Was That A G-G-G-G-Ghost???

I mentioned in a previous discussion that I seem drawn to writing about things that I do not believe in. I do not believe that there are space aliens cruising around our skies, yet I love writing stories about them. I don't believe in ghosts, yet the supernatural and everything about it fascinates me.

I was recently reading an article on the Cracked.com website that offers an explanation as to why people think they see and feel the presence of ghosts, and that article made a lot of sense to me. Then I read the comments and there were plenty of people saying that they felt the scientific explanation was well-written, but then they went on to say that there are ghosts because they saw one.

The bottom line is - no, you did not see a ghost. I always find it interesting when people point to "pictures of real ghosts" as their evidence. Some of the pictures are extremely convincing. This one here looks like it could be real:

Thanks to Pinterest

Then there are pictures like this one that are passed off as real ghost pictures and I just lose faith in the whole idea:

Thanks to About.com

The second one is obviously a hoax, and the first one is something I could make with the software I have on my computer right now. Some evidence of hauntings can be compelling, but then it falls apart when the truth starts to come out. For example, electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) can be really creepy stuff and there are hundreds of audio recordings of what people say are ghosts all over the Internet. But when you watch enough episodes of Ghost Hunters, you start to realize that EVPs can be faked and capturing one is like capturing lightning in a bottle.

Camera Shy Ghosts

A big problem I have with believing in ghosts comes from the "evidence" that is all over the place. I have watched plenty of documentaries about what are supposed to be real ghosts stories and I have noticed one thing; there never seems to be any video recording equipment or cameras around when the ghost stuff really happens.

For example, one documentary I watched showed 45 minutes of pictures and video footage of ghost hunters hearing strange sounds, seeing things and one even had a rope wrapped around his neck when he went into an attic by himself. The thing is all of that stuff was obviously staged to try and create the illusion that there were ghosts. When it came time for the big payoff at the end, we were told a story about a seance in the house that resulted in ghosts appearing, furniture flying around the room and voices from every dimension. The problem is that this film crew magically forgot to set up their cameras for this seance, so nothing was captured on video or in audio recordings. How convenient.

My point is that all of the "evidence" that supports the idea that there are ghosts is extremely suspect and none of the really good stories we hear are ever backed up by any tangible evidence. When I read the Cracked article, I gained a better understanding as to why people seem to see ghosts in the same buildings, even though those people never met each other before. As for the details about seeing a woman who died in the building decades ago, those can be filled in when the person who said they saw the ghost gets told the stories about the hauntings.

I want to believe in ghosts because the presence of ghosts would indicate another dimension really is out there. If there are ghosts, then a lot of other stories we hear could also be true. But I have a hard time believing in something that can be discredited by science, and just cannot seem to come up with real evidence when it counts.

The Great Question About Visitors From Outer Space

Before we get started, read THIS ARTICLE about the Fermi Paradox. WARNING: There are some adult words in this article, so tread carefully. I'll wait right over here while you read.

Pretty good read, right? It got you thinking about stuff and maybe you even felt that it backed up your feeling that the Earth is being visited by intelligent life. The great thing about this article is that it only offers possibilities and comes to no conclusions. The only conclusion it really puts forth is the author's fear that if we are not alone in the universe, then we are doomed.

I don't think that the question about intelligent life on other planets is a simple yes or no answer. The only simple answer to me is that there is no intelligent life on any other planet in our solar system but our own. I know, I know - there isn't any intelligent life on this planet either. Hardy har har. But the truth is that while there may be simple life forms on Mars or some other planet, there is no other intelligent life in our solar system.

That leads us to my explanation as to what I think is going on out in the vast reaches of space and why I think the likelihood that we will be visited by space aliens is unlikely. You may agree with me, you may disagree with me. Either option is just fine. If you want to discuss this subject, then meet me on Facebook or Twitter. If you want to argue about this by taking the side that your opinion is right and my opinion is wrong, then don't bother.

