SKEPTICAL INQUIREE
Benjamin Radford is a research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and author or coauthor of ten books, including Investigating Ghosts: The Scientific Search for Spirits.
Q: I heard you on an episode of the StarTalk Radio Show, and host Seth Shostak asked why governments around the world would hide evidence of extraterrestrial life. You mentioned that the reason conspiracy theorists often give—to avoid mass panic—was absurd because polls show that many people (about a third) already think aliens exist. But if the government admitted extraterrestrial contact, that still leaves two-thirds of the people who would panic. Isn’t that a significant number?