The answer is no. There are no aliens. Yes, that is pretty much the conclusion of some very reputable scientists. This means real science as opposed to pseudoscience. In this discourse, real science is typically among those fields that include astronomy (not astrology), biology, chemistry, and physics, to name a few. Similarly, a stretch of these spheres spills over into applying “forensic science”, such as the crime lab at a murder scene. Scientific validation becomes highly critical in a court of law. Opinions suffer banishment except for a narrow window of so-called “expert opinion”. By contrast, particularly in the world of the liberal arts in academia, are the bastions of pseudoscience. This includes criminology, psychology, sociology, and theology, to name the popular few. Others affiliated in this mix of what some call the “social studies arena”, are the other metaphysical adventures. From such perspectives, there are endeavors in parapsychology, the paranormal, the supernatural, and the extraterrestrial.

     Suggesting “pseudoscience” does not imply condescension or related negativity toward well-intentioned investigative activities. Many struggle, including skeptical inquirers, to keep and maintain an “open-minded” point of view. Here, pseudoscience is used in the framework of exploring that which is yet unknown. On the other hand, criminality is a probability given the potential to exploit everything humans do. Frauds, scams, and hoaxes are a related matter of associated inquiry. Opinion, rumor, gossip, and other related utterances remain among the lowest forms of evidentiary substantiation. What does the evidence show for the skeptic, particularly the classical criminologist reflected herein? Not just personal viewpoints based on wishful thinking, fear, personal enrichment, or selfish validation, instead of substantive organic scientifically validated evidentiary artifacts. This suggests science replaced by pseudoscience.

     A “war of the worlds” is fascinating storytelling. Beginning probably at the dawn of the 20^th century, science fiction became popular. As the trek continued, the appeal of such stories gained momentum. Post-World War II, oh say around 1947, the adventure gripped the interest of many segments of the public. But, like most things in the realm of thinking, it reflects belief systems espousing imaginative creativity. Science fiction is undoubtedly an entertaining genre for many and, in many cases, financially rewarding. From the unreality of “reality TV” shows to blockbuster movie productions, cosmic storytelling is potentially quite lucrative. And as such, pseudoscience lives on to the constant annoying chagrin of wannabe “scientists”.

     Today, everyone is an expert. Yet, most lack the essential education, training, experience, and maturity to claim expertise. Check the resume’, assess the bona fides, investigate the claims, and test the veracity at every opportunity. A savvy investigator accepts nothing at face value. He or she recalls a historic admonition from the U.S. intelligence community. Always question where the mole is hiding. In this instance, the “mole” is the deceiver, the trickster, and the one who works in opposition from one group against another. The undercover operative resides in plain sight or a good hiding place, masking anonymity. In terms of humans, a mole is a deep-cover penetrator relative to espionage and law enforcement. The operative might also be the con artist promoting a “product” for contemporary consideration. Regardless, such is the person or person perpetrating a fraud, a hoax, or a con job. And, they might be politicians or pundits.

     Captive audiences are easy since studies tend to show that nearly 80% of the U.S. population believes in some aspect of the paranormal, etc. How many people can be trusted? As to the issue of deception, one marketing researcher from the business world studied thievery of the truth. According to this particular point of view, surveying a thousand participants produced some arguable results. An assertion comes forth to suggest that every day, the average person tells at least two lies per day. A response by the analysts counters that by imagining that the respondents were lying about lying. Nonetheless, surveyors indicated that over 40% of the sample answered they had told at least one lie in the past 24 hours. Similarly, other researchers have agreed that humans choose to embellish upon individual viewpoints. In brief, that means people are deceptive. Taken cumulatively, claims of alien invasions should be evaluated carefully.