A Bit Of A Disclaimer

I am not a scientist. I read stuff, I think about stuff and I imagine stuff. The purpose of this discussion is to spur discussions that may be a bit more logical than other discussions I have been a part of on this subject. I will use facts here, and I will use my opinions. If I am wrong about the facts, just let me know and I will see what I can do about that. If you think my opinion is wrong, then you are right. The catch is that your opinion is wrong too. They are opinions. They should be the basis of a good conversation, but not an expression of fact. A good discussion is what I am hoping for with this.

Have Space Aliens Ever Visited Our Planet?

This may shock people who know me, but I do allow for the possibility that space aliens have visited Earth in the past. But the only way I see that working is in the distant, distant past. I am talking the past before humans were here. A past that saw dinosaurs stomping on space aliens that didn't watch where they were going.

Yes, it is possible that space aliens visited us at some point in the past. Our planet is relatively new compared to many other planets in the universe. It is possible that some intelligent form of life visited Earth during the reign of the dinosaurs and then that intelligent form of life went back to its planet and never came back or disappeared. 

No, I do not think that any space aliens visited this planet after man had appeared because if that was the case, then our planet would still be a colony. Why is that? Allow me to explain.

The "Superior Societies Are Jerks" Theory

Most of what I am about to talk about in this section is based on my own observations and opinions. Do with that what you will.

The only real frame of reference we have to work with when we talk about space aliens is the one we already know. Scientists insist that carbon-based life is the only kind of life that can exist. As a science fiction writer, I do not accept that idea. I think that life...uh...finds a way when it wants to. Especially on a whole different planet.

Everything we are looking for in terms of life on other planets is based on everything we know. It is based on the need for water, the need for cells and all of the other things that make human life possible. Scientists seem pretty confident that life on other planets must be like it is here on Earth to be considered life. The fact that I do not subscribe to that idea is not really important here. What is important is that our scientists are looking for Earth-like life on other planets. If that is the case, then let us use humans as the basis for a discussion of life on other planets.

Every single human "society" (I can't think of a better word to describe groups of people, so I will use society) throughout our history that considered itself superior to others has conquered and colonized. For humans, advanced intelligence usually conquered over brute force.When human societies are able to mix brute force with superior intelligence, then you get the societies that find themselves at the top of the global scheme of things.

If superior human societies constantly felt the need to be jerks to everyone else, then I am going to have to assume that alien societies would operate the same way. Since it would have taken a significantly advanced society to be able to master inter-planetary travel to visit Earth in prehistoric days, it is safe to say that those alien societies would have felt superior to any humans they would have found. If humans had been on Earth when superior aliens showed up, the aliens would have colonized Earth (just as human societies colonized the foreign lands they found) and we would probably still be under alien rule today.

While I am fully prepared to accept the possibility that space aliens could have visited Earth, I will never accept that they visited when the Earth was full of vegetation and teeming with potential human slaves. 

Why Space Aliens Don't Visit Us Now

I don't believe that space aliens have ever visited the Earth in modern times. I believe there is a human explanation to every UFO sighting ever recorded, mostly because I believe that all governments hide a lot of stuff from their populations. I don't believe that people are seeing space alien ships in the sky, I don't believe that people have ever been abducted by aliens and I don't believe that people are having meaningful conversations with space aliens.

That being said, I have to admit that I am fascinated with the idea of space aliens and I love writing about it. My lack of belief in the existence of space aliens has not in any way hindered my ability to write books about them. I think that is kind of neat. But the fact that I can write stories about space aliens does not change my beliefs at all. Here are some of the reasons why I don't believe space aliens are making regular trips to Earth.

The "Stopped By Just To Say Hi" Theory

Since I do not believe that there is any other intelligent life in our solar system (and I think most people would agree with that), then we would have to assume that any space aliens that are supposedly visiting us are from another solar system. They may even be from another galaxy. 

Since humans have barely developed the ability to travel to our own moon, you would have to believe that any space alien culture that could travel to Earth is far more intelligent and advanced than we are. This would be a culture that has mastered space travel and can pop around from galaxy to galaxy at will. These would be some pretty smart aliens.

