-shaped eyes that are sort of up to the outside,
33:33the very small mouth, a very almost featureless kind of nose,
33:36and around that you sort of work in elements
33:38that work in terms of inciting some kind of a response of fear.
33:43We have really deep sunken cheeks here
33:45to make the cheekbones really prominent,
33:47sunken temples here,
33:49and all of this is kind of gauged around
33:51giving it more of a skull-like image
33:53with the brows and cheekbones here.
33:55We do shape public opinion about what aliens might look like,
34:02but in a way we help the world
34:07to identify either their fears or their hopes in these designs,
34:14and we identify them by the work that we design.
34:17The creature behind me represents a fear,
34:20whereas a creature like E.T. represents a hope.
34:24The success of many science fiction films
34:27demonstrates the great fascination that aliens hold for humans.
34:31In the 50s, the myth of UFOs was born.
34:34Soon, the media were reporting on anything
34:37that looked like a saucer and could fly.
34:40Ever been sceptical of flying saucers?
34:43Well, would you believe a real-life saucer aircraft
34:45right out of science fiction?
34:47It's the after-hours pet project of aeronautics professor
34:50Paul Muller of the University of California
34:52who is ready to test fly it.
34:54Its diameter is 14 feet.
34:56Everybody ready?
34:58At the same time, fears grew of enemy UFOs
35:02capable of destroying the Earth and wiping out humanity.
35:07How probable are these scenarios?
35:10How do scientists gauge the possibility
35:13that extraterrestrials could one day land on Earth?
35:17Help wanted. A crew of little green men.
35:24You know, it's a great distance between stars,
35:26and we really don't know with our technology
35:28and with the science we have, not only our technology,
35:30but our understanding of science,
35:32there is no practical way to get to another star.
35:44Communicating will be, in fact, electronically,
35:48with radio waves, will in fact be the main way
35:51that we will ever have contact with another intelligent being.
36:01It's possible to propose scenarios
36:03where you send self-replicating robots at slow speed,
36:08but what does this do?
36:11Why would you do that?
36:23Particularly, as some people have said,
36:25that those robots may go crazy and turn on you and attack you.
36:34Physical contact, I think,
36:36based on the science we know today,
36:38is just not feasible.
36:40Still, many believe that UFOs have been coming here for a long time
36:44and that the U.S. government has classified the information.
36:48Over and over, representatives of the Air Force
36:51must make themselves available for TV interviews.
36:54The Air Force has been accused from time to time
36:56of hiding information about UFOs.
36:58What do you have to say to that kind of thing?
37:00These charges are absolutely untrue.
37:02Actually, the United States Air Force
37:05Actually, the United States Air Force
37:07releases statistics on the UFO phenomena
37:10through the Department of Defense press desk periodically,
37:13and we've always honored accredited media
37:15when they want to investigate a given specific sighting.
37:19There's nothing to hide.
37:20There's nothing to hide at all.
37:24So where do the countless reports of UFO sightings come from?
37:28Are all of these photographs deceptively doctored mock-ups?
37:33Many of these cases stem from optical illusions
37:36or homemade models held up by fishing lines in the picture.
37:40But for many other instances, science offers no explanation.
37:44It happens all over the world,
37:46but there is one place where more alleged UFOs
37:49have been sighted than anywhere else.
38:03Nevada, USA
38:16In Nevada, many consider the search for extraterrestrial intelligence
38:21to be needless.
38:23On this road, unusual flying devices are regularly spotted.
38:28The extraterrestrial highway.
38:32Are aliens already here?
38:44The Little Ailey Inn is the only bar within 50 miles
38:48and the only meeting place for the inhabitants of Rachel,
38:52a town that is really nothing more than a collection of mobile homes.
38:57At the Little Ailey Inn,
38:59some of the regulars are convinced
39:01that we are being visited regularly by extraterrestrials.
39:08I do believe that they are out there.
39:11In 72, I was about nine years old.
39:14And me and my oldest sister were at a family reunion
39:19and both of us saw the same thing at the same time.
39:23And we saw a great big disk
39:28and it covered three, four city blocks.
39:32This was in Southern California,
39:35broad daylight in the...
39:37I mean, and turn around to look,
39:40to see where everybody was at.
