Michael Shermer is a professional skeptic in the most literal sense. In addition to founding his own society for skeptics, he also founded Skeptic, a magazine dedicated to pushing back on false or unverifiable claims. So naturally, as part of my project looking into the UFO phenomenon ahead of President Donald Trump’s promised disclosure of government files on the subject, I was eager to talk to him.
Agree with him or not, Shermer is a thoughtful and often friendly critic of UFO enthusiasts. He’s even part of the Galileo Project, which is Harvard professor Avi Loeb’s effort to find evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. He’s also out with a new book, Truth: What It Is, How to Find It & Why It Still Matters, in which he ably explains or debunks beliefs and theories he finds unconvincing. Whether you’re a believer or not, the book is well worth your time.
In this interview, which has been edited and condensed, we talk about the possibility of space aliens visiting Earth, why he’s so unconvinced by the UFO evidence we currently have, and why he expects the coming disclosure won’t reveal much of anything. We also discuss the case of the 11 missing scientists that the FBI is investigating, the existence of God and the role of religion in society, and even his own ghost story.
Will Rahn: Let’s get the first question out of the way, the one I’m asking everyone: What should smart people think about UFOs?
Michael Shermer: I start by distinguishing between two different questions. Are they out there somewhere? And have they come here? Almost everybody confuses these two.
When I say I have my doubts that they’ve actually come here to Earth, people tell me, “Oh, this vast universe of trillions of stars and planets, you’re saying we’re alone?”
No, that’s not what I’m saying. They’re probably out there somewhere. But the distances are literally astronomically vast, and the chances of them finding us at the right time and place—it’s just very, very, very unlikely. And the evidence that they’ve already come here is just not very good.
