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It's probably not surprising that a potent threat to the survival of civilization, possibly the entire human race, attracts seriously unhinged theories. However, we are not quite ready for the theory aliens are breeding hybrids of themselves and humanity to allow us to survive catastrophic global warming. Although you can find almost any bizarre theory in a Youtube video somewhere, this one is distinguished by having been promoted by a professor at one of the world's most prestigious universities, albeit in Korean studies rather than astrobiology.
Back in 2012, Dr Young-hae Chi gave a talk at the “Alien Abduction and Environmental Issues Conference”, because apparently there are enough people who think the two are linked to hold one. The talk was put on Youtube in 2014. It didn't attract a lot of attention until last year, when Chi unsuccessfully requested the Oxford Union host a debate on the topic.
The Oxford Student heard about this and interviewed Chi and now the whole world is agog.
Chi starts by citing the belief of Dr David Jacobs, an "abduction researcher" in the US, that aliens are abducting humans for the purpose of creating a hybrid race to colonize Earth. It's a step up from the story marijuana contains alien DNA, and unlike that one is apparently proposed seriously, rather than being a hoax. Being in contradiction to everything we know about the physics of space travel and the workings of DNA are minor matters.
Chi accepts the abductions, and hybridization, as real, but has a different explanation for why aliens would do this. He notes the absence of abduction reports before World War II and concludes this is a recent phenomenon.
Aliens started capturing innocent people on deserted backroads and stealing their DNA, not because they wish to replace us, Chi thinks, but to help us. The aliens spotted the damage we are inflicting on our planet and fear we will not survive. Hybridization could be our only hope.
There is a particular strangeness to listening to Chi's talk. The summary he gives of the science of climate change, and the refusal of certain governments to take it seriously, is generally an accurate account of the state of knowledge at the time. Seeing these mixed in with claims so far from reality creates a weird dissonance.
It's disturbing to see someone who clearly understands the science of climate change propound theories at least as wacky as the ones that blame warmer temperatures on body heat and sea level rise on rocks falling into oceans.
However, Chi's talk is a great example of the way conspiracy theories throw together unrelated facts as being linked. Meanwhile, the theorists never stop to consider questions like: If technologically superior aliens want to save us, why haven't they just left plans for non-polluting energy systems lying around?
