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Aliens, UFOs, and Related Business Opportunities

aliens

Only a few phenomena excite the people, like the possibility of aliens being real.

From H. G. Well’s War of the Worlds, tv-series like The X-Files, and movies like The Day Earth Stood Still, The Edge of Tomorrow, and Independence Day, there are many speculations about how humanity would react to intelligent extraterrestrial life.

However, when it comes to how we would react to the discovery of microbial life, there is little to no consideration.

It is not about finding intelligence and superior beings, especially since we are more likely to find evidence of microbial life in our own solar system than a superior life being millions of light-years away from us.

We went through several interviews, news reports, and research papers to know what scientists and experts believed would be our reaction to discovering extraterrestrial microbial life. According to Ramin Skibba (1), it may be “earth-shattering.” In contrast, experts like Christof Koch and Aron Gronstal believe that discovering extraterrestrial microbial life will have little to no psychological or societal impact (2).

We found another research paper published in 2018 by Jung Yul et al. (3), which examined a large online sample (N=256) for their reaction to hypothetical announcements about the discovery of extraterrestrial microbial life. And their observations concluded that humanity’s reactions to a future confirmed by the discovery of microbial extraterrestrial life are likely to be fairly positive.

And that’s why today, we decided to talk about how the discovery of aliens would seriously affect our entrepreneurs, businesses, and investors.

Read Also: India’s Bid to be a Global Leader in the Spacetech

A surge in Alien-Themed Businesses Whenever A New Government Report or Conspiracy Theory is Released

Aliens-themed businesses predict a surge in their business every time a government makes any related announcements or the rise of new conspiracy theories about UFOs sightings, extraterrestrial lives, or Area 51.

“People start to come here after they read any publication about aliens,” said Cindy Campbell, Atomic Inn’s owner, an alien-themed hotel located in Area 51 (4).

Area 51 is an Air Force Facility of the United States for those living under rocks, previously known as the Nevada Test and Training Range. The US had developed the site during the Cold War as a testing and aircraft development facility. Since then, it has become a popular hotspot for UFO and alien-related conspiracy theories.

“Area 51 is extremely popular, and people often travel here to be close to it,” said Campbell.

For instance, when the US government released the “Flying Objects” report last year, there was an uptick in travelers, citing their renewed interest near Area 51 and in Roswell, New Mexico, another extraterrestrial hot spot (5, 6).

Every time a new conspiracy theory or government report refuels people’s interest in aliens, alien-themed businesses start preparing for rocketing sales. For instance, Atomic Inn boosts its inventory of custom-made alien soap, hair bows, facemasks, and shot glasses designed by local artists.

In a conversation with Inc. (7), Campbell also said she spruced the Inn up and added more to already existing alien-decor that includes space-themed road markers. She also talked about a mural she installed right outside the hotel last year, which depicts a large desert with small aliens hidden throughout.

According to Dominic Vatista, who co-owns a souvenir shop at Roswell’s Hangar 209, the release of conspiracy theories and government reports alone are not responsible for a rise in tourism and increased sales. Over the past few decades, people’s increased skepticism towards the government, especially after the coronavirus pandemic, is another major factor.

“Recently, more customers than usual ask questions about the UFO reports. And in several conversations, people have hinted that the government is capable of hiding something like aliens from us, and COVID-19 has shown us some truth to that,” said Vatista, who sells alien-themed coffee, shirts, jerky, and books.

When the government doesn’t provide answers, they end up fuelling more curiosity among people, says Max Stacy, manager at Alien Invasion T-Shirt and More, an alien apparel store in Roswell. He explained that most of the shop’s customers are tourists, who have flocked to Roswell after reading about alien conspiracy theories on social media platforms and the internet.

And it gives us a strong reason to believe that the market needs to take any report surrounding UFOs, aliens, and extraterrestrial microbial lives seriously because of the business and funding opportunities it offers.

Read Also: Space Billboards: A “Bright” New Marketing Tool or A Threat to Humanity?

Business Opportunities With Discovery of Aliens

Of course, the data about UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena will always remain unresolved. However, suppose we find proof of UFOs being real, supporting the existence of aliens, how would it affect our market?

Last year in its report, the Pentagon didn’t rule out the possibility of aliens as a hypothesis (8). And as you have guessed already, apart from a few enthusiasts, there wasn’t much movement about it in the world market.

Simultaneously, however, there may be a strong effect on the defense industry since the first instinct we will have against the presence of aliens is to defend ourselves. We can also see the rise of several alien-themed mini markets, minor religions, and more opportunities for the entertainment industry.

There may also be plenty of opportunities for investors and businesses like alien-themed haunted houses, tourism, theme parks, apparel, and space operas (9). And how can we forget about NFTs of convincing alien videos? (Suggested Reading: NFT Hype: A Promising Tomorrow or Another Bubble?)

In addition, if we discover evidence of life like photosynthesis in a distant galaxy, companies will make the needed equipment to study it further. Such companies are likely to see an uptick in sales, including telescopes, satellites, rockets, servers for analyzing data, and more.

There will also be an increased business for space exploration if we find evidence of life even as bacteria within our solar system, giving immense benefit to companies related to rockets, spacecraft, and space tourism.

And if we run wilder with our imagination and say that we start to exchange technologies with aliens. There will be massive potential for those who can find various applications for that technology for us humans – assuming that their technologies would be superior to ours.

Nonetheless, it is likely that most of us would get used to the idea of alien presence whether we believe it or not. It may spur a greater interest in science fiction and space programs while not affecting most aspects of our everyday lives. In other words, if we do find microbial extraterrestrial life, it may not drive markets.

But then again, we can never underestimate the power of our marketers and entrepreneurs to adapt. We can find a way to do business with anybody and anything, including aliens (10, 11).

Here are some lucrative space business ideas:

  • Space Mining
  • Nanosatellites
  • Terraforming
  • Space-Based and Habitats Buildings
  • Space Weapons
  • Space Jet Packs
  • Space Remote Sensing
  • Space Law Services

Interested in starting a space-related business, an industry set to be worth billions of dollars? Read our previous story, Opportunities: How Startups Benefit From Increasing Space Exploration, for more details.

Read Also: How to Effectively Run Your Business During A World War 3

Author’s Note

While we know some of you may call this entirely hypothetical article an exaggeration, if we look at history, whenever we discover something new, we often find an attractive market for it, so why not aliens?

We may see no commercial application of the discovery of extraterrestrial beings, whether microbial or intelligent. Remember that when people first went to explore space, they were not thinking about products. They were only people who wanted to seek answers to some basic questions about the universe. Today, there is an entire gadget and tech industry relying on technologies made for or emerged from space exploration (12).

For instance, the modern semiconductor industry heavily relies on quantum mechanics, an area that was seemed extremely odd less than a century ago.

So, we don’t see it as an extreme to look at hypothetical scenarios and think of ways to leverage the possibility of alien existence, whether fact or fiction. And until we find solid proof, we should keep investing in studies like SETI (13, 14).

As the Hector Socas-Navarro, the Director of the Museum of Science and the Cosmos of Museums of Tenerife, said (15):

“We don’t know whether intelligence is something common or rare in the universe. And therefore, we don’t know whether our searches for extraterrestrial beings will have any chance of success. There is no other choice for us but to continue with our choice and see what we can find. Because the implications would be massive.”

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