Why Would the Government Cover Up Aliens?

StarTalk All-Star and SETI Institute Senior Astronomer Seth Shostak asks noted skeptic Ben Radford a big question on behalf of a StarTalk fan - Is the government hiding anything about aliens? Comedian Ray Ellin inquires about political candidates and their responses to aliens. (Note: this video was recorded before the 2016 election.) This conversation might help you get into the head of conspiracy theorists and their thoughts on extraterrestrial life!

Follow StarTalk:

About StarTalk:
Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!

#StarTalk

[cruzgonzales]

It wouldn't cause panic. It would cause more questions to arise. People would want to know what else is being hidden from them. And if you know anything about keeping people in order is that when people question their officials they usually get out of control...you know...to the point of a mutiny.

[Ohnonoki]

They want the alien woman to themselves.

[malice]

Am I the only one that thinks that Alien life came a long ass time ago and left because we are a bunch of savages not worth taking the time to be around?

[drink]

Let's think about how people would react to Aliens. Some people would just go on with life normally. Others would not. There would be way too many questions. And lets not start with how religions would handle this.

It's easy to downplay the public reaction just because a few people already think we are in contact.

[cv_]

There's no problem in some secrets but keeping serious information like that from us, the United States citizens is unconstitutional.

[Hydro]

They want the alien tech all to themselves

[laughforme]

When is everyone gonna except the fact that Area 51 is real? I think it's about time for us to except that and just start looking for area 52.... lol

[mikew]

Well, most of the Government officials usually say there's a deeper level of Government who's been covering it up for years.
Even they don't know how to unravel it, it seems.

[ironknee]

According to Dr. Greer, the real reason for the cover up is because it would elicit other questions such as "how long has this cover up been going on?" "Have we obtained any technologies from these extraterrestrials?" "Are any of these extraterrestrials a threat?" "Would any of these technologies harm the energy, transportation, and medical industries?" The government would have to also answer these questions and I don't think that it wants to because the general pubic would not like the answer. The dude also makes a good point, there's difference between being polled about something and then suddenly being faced with the reality of the matter. The government lies about things NOT extraterrestrial on a much smaller scale and of much less significance. I think a more sane question would be "why wouldn't the government lie about this?"

[ashleyeldorado]

The military would have reason to compartmentalize and reverse engineer a craft if they found one, the civilian government likely would not want to cause panic.

[storyspren]

And covering up intelligent aliens who got all the way here would also require cooperation on their part. One alien chooses to make themselves known and it's all over.

[aleebrown]

It’s a difference between thinking something than actually knowing it’s true

[futurestoryteller]

Actually I thought there was an interesting bit of hypocrisy in an interview I saw with Michio Kaku. He was asked this same question "Why would the government cover up aliens." and was similarly dismissive about it. Then he was asked what he would do in the unlikely event that the government came to him and said "We've found the aliens." He said he would try to keep it a secret, because people might panic. I wish I could find it, because it sounds too good to be true. But I remember it distinctly because of how ridiculous and contradictory the answer was.

[jojosins]

Fun fact: They're covering up the government from covering up aliens.

[surythecat]

Don’t worry, we’ll find them when we raid Area 51 on September 20th.

[Pastafield]

A species with interstellar capabilities would not be running on combustion technologies; this is why the issue has been kept secret. Because if the wider population became aware of the technologies used by an extraterrestrial species to travel assumably from a distant solar system or galaxy to Earth, we would have no further need for the world-wide fossil fuel endeavour and trillions of dollars would be lost overnight.

[arbknight]

Why would aliens come here at all?
For all we know we're the [insert most ignorant state here] of the universe

[donwheeler]

The government covers up the fact that our galaxy and universe is actually teaming with intelligent life for a number of reasons. But I think the main one is because the war profiteers would be soon out of business if disclosure was to come to light among the masses. We would no longer be separated by countries and states and we would just be the people of earth or earthlings. And that common bond would make our differences disappear and wars between us obsolete. And that's the last thing they

[JWGARCIA]

Because the government can't protect us from aliens

[S-AI]

You will never know the truth, learn to accept it and move on. Question things but realise you won't find every answer!