     According to a book by a former Air Force intelligence officer reporting on UFO investigations, people can be easily misled, misinformed, and misdirected. Writing from experience in Project Bluebook, I found that most sightings were resolved through evidentiary substantiation. That is, alien beings piloted no UFO. However, there is a small percentage of unresolved cases. For whatever serves their interests and desires at a given time, thinking processes instigate all inaccurate reasoning. Generally a subsequent process of inferential fallacies, fiction blurs facts and upsets the delicate balance between truth and fantasy. Confirmation bias impels wishful thinking in that hope springs eternal for some mystical discovery. Yet, what if nothing is coming to planet Earth in terms of an all-encompassing comic revelation? What if this is the only planet in a galaxy where human life occurred? Speculation wanders on every side of the debate concerning extraterrestrials. Still though, the facts are elusive and evidence evasive.

     Along comes reality TV. Not to forget all the other deceptively oriented aspects of mainstream showmanship. Another provocation in the broad spectrum of “Ponzi schemes”, the sleight of hand is often very cleverly manipulated. While some might define a “Ponzi” scam as a type of fraud purposely deceiving the use of monetary investments, a broader definition is applied to the realm of infotainment. What is the gain and how does the perpetrator lower the risks? An advantage (gain) such as a reward for the swindle, can be something other than mere materiality. In the thievery, the environmental opportunity relates to what can be taken from another. Subsequent remuneration can be both physical and non-physical. Scams, schemes, and snake oil stings are everywhere in a bloated culture of consumer gluttony. Such as telling an amatively intriguing story, getting the audience “hooked”, and utilizing cinematic trickery, and marketing entities will want a part of the show. Many people want to believe in things beyond them.

     Belief systems are important, as behaviors transcend communal connections accordingly. For the smoke and mirrors of alleged docudramas, which have nothing to do with proving the evidence, the objective is money-making. Yet, the defrauding does not stop there.  Such is much more sinister in some cases, where social manipulation is part of the mission. Achieving manufactured consent for the collective “mindset” is dangerously tyrannical. And for production value, of course, there is a standard formula for such circus-like antics. Preying on people’s fears, phobias, ignorance, and every other potential anxiety becomes a matter of modern profiteering. In the real world of criminology, there are those who deal with criminality daily. In law enforcement for instance (the practitioners), con artistry is rife across every social form of interactivity. Vigilance and various tactics, techniques, and talents are essential to fool the next target. The ramifications relate to many aspects of human behavior expressive of how people think.

     Thinking is extremely important in terms of eventual behavioral outcomes. As people fool themselves, they are readily receptive to the deception of others if that serves their interests. Where belief trespasses in realms unproved by scientifically validated evidence, warnings often remain ignored. People will believe what they want because that is to their advantage. Such notions are part of an even deeper salacious intricacy of continual self-gratification. Reflecting on that point, one news outlet reviews the worn-out formula in the current realm of several thousand reality TV shows. Vicariously, the wishful thinking of amative carnality penetrates psychic realms in perpetual self-fantasizing.  All too often, seeing is believing but remains deceptively enticing. Pursuing the facts of the case becomes skewed toward bias.

     However, aside from the superstitious primordial simplistic thinking of mainstream culture, what would happen if they (aliens) landed in plain sight? For the news of the day, as a side note, a bear breaks into a house, a wealthy Hollywood celebrity gets a star on a sidewalk, and students on college campuses speak out in favor of terrorism. At the same time, inflation and consumer prices continue to rise as the disparities between rich and poor escalate. Blather from academia degrades the relevance of intellectual advancement and discourse based on facts. Voices of diminished wisdom and maturity of insight echo in the profane incompetence of politicians. Blowhards abound with silly and foolish rhetorical nonsense, scapegoating one fictional excuse after another. With politicians spending beyond budgets in the red, taxes overwhelm taxpayers.  In numerous incidents across bloated government bureaucracies, entrenched minions smugly disregard any semblance of customer service. As elected officials forget who they work for, emotional reactivity instead of factual efficacy panders to a populace woefully regressing.

