Why did early modern philosophers posit legions of blissful aliens to help solve the problem of evil? Is life essentially terrestrial? Does SETI count as a scientific enterprise? If Martians could talk, would we ever be able to understand them? Join Megan and Frank as they philosophize about our friends from the final frontier! ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) [https://sites.google.com/view/meganjfritts/home?authuser=0] Frank J. Cabrera - Research (google.com) [https://sites.google.com/view/frank-j-cabrera/research?pli=1] Email: [email protected] ----------------------- Bibliography: Defense Department announces new UFO task force - CBS News [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-task-force-department-of-defense/] Kukla, A. (2001). ETI: On the prospects and pursuitworthiness of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence - ScienceDirect [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S003936810000025X?via%3Dihub]  Plutarch • On the Face in the Moon (Part 1 of 4) (uchicago.edu) [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/moralia/the_face_in_the_moon*/a.html] Lucretius - On the Nature of Things by Lucretius (mit.edu) [http://classics.mit.edu/Carus/nature_things.html] Pearce, K. - Space Aliens and Skeptical Theism (blog.kennypearce.net) [http://blog.kennypearce.net/archives/philosophy/philosophy_of_religion/the_problem_of_evil/skeptical_theism/space_aliens_and_skeptical_the.html] Draper, P. (1989) Pain and Pleasure: An Evidential Problem for Theists on JSTOR [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2215486] Crowe, M. (2017). William and John Herschel's Quest for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life | SpringerLink [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-32826-3_5] Fantastically Wrong: Why the Guy Who Discovered Uranus Thought There's Life on the Sun | WIRED [https://www.wired.com/2014/08/fantastically-wrong-life-on-the-sun/] There Is Only One Other Planet In Our Galaxy That Could Be Earth-Like, Say Scientists (forbes.com) [https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2021/06/23/there-is-only-one-other-planet-in-our-galaxy-that-could-be-earth-like-say-scientists/] Rare Earth hypothesis: Why we might really be alone in the universe | Astronomy.com [https://astronomy.com/news/2022/07/rare-earth-hypothesis-why-we-might-really-be-alone-in-the-universe] Pseudoscience and the Demarcation Problem | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (utm.edu) [https://iep.utm.edu/pseudoscience-demarcation/] Frank Cabrera, String Theory, Non-Empirical Theory Assessment, and the Context of Pursuit - PhilPapers [https://philpapers.org/rec/CABSTN] A More Parsimonious Explanation for UFO Abduction on JSTOR [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1449009] 75 Years Ago, 'War Of The Worlds' Started A Panic. Or Did It? : The Two-Way : NPR [https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/10/30/241797346/75-years-ago-war-of-the-worlds-started-a-panic-or-did-it] Whitmore, J. (1995). Religious Dimensions of the UFO Abductee Experience [https://ixtheo.de/Record/1843676702] ("UFO abductions seem to be primarily an American phenomenon; although several important cases have been reported outside the U.S., some argue that abductions are mainly confined to this country.", p. 81) ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: CWK7B5OYQTUXZOER