‘Disclosure Day’ Director Steven Spielberg Says Aliens May Have Already Visited Earth — Scientists Respond
Steven Spielberg has spent decades creating some of the most famous alien stories in movie history, but the legendary director now says he believes extraterrestrials may not just exist, they may have already visited Earth.
While promoting his new science fiction film Disclosure Day, Spielberg told CBS News that he believes aliens have been to our planet and could still be here today. The director, known for films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, said his opinion comes from years of looking into reports and stories about UFOs.
“I absolutely think that they have been here, and they are here. And who knows, maybe they’ve always been here,” Spielberg said.
The filmmaker explained that his belief is based on what he described as years of research, including documentaries, personal accounts, and discussions about unexplained events.
However, scientists say there is still no confirmed proof that aliens have ever visited Earth. While many researchers believe life could exist somewhere in the universe, they say traveling between stars is one of the biggest challenges any advanced civilization would face.
Dr. Jacco van Loon, an astrophysicist from Keele University, told the Daily Mail that alien visits are not completely impossible. He suggested that if an advanced civilization reached Earth billions of years ago, it could have left behind evidence somewhere in the solar system.
“If they visited a billion years ago, they would have encountered seas with microbial life, and bare land,” Dr. van Loon said. He added that aliens may not have left objects on Earth but could have placed items on the Moon or elsewhere to observe our planet.
Other experts, however, say the distance between stars makes the idea extremely difficult. Dr. Thomas Haworth from Queen Mary University explained that even reaching the closest star system would require thousands of years with current technology.
“We have a feeling that the term ‘astronomical’ means large, but it’s quite hard to convey just how large distances are in space,” Haworth said.
He noted that traveling to Proxima Centauri, the closest known star with planets, would take the Parker Solar Probe thousands of years despite being the fastest spacecraft humans have launched.
Scientists also point out that ideas like faster-than-light travel, often shown in science fiction, have not been proven possible in reality. According to Dr. William Alston, an astronomer from the University of Hertfordshire, the speed of light remains a major barrier.
“The speed of light appears to be the ultimate speed limit in the Universe,” Alston said.
Because of these challenges, many researchers question why an alien civilization would spend enormous amounts of time and resources traveling across space without making clear contact.
Professor Michael Garrett, a SETI expert from the University of Manchester, said Spielberg’s ideas work well as entertainment but are not supported by scientific evidence.
“Spielberg makes wonderful films, and Disclosure Day is a brilliant slice of cinema, but it’s storytelling, not science,” Garrett told the Daily Mail.
He added that if aliens had truly visited Earth, scientists would expect stronger evidence than unclear videos and personal stories.
Professor Carol Oliver from UNSW Sydney also said there is currently no reliable evidence proving that aliens have visited Earth.
“There is not a single shred of credible evidence that they are visiting us now or have visited us in the past,” Oliver said.
Still, experts agree that searching for life beyond Earth remains an important scientific goal. Researchers continue studying planets, moons, and distant signals in the hope of finding signs of life.
For now, Spielberg’s belief remains a fascinating idea rather than a proven fact. While aliens visiting Earth may make for an exciting movie story, scientists say the universe is still full of unanswered questions.
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