Ring, a video doorbell maker owned by Amazon, is offering a $1 million grand prize to anyone who captures “unaltered scientific evidence of a real extraterrestrial lifeform on their indoor or outdoor Ring device”. Amazon made the announcement via its official Ring website. Ring calls the contest “Ring’s Million Dollar Search for Extraterrestrials,”. It targets Halloween and ends on November 3, 2023. Even if a real extraterrestrial doesn’t show up on your porch, you can still win a $500 Amazon gift card. To win this, you will have to submit your most creative interpretation of an extraterrestrial sighting on your Ring device.
Image Source: Pexels
How to Enter the Contest
To enter the contest, Ring doorbell users will have to scour their footage for any signs of unnatural or abnormal activity. If you spot a UFO flying past your property, an unusual person walking down your street, or other proof of otherworldly life, you can submit your Ring footage to the Amazon company. The videos will be judged on creativity, humour, engagement with a Ring device, and alien costumes. Highly encouraged are “accessories, homemade spacecraft, and extraterrestrial-inspired communication with your Ring device”.
The Prize
The grand prize of $1 million will go to the person who captures “unaltered scientific evidence of a real extraterrestrial lifeform on their indoor or outdoor Ring device”. There is also a $500 price for any contestant who captures the most creative interpretation of an extraterrestrial sighting.
Image Source: CNET
Search for extraterrestrial life – experts view
The search for extraterrestrial life has been a topic of fascination for scientists and the general public alike. Here are some expert views on the topic:
Jill Cornell Tarter
Jill Cornell Tarter is an astronomer best known for her work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and a co-founder and former director of the Center for SETI Research.
Tarter believes that finding other intelligent life in the cosmos is a fundamental human endeavour. It probes our understanding of the cosmos, what it means to live and survive on Earth and beyond, and just where our species fits into the greater universe.
Paul M. Sutter
Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at the Flatiron Institute.
Sutter argues that the search for extraterrestrial life does not directly address the problems we face on Earth. He believes that there are other questions we can ask that offer us that cosmic perspective, such as probing the origins of the solar system, searching for non-intelligent life, and studying the Big Bang and the ultimate fate of the universe.
Lindsay Hays
Lindsay Hays is an astrobiologist at NASA.
Hays believes that extraterrestrial life has never been discovered, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. She points out that our definition of habitable environments continues to expand, and that we’ve only explored a tiny fraction of Mars. There are also icy moons in the outer solar system like Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa that look like they may have subsurface oceans that could be habitable. And that’s just what’s in our solar system. The more exoplanets we find around other stars, the more we learn about how many different environments there are that could potentially support life.
Avi Loeb
Avi Loeb is an astrophysicist at Harvard.
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Loeb argues that the absence of evidence regarding life elsewhere is not evidence of its absence. He believes that the reason we haven’t come across life beyond Earth is not because it doesn’t exist, but because we haven’t looked hard enough. He points out that the search for extraterrestrial life has never been more than an oddity to the vast majority of scientists, and that attitude may be changing. In the past few years, there has been a flurry of new interest in the search for aliens. Tech billionaires are funding novel efforts to scan the heavens for evidence of life, and after decades of giving the field short shrift, NASA recently joined the search.
Potential impact of offering a monetary prize for evidence of extraterrestrial life
Offering a monetary prize for evidence of extraterrestrial life could have several potential impacts, including:
1. Increased public interest: A monetary prize could generate excitement and interest in the search for extraterrestrial life. This could potentially lead to more people getting involved in the search.
2. Increased funding: Large prizes, such as the $100 million decadal project announced by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner in 2015, could provide a big boost to the funding available for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
3. Increased creativity: Offering a prize for evidence of extraterrestrial life could encourage people to think creatively. They will think about how to search for and detect signs of life beyond Earth.
4. Increased risk of hoaxes: Offering a large monetary prize could also increase the risk of people submitting fake or doctored evidence in an attempt to win the prize.
5. Potential negative consequences: The discovery of extraterrestrial life could have huge societal, cultural, and religious implications. Some experts have raised concerns about how people might react to such a discovery.
Overall, offering a monetary prize for evidence of extraterrestrial life could have both positive and negative impacts, and would need to be carefully considered before implementation.
Conclusion
Ring’s Million Dollar Search for Extraterrestrials is a fun and exciting contest. It encourages Ring users to scour their footage for any signs of unnatural or abnormal activity. The chances of capturing a real extraterrestrial on your Ring device are slim. However, the contest is a great opportunity to get creative and have fun with your video doorbell. So, if you’re a Ring user, start scouring your footage and submit your most creative interpretation of an extraterrestrial sighting. This should be on your Ring device and you stand a chance to win a $1 million grand prize or a $500 Amazon gift card. This article present a real contest that Amazon is organizing and it is not a satirical news piece.
Our Take
At the moment, there is no real evidence of extraterrestrial sightings on Earth. This topic has been a subject of debate for many years and sounds more fictitious than real. Numerous individuals have claimed to have witnessed unidentified flying objects (UFOs) or encountered unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). So, this contest for $1 million is probably one that you may never get a winner for the top price. This is because what Amazon is asking for most likely does not exist.
This article does not imply that a real extraterrestrial sighting is possible. It only presents the details of a contest organized by a large and credible technology company, Amazon. The contest is on the company’s website and it has been in the public domain for many days. Click here to access the company’s website.
Author’s Bio
Efe Udin is a seasoned tech writer with over seven years of experience covering a wide range of topics in the tech industry. From mobile phones to tablets, Efe has kept a keen eye on the latest advancements and trends, providing insightful analysis and reviews to inform and educate readers. However, Efe’s focus is on the politics surrounding recent advancements in technology.
