为什么聪明的人类会谎报外星人遭遇？

    几十年来，天文学家、天体物理学家和像外星情报研究所这样的非营利组织一直在外太空搜寻生命的迹象，迄今为止还是空白。

    每年，世界各地的人都会讲述数以千计的外星人绑架或星际通信的故事。然而，尽管大多外星人绑架的故事来自于那些患有精神疾病或渴望在某些方面得到关注的人，但偶尔会有具有政治影响力的人做出这样的声明。

   Astronomers, astrophysicists, and nonprofits like the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute have been scouring the skies for signs of intelligent life for decades, and have thus far come up blank. Every year, thousands of stories of supposed alien abduction or interstellar communication emerge from citizens around the world, though just about all of them are dismissed by the scientific community outright for lack of evidence. Yet while most stories of alien abduction emerge from those who are either mentally ill or desirous of attention in some regard, occasionally someone with political clout makes such claims — as the former head of an Israeli space agency did last week when he announced that human beings have made direct contact with extraterrestrials. 

   宇航员、天文物理学家和像外星情报研究所这样的非盈利机构数十年来一直在搜索天空寻找智慧生命的迹象，但是迄今为止还一无所获。每年，世界各地都会传出外星人绑架或星际交流的新闻，但所有消息都因缺乏证据而被科学界断然驳回。然而，尽管大多数外星人绑架的故事来自于那些患有精神疾病或渴望在某些方面得到关注的人，但偶尔会有具有政治影响力的人做出这样的声明——就像最近以色列航天局的前局长宣布人类已经与外星人取得直接联系那样。

  Haim Eshed, who used to lead Israel's Defense Ministry's space directorate, told the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot that extraterrestrials from a "galactic federation" have been in contact with human beings but do not want the public to know as they feel our species is not ready yet, according to NBC News. He also claimed that President Donald Trump had planned on revealing the extraterrestrials' existence but was asked to not do so in order to prevent "mass hysteria"; that there is an "underground base in the depths of Mars" where American astronauts and extraterrestrials interact; that the U.S. government signed a contract with aliens allowing them to do experiments here; and that the extraterrestrials are seeking to learn about "the fabric of the universe."

"They have been waiting until today for humanity to develop and reach a stage where we will understand, in general, what space and spaceships are," Eshed said .

     海姆·埃什曾领导过以色列国防部的太空理事会。他接受以色列报纸《新消息报》采访时说道：根据NBC新闻，来自银河系的外星人一直在和人类联系，但因为觉得人类还没有准备好，所以他们不想公之于众。他还说，特朗普总统本打算说出外星人的存在，但为了避免“集体疯狂”，有人阻止了他。他说还有一个存在于火星深处的地下基地，在这里，美国宇航员和外星人交流。他还补充说美国政府和外星人签订了一个合同，允许外星人在美国做实验，而外星人正在了解“宇宙的结构”。

    “直到今天,他们一直在等待人类发展到一个阶段。在这个阶段，我们将大体上理解什么是太空和宇宙飞船。”埃什说。

    Astronomers and physicists are so accustomed to outrageous claims of extraterrestrial sightings that the phrase "it's never aliens" has become a motto of sorts, repeated in Twitter memes and college course titles. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," popular astronomer and science educator Carl Sagan famously quipped. Sagan was fond of pointing out that skepticism formed the crux of the scientific method, and scientists still apply his lesson to claims of alien sightings. Recent fast-moving objects observed by the US Defense Department, for instance, went viral over public speculation that they might be alien craft; yet human engineers are perfectly capable of producing such fast-moving drone craft right here on Earth. Occam's Razor suggests a human origin is far more likely. 

     天文学家和物理学家已经对离谱的“看见外星人”之类的事件习以为常了，以至于“这绝不是外星人”已经成了一句格言，反复出现在推特表情包和大学课程标题上。“难以置信的说法需要非比寻常的证据。” 著名天文学家和科学教育家卡尔·萨根讽刺说。萨根指出，怀疑的态度是科学方法的核心。科学家们把他的话应用到“看见外星人”之类的事件中。举个例子，美国国防部最近观察到的快速移动的物体在公众的猜测下走红了——它们可能是外星飞船。但人类工程师完全有能力在地球上制造出快速移动的无人驾驶飞行器。奥卡姆剃刀定律表明飞行器人为制造的可能性更大些。

*奥卡姆剃刀定律（Occam's Razor, Ockham's Razor）又称“奥康的剃刀”，它是由14世纪英格兰的逻辑学家、圣方济各会修士奥卡姆的威廉（William of Occam，约1285年至1349年）提出。这个原理称为“如无必要，勿增实体”，即“简单有效原理”。正如他在《箴言书注》2卷15题说“切勿浪费较多东西去做，用较少的东西，同样可以做好的事情。”

   Hence, an attention-hungry loner or a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic person reporting alien sightings is common enough as to not be newsworthy. That is because the public does not expect this type of person to be credible, and such people generally don't provide evidence that would make their claims so.

