The Problem With Vallee’s Control System Hypothesis
A rebuttal with an alternative.
The researcher Jacques Vallee in his books Messengers of Deception, Passport to Magonia, and many others, supports a hypothesis he calls the control system. The reasons for this are manyfold, including too many UFO sightings, the fact that in his research, there were periodic patterns and the fact that the UFO phenomenon was deceptive and the UFOnauts (inhabitants of these flying spacecraft) often lied to the witnesses.
I highly respect Vallee, and I think he’s done extensive research. However, in the past, he’s often been dismissive of the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH). In his opinion, this is a control system of inhabitants native to earth manipulating humanity. I think he’s slightly incorrect in thinking that it’s entirely a native phenomenon. The extraterrestrial hypothesis, for me, is still the most parsimonious explanation. There have been extensive studies done on possible simulations of the galaxy. They’ve shown that even at sublight speeds, the galaxy should have already been colonized. Even the physicist Enrico Fermi suggested that the galaxy should have already been colonized, leading to his aptly-named Fermi Paradox.
Often arguments solving this paradox fall into pessimistic camps that believe that all extraterrestrial civilizations would have either destroyed themselves or never would desire to expand in the first place. The claim that the ETH makes requires “extraordinary evidence.” However, what are these grounded on? Humanity on earth hasn’t destroyed itself yet; why would it? I’m not saying it’s never happened, but to claim every extraterrestrial civilization would have done so is a major unsubstantiated claim, like claiming that all lions eventually die in fights with other lions.
To dismiss the ETH would also mean dismissing contactees like Elizabeth Klarer, Charles Hall, Robert Corso, and Alex Collier, some of whom have respectable military backgrounds and served high up in the chain of command, who would be in a position to know. I even emailed Charles Hall, and he provided me with information on the advanced technology he encountered. In addition, the studies I showed earlier indicate that, theoretically, there should be some galactic civilization right next door.
Vallee has posited that this control system is manipulating our consciousness and ideas about it. This has been his thesis over his many books and articles. I don’t fundamentally disagree with him; I pointed out how whatever is out there is hiding and doesn’t wish to be known. However, what I’m contesting is his notion that there’s an organized control system that is well organized and exhibits periodic behavior, like visiting every decade or so.
I couldn’t find strong evidence for that in my analysis of NUFORC data. To be fair, it’s science by Medium, and I didn’t have the expertise to do an extensive time-series analysis. Still, I couldn’t find a strong correlation between specific dates and time periods. Other aspects of conventional wisdom, like the 37th parallel as a hotspot for anomalous activity, are also incorrect; it’s actually the 40th parallel. I’ve never seen the data that Vallee used to show the periodic nature of the phenomenon, but I would like to see what he did to determine that the phenomenon did this.
Even so, arguments like “there are too many sightings” could also be made about airports that aren’t control systems. Even Hall suggested that the place he worked near Nellis AFB was like an extraterrestrial airport, with passenger spacecraft coming in every month. Periodic behavior would also fit with that since it would align with a schedule. Schedules like airport schedules could appear periodic, and there would be many sightings are specific areas. In fact, there is a strong correlation between population density and sightings which is a fairly obvious conclusion since more people means more people seeing things in the sky.
The ETH is still a viable hypothesis and would fit with mythological accounts of star peoples or sky peoples. I don’t doubt that there could be a control system. However, Vallee’s conception of a mass manipulation campaign with periodic behavior for me doesn’t stand up to scrutiny unless I’m missing the data that Vallee has, and it shows something different. To me, the ETH is still the most viable and likely explanation. Regarding other hypotheses like the interdimensional or crypto terrestrial hypothesis, we have no good evidence of other dimensions other than in certain theoretical frameworks. Yet we do have evidence that the chemicals that makeup life are abundant. As well as countless anecdotes and stories of extraterrestrial contact.
The ETH is still the most parsimonious with the evidence without extrapolating other physical quantities. Faster-than-light travel isn’t even necessary over the countless billions of years of the universe's existence. It wouldn’t take that long to travel from nearby stars. We should accept the ETH over other theories unless some strong evidence comes out in favor of something else.
