- Just over half of Britons believe in
extra terrestrial life. According to a survey for the popular science magazine
Focus, 50.2% of people said alien life must exist in the universe somewhere.
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- "Belief in alien life is no longer
only the preserve of the lunatic fringe," said the magazine's editor,
Paul Simpson. "Many scientists now believe that given the rate at
which we are discovering new planets, it is more likely that intelligent
life exists elsewhere in the universe."
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- "I think the view is that, at some
point, we will get a radio signal that will prove there is intelligent
life out there," he told BBC Radio GMR in Manchester.
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- The influence of the X Files TV series
is clearly evident in the poll with people deeply suspicious of the authorities.
80 per cent said the government would not tell us if it knew alien life
existed.
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- The results of the survey also vary according
to sex, age, region and social class. Women are slightly more sceptical
than men. Only 43% of people in the North West believe in aliens while
65% in the South West and 58% in East Anglia do.
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- Pensioners are the most likely group
to insist there is no intelligent life out there.
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- Roswell crash
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- A multimillionaire executive has resigned
from the Internet firm he founded to promote his belief that many high-tech
advancements - including fibre optics and lasers - come from aliens.
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- Joe Firmage, 28, said he decided to quit
his post as the chief strategist at USWeb/CKS Corp. to save the company
from "public relations complications" as he pursues his investigations.
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- "There is a bigger picture out there
than just tomorrow's stock price," Mr Firmage said. "I've had
explicit confirmation that the UFO phenomenon is in fact occurring, and
I'd like to be a part of this fundamental revolution in our society."
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- Mr Firmage said he is willing to risk
his career to publicise his theories, one of which is that many technological
advancements can be traced to a purported alien spaceship crash in Roswell,
New Mexico, in 1947.
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- Joe Firmage founded the Serius Corporation
at 17 and co-founded USWeb in 1995.
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- "Ninety per cent of UFO sightings
are garbage. But there is a 10% profile in the witness testimony that cannot
be denied and cannot be explained as any natural phenomena," he told
the BBC.
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- He said he did not fear ridicule: "How
many people, 50 years ago, would have believed a cell phone that could
fit in your front-shirt pocket."
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