The belief that I am investigating is that aliens could be the AI (artificial intelligence) that we know today. Along with this belief comes the Fermi Paradox, named after the physicist Enrico Fermi. This Paradox poses the argument about the lack of evidence and high probability of extraterrestrial beings and civilizations. Based on the articles I have read, mainly astronomers are those who believe in this theory because they have not seen evidence from space that aliens are out there. I have found information on this theory on various websites, including that of SETI, BBC, and the Fermi Paradox website. This theory is still popular today, especially as we advance technologically with more AI devices coming out constantly. This belief that aliens were the start and continuation of AI technology is extraordinary because it seems impossible, we have knowledge of the scientists and engineers who have, and continue, to work on AI. Believers of this theory are claiming that the aliens came to our planet and created this technology, using their advanced knowledge, and then moved on to help other planets and populations do the same. When they moved on they left behind their AI technology so they could monitor us from a distance and later communicate with us if need be. They also state that it is possible if they were to try and communicate with earth, they may be so evolved that we would not be able to understand or detect their messages.
On one end of the spectrum, critics often say, if our galaxy is really over 10 billion years old, there must have been plenty of chances for another species to branch out into the world and settle down on another livable planet. If this is so, where are they and why haven’t we come into contact with them? At the other end of it all it is stated that we haven’t been able to detect alien intelligence because our first contact with them will be in the form of technology and not organic creatures. “Intelligences might be like small ships passing in the night in a vast ocean” it is stated on aeon.com. This AI technology that the aliens have developed is so far beyond our abilities to understand that until we are “ready” we won’t be able to come in contact with them.
Cognitively, I think this belief goes along with the idea that people don’t like the unknown. It brings us cognitive dissonance to not know the explanation behind something, like lights in the sky or why space is so vast, but we are the only species active throughout it. In terms of the belief that aliens are just AI I think it’s possible that this idea is comforting to people who don’t understand how or why technology had become so advanced to the point that it is essentially self-sufficient. The believers of this theory seem to come from more scientific backgrounds, but at the same time others who have similar scientific backgrounds will completely dispute these ideas. Those scientists who do share these beliefs have created communities and websites in which they can all share their ideas; this comradery allows their ideas to be supported and pushed even further. Confirmation bias could be to blame for some of these sustained beliefs, if someone has some beliefs that aliens exist and then they are presented with ambiguous evidence, they are more likely to see this as evidence to go along with what they believe. Along with this, even if they are presented with data that could prove that aliens do not exist, they aren’t likely to listen or remember this.
Overall, this belief in aliens as AI started in response to Fermi’s Paradox stating that the lack of evidence that aliens were real meant they could not be anywhere in our universe. From there they have perpetuated the belief through pseudoscience and lack of evidence to keep coming up with more and more hypotheses for why they do exist, but we haven’t seen them or communicated with them.
I have never heard of this theory but it is interesting, what do believers think of the people that create the AI technology? Are they aliens as well?
I was wondering something very similar! My first thought was that they would think they’re aliens, but I could also see people arguing that the “engineers” are simply actors employed by the government to keep the alien secrets.
Actually, one of the articles I read they believe that the aliens planted the technology on Earth and in our brains years ago so the people who created it are kind of aliens!
This might be a weird question, but do these people believe that AI could grow to a point where this type of technology would be out of our own control, i.e., do they fear aliens could soon return to take back any control we’ve lost to their technology?
I enjoyed your post. I know little to nothing about aliens because I do not believe in them. Now if there was more evidence about aliens that had been found, I would alter my beliefs to fit the facts, but I find most people believe in aliens because they want them to be real so badly and they’ll attribute anything “ambiguous” as evidence of alien existence which is also a part of confirmation bias.
I agree that often people will take any ambiguous evidence and interpret it however they want. I think this confirmation bias way of thinking contributes to many different conspiracy theories and other strange theories that we hear.
I have always found AI to be kind of creepy, especially nowadays as it has become so advanced. now it just seems like you think about something and there is a Facebook ad. despite this, I have never once thought that it might be because of aliens, and I still don’t. I think that AI is just the product of human drive and intelligence. up until now, I feel that most AI has been pretty harmless and helpful, like products like google drive or alexa. hopefully it stays this way.
I had never heard about this theory before reading your post, but it is fascinating that people believe that our AI is being run/monitored by aliens. The problem it seems that these people have is that there is no evidence for aliens running these systems which makes me remember the quote, “a lack of evidence is not evidence at all.” What I don’t understand is how people with scientific backgrounds are the ones pushing these ideas? Shouldn’t they be the ones to better understand how AI works?
I thought the same thing! AI can seem strange, especially to older generations who don’t understand that when they use the internet on any device they could be allowing various programs to access their basic information. I think the fact that there are scientists who believe this goes to show that we need to investigate our sources to make sure they are trustworthy before we go spreading information!
I like that you said that the belief persists because people do not like the idea of the unknown. I think this is really true and that because of this desire for knowledge, people will psychologically confabulate information in order to reach a conclusion. It is more comforting to reach an extraordinary conclusion than be unable to explain ordinary evidence. In addition, I dislike that one of these conclusions is that humans are incapable of creating technology like artificial intelligence, therefore it must be extraterrestrial beings like aliens.
Now, I have a friend who goes to the University of Montana, and he took an astronomy class a year or two ago. He was talking to me about how he was learning that through mathematical proofs, one could support the existence of other forms of sentient life in the universe.
I have never heard this interesting conspiracy before. I don’t believe AI is Alien, but I must admit AI that looks like a human is really creepy. I always believe Alien exists somewhere in space, and they may be watching us in somewhere. Since like making Alien an AI can answer much mystery in our world, but there is no real evidence can prove that.
Heard that before, but still feel weird for this belief. I mean AI is just a board concept and It is not even the smartest form. Also this belief ignores the people who creates those AI that they must also be aliens or something. There might be other life on the universe, but not in that way.
I have always been fascinated on how fast out AI technology is improving but I had never heard it was connected to aliens. I do feel like the reason people build this belief is from what you mentioned in the post. People are trying to comfort themselves on how we have advance so rapidly as well as fascinating as AI and think this can only be explained by more intelligent beings. I noticed in one the comments that they think engineers who worked on creating or improving the AI are sort of aliens themselves. I find that so crazy that they’ll discredit someone being human to keep their belief alive.
Hello!
This is a really interesting topic you chose for your blog post! AI technology is becoming such a big part of the world today. The things that technology are capable I think most people do not understand or can even begin to think how it works. Because of this, I think it can be assumed that some people may be skeptical what it is and where it came from. The “unknown” can cause people to fill in the blanks and I think this is a great example of it. I think that if you are curious how AI works, there is probably a lot of information out there and books that can help make more sense of the technology advancements of today!
Thank you for sharing this special theory. Although I never heard this before, but I totally agree with your analysis of how people would interpret ambiguous information as what they like. AI is a relatively novel thing for most of people, and it shows its high potential before many really understand the mechanism of AI. I think that’s why people would come up with so many surmises that AI technology may grow too fast to really control it. People feel the threaten that AI could be a better choice for many work positions.
I have watched quite a few movies along the same lines as this theory through a science fiction writing class I took 2 years ago. Scientists have alerted people AI’s are most likely to take over the world and be in control one day. Humans keep advancing technology and we are creating them ourselves. I don’t think it’s aliens, I think it’s evolutionary technology that pushes us further and further into creating an AI that could take over.