By NeilA

Alien Life Found!

The Viking Missions

“Alien Life Found” should have been the title of a news report in 1976 regarding the Viking Missions landers. Unfortunately, due to our level of understanding of the chemical reactions recorded, and the results obtained at the time, the soil was deemed to be dead. No sign of life or, more hopefully, inconclusive.

However, Joop Houtkooper from Justus-Liebig University in Giessen Germany, has gone over the evidence and believes that the Viking spacecraft did actually encounter life. A strange life form based on hydrogen peroxide. Download the research paper here: Arxiv.org pdf

Further research suggests that at least 0.1 percent of Mars land could harbor biological life. Maybe more.

Now that scientists are widening their scope of what is considered life, thanks to unusual bacteria surviving in the most inhospitable regions on Earth, it’s highly likely that NASA did discover life on Mars in 1976. (Extremophiles Las Cumbres Observatory)

Unfortunately, until the Mars 2020 mission gets there to find additional evidence, it’ll stay as ‘inconclusive’.

Alien Life Found rating: 87%

234 Alien Signals

Ermanno Borra and Eric Trottier have claimed, after analyzing 2.5 million stars in a number of galaxies, that 234 of them seem to be emitting regular pulses of light. As the stars of those systems are similar to our own, the researchers suggested the possibility that the pulses are laser messages from aliens.

The Breakthrough Listen project backed by Stephen Hawking turned its attention to these stars in an effort to figure out whether they are indeed message pulses, or whether there is a new star reaction that scientists aren’t yet aware of.

This project is still ongoing. However, the Breakthrough Listen project does give these results a Rio scale of 0 to 1, so maybe not. Read the accessible write up at (Futurism)

Alien Life Found rating: 27%

Alien Megastructure Star

KIC 8462852, known as Tabby’s Star, features some strange dimming and lightening of its light, and a slow reduction of its overall light over several years. While this may be able to be explained by a massive storm of comets constantly hitting the star, or even a ring of matter, a slightly more wilder and more interesting theory is that a megastructure is slowly being built around it. Perhaps even a Dyson Sphere. If the star completely disappears in the next 10 years, then this explanation will gain greater weight.

However, recent scientific research has confirmed that it is actually really fine dust. Sadly. More details at this (news.com.au) write up.

Alien Life Found rating: 0%

Alien Life Found on the International Space Station

Russian cosmonauts, on a number of occasions, have been able to swab bacteria, and even things higher up the chain like plankton, from the outside of the ISS. Are they coming from space? Or are they more likely being dragged up to lower Earth orbit by air currents? Or simply brought there by successive astronauts on their tablets? Hardy bacteria can survive just about anywhere, so it’s more likely that anything found in lower Earth orbit is from Earth. A great write up is at (National Geographic.)

Maybe the atmosphere extends a lot further for microbes, and there could even be a network of microbial space traveling currents between Earth and the Moon. I personally like the idea that space is just a huge bacteriological soup and not finding life somewhere is the more likely scenario. All those new viruses and bacteriological infections that appear out of nowhere probably simply floated down. (Wikipedia Panspermia)

Unfortunately, as much as I’d love to believe it, I don’t think the cosmonauts found ‘alien’ microbes. Even if they’re unrecognisable, maybe they found some old Earth microbes we haven’t had the chance to study yet.

Ancient Aliens TV Show finds Extraterrestrial Bacteria

This was also explored in another way recently in an episode of Ancient Aliens. A weather balloon was sent up, and the microbes brought back were ‘confirmed’ as alien, purely due to their size. This has yet to be scientifically disproved, (inconclusive) but knowing that plankton can exist on the outside of the ISS suggests just about anything can be floating about in lower Earth orbit.

Until I can see conclusive results of a sample of something containing DNA made from something other than adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C) or even something alive with no recognisable DNA, I’ll be crossing my arms and frowning.

Alien Life Found rating: 27%

Octopuses (Octopi) are aliens

Nope. Unfortunately. Or, if they are, so are we all, as they appeared in Earth’s history around 135 million years ago, and we probably started eating them about a million years ago. (Independent.co.uk) has a good write up.

Alien Life Found rating: 0%

Official Alien Life Found? Not yet, but we’re ready.

So, at this stage, it is just the 1976 Viking Mission results that give the highest possibility of proof. And I’m really excited by the idea of a hydrogen peroxide based bacteria.

