Could the UFOs be from superintelligent deep-sea species?

Written 25 June 2021

If you’re at all interested in the current flurry of UFO revelations like I am, you’ve probably kept close attention to the news that’s been coming out in recent years. It started with a series of three videos released by the Pentagon in late 2017 that show Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) spotted by US Navy pilots during training exercises. It’s important to note that while the images themselves seem quite simple, they are actually using very advanced technology that tracks objects very far away and moving very fast, not only from what can be seen in the visual spectrum of light, but also things like heat signatures and radar. I won’t go into too much detail why I believe these aren’t simply just non-artificial aerial phenomenon, but I will try to prove why they are artificial with this point: these objects are jamming the electronic systems of US Navy pilots, something that is not known to happen naturally and is regarded as a deliberate act of war. In other words, if Russia or China jammed our military electronics systems, it would be a declaration of war (See Cmdr. David Fravor’s podcast with Joe Rogan for more info). This proves, in my opinion, beyond reasonable doubt that these are artificial craft engineered by a highly intelligent species.

So, now that we have that out of the way, I’d like to discuss my thesis for this article: the possibility that these are not extraterrestrial craft, but they are also not human and not beyond our dimension. Note, I don’t have any evidence for this, nor does anybody, I am simply pointing out a possibility based on what we know about evolution and the extant species we have observed on our planet. Now, where might these vehicles comes from? First, with the constraints stated in the first paragraph, let us try to figure out where a species of this type may reasonably exist on our planet. While it is remotely possible that this species may live in some extremely remote part of our planet, as the word remote suggests, this is highly unlikely. The chances that humans would not have spotted them by now, whether the creatures themselves or the products of their existence (ie. pollution, technology, etc), is extremely unlikely. We have explored even the most remote lands on earth, whether in person, or by air travel, or from space observation. So, where else could they be? The only other possibility is underwater.

The oceans make up about 70% of the earth’s surface. If you want to get a mental image of how large they are, open Google Earth and zoom out until you can see the spherical planet. Hover over the Pacific Ocean, and if you center around the right area, you will see something like you see below. A vast ocean with little land in sight..

I like to use this example because many do not realize how vast the oceans are without this image. Now imagine the irony that we have spent more time and energy to explore outer space than we have the ocean. We obviously have more information about space than the ocean, simply because space is infinitely larger, but the point I am making is about how little attention we pay to the ocean. There are probably tons of species that we have no clue exist, not just minor insect-like ones, but also large and possibly intelligent ones. These species would have also spent a much longer time in the evolution process than land species have, as the majority of life in early earth history was to be found underwater. In short, there is a vast amount of possibilities that we have not explored under our oceans.

So we have established how little we know about the oceans and the possibility of creatures existing beyond our spectrum of knowledge inside the oceans. Now, lets discuss what we do know. Some of the smartest creatures on the planet don’t live on land, but in the oceans. These include mammal species like dolphins and whale and also invertebrate mollusks like squid and octopi. I would like to focus on the latter as they are particularly interesting and also particularly unusual to us. Octopi are incredibly intelligent creatures, and while it would be a mistake to assign IQ scores to them, it is reasonable to say that in many aspects of intelligence we measure, they not only match us, but also surpass us, particularly in spatial reasoning and logic. They are incredible creatures that have shocked scientists who have studied them, where the octopi often trick their handlers and are known to escape often from their enclosures. We know they are intelligent, but why don’t they have civilization? Why don’t they have technology like we do?

Think for a second what it requires for a human to drive a car (beyond obvious physical requirements). First, he would need to be intelligent enough to make quick judgments in traffic. That’s something that can be taught and trained, but it requires inherent logical thinking skills (which we know octopi have) and as such, the ability to do as much would be a constraint. Now, as far as operating the vehicle, he would probably require some instruction and prior knowledge. Give a caveman keys to a car, and he probably will eventually figure out how to drive, but it will take him much longer than simply showing and teaching him. This is essential, as what you have is the passing of knowledge from one person (whether physically or through a manual) to the other. This is quite simple, and even people with below average intelligence can figure it out. Now think of the vast amounts of research and knowledge that went into building the car in the first place. First, the wheel had to be invented, then a vehicle with wheels attached, then a vehicle that runs with its own energy, then discovering the chemical formula to create that energy, then building all the systems and parts that make the car safe to operate, etc. What you have is the knowledge of hundreds of thousands of engineers over centuries (millennia if we take the wheel and simple vehicles into account). When you drive a car, you are literally riding on the hard work, knowledge, and ingenuity of multiple generations of science and engineering. You don’t have to build your own vehicle and run it. If we took an average person and told him to build a car from scratch (providing he has the supplies to build it), he would not be able to figure it out. Imagine asking a caveman to do the same, it would be even less likely!

So what we have established here is an essential requirement for civilization: knowledge sharing. It is from this that our society has advanced to its current status, with the also necessary additional component of having an intelligent brain. Now, think of an octopus. There are multiple constraints that prevent an octopus from sharing knowledge with its fellow octopi. First, their lifespan is much shorter than the human one, only 7-10 years (note that even out ancient ancestors often lived to a median age of 72 years). So their ability to spread knowledge is limited by their lifespan, reducing their opportunities to spread it and also reducing the amount of time spent learning experientially. Second, octopi are largely asocial creatures who live solitary lifestyles. A necessary prerequisite to sharing knowledge is being a highly social species, able to communicate oftentimes highly complex concepts to a fellow member of your species. Octopi don’t have that, and while they do show signs of being able to learn, they don’t teach other octopi very much. By having a system to share knowledge, you are essentially creating a megabrain that lasts much longer than an individual human brain, is able to store vastly more knowledge, and is also able to solve complex civilizational problems that an individual human may not be able to.

