Brief Overview of Identified Flying Objects

Identified Flying Objects represents a unique examination of long-term evolutionary change in human biology, culture, and technology, as it pertains to the question of “UFOs” and “Aliens.” This study carefully considers the possibility that the individuals described in reliable reports of close encounters, may represent our distant human descendants, returning from the future to visit and study their own evolutionary past.   

By reexamining this subject in the context of a falsifiable theory, which has undergone rigorous scientific scrutiny, the objective is to begin a new and more informed discussion among believers and skeptics alike.  

As an anthropologist who has worked on and directed numerous archaeological digs in Africa, France, and throughout the United States, it is easy to conceptualize just how much more could be learned about our own evolutionary history and the ecology of the past if we currently possessed the technology to visit past periods of time.  This would undoubtedly facilitate in-depth, in-person analyses of the enigmatic, non-preservable aspects of our hominin ancestors. Furthermore, with the accelerating pace of change in material science, technology, and engineering, it is likely that future humans will develop the knowledge and machinery necessary to return to the past.   

Earlier groups can only comprehend the biology, culture, and technology of these Extratempestrials in a limited capacity, as we represent a more primitive stage of their ancestral past. However, through a comprehensive analysis of consistent patterns of long-term biocultural change in human evolution, and recent advances in our understanding of time and time travel, we should consider the possibility of Extratempestrial visitors in the context of this currently unexplained phenomenon.  

Many changes characterize human evolution, but it is primarily tenacious shifts toward habitual upright walking, changes in brain size and shape, facial reduction, reduced body hair, higher intelligence, and the development of increasingly complex tools and culture that most define our lineage. These changes occurred throughout hominin evolution, and have persisted despite marked modification to our subsistence strategy, climate, ecology, environment, and system of social, economic, and political organization.   

Furthermore, from credible reports provided by sound-minded individuals who have experienced a close encounter, the visitors observed are ubiquitously described as bipedal, hairless, human-like beings, with large brains, large eyes, small noses and mouths, culture, social organization, the ability to breath our air, communicate with us in our own languages, and who possess technology advanced beyond, but clearly built upon our own.   

Coupled with a thorough understanding of the past and modern human condition, these accounts point to the continuation of established biological and cultural trends here on Earth, long into the distant future.