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Has the Earth been visited by extraterrestrials? Are we alone? Despite no formal evidence for conscious life outside of Earth, the belief that we are not alone has become more common among both scientists and everyday people. Listen as author Adam Kirsch talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the urge to believe that there are sentient beings elsewhere in the universe and that these aliens want to connect with human beings. Topics discussed include why belief in extraterrestrials has become more mainstream, existential loneliness, religion, extinction, and Elon Musk's desire to get to Mars.
Listen to the episode here.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Adam Kirsch is a senior editor at The Atlantic and the author of On Settler Colonialism and The Revolt Against Humanity: Imagining a Future Without Us. His new book, We Want to Believe: How Aliens Went Mainstream and Why It Matters, will be published in August.
RELATED SOURCES
- Ralph Blumenthal. “On the Trail of a Secret Pentagon U.F.O. Program.” The New York Times, December 18, 2017.
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- Adam Kirsch. The Atlantic.
- Adam Kirsch. “Understanding the Settler Colonialism Movement.” Interview with Russ Roberts. EconTalk. June 6, 2025.
- Adam Kirsch. We Want to Believe: How Aliens Went Mainstream and Why It Matters. New York: Columbia Global Reports, 2026.
- Avi Loev. Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars. New York: Mariner Books, 2023.
- Christopher Mellon. “The Military Keeps Encountering UFOs. Why Doesn’t the Pentagon Care?” The Washington Post, March 9, 2018.
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Columbia Pictures, 1977. IMDb.
- D. W. Pasulka. Encounters: Experiences with Nonhuman Intelligences. New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2023.