If all the reports of UFO sightings are real, then Earth must be the most popular destination in the Universe. Obviously, that’s a ridiculous anthropocentric notion, as Dr Carl Sagan explains in the must-see 1966 CBS documentary UFO: Friend, Foe, or Fantasy hosted by Walter Cronkite. Listen to Sagan at the 51:55 mark.
I like his thoughts connecting the flying saucer myths with religion. But like he said in Pale Blue Dot,help is not coming from elsewhere.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity — in all this vastness — there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand.
The words of Walter Cronkite at the end of the documentary are spot on too. Thousands of scientists, astronomers, and normal people are scrutinizing the skies constantly. The possibility of a government coverup of any potential contact is ridiculous at this point. When the contact with an alien civilisation really happens, we will all know.