We know that octopi don’t have this “megabrain” structure that humans have, but is it possible for other species in the oceans to have it? We know that there are species of mollusks like long-arm squid that live deep in the ocean and are rarely spotted by humans. It is therefore possible that there are species living even deeper. Given the constraints that they would have to have living such deep in the oceans, they would have to be exceptionally gifted hunters in order to survive and may indeed be intelligent enough to harvest food on their own (whether plant or animal). Knowing that humans developed their intelligence in difficult survival conditions where we had to adapt to changing environments and learn to fend off much larger and stronger prey, it’s possible that such conditions exist deep in our oceans. We don’t need to prove it though, because we know octopi developed in similar conditions. The additional component is having a highly prosocial species. The survival conditions required in such environment would probably encourage such behavior. They may not form dense societies, but they may be able to communicate over large distances (maybe with bioluminescence because of the darkness there) and learn from each other on how to find food sources. Eventually, they would have likely figured out how to harvest food, and formed their own agriculture. From here, they can develop larger societies and share knowledge at a higher rate. From here, civilization may be able to develop.

Something that makes this possibility quite interesting is the fact that ocean life has existed much longer than land life. Given the first terrestrial lifeforms came about 430 million years ago and multicellular life began in the oceans about 200 million years before that, there is a possibility that a deep sea civilization — were it to exist — had a head start millions of years ahead of us suggests a development level far beyond ours. In fact, it would be so advanced that we may not even be able to recognize it and it would probably produce little pollution that we can see. It might also expand beyond the physical body, with the consciousness of these creatures being transferred to a self-sustaining technology that contains its neural network. Thus, it might enter a simulation on a civilizational scale, but would obviously maintain a method of looking to its external environment to prevent threats to its survival (this is in fact one proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox). Such a possibility would explain why we do not see evidence of such life — except for perhaps UFO sightings.

One of the common themes of the US military’s UFO/UAP reports if that they seem to have some sort of presence in and fascination with the water. The objects are able to travel through between sea and air with no disturbance, and there are multiple reports of them emerging out of the water. Furthermore, there also reports of underwater objects spotted by submarine radar — appropriately called Unidentified Underwater Phenomenon — which are also being studied by the Department of Defense. The fact that they are much more frequently spotted by the navy than anybody else (when considering credible reports) might be explained by advanced underwater life. Another topic of interest for these objects is nuclear technology that we possess. How would they have known about this? Simply because the majority of our nuclear tests were done underwater off ashore atolls in the Pacific Ocean. Surely, a civilization like that described above would be concerned with nuclear explosions happening in the water and would investigate it and the threat it may pose. It would explain why they appear to be interested in our nuclear technology, both in the sea and on land.

Such a possibility is not as exciting as aliens from another star system or galaxy visiting us, but it would be equally intriguing in my opinion. It also might be able to explain some of the physical limitations we know about in physics. Trans-light travel is impossible as we know it, and we have no known mechanism for inter-dimensional travel that would bend spacetime allowing for interstellar travel (there is the possibility of wormholes, but we don’t know if it’s feasible). It would also explain why it appears in the oceans, as described above. There are certain limitations too. First, we don’t know for certain if underwater civilization can exist and what I described is simple a possibility. Furthermore, there is no evidence that such a civilization exists. This could be explained, however, by the simulation hypothesis (not the universe one) described above as a solution to Fermi’s Paradox. Such a civilization may have at one point established bases on land, but it may have abandoned them millions of years ago as they went into their simulation, perhaps preferring to use drones to explore land regularly. Such evidence would have faded long ago according to the Silurian hypothesis, which states the possibility of a civilization existing in the far past but there is no way for us to know about it. Ultimately, this is simply a possibility and a thought experiment on my part. We don’t know where these objects come from, what they are, and what their purpose is. But it is a possibility that we should consider, if experts consider it feasible.

As such, wherever these objects come from, or whatever they are, there is a possibility that we may never know. Even if my hypothesis is correct, these species would probably have no interest in directly communicating with us. Their main goal would be to ensure that we are not a threat, and if they deem us a threat, they would likely be able to neutralize us without any difficulty. If they want to communicate directly with us, they may not know how to do so, despite their advanced technology. Their intelligence may be very advanced in several capacities, but they may not have the capability to directly communicate with an alien species. They might be trying to find ways to communicate with us, either through shows of force or by making their presence felt or known, but we may not be recognizing it fully. Or maybe they are simply afraid of us? They don’t want to be discovered, but want to make sure they keep an eye on us to prepare for what we might do. They may not have the means to respond to a threat by us but are looking to develop the mans in case we become a threat. Or maybe they are waiting for the right time to communicate? There are so many possibilities, I can’t answer it with any certainty.

Regardless, the ultimate reality is we don’t know, but we should examine multiple possibilities, whether it be of extraterrestrial, trans-dimensional, or deep-sea origin. On a side note, we should also look into reducing pollution into the waters, because who knows, we might make the deep-sea aliens angry? 😛 Or stop it either way to preserve the rich life that exists underwater that we don’t even know about, not to mention the impact it would have on us. Just a thought 🙂