If humanity has just shot down some alien spaceships, we'd like to say we're really very sorry – Scotsman comment

Just on the off chance, The Scotsman would like to put on record, on behalf of all humanity, that we really are very, very, very sorry if we have inadvertently shot down spacecraft sent to explore planet Earth by hyper-intelligent aliens.

If this is indeed the way in which we have made “first contact”, it was in no way our intention. It was a most regrettable accident while we were shooting down some balloons that one country allegedly sent over another country in order to spy on it. And, at least on our world, that really isn’t as silly as it might sound.

We should probably state at this point that it's unlikely we’re being visited by aliens from Mars or others so advanced that they have mastered interstellar spaceflight. However, that said, if a senior US Air Force general, Glen VanHerck, isn’t dismissing the idea, then neither are we.

Asked whether an octagonal-shaped object shot down over Lake Huron by a US F-16 fighter jet and two other, similarly destroyed, unidentified flying objects (UFOs) – excitingly now rebranded as “unidentified aerial phenomena” or UAPs (conspiracy theorists please take note) – might be of extraterrestrial origin, VanHerck replied: “I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything.” He then added: “We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason.”

At least he’s not calling them “phenomena”. Then again, given the current state of the world, with scientists’ ‘Doomsday Clock’ now sitting at just 90 seconds to midnight, perhaps humanity could do with some help from a hopefully friendly, understanding and not-at-all vengeful higher lifeform.