The quest for extraterrestrial life shouldn’t be scoffed at

‘I cannot but wonder whether a look at serious research and real-life policy developments across the world might have led to a different view.’ Photograph: AETN/A&E Television Networks 1996-2023. All rights reserved.

Daniel Lavelle went “alien-chasing” in the US and wrote a book about it. The late Nick Pope called it a “hugely entertaining, gonzo-style examination of UFOs, ufology and ufologists”. In his Guardian article (The Pentagon released its UFO videos – so I went to the US to chase aliens. This is what I found, 22 April), Lavelle concludes: “Of course, there isn’t a shred of evidence that aliens have visited our planet – and it’s highly unlikely that there ever will be”.

After that, he trots out the old story about interstellar distances and propulsion technology – as if the extraterrestrial hypothesis were the only play in town.