  But what about when someone with political power, influence and credibility makes such obviously bogus claims? Someone like Eshed, or astronaut Edgar Mitchell, or former Canadian defense minister Paul Hellyer?

  "Without further information, it is impossible to know what psychological factors might underlie these claims from Haim Eshed," Christopher C. French, a British psychologist who specializes in the psychology behind people claiming to believe in or have experienced the paranormal, wrote to Salon. 

    渴望受到关注的人或者精神分裂患者称“看见外星人”的现象太普遍了，没有什么新闻价值。那是因为，公众不相信这类人。并且，这类人也没有提供任何证据证明他们是对的。

    但是如果是一个既有政治权力，又有影响力和公信力的人发表了这样的虚假言论呢？就像埃什或宇航员埃德加 · 米切尔，又或者是加拿大国防部前部长保罗·赫勒这样的人呢？

    英国心理学家克里斯托弗·弗伦奇谈道：“如果没有详细信息，埃什这番话背后的心理因素就无从得知。”

Notably, there are psychological disorders that commonly lead to their sufferers believing that they are under the influence of aliens. The connection between mental illness and claims of alien abduction is common enough that there are entire psychology studies devoted to the subject. A 1983 paper published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, titled "Psychoses and unidentified objects," studied six subjects who claimed to have communicated with aliens who had given them missions to protect humanity. The study's two co-authors concluded that "five of them suffered from a paranoid delusional state often akin to paraphrenia," a mental condition characterized by paranoid delusions and hallucinations.

    值得注意的是，精神病人总觉得自己正遭受外星人的威胁。一些心理疾病和外星人绑架一说之间都有着联系，这个点很多心理学研究都曾涉及过。1983年加拿大精神病学杂志刊登了篇题为《精神病人与外星人》报告，分析了六名精神病人——他们都声称自己接触过外星人并被赋予了保护全人类的重大使命。两位研究作者表示：“其中5人患有偏执症（一种以偏执妄想和幻觉为特征的精神状态），有点类似于妄想痴呆。”

  French speculated as to the possible psychological explanations for Eshed's claims, explanations that apply to other prominent alien-seers like Hellyer and Mitchell.French noted that he could be telling the truth, although "given the outlandish nature of his claims and the lack of any direct evidence to support them" French agreed it was "extremely unlikely."

 A more likely possibility is that Eshed genuinely believes what he is saying despite it being false, in which case French says he would want to know the reasons. "Has he seen any actual evidence or is he basing his claims on reports from others? If the former, is the evidence convincing? If the latter, are these others credible? What are they basing their claims upon? Is it possible that Eshed is delusional? This is certainly a possibility."

    弗伦奇对埃什言论背后的心理因素进行了推测，而这同样可以用来解释其他人如赫利尔和米切尔的预言。弗兰奇指出，他可能说的是实话，尽管“考虑到他的说法古怪，而且缺乏任何直接证据支持”，但是弗兰奇也认为这“极不可能”。

    还有一种可能性就是埃什坚信自己的论断。对此，弗伦奇表示很想知道背后的原因。“他是找到了证据，还是借鉴了他人的研究报告？如果是前者，那些证据可信吗？如果是后者，那些人可信吗？他们的依据是什么？而这一切是否可能仅是埃什的假想？当然，是有可能的。”

 Finally, it is possible that Eshed and his ilk are deliberately lying; certainly, he has a financial incentive to do so, as he is promoting a book about UFOs. "He has already garnered much attention by his claims," French mused. "He will no doubt become the latest 'darling' of the UFO community and be invited to address UFO conferences, not to mention appearances on talk shows, and so on. Maybe it's all a practical joke and he is laughing all the way to the bank?"

