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what is more likely here,that a message from aliens results in a magical machine… that whisks you away to the center of the galaxy… to go windsurfing with dear old dad and then a split second later returns you home without a single shred of proof?
or
that your experience is the result of being the unwitting star in the farewell performance of one s.r. hadden. a man with the means, the motive to play you and indeed the rest of us as pawns in the biggest, the most elaborate, the most expensive hoax of all time?

dr. arroway, you come to us with no evidence, no record, no artifacts… only a story that, to put it mildly, strains credibility. over half a trillion dollars were spent. dozens of lives were lost. are you really going to sit there and tell us we should just take this all on faith?

please answer the question doctor

ellie: is it possible that it didn’t happen? yes.as a scientist i must concede that. i must volunteer that.

wait a minute, let me get this straight...you admit that you have absolutely no physical evidence to back up your story?

ellie: yes.

you admit that you have very well may have hallucinated this whole thing?

ellie: yes.

you admit that if you were in our position you would respond with exactly the same degree of incredulity and skepticism?

ellie: yes.

then why don't you simply withdraw your testimony and concede that this journey to the center of the galaxy, in fact, never took place?

ellie: because i can't...
i had an experience... i can't prove it. i can't even explain it.
but everything i know as a human being, everything that i am tells me that it was real.
i was given something wonderful, something that changed me forever.
a vision of the universe that tells us undeniably how tiny and insignificant and how rare and precious we all are.
a vision that tells us that we belong to something that is greater than ourselves, that we are not, that none of us are alone.
i wish i could share that... i wish that everyone, if even for one moment, could feel that awe and humility and hope.
that continues to be my wish.