With that in mind, I do not believe that very smart aliens are going to go to all of the trouble to fly around the skies of Earth and never bother to land in a populated area to talk to humans. Even if a superior race of aliens came to conquer Earth, they would know that they would be unable to conquer Earth by taking over a farm in Alabama. Smart aliens would want to either immediately initiate an attack on populated areas, or at least attempt to make contact with large groups of people.

Actually, very smart aliens would gather intelligence by using scout ships to look around and get the information necessary for an attack. Since no supposed alien UFO sighting has ever resulted in an all-out alien assault, then the only other alternative is to believe that the aliens just stopped by to say "hi" and then flew all the way back to their planet. 

Think about it this way. Would you learn how to build an airplane, fuel it up, fill it with supplies and then fly over the ocean to France just to wave to the people from a couple of thousand feet in the air and then come back home? No, you wouldn't. If you went to all of that trouble, you would at least land and talk to someone. You may not have any intentions on conquering France, but you would certainly not go to all of that trouble to just fly over and wave.

The "Tornado Alley" Conundrum

Stories that deal with aliens actually landing in space ships and making contact with humans always seem to come from these desolate farms and other far off places where there are no witnesses and, conveniently, no pictures. People claim to see alien UFOs over big cities, but it seems like these aliens are scared off by the lights and the commotion and never land. Doesn't that sound just a little ludicrous?

As long as the stories about actual contact with space aliens continue to come from Tornado Alley and desolate parts of the country, then I will find them impossible to believe. A space alien that just traveled a few million miles to a new planet is going to make substantial contact with humans in some noticeable way. So far, that has never happened.

The "Yeah, That Could Happen" Theories

Whenever I talk to people about space aliens, there are usually some theories put forth that I could almost get on board with. I have to first explain that I do not dismiss the possibility that there is other intelligent life somewhere in this universe. If you read the Fermi Paradox article, then you saw the numbers and those numbers are kind of hard to ignore.

My theory is that significantly advanced societies have no need to leave their home planets because they have created their own Utopias (as the article suggested). I mean, think about it. If Earth were a perfect place to live, would we really care about life on other planets? Some curious people may wonder about it, but why would we care about the rest of the universe when we would be living in a real Utopia? I mean a real Utopia. Not Arthur C. Clarke's version of a Utopia.

Alien societies that are billions of years ahead of us in their development may have traveled the galaxy a long time ago (see my explanation about dinosaurs stomping on aliens earlier in this article), but they would have stopped all of that when they created their own versions of paradise. The problems for us would come if any of those versions of paradise ever turned sour for a society of advanced space aliens that have the capacity to travel to different galaxies. If they screw up their planet bad enough, then they may want ours. Which leads me to my first "Yeah, that could happen" theory.

These UFOs ARE Scout Ships

It has been shown that mankind has been seeing strange things in the skies for thousands of years. It IS conceivably possible that the unexplained cases of UFOs that people are seeing are actually those scout ships I talked about earlier. They are scouting mankind and looking for the best ways to conquer our planet.

But at the same time, if we have been seeing scout ships for thousands of years, then I have to believe that there is something those ships are seeing that they do not like. If there hasn't been a concentrated attempt to make real contact by space aliens or launch a real attack in thousands of years, then I find it difficult to put a real endorsement on the alien scout ship theory. It could be possible, but it is highly unlikely.

We Are Seeing Drones And The Real Ships Are On The Way

I agree with Carl Sagan when he says that sending radio greetings into deep space when we have no idea what could be receiving those messages is a huge mistake. Some people I have talked to have suggested that advanced cultures are receiving those messages and what we are seeing in the skies are unmanned drones checking out our planet.

Once again, that is a nice theory that I may be able to accept, but the lack of any further contact tells me that either we are safe, or those ain't alien drones. I find it funny that the drones seem to get more advanced in technology as our own technology advances. That, right there, should tell you all you need to know about the alien drones in the sky and help you realize why I dismiss this theory as a real possibility. Once again, it may be happening, but I doubt it.

