Unidentified Internet Phenomena
Will we see UFOs in Cyberspace?
I love UFOs. While the attributions and specifics change, this phenomena has long been among us. It is also seen in all domains we explore. From unidentified ships, to aircraft, and even radio transmissions, unidentified phenomena appear. On what other frontiers will we find them?
Ships in Fog
I imagine a Viking crew sailing the thawing coast of northern Europe. In the parting horizon fog, one of them sees an unfamiliar sight - too large for a ship, but where no island is. It is gone before they change course, and never seen again. Sightings like these from land and sea are truly countless in our past: We will never know how many there were.
Sightings likely grew into local legends of monsters and myth, or attributed to existing ones, or understood as tricks of light. Perhaps mirage, cloud formation, malnutrition, or intoxication are the proper causes, but many sightings would remain unidentified.
As online actions escalate by both AI and human actors, we may encounter the unexpected.
Infant Skies
Objects in the sky took off in the 20th century. Balloons, zeppelins, and propeller planes all shared airspace through both world wars. In 1907, amidst the Albanian uprising under the Ottoman Empire, a UFO was reported by a group of guerilla fighters. “A shiny object” is suspended in the air on their mountain top hideout. I will not defend what they saw as natural, aircraft, or alien, only that the 20th century sky was quickly filled with infant technology.
Aircraft from the simple to the experimental would swarm for the next 100 years. Sightings (with each their own particulars) were so widely reported throughout the 1900s I doubt a full catalogue could ever be produced. With our eyes turned upward through peace and war - for curiosity and self preservation - we saw more than we could explain.
“One night, while the fighters of Çerçiz were stationed at the top of a high mountain, a shiny object flew in front of us, stood suspended in the air for several minutes, and then disappeared.”
~ Mihal Grameno, The Albanian Uprising, 1925.
Ghosts in Radio
As we began to explore the radio spectrum, reports of unidentified signals grew. The turn of the 20th century was bright with discoveries of radio sources in the night sky - from Jupiter to far away stars. Like all domains we search, some signals remain unidentified.
In 1899, Nikola Tesla recorded an unidentified rhythmic transmission from the horizon at his Colorado Springs experimental station. This elusive electromagnetic heartbeat is a common ghost story from the period. Some suggest aliens, atmospheric echoes, or the early experiments of fellow radio explorers. Perhaps Marconi on the shores of England was unknowingly shaking hands with his American rival.
Speak Softly, Computer
The modern world charges into cyberspace. The internet connects our society and boils with unsupervised AI agents. Daily actions online rise exponentially. As the vacuum of cyberspace pulls us in, will we see things we can’t explain?
AI agents are becoming embedded in software production, maintenance, and delivery. Simple, consistent actions carried by rules deep in code may produce unexpected results on a global scale. As online actions escalate by both AI and human actors, we may encounter the unexpected. Emails without senders, websites without hosts, content without makers - gone just as quickly as they appeared. Faint transmissions on the internet’s horizon we cannot identify.
We sighted unfamiliar shapes from coastlines and crow’s nests. We saw UFOs in skies abuzz with zeppelins and propellers. We heard strange signals in radio when the machines first turned on. We may encounter the same thing in cyberspace: The Unidentified.
Perhaps like Tesla, we will receive a transmission from another explorer - neither knowing anyone else was out there.
