I’m a huge skeptic, but I’ve been following this very closely over the past few months. Fermi’s paradox has two good answers — we don’t see aliens because they don’t exist, or we don’t see them because they are here already. They should be here already. The paradox is about why we don’t see them. Being skeptical is different than doubt-by-default. A skeptic is curious and slow to judge. So with great curiosity, I’ve dug deep into the rabbit hole. It appears that the vast majority of those in “ufology” are in it for the money. Many claims about extraterrestrials also veer off into the supernatural. Conspiracy theories have a funny attraction to one another, creating clumps of exuberant irrationality. But the recent case of David Grusch and the rebranding of UFOs as UAPs and aliens as NHI (non human intelligence), are a sign that clear (but skeptical) thinking is growing on this topic. Grusch isnt (yet) making money off this. He appears entirely trustworthy in a way that is off-color for this topic. Assuming he isn’t a world class con playing the long-game, his credibility suggests three possibilities: 1. He has bad data, by accident or incompetence 2. He has bad data, by purposeful deceit 3. He has good data. The cool thing about Grusch is he doesn’t claim to have first-hand knowledge. He claims to have the names of people who do, and the locations associated with the “crash-retrieval” program. What’s more likely, that there is no other intelligent life in the galaxy, or that an advanced civilization that has been around for eons isn’t all that interested in engaging with the local wildlife? The most credible UAP reports don’t involve the fantastic stories of abduction, crop-circles, ancient pyramids, etc. The credible reports have what appear to be reconnaissance craft with a strong interest in the military and nuclear weapons. In short, it’s worth supporting Grusch and having his names and places checked out. The answer to Fermi’s paradox is an important one for humanity — as central as whether the sub revolves around the earth or the earth revolves around the sun. At the very least, we should be curious skeptics. As the head of the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), Sean Kirkpatrick, said recently, “wouldn’t that be fun?” if we discovered evidence we were not alone.