    A president, who can barely walk from the public’s helicopter across the White House lawn, mumbles a few babbling sound bites. From one old cliché after another, the public is told the next budget request for foreign aid will be an “investment” in the future. The perpetrators of scams know no limits on exploiting the American people's vulnerability. As stupidity is limitless, so is the willingness to believe in magic tricks. From budgetary incompetence to educational mysticism, contrived mythologies from sleight-of-hand instigations perpetuate the fading idealism of the “American Dream”. Across the vast endless superficiality of “mind” numbing social media, including the so-called mainstream news media, child-like verbosity perpetuates the dumbing down of social discourse. Alleged news casts spread propaganda and promoted sales instead of hard-core, timely, and informative information. Watching the media con artistry, noticed the continual stream of three minutes of talking head superficiality, and then three minutes of product marketing. Seemingly, it's all about the debasing carnality of gluttonous consumption.

     While borders fade and illicit immigration escalates, masked tyranny arises from the ashes of once noble and heroic ideals. Every day in the 24/7 infotainment mass of electronic psychobabble, a pod, blog, or other self-serving amative flagellation, aids and abets some spew of regurgitative superficiality. From all the pretentious, inexperienced, and immature “influencers” and the wannabe crime sleuths, the “idiocy virus” spreads far and wide. As “reality TV” scams the viewers, social regression hastens the demise of the human species. From the fluffy, lightweight, imbecilic commentary, social media abounds in blatant superficiality.

     What is the reality of insisting upon a profoundly serious analytic analysis? It is very limited, as critical thinking is a lost art. And to that, who are the real aliens? The earthlings are. In a long-running British television spy show, a character poses a question to an opposing colleague in the espionage business. Succinctly, “historically speaking, do you know who your real enemy is?”  That’s a brief paraphrase of the acting in the storyline. Nonetheless, the question remains. Who is the adversary in the real world and not reality TV? Of serious consequences, the most important antagonist to overcome is the one seen in the mirror every morning. Dealing with him or her, or whichever he or she chooses to be, functions on multiple levels of perception and ideation. An inner realm within an outer realm brings multidimensional complexities. As to a conception that a “war of the worlds” is coming, preceded by an alien invasion, remains the subject of science fiction movies. This of course is storytelling and matters of the imagination.

     As with that 1938 Halloween broadcast, it is in the postmodern world of nonstop fakery. The sleight of hand trickery of one or a group fooling others inspires the never-ending “snake oil” sales of the 21^st century.  Regarding that historic radio broadcast, the savvy investigator might ponder, is fake news any different? Of course not, people have managed to deceive each other for centuries.  And with that, has the public’s reaction changed? No, not much, maybe worse, and that incident nearly a century ago showed how easily an entire culture is tempted toward idiocy. To rattle the mainstream, as suggested by one author writing about a “sissy nation”, American society has become a culture of wimps. As to this notion, exceptions apply to first responders, the U.S. military, and allied logistical personnel. People who serve their country and community generally have a different mindset. There are of course meaningful exceptions.

     No doubt there are always exceptions. As to the 90% or more of the population, most do not serve their country or community. They mostly serve themselves. Of these, cowardice finds many faces. People are very brave sitting behind a computer screen.   Regardless of the idea of an alien invasion, other than that occurring at the U.S. southern border, a key question arises. To begin with, are there aliens out there capable of such things? There are no aliens, as a contemporary paradox challenges the question. A more frightening prospect is the possibility that planet Earth is alone in the galaxy. Another question is, where are they? Do they have such techno capabilities? What about their weaponry? And, if you only have three fingers, as in most sci-fi movies, how do you fly a complex spacecraft? It’s an amative illusion for many, a salacious fantasy for some, and a carnal proclivity for others. Such animations fuel salacious intrigue.

     Once again, the default option with such conjecture falls on the necessity of scientific evidence. And, to that point, there is no scientifically substantiated evidence of any clear and compelling nature. But, consider the possibility. As some have noted, if they come here, they could be dangerous.  If they are a threat, then what are the countermeasures? You encounter them, so what? From many reports, they appear to be oversexed or at least interested in human sexuality. Nonetheless, after a comprehensive study of available data, a recent finding by the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office concludes there is no evidence to support any claims that aliens or their presence exists on planet Earth. As such, no confirmation of alien technology anywhere on the planet is supported by any data. Ongoing For decades since the advent of the Cold War era, no evidentiary artifacts of a substantive and conclusive nature exist.

