In the 1997 sci-fi classic men in black (streaming now on Peacock!), James Darrel Edwards III (Will Smith), an NYPD officer – which, of course, means “I’ll knock your punk a** down – is in pursuit of a fugitive suspect. It should be just another day at the office, but this particular perp has a supernatural ability for parkour and an inhuman talent for scaling pure brick buildings.As Edwards will soon discover, there is a good reason for these inhuman abilities, and that is that the suspect is not human at all .

In the aftermath of the arrest, Edwards learns that humans are not alone in the universe, far from it, and that there is a secret organization tasked with keeping humans in the dark and protecting the planet. They are called the Men in Black. If you’ve been following the latest news on UFO sightings around the world, you might be wondering if men in black must be submitted to the non-fiction section.

THE UFO PHENOMENON

While men in black and its sequels (also streaming on Paon!) lean quite heavily on adventure and laughs, there are those of us who believe that the events depicted on screen are closer to documentary than farce. The fascination with unidentified flying objects – the designation UFO has recently been changed to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena or UAP – really began in the mid-19th century. The events of Roswell and the abduction stories of Barney and Betty Hill helped set the stage for the modern image of the semi-secret extraterrestrial visitation.

Although the popularity of alien visitation and abductions has had its ups and downs over the past few decades, it has never completely gone away. Additionally, public interest in these unknown objects has increased in recent years, in part due to a few investigations by government entities in the United States.

RELATED: US Department of Defense to investigate UFO sightings dating back to 1945

UFOs were probably ready for another moment in the spotlight (or in the tractor beam) and that was before an alien balloon was spotted cruising over North America in recent weeks. According The most recent data from Gallupmore than 40% of Americans believe that at least some UFOs are in fact extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Although the purpose of the ball is not fully known, its origin is and was entirely terrestrial. That said, to the casual observer, it almost seems like the balloon heralded an increase in weirdness in Earth’s skies. As if the balloon had laid out a cosmic red carpet welcoming every alien within earshot into our airspace.

Following the discovery of the balloon and its subsequent destruction, there appears to have been an increase in the number and frequency of UAP sightings. It’s the kind of thing that practically begs for its own conspiracy theory, but we can’t help but wonder if there’s a more mundane explanation for our mysteriously cluttered skies.

IT MAY BE THE BALOON’S FAULT, BUT NOT LIKE THIS

Part of the increase in reported sightings could be explained by the creation of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), under the Department of Defense, in July 2022. This office is responsible for, among other things, tracking down and identifying UAPs in and around the United States. Since its inception nearly a year ago, the AARO has established new protocols, combed through existing reports, and continued to gather new ones. In short, we might see more UAPs, not because there are actually more of them, but because we’re looking more rigorously than before. When you cast a wider net, you catch more fish, and all that.

In the Pentagon’s first UAP report, released in 2021, they listed 144 incidents of which only one was explained. After the AARO was set up, a second report was released which increased the number of incidents to over 500, but this time 195 of them had explanations. As reported by American scientist, the majority of explained UAPs are believed to have been balloons. And given what we now know of the history of spy balloons in recent years, it’s likely that at least some UAP sightings were reminiscent of the balloon that recently made world headlines. Others were likely drones or airborne trash like shopping bags and holiday balloons.

RELATED: U.S. Government Reportedly Discovered UFOs Are More Likely Airborne Trash Than Aliens

It is certainly possible that the recent explosion of UAP sightings was the result of extraterrestrial visitors who, upon seeing a spy balloon flying over North America, thought it was an invitation to pass. But it is quite unlikely.

Alternatively, the public revelation that a balloon sent from one nation could penetrate so deeply into another without announcement or invitation, and that this was not the first time, prompted groups like the AARO to take a closer look at the data. Things like balloons and drones, whether controlled by foreign governments or civilians, probably literally went under the radar because they didn’t meet predefined criteria. Now that it’s clear that those criteria aren’t being met, the leash has been tightened and we’re catching a whole bunch of stuff we didn’t see before.

It’s not that there are more UAPs, it’s just that we’ve honed our focus. That means we’re going to catch more real threats, whether earthly or cosmic in origin, but we’re also going to catch a lot of noise that we’ll probably never be able to explain. There are things that are unknown and there are things that are unknowable and that is as true of rogue plastic bags as it is of aliens. It’s probably something we need to feel comfortable with. The universe is a mysterious and exciting place, whether or not there are aliens buzzing our planet.

Catch men in black, Men in Black IIAnd Men in Black 3all streaming right now on Peacock!