39:42They were gone.
39:43Turn around and looked again and they were there.
39:47Glenn, the Little Ailey Inn cook,
39:49has been watching a very noticeable light in the sky for weeks.
39:53He doesn't think it's an ordinary heavenly body.
39:57It's like you see the clouds over it and it's like you see the...
40:00That is not a star.
40:08It's too low to the ground.
40:12What do you think it is?
40:13I have no idea what it is,
40:15but Sunday night or Saturday night,
40:19there was a red light on one side and an orange light on one side
40:22and there was no light in the center.
40:24And then the following night,
40:25there was a bright light and no red and no orange.
40:27And it's exactly in the same spot almost all the time.
40:31Is that on a mountain maybe?
40:33No.
40:34It's not very high.
40:35No, no, that's over the Tonopah Test Site.
40:37At the beginning of the night, it's kind of high
40:41and then about this time,
40:43about anywhere between 9 and 11 o'clock,
40:46it drops altitude and it sits there and it stays.
40:50It just hovers.
40:52What lies hidden behind this lighted point
40:55that so perplexes residents and visitors
40:57along the extraterrestrial highway?
41:00Is it possible that UFOs are hovering over the Nevada desert,
41:04undetected by radar or by the U.S. Air Force?
41:08Why is there so little scientific interest in these phenomena?
41:12I don't know. I watch it every night.
41:15Make sure that, you know,
41:16hey, you know, make sure I'm not seeing things.
41:19Well, who are any of us? Okay, fair enough.
41:22You have people who are interested in the myth.
41:26They just want to come out here and see if it's true.
41:28Or you have people that have had some type of experience
41:31with, I don't know, lights or a craft or something.
41:36And so they want to come here and talk to other people
41:39that have had a like experience
41:41or find out what other experiences that person has had
41:45and things like that.
41:50The secret is located behind a chain of hills
41:53stretching out along the extraterrestrial highway.
41:56Tucked away in a valley basin
41:58lies the Nellis Air Force Base testing ground
42:01where the Air Force tests out combat aircraft prototypes
42:05just a few miles from the Rachel Mobile Home Park.
42:10Dave Sims is retired
42:12and spends the hot desert days on his homemade viewing platform.
42:16From here, he has a good view of the unidentified flying objects
42:20of the US Air Force.
42:22Many of the new fighter planes are classified.
42:25Rising from the silence of the plane,
42:27things often appear that move quite unusually through the air.
42:32There's a lot of technology like that is still classified
42:35on the Raptor and things like that.
42:37And it's got stealth technology
42:39and it has the like directional exhaust
42:43so I can stand there just like this motionless in the sky.
42:49And it's got a lot of technology
42:52and it's got a lot of technology
42:55and it's got a lot of technology
42:58motionless in the sky.
43:01And it can't be spotted by radar.
43:06The enemy doesn't know it's coming
43:08so it doesn't know what hit them.
43:12Just ask the Taliban.
43:18One peek inside the US government archives
43:21brings many films of once secret military projects
43:24from the 50s to light.
43:27It was the great age of the UFO wave.
43:31Once the classified status was lifted,
43:34eyewitnesses suddenly recognized UFOs and aliens of the period
43:38as crash test dummies, weather balloons
43:41and prototypes of aircraft models that never went into production.
43:45And yet, even after these pictures were published,
43:48the UFO phenomenon continued.
43:51The reports and the stories grew more and more mysterious.
43:58NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE
44:19It might be because Nellis Air Force Base
44:22is still known by another name, Area 51.
44:26Supposedly, a high security installation within the military base.
44:30For years, rumors have circulated among UFO believers
44:34that the Air Force has stored the wrecks of crashed UFOs
44:37in subterranean bunkers
44:40and has been reverse engineering their technology.
44:43No evidence of this exists.
44:46The US government has either remained silent about the rumor,
44:50taken no position on it or denied it.
44:54Conspiracy theorists see this as confirmation of their position.
44:59Under heavy pressure from the public,
45:02the US government ordered an examination of the UFO phenomenon.
45:06In 1969, the final report with the codename Project Blue Book
45:11provided explanations for more than 12,000 UFO sightings.
45:16Everything was there, just no actual UFO.