Now that plumes of water have been confirmed as coming from Jupiter’s Moon Europa (abc.net.au) , TESS has been launched to look for more exoplanets (Aljazeera), and (NASA) has its Mars 2020 plan to look for alien life on the planet, it’s just a matter of time before we know for sure.

I guess the governments of the world have decided that humanity is now ready, and there’ll be an ‘official’ announcement with scientific proof in 2020.

Finally!

Posted on May 21, 2018Updated on May 21, 2018

Articles, Parallel Worlds and Alternate Realities, Science

When Parallel Realities Become Mainstream

By NeilA

When Parallel Realities Become Mainstream

Parallel Realities and Alternate Worlds

One of the things in science fiction that has fascinated me for a long time is the concept of parallel realities. Until recently, it has just been a fictional idea, perhaps one where all our alternate selves are evil and have goatees. Yes, even the women.

Stephen Hawking and Thomas Hertog

Now, however, Stephen Hawking and Thomas Hertog have been able to prove with mathematics that there are, indeed, multiple universes. They were even able to indicate ways we can build research stations in space to be able to detect them.

The late Stephen Hawking had also theorized that black holes could be a place that easily connects you to an alternate reality. However, being crushed to the size of atoms, and having just the record of me pop out the other side, doesn’t sound so enticing.

Portals to Other Dimensions

Ancient Alien theorists suggest these doorways to alternate realities are everywhere, and all we need is the right frequency to access them. No massive black holes required.

Sounds good to me.

And, in esoteric circles, there is a belief that each Planck second is static, and that it is only our consciousness, passing through billions of these static parallel worlds a second, that makes reality look like it’s moving. So, we’re already in a parallel reality, and again, and again.

Sounds even better!

It looks like accepting parallel realities as fact is a bold new change to our perception of the world. I, for one, welcome our new alternate reality friends.

But, where will this lead? Will I be able to say ‘Sorry, I haven’t had time to read your book yet, but my other me has, and he thought it was great!’? That would save a lot of embarrassment at parties!

Alien Characters

Awhile ago, I released a series called Alien Characters, (friendly aliens for children) Two of the books had alternate realities as the main theme.

In Alien Rex, Alien Rex takes people on tours to alternate realities in their street, but runs into a consortium of Alien Rexes across space / time (at the local mall) that want to prevent him from taking all their customers.

In Alien Jack, Alien Jack needs Alien Rex’s help to find out why there is such a terrible radiation leak that seems to be coming from nowhere. Alien Rex discovers it is a radiation leak across multiple realities bleeding into this one, and takes Alien Jack through several parallel world doorways, with the leak getting stronger, until they find… 😉

Science Fiction Weekly

And, one of my most popular short stories, (based on reader traffic on various sites) is Interrelations. I’ve put it on this site for you to enjoy for free. Or, you can get one for your ebook here for about US0.99 Science Fiction Weekly #6 Interrelations

In it, Cindi is a trade negotiator, and swaps bodies with another version of herself to complete a trade with another version of herself. However, she finds that her alternate self doesn’t treat her body as well as she would have liked while she’s not using it, and that her boss is deliberately sending trade girls to different realities to swap with particular versions of themselves who are already having a relationship with the boss in that world. She’s also approached by a dayer, who needs her help to find out why there is an ongoing destruction of multiple Earths, with hers being next. After that, it gets complicated!

If you have a moment, please read Interrelations and let me know if there are any other books out there that similarly deals with the complexity of multiple realities. But if you don’t have time, please ask one of your other selves who might have already read it and can answer. Would love to read their thoughts, though, I guess, being from parallel reality, the story might be better written than the one in this one, so the review may not count. 😛

Posted on May 21, 2018

Aliens, Articles, VR TV

Vriter Notes. Writing Science Fiction for VR TV. Extending the Life Span of your Story.

By NeilA

Vriter Notes. Writing Science Fiction for VR TV. Extending the Life Span of your Story.

One of the things I’ve said to science fiction writers just starting out is that you need a future proof game plan for your stories. You don’t want your stories to date too quickly. If you plan to stay a writer and not move into script editing, you might find these tips useful. If you have any other suggestions as to how to make sure a story doesn’t get dated, besides constantly reediting it, please leave a comment below.