The Bottom Line

There is so much more I could say about this, but I think I have made my point. Is it possible that there is intelligent life on other planets? Yes, to me that seems possible. Is that intelligent life visiting our planet? No, that to me seems impossible. There is no logical evidence to suggest that advanced alien societies are visiting our planet. None at all.

Is it possible that the ant hill analogy in the Fermi Paradox article is true? Yes, it is. The article suggests that other alien races are so advanced that Earth is like an ant hill and we are the ants. When you walk through the park with your pet, you pay no attention to the ant hills. It could very well be that super advanced aliens in other galaxies are ignoring us because we are too insignificant to show up on their radar. If we ever become significant enough to show up on the radar of an advanced alien race, it could be for the wrong reasons and that would be the end of us.

No matter how you slice it, the chances of us being visited by space aliens are slim to none. But if you do believe that there are alien cultures out there capable of inter-planetary travel, then our chances of being conquered are pretty high. 

The Character I Have Created

My writing tends to be about subjects that I am not a big believer in, which I find kind of weird. For example, the Caleb Devin Chronicles is about a space alien taking over the Earth. I do not believe that there are space aliens coming to take over the Earth, but yet I write about them.

Writers are actors who use a different stage

The next book series I am starting mixes science fiction with religious mythology. While I love science fiction, I am not a religious person. But I still find religious subjects fascinating, and I never seem to run out of ways to twist Christianity to meet my plot device needs.

It also seems to me that the more adamant I am against a subject, the more I enjoy writing about it. I absolutely dismiss the idea that we have ever been visited by space aliens, and I won't be waiting by the television any time soon to watch the big invasion of Earth on CNN. I simply do not believe in space aliens. However, I have a long list of space alien-based stories I will be writing in the future that I am excited about.

When I kind of step outside myself for a little while and examine the way I write, I am able to see that the author in me is a character I have created. The author in me is interested in topics that hold no interest for me under any other circumstances at all. It is the author in me that asks the "what if" questions and always comes back with answers that have to do with space aliens, monsters, demons, angels and holy wars. It could also be that those topics are just cool to write about. 

If you have ever considered writing a story, then remember to open up your mind and be prepared to write the coolest stories ever about things you would normally have no interest in. I think that some of the best writers are different people when they sit down to write stories. Good writers are actually playing a character they created when they write. Is Stephen King really that creepy and spooky in real life? When we saw him do a live reading on the campus of Harvard University, he did not seem that way.

The ability to be someone else and write from a different perspective is one of the biggest attractions for fiction writers. Biographers and non-fiction writers like to deal in facts and get obsessed with presenting information exactly as it is found. I don't think that biographers have that author character they play when they sit down to write. Biographers and non-fiction writers seem to me to be very straightforward people, which goes with the territory.

Fiction writers in any genre tend to adopt an author character that will write about many things that the writer would normally want nothing to do with. Some fiction writers have several author characters they play, which strikes me as confusing. I play one author character and it is a character that is completely different from my real personality. That is one of the many things that makes writing fiction so much fun,

Connecting With Your Community

I was reading over some of the news websites and I could not help but think of how depressing the news has been the past few years. With riots all over the country and random mass murders taking place, it can make the future seem pretty bleak.

In the wake of this type of news, I started to wonder what anyone could do to put a stop to all of this senseless violence. Can we elect public officials who can take action? Should we consider new laws to try and disarm criminals who tend to ignore the law in the first place? Is there any point in even leaving the house anymore?

Then it occurred to me that a problem this big cannot be tackled all at once. There was a time in the United States when people were proud of where they were from. Teenagers got involved in high school sporting events with rival schools because they wanted to show off their school colors. It seems like, as people become more detached from each other thanks to mobile technology, this notion of pride in one's community is lost. People just don't care about where they live anymore, and it is causing the fabric of our society to unravel.

If you want to make this country a better place, then start with the community right outside your door. Don't worry about cities and towns hundreds of miles away, because those places do not directly affect your quality of life. You should work with your neighbors to make your town a better place, and the rest will take care of itself.

