This presentation cautiously examines the premise that “UFOs” and “aliens” are our distant human descendants, returning from the future to study us in their own hominin evolutionary past.

Dr. Michael P. Masters, a professor of biological anthropology, and author of the recently published book Identified Flying Objects, synthesizes current research from the fields of anthropology, astronomy, astrobiology and physics to investigate this potentiality. More specifically, this talk explores how persistent 6-million-year trends in human evolution, if continued into the future, are likely to result in the same physical and behavioral traits consistently described in authentic reports of close encounters with “alien” beings.

This presentation seeks to offer a unique perspective and novel multidisciplinary approach to investigating the UFO phenomenon, drawing from current scholarly research related to human origins, extraterrestrial life, and the physics of time and time travel, while also discussing the role that science and scientists play in helping to answer big questions related to enigmatic aspects of the natural world.