Make your story as disconnected from the present as possible

Generally, if you write it well, it’ll have about a fifty year life span. If you write it with only limited reference to the present, it might even have 100 years. If you use science that has no possibility of being replicated in the near future, you might even get your story to 200 years. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, also known as The Modern Prometheus, is 200 years old this year. First published 1st January 1818. And humans still haven’t been able to put together a pseudo human from multiple parts from a variety of bodies, and resurrect it. Though, there is a lot more to this story than just that, but it’s a good example of a story that can withstand the march of time.

Choose your characters’ words carefully

Unfortunately, sometimes, the mere fact of being a certain age will date your writing, purely due to the kinds of words you use. In 2018 what words should characters use to show appreciation? ‘Incredible’ in their 70s, ‘Cool’ or ‘Sick’ in their 50s, ‘Awesome’ or ‘Winning’ in their 30s… But when someone reads that story in 2038 they’re going to feel all the characters sound weird. Cool, huh?! Best avoided. Choose a generic exclamation for your characters so that it becomes background. Battlestar Galactica did this with ‘frak’ , Red Dwarf with ‘smeg’.

Avoid common items from the past

Awhile ago I read a great science fiction story that was written in the 90s. Set hundreds of years in the future, after the Earth had been enslaved by giant space whale like entities, a government representative (?) took a long journey (?) to meet one and while waiting, opened his briefcase (???) After reading that, it took me awhile to get back into it again. A lot more effort was needed to suspend disbelief at that point, but the story got a lot better as it progressed. Most writers struggle with that first chapter and write and rewrite it over and over after writing the rest of the story, so most readers are forgiving. But I thought I’d point it out as, if you happen to include audio cassettes, old music, briefcases, even CDs, in the far future, you’ve already dated it. Best to avoid these things and create new things eg mindview system (instead of audio tapes) space fold storage systems keyed to a thought (instead of briefcases), sounds of the solar winds of Archetan 5 (instead of music) I’m sure you can come up with anything. Basically look at absolutely every item any of your characters use, and make sure none of them have ever existed.

Include aliens, even if it is just a reference

I’ve always loved writing about aliens, and expect that most stories in the future will have them. In the future, when we are working with the millions of alien races in the galaxy, most humans will find any story without an alien in it to be a bit anachronistic, if people are even still reading then. It would be like watching Alien Nation or Buffy and not seeing a mobile phone.

So, I encourage anyone writing science fiction to always include some alien races, even if it is just a reference. You could write a whole story about human habitats if that is your passion, or human-only colonies, without ever having an alien in it, but if you don’t refer to the ‘trade with alien x in the nearby star system’ it’s just going to get dated really quickly once aliens land.

Scientists speculate that we’ll make contact within the next ten years. Some believe we’ll even have an official landing before 2033. Others believe it already happened in the 60s and there is film somewhere to prove it. And even the series Ancient Aliens suggests we’ve always been in contact with them, for at least 500,000 years. Don’t leave out the aliens!

Write (vrite) your scenes with VR TV in mind

If you want to make it easier for a future script writer to discover your story and create an immersive experience from it, think about all your scenes as though there is space in the middle for a constantly moving camera.

I call this ‘vriting.’ (Oh, look, he’s replaced the ‘w’ with a ‘v’ so that the word has VR in it. LOL.)

When you vrite, you should have three things happening in the scene. The camera should be able to be placed in the center of three characters, or two characters and a screen, so that if you were there, with a VR screen, you could turn around and see the characters talking to each other, or turn to see the screen and hear the characters behind you.

As more and more people get immersed in VR, normal writing will seem a bit staid and boring. A character walks down the street? Two characters side by side talking? No, these are less immersive scenes. Not much is going on. New readers will see old stories like this as endless padding. Make sure you have a lot of things going on at once, and you’ll be able to grab the attention of younger readers.

If you’re unsure what I mean, just check out a Marvel movie. The camera rarely stops moving. It is continually tracking moving characters and screens, turning back and forth. Scenes rarely last more than 3 seconds. If you want to write for future generations, take on the vriting style where possible.

There has been a steady decline in reading over the past hundred years, only propped up with the increase in babies being born. Eventually, if we don’t change our writing styles for future generations, readers will continue to disappear. I doubt anyone will be reading books or ebooks in 200 years anyway, so make the most of those remaining upcoming years by writing with VR in mind.