The United States is a place where small towns are supported by small businesses. More people work for small businesses than for large corporations by a large margin, and more people live in small towns than in big cities as well. If we can start sewing back together the fabric of our small town society, then maybe the rest of the problems will start to take care of themselves.

Perception Tainted By Delusion

Anyone who knows me knows that I follow the situation with North Korea pretty closely. I do it because I am constantly amazed at how the Kim Jong-Un government persists on being a good example of perception tainted by delusion. North Korea has no money, is low on food, and has what can best be described as a rudimentary military. Yet, Kim Jong-Un insists on trying to get attention on the world stage by pushing his country closer and close to war with South Korea and the United States.

I would imagine, although I do not know for sure, that North Korea feels that China would assist if hostilities ever broke out on the Korean peninsula. But I also have to believe that China's current economic crisis and the fact that Kim Jong-Un has basically brought this trouble on himself would make China prefer to sit any conflict out. Without China, North Korea is essentially helpless, but yet that is not the way Kim Jong-Un sees things.

He has a large military with a significant number of troops, but I look at the North Korean army in the same way that I looked at the Iraqi army. Each army was a collection of a lot of people who were not properly trained, malnourished, and ill-equipped to fight a war. A ground assault against North Korea would probably last the few weeks that it took the U.S. military to get into Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein's government.

In this instance, the lead force attacking North Korea would be South Korea. The Korean War is the war that never ends and, unfortunately, it looks like any ending to this conflict would come at a great cost to the North Korean people. This is a population that is brainwashed into thinking that the United States is just waiting to attack and that Kim Jong-Un is the greatest leader in the world. It is a perception tainted by delusion.

As Kim Jong-Un moves his country closer to a conflict it simply cannot win, I have to wonder how much of Kim's perception is tainted by delusion as well. I would think that, if there is real intelligence to gain on the United States and South Korea, that Kim Jong-Un has access to some of it. But yet he insists on threatening the United States and taking pot shots at South Korea.

I feel sorry for the people of North Korea because there is no way this can end well for them. They are already starving and now they may have to put up with having their homes destroyed and their lives disrupted thanks to the delusions of their leader. In the end, Kim Jong-Un is just another person who proves that perceptions tainted by delusions can not only be wrong, they can be really dangerous as well.

Caleb Devin Book 2 - Trying Out The Interview Format

The entire Caleb Devin Chronicles started out with an idea to have an official interview transcript that involved an interview with a real space alien. I figured that there was an interview with a vampire, so why not a space alien? I just kind of took the idea from there and introduced our bad guy in Book 1. From there I released the interview transcript in Book 2.

After the release of Book 1, I started to realize that using an interview transcript format would be a risk because someone reported Book 1 to Amazon because I did not indent my paragraphs. I am fully prepared for another complaint about the format of Book 2, but I do put a warning in the description for Book 2 that it is not a typical book with all indented paragraphs.

Before I started writing Book 2, I actually did a ton of research on what is included in interview transcripts and what they look like. I learned that each company does transcripts differently, but there was a popular format they all used. Some companies include the material that was edited out of the interview in their transcripts, and some leave the edited material out. To give myself a chance at keeping some of the plot line of the overall story hidden, I decided to leave out edited material in my transcript.

I like the way Book 2 came out and I think it sets up the rest of the series very well. I tried to refrain from revealing too much of the story line in the narrative that follows the interview transcript, but I admit that I wound up putting in way more than I had intended. Still, the overall result was pretty good and I hope the audience likes it.

I am not sure when Book 3 will be coming out, but I can tell you that I have several aspects of the Caleb Devin Chronicles that I want to explore in depth in upcoming installments. I wish I could have just let this one follow its path naturally, but I kind of cheated and mapped the whole thing out right to the end. I hope everyone likes it and I hope you take the time to read books 1 and 2 and leave me some feedback.

Next up are a few projects that include a book with my dear friend Kevin McCarthy that I have been looking forward to starting for two years. Kev and I are both extremely excited about this project and I only hope that I can do it justice.

Thanks for your support and I hope to hear from you soon!