Majority of Indians believe in intelligent alien life: survey - Hindustan Times
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Majority of Indians believe in intelligent alien life: survey

Dec 11, 2017 01:54 PM IST

In the online survey 47% people said they believed intelligent alien life existed in the universe. In India the percentage was 55%.

A majority of people on the Earth believe that there is some form of alien life out there in the universe and about half of them believe that it is intelligent life, according to a global online survey that also included respondents from India.

Three in five people believed in existence of intelligent alien life voted to establish contact with them.(iStock)
Three in five people believed in existence of intelligent alien life voted to establish contact with them.(iStock)

The online survey, conducted by US-based consultancy Glocalities, was taken by 26,492 respondents. Out of the total respondents, 61% voted for some sort of extraterrestrial life. In this belief they have an authoritative backer in renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. Only 17 % of the respondents gave a definitive no, while 22% were unsure.

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Almost half the people (47%) believe that the alien life is intelligent. Indians support this theory more with 55% of its respondents voting for intelligent alien life. Russians were most likely to believe in intelligent alien life and Dutch the least likely.

For India, the sample selected was not representative of the whole population because of the low internet penetration. Three in five people who believed in the existence of intelligent alien life also voted to establish contact with the aliens if they are found.

“People who believe in the existence of intelligent alien civilizations are not a marginal minority but constitute a large (47%) and distinct segment of unconventional and anti-authoritarian thinkers with a passion for science, technology, culture, politics and the arts. Based on their fascination for science, arts and life in the universe, we characterise them with the term Homo Universalis,” Martijn Lampert, research director, Glocalities, said.

The respondents were from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.

The researchers believe the high level of belief in alien life explains the success of movies that exploit the theme, including the Star Wars series.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Malavika Vyawahare tells science and environment stories using words, photos and multimedia. She studied environmental journalism at Columbia University and is based in Delhi.

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