Experts discuss the UN's role in outer space affairs and the detection of extraterrestrial life, while a journalist shares insights on UFO sightings and the Royal
Transcript
to have the conspiracy theorist for years. And it's come away and non-believer. I always probe pretty hard what kinds of evidence do you have to support this? I have yet to see any. But these veterans insist they have actually seen the proof with their own eyes. Even if they can't say for sure, or what, they actually be out there. Your guess is good as mine and I can't answer that question. In Washington, Tom Vitt's share old Fox five news. It is news to many that the United Nations even has an office for outer space affairs, which is in fact responsible for promoting in its actual cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, joining me now, is author and journalist Nick Pope, who used to run the British Government's UFA project, UFO project. At the Ministry of Defense, thanks so much for joining us. I presume you thought this story was ridiculous from the start? Well, it's half true, you know. The Royal Society had a discussion meeting earlier this year, called the Detection of Extraterrestrial Life and the Consequences for Science and Society. One of the questions asked was, who speaks for planet Earth? And Dr. Osm, an ottoman, simply said, well, it may be the UN office for outer space affairs should have a role in that. That would mean her. It would mean her. So I think what was an intriguing possibility in the mind's eye of the media became a certainty. But scientists are thinking about these sorts of issues. If we pick up a signal, do we reply? If we reply, what should we say? Who replies? Well, people are looking for signals using radio telescopes. If we find one, one of the big issues and Stephen Hawking has talked about this recently. The cameist professor? Absolutely. Has said, well, maybe we shouldn't reply at all because look what happened when the European explorers encountered the Native Americans didn't come off too well for the Native Americans. But all these issues now, the scientific community are beginning to think about this. I think that's interesting. And this is the information that the research coordinated in a way that if a signal did come through, you'd all be discussing it and you put together some sort of response and decide who it would be. Is there any sort of setup or any committee of any kind? Well, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence have something called the declaration protocols, which is really more about verification than anything else. But these issues, these next step issues should we reply? What should we say? The Royal Society is going to be discussing that at their meeting next week, which I'm going to be attending. Okay, and just to give us a bit more background about your experience in this, you were in charge of all of this effectively for the British government. You came to the conclusion, eventually, from an impartial point of view, that there are UFOs likely to come or have come. Well, I'm not sure about that. I convinced, I didn't write off some of these examples. I couldn't write exactly the politicians answer. I convinced there's life out there, not sure if we're being visited, but some of the UFO sightings that we investigated, we couldn't explain and conventional terms. Okay, and so if you had enough resources at the time, how much more would you have researched that? What do you think your conclusion might have been? Well, I don't think there's a manager anywhere in the civil service who wouldn't say, please, can I have more resources if available? I would have liked to have obviously hooked up much more with the astronomical community, and it's interesting, the Royal Society, when it's discussing this, brings together a multidisciplinary group of physicists, cosmologists, but even theologians, social scientists, people are talking about the religious implications of this, even. Okay, so when the Royal Society does meet and discuss it a bit further, do you think there is a will within the scientific, theological communities as it were, to have some sort of representative? It would be the UN, wouldn't it? It probably would have to be the UN. I don't think it could be a political leader. It couldn't be a religious figure. It would have to be someone who could genuinely say, I speak for the people of this planet, and the UN is probably it, which is where we come back to Dr. Arthur, and maybe she is the right choice after all. Who's fighting it? There must be someone fighting it. This is politics after all. Well, I don't know, maybe one of her colleagues was a little bit over enthusiastic about translating this speculation that the UN office, about the space affairs might have a role into a certainty. Promoting the department. Thank you very much. That's great. A lot of people are looking up. It's because of a mystery in the sky. Is it a balloon, a UFO? Whatever it is, it sure has a lot of people talking. I would as usual put a chapter of the Gases live in Chelsea, where crowds have gathered. Jeff, what's this all about? Well, Shade, we don't know quite honestly, and when I got this assignment, I thought for sure, somebody in the newsroom was joking, and it wasn't until we pulled up to this corner and saw the passers by looking up that we realized that, okay, maybe there is something in the sky today. Oh, close. Now, yeah, yeah, you got it. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a... Maybe it's a man. Maybe it's maybe one of the women. You'd rather be wonder over there. There is something up there, and there's been a crowd of people at the corner of 8th and 23rd Street, trying to figure out exactly what it is. Think I see it now. Right over there. Right over there. But there's another one over here. I just... I see those two over there. Earlier today, it was over here. I think it's a balloon. I don't know. You think it's a balloon? Yeah. All right. But then again, balloon goes down still. Maybe we're not all just seeing things. The city is reporting that they've been getting calls about this mystery in the sky to their 3-1-1 line. So far, they don't have an answer. What is that? To that question, either. But what do you think it is? I don't know. You're wrong. You don't want to say it. I'm talking for the mother's shit. Did she find it? Well, still a mystery. We don't know. We did make some calls, and we found out from the FAA that their planes aren't being affected by these white lights. Not that that answers the question. So it remains a mystery. Everybody out here seems to have an opinion on it. I was told that there've been some people out here just standing around looking up for about 45 minutes trying to figure it out. We're live in Chelsea, Jeff Begase, Channel 7, I witness news. Crowds are New York. Have had their eyes to the skies and in an alleged UFO sighting. Doesn't the videos posted online show passers by seemingly staring at a group of unidentified flying objects in the sky over Manhattan. That a mystery to the event is a prediction by a retired air defense officer in a recent book. He claimed that on October 13, the day of the sighting, of course, a fleet of UFOs would hover over the world's principal cities. Many witnesses insist that, indeed, what they were seeing, alien spaceships. While others say it looked more like a group of hot air balloons. I find you. So what is it? What is it? Balloons? Who has the knowledge of the message? I can't see. I can't see. I can't see. Did you get a call set? I don't have a knife. I can't see. Did you film this morning? It's pretty much great. I see. I see. I see one out. I see it. I don't know. I can't see. That's what he has to know. It's not a word. It's a word. That's what he has to know. Yeah. That's what he has to know.