     Naturally, “reality TV” shows are somewhat concerned. From Hollywood sci-fi movies to books, talk shows, and late-night pods, UFO enthusiasts will continue to monitor the skies and any Navy jet gun cameras. Recent polling data, depending on how the questions are framed, shows that at least 50% believe aliens exist and have visited Earth. Some continue to believe they’ve been abducted.  As to the persistence of believability fostered by story-telling and movie-making, there is a lot of money to be made in mass marketing. From faux fame and fortune to glamor and glitz, many wannabes permeate the airways and internet. It’s a turn-on and reaches deep within the recesses of sexual proclivity. As an expression of internal “warfare” with oneself, searching for authenticity, such lingers along the neural conduits of amative psychodynamics. Salacious proclivities give release, escapism, and alternative expression in the emotional reactivity of the unknown, the mysterious, and shadowy realms of dark specters.

     In the psychic exploration of individuality, people manifest their evolving or devolving sensate lasciviousness into diverse expressions. Agree or disagree, this discourse is not particularly concerned. As everyone is potentially different from another, people tend to project their desires onto something like aliens to experience their fantasies. Fantasies are a good thing. Harming others as a result is not a good thing.  Projecting these inner manifestations salaciously engages exposure to the unconventional, the taboo, and the abnormal. Additionally, it is a means to exploit personal presence further to validate one’s sense of reality. For many, it's a means to find a higher notion of validation in feelings and overall meaning about themselves. Regardless, the earlier aforementioned polling data is about five years old and was up nearly 10% over previous surveys. Recently, new survey data suggest that the number has increased even more.

     According to informational sources of late, it is estimated that 65% of the public shares beliefs about aliens. Most of those who believe in the “alien invasion” theory do not think space visitors are a national security threat. That ought to be an early warning as to the threat vulnerability of mainstream society. Additionally, as a side note, aiding foreign adversaries, especially the ones on this planet, is potentially a problem. A review of numerous studies suggesting IQ levels are falling in the U.S. could infer a relationship to increasing beliefs in UFOs piloting by aliens. Added to that might be the trend in what some call an erosion of truth. Also comes the observation, based on those assertions, that facts blur to fictional constructs that reinforce emotional reactivity. With the abundance of science fiction in the vast reaches of infotainment, facts may easily fade to exaggerations of imaginative distortions.

     Naturally, an argument ensues as to any validity of such conjecture. Regarding human behavior in general, conflicting research does not provide comprehensive and definitive data. Human thinking is complicated. A connection between intellectual capacity and competency to think analytically, and decreased expression of "magical thinking", has been suggested. However, no hard-core scientific viability substantiates evidentiary sufficiency. Some researchers cite a relationship between lower intelligence levels and higher paranormal beliefs. Yet, follow-up studies found limited justification for sustaining such distinctions.  A "war of the worlds" fascination, as well as fixation, seems to reflect mainstream oversimplification of natural phenomena. Of things not easily explained, social media "influencers" embellish in order to express various insecurities. In a major publication on the scientific evidence of "alien trespassing", many credible scientists argue against such a possibility.

     Misdirection, sleight of hand, and exploitive sensationalism by news media, social media, and alleged podcasting "experts" is a familiar saga of cultural storytelling. The collective disinformation moves from one platform to another. As though cut, pasted, and templated, the same blather shows up across the internet with mundane similarities. Mimicking each narcissistic reflection, the superficiality of various information sources conveniently avoids evidentiary credibility. Fueling the consumptive appetites for egregious self-interests in a gluttonous consumer society, an anti-science air invites limited intellectual stimulation. Meanwhile, cognitive biases for the satiation of amative desires in subjective validation clamor loudly across the social spectrum. Incessant concern in the promotion of personal opinion, absent evidentiary substantiation, degrades the efficacy of interpersonal communication interactivity.