    最后还有一种可能就是埃什等人在故意撒谎。因为其中存在着一个经济诱因——他正在推广一本关于不明飞行物的书。“他的言论已引起了广泛关注，”弗伦奇思忖着：“毫无疑问，他将成为UFO圈中的‘新宠’，受邀前去不明飞行物研讨会上发言，更别提诸如参与脱口秀节目之类的了。也许这就是个恶作剧，可他因此大发横财。”

   "Mr. Eshed's background as a space security official serves as a reminder that outlandish views are not limited to uneducated people," Glenn C. Altschuler, a historian at Cornell University who regularly contributes to Psychology Today (where he has written about UFOs), told Salon by email. Altschuler also noted that "Eshed is, in essence, inviting journalists to ask President Trump what he knows about the alien presence on earth. It leaves one wondering what Mr. Trump, no stranger to outlandish theories, might say about Eshed's claims."

  Altschuler also argued that belief in UFOs can be viewed in the broader context of people interpreting reality in different ways based on influences including those of "parents, peers, and charismatic figures."

    康奈尔大学历史学家格伦·阿尔特舒勒（《今日心理学》杂志的定期撰稿人）谈到：“埃什先生太空安全局官员的身份告诉我们即使是受过高等教育人也会提出奇怪的观点。”他还指出：“究其本质，埃什在暗暗引导记者们去采访总统特朗普，听听他对地球上是否存在外星人的想法。大家都想知道特朗普对此会有些什么看法。”

    阿尔特舒勒还认为，相信不明飞行物的存在可以在一个更广泛的背景下来看待，人们会基于“父母、同伴和有魅力的人物”的影响，以不同的方式解释现实。

   He added, "We know as well that when presented with evidence that seems to debunk their beliefs or conspiracy theories they often hug them ever more tightly, exhibiting what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. Motivations, of course, vary from individual to individual — and it is important to understand that many people fervently believe that what they are saying is true. They may interpret attention as validation. If they are telling a story for material gain, of course, all bets are off."

  French made a similar point, noting that Eshed's unsubstantiated claims are part of a larger phenomenon that can lead to misinformation being taken seriously by large sections of the public.

    他补充说，“我们也知道，当有证据推翻他们的信仰或阴谋论时，他们往往会抱得更紧，表现出心理学家所说的认知失调。当然，动机因人而异——重要的是要明白，许多人热切地相信他们所说的是真的。他们可能会把人们的注意力解释为一种认可。当然，如果他们讲故事是为了获取物质利益，那就说不清了。”

    弗伦奇也提出了类似的观点，指出埃什德的未经证实的说法反映了一个更大的问题。这可能会导致大部分公众认真对待错误信息。

  "The problem here is that these claims will fuel conspiracy beliefs of all kinds," French wrote to Salon. "After all, if the US government are lying about this, what else are they lying about? Maybe the COVID vaccination programme really is just a cover to inject us all with microchips to control our minds? This way lies collective madness — and thousands more unnecessary deaths."

  He added, "If Eshed has any solid proof to support his claims, he should tell the world what it is. Until he does so, we should feel no more obliged to believe him than we would any other conspiracy theorist."

    “问题在于，这些言论将助长各种阴谋论，”弗伦奇写给《沙龙》杂志。“毕竟，如果美国政府在这件事上撒谎，他们还在撒什么谎呢？也许COVID疫苗接种计划真的只是一个幌子，真正目的是给所有人注射微芯片来控制思想？这就是集体疯狂——还有成千上万不必要的死亡。”

    他还说，“如果埃什德有任何确凿的证据支持他的说法，他应该告诉世界。在这之前，我们没有义务相信他，就像我们不相信其他阴谋论者一样。”

 In general, many well-meaning people believe fervently in UFOs, though few go so far as to claim to have been abducted or met a Galactic Council. Susan Krauss Whitbourne, a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told IBTimes UK in 2015 that people may also be more inclined to believe in UFOs if they are more open to new ideas in general.

     总的来说，尽管很少有人声称自己被绑架或见过银河系，但是许多善意的人也会狂热地相信不明飞行物的存在。马萨诸塞大学阿姆赫斯特分校的心理学和脑科学教授苏珊·克劳斯·惠特伯恩在2015年接受《国际商业时报》英国频道采访时表示，如果人们更乐于接纳新思想的话，他们可能也会更倾向于相信不明飞行物的存在。