45:21Questionnaires relating to the project
45:24have been collected and checked for 20 years.
45:27But for 700 of these cases, there was no explanation.
45:31Some of these documents are classics and have achieved cult status.
45:37One example is a spooky film
45:40that allegedly shows the autopsy of a dead alien.
45:43Even when minimal effort has proven this clip to be a fake,
45:47it's still enough to allow the UFO legend to live on.
45:52The Alien Autopsy
45:53The Alien Autopsy
45:55The Alien Autopsy
45:57The Alien Autopsy
45:59The Alien Autopsy
46:01The Alien Autopsy
46:03The Alien Autopsy
46:05I need one more napkin.
46:07Just put it onto the alien, they're washable.
46:10Can we have some more blood?
46:11Wardrobe!
46:12Alright bro, you ready?
46:13Alien autopsy, the real thing.
46:16The Alien Autopsy film has already become a modern myth
46:20and has taken its place in American pop culture.
46:32It's a pretty lucrative business
46:34to sell little alien trinkets and stuff like that.
46:37I think people are interested in connecting to the universe,
46:41but I don't think it's going to be as simple
46:43as having hominid-looking creatures,
46:45you know, human-looking creatures with big eyes.
46:47It's kind of fun to think about all that kind of stuff,
46:49but I think, at the same time,
46:51it probably isn't really even going to touch on
46:54how great reality would be if such a thing existed.
46:59Exactly.
47:00The science is always so much more exciting
47:03because nature surprises you.
47:07At the computer, Lawrence and Sean
47:10lay down the sound recordings of the whales
47:12in individual sections
47:14and analyze the structure of the noises.
47:17In doing so, they find a clearly hierarchical structure
47:20that until now was only known in human languages.
47:24Individual sound clips are put together by the whales
47:27into phrases that are continually repeated
47:30and thus create the vocalizations.
47:33However, these researchers don't want to speak
47:36of a language of the whales just yet,
47:38as this form of communication
47:40is not complex enough compared to human language.
47:45Some anthropologists have said
47:48that the complexity of societies
47:51drove the complexity of their communication systems.
47:55Now, this has yet to be shown,
47:58but if it's true,
48:00then measuring the complexity
48:02of an extraterrestrial communication system
48:05may be highly indicative
48:08of the complexity of that society.
48:12As a science fiction author,
48:14David Brin has often depicted
48:16what a signal from space might sound like,
48:18and you would very much like to hear a real one.
48:21But up until now,
48:23the universe has cloaked itself in silence,
48:25and it is this quiet that frightens him.
48:30If there are a lot of wise alien species out there
48:33and they are keeping quiet,
48:36should we not consider following their example?
48:44Is it not possible that they have reasons for keeping quiet?
48:56Alexander Saitsev sees no value in keeping quiet.
49:00He is already pulling strings
49:02to be able to transmit his next message
49:04to the near future,
49:06in the interest of all humans, as he sees it.
49:09If not in Yevpatoria,
49:11then from another telescope.
49:16We're not giving away anything of strategic value
49:19or anything that could be secret,
49:21just things that would be interesting.
49:24Classical music, for example,
49:26something like Beethoven or Tchaikovsky.
49:31If we transmit music like that,
49:33we're certainly not betraying any secrets.
49:36On the contrary,
49:38we're sending them the best that our culture has produced,
49:41our art, our literature,
49:44our thoughts on aesthetics,
49:46behind which lies humanistic thought.
49:50And I can find nothing criminal in that.
49:57If we beam everything that we have to trade as a gift,
50:02all of our culture, all of our music,
50:05all of our science, all of our books,
50:11then what will we have to trade with?
50:16The people who do this may be known in the future
50:20as the worst traitors to humanity ever.
50:26Music
50:31David Brin has recently spoken out harshly
50:35against those who wish to advertise humanity in space.
50:42He is amazed that hardly anyone else is speaking out
50:46when it has to do with the security and safety
50:50of our planet in the cosmos.
50:55The Earth is a very fragile place.
50:57We've already proved that just one intelligent life form
51:01can endanger it.
51:03It is possible that more than one
51:05would be more than the Earth can take.
51:08Personally, I like diversity. I like tolerance.
51:12But humanity has to get its act together.
51:15That's our number one priority.