Posted on May 19, 2018

Alien Invasion, Aliens, Articles

Alienophobia

By NeilA

Alienophobia

Fear of Aliens and Alien Invasions

The fear that people feel, who suffer from this affliction, is based on a need to be in complete control of their lives. They don’t want their current life changed or controlled in any way. The idea of an alien invasion fills them with dread.

Of course, with the number of rules and regulations in our lives, the cultural norms we’re expected to follow, the clothes we need to wear, the behaviour we need to display, and the connections with certain types of people we need to make, we really have no control over anything anywhere ever anyway. We just flit from place to place, swapping one net of standards for another, believing that we have some semblance of control. Try to control when the sun comes up, or the weather, or even the time that your train arrives, and you’ll realize how little control you really have. Not to mention that no one can yet make a light saber fly across the room and into their hand.

So, control is already lost anyway. We’d be just passing what we don’t have to someone else.

Invaded thousands of years ago

Some more esoteric texts and fringe beliefs have explored the possibility that we have had an alien invasion in the past. The series Ancient Aliens, alien channelers, and new age belief systems take this as truth.

Ancient Babylonian texts talk of our previous species being visited by a race of aliens called the Annunaki, an alien splinter group intent on taking gold and other minerals from our planet. They reengineered the human race (then homo habilis) to enable them to work better in the mines, and they subjugated us, had children with us, and then were removed from the planet by their own race, who were horrified at what this fringe group had done to the peace-loving homo habilis.

If this is true, then we’ve already been invaded and we are now the invaders, the descendants of the original invaders 500,000 years ago.

So, the invasion has already happened. Nothing more to worry about!

Original humans

(According to some, the original human species, the original custodians of planet Earth, have already advanced to the point of no longer needing to exist in this reality, and flit in and out of our dimension from time to time just for fun. If we ever saw them, we’d recognize them as sasquatch, big foot or yeti.)

As we cannot yet prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt, let’s leave that in the background and move onto the likelihood of a future alien invasion.

Is it worth getting stressed over?

Future Alien Invasions

Firstly, any aliens capable of travelling the galaxy by avoiding the speed of light limitation must be so incredibly advanced to either a) not need our planet or b) be able to invade and take over in moments. There are planets out there, thousands of times larger than ours. If they were full of trillions of aliens bent on control, and physically strong enough to withstand the higher gravity or a larger planet, of course ours would be invaded in moments.

So, if we are going to be invaded, it won’t be the fear-filled, fight-to-the-last-man or woman style alien invasion that the movies portray. It would be simply billions of ships the size of cars landing everywhere, freezing everyone in force fields and subjugating us, probably within about one hour. So, no stress, and we would then humbly greet our new overlords.

Humans wouldn’t be needed

Of course, if an alien wanted Earth and had all the materials it needed to get what it wanted, what would it need humans for? A simple and quick reengineering of the Ebola virus seeded into every cloud would wipe out the entire human race within days. Or perhaps a spray stimulating anaphylactic shock, ending the human race in hours. Or something more dramatic but slow acting like an asteroid. An alien could even easily detect life signs and send out a pulse that disrupted the electrical signals of living creatures. Then use another device to suck them all up and send them into the sun. Really, if they had wanted to do that, it would have happened a long time ago.

We’re still pretty defenseless. Anything from a major solar flare to a large mass passing by would wipe us out, and hyper-advanced aliens have an endless list of extinction events they could draw on. I think a one hour invasion would be too long.

Aliens that want to mine Earth

Why? Hyper-advanced aliens could recombine atoms to create the matter they needed. If there was a rare element that was difficult to make, and I was just looking for planets full of minerals to mine, I’d build another spherical device that was 100 times the size of the one I planned to mine, full of mining equipment, and simply get it to suck in whole planets, extract what I needed and spit out the useless dust. I wouldn’t even think about considering the life signs on the planet. Douglas Adams explored this concept in the story ‘The Pirate Planet‘ in the TV series Doctor Who. Why would you bother with an invasion? Just suck the planet into your mining system, process it, and compress what remained.

No invasion needed.

Alien Tourists

In conclusion, if you are worrying about an alien invasion, I hope these few points might help you to overcome the fear and push forward with enjoying your life. Live in the moment, and don’t get caught up in something that, if it could have happened, would have already happened. It is either highly unlikely to happen or, even if it did, be over in an hour.

Having said that, my personal belief is that any aliens planning to come to Earth will be friendly, peaceful and want to learn more about us. Much like human tourists today.