[extropy-chat] Arxiv.org on UFO visits to Ganymede

[Hal Finney]

Since I've been posting lately mostly about physics issues (I do want
to try to get to some other topics soon), I wanted to finish off with
the most bizarre physics paper I've ever read on a mainstream site.
Arxiv.org is the standard physics site for preprints of physics research.
The papers aren't peer-reviewed but they have to come from legitimate
academic researchers, so generally the quality is good.

There have been complaints in the past that the arxiv was off limits to
people from outside the mainstream, and apparently there was a policy
change recently, with a new moderator in charge.  Now there are some
really off-the-wall papers appearing, the most amazing of which is this
one: <http://www.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0512062>, "A Solution to the
Fermi Paradox: The Solar System, part of a Galactic Hypercivilization?".

There are two main problems with this paper.  The first is that there is
no actual physics in it.  The main topic will actually be very familiar
to readers here.  The author proposes a solution to the Fermi Paradox
(where are the aliens) that is usually called the Cosmic Zoo.  Basically
she suggests that essentially all of the universe is under the control of
super-advanced aliens, and we are fortunate enough to live in a region
controlled by relatively benevolent ones, hence we have been allowed
to develop without open interference.  Then she has various explanations
for problems with this theory.  Why don't we see megascale astronomical
engineering?  Because the aliens are all hiding from each other, stealth
being better than valor where interstellar war is concerned.

The one piece of physics she brings in tangentially is so-called "brane
worlds", a hypothesis of extra dimensions.  She doesn't really use the
specific brane world concept, though, she just takes it as a starting
place and assumes that aliens can travel among the dimensions, which
makes the Fermi paradox even more acute.

Bear in mind that this is published in a repository dedicated to academic
physics research!  But then we come to the kicker.  In an appendix with
questions and answers, the author reveals how she first came up with
this idea.  Apparently she met with a friend of her cousin, a seemingly
normal person, who then casually mentioned that he would be spending that
summer with his alien friends on Ganymede, one of the moons of Jupiter.
It seems some 2.5 million people live on/in Ganymede, and that it is part
of an alien confederation of 24 worlds.  The aliens can live up to 1200
years old, speak only by telepathy, and look much like humans, only more
handsome, etc, etc.  He also warned her that there are bad aliens about as
well, who come from some of the 22 dimensions that exist in our universe.

Now, the author makes it clear that she did not initially believe this
story, nevertheless it interested her enough to do research into other
tales told by similar UFO enthusiasts.  She mentions the Aztlan group
in Spain, which has supposedly been in weekly telepathic communication
with an alien named Apu and has published some books of his wisdom,
one of which is called... "I Visited Ganymede"!  And all I got was this
lousy T-shirt.  (No, I made up the part about the T-shirt, sorry.)

Anyway the author writes that she thought about it and decided there
was no reason it couldn't be true.  Triggered by some of the research
on hypothetical brane worlds, she decided to write up her experiences.

All in all it makes an interesting and amusing tale, but hardly what
one expects to read in what had been one of the highest-quality research
repositories on the web!  It will be interesting to see what new gems
the arxiv is able to serve up with its more relaxed moderation policies.

Hal