Michio Kaku: We could make contact with extraterrestrials this century
American physicist Michio Kaku, speaking to TMZ, claimed that humanity could make contact with an extraterrestrial civilization within this century. He bases his claim on an alleged Pentagon confirmation and on UFO footage circulated by documentary filmmaker Jeremy Corbell; the statement was published by La Nación on October 6.
Michio Kaku, a well-known string theory researcher and science communicator, said in a statement to the American news site TMZ that contact with extraterrestrials is no longer merely a subject of science fiction, but could also be a subject of serious scientific inquiry. According to the 74-year-old physicist, contact could happen during this century, but he did not give a specific date: his claim is a general time estimate, not a precise prediction.
Kaku based his statement on a series of footage allegedly confirmed recently by the Pentagon, which, according to La Nación, was circulated by documentary filmmaker Jeremy Corbell. The footage shows pyramid-shaped, bright phenomena above a US warship at night. The article does not state exactly when the footage was recorded, nor does it detail what the Pentagon's alleged confirmation consisted of.
The physicist outlined two possible explanations: either it is a secret military weapons test, or a genuine extraterrestrial presence. Kaku argued that, according to physicists, such footage is examined through frame-by-frame analysis, and in his view no current military vehicle is capable of reproducing the movements and speed seen in it. From this he concluded that if the phenomenon represents real visitors, their technological advancement could far exceed humanity's – as he put it, we are squirrels to them.
Asked why no official contact has taken place so far, Kaku replied that humanity has nothing valuable to offer such an advanced civilization, and he assumed that if the extraterrestrials had wanted to make contact, they could have done so decades earlier. At the same time, he closed his thoughts on an optimistic note: in his view, humanity is getting better and better at recognizing signs of life, which could sooner or later lead to contact.
The statement does not make clear exactly when and in what form the Pentagon confirmed the authenticity of the footage in question, nor when and under what circumstances the video was recorded. It is also not known whether Kaku performed the frame-by-frame analysis himself or referred to the work of other researchers. What is known for certain: the press published the personal opinion and prediction of a recognized physicist, which for now is not publicly supported by either an official document or a verifiable description of the video.
The sober take
Kaku's claim is a physicist's personal, speculative prediction, not an official scientific consensus or verified evidence. The La Nación article does not detail what the Pentagon's alleged confirmation consisted of, nor exactly what is visible in the footage in question, so the claim cannot currently be verified.