UFO's - aliens here & now
 

Watching one of those "UFO specials" and thought I'd create a thread to see what others think. UFOs in this context is not just unidentified flying objects but actual aliens.

There is an older thread but it had a mix of UFOs as well as supernatural and want to keep this specific to aliens Are you open to supernatural/unusual experiences? - Front Office Football Central

So, do you think we've been visited? they're watching us from some cloaked space ship or earth base? some world leaders are already in communication with them? they are friendly or looking for food (yum) or to steal natural resources? abducting us for experiments etc.

And has anyone here had an experience with an alien UFO (not just an unidentified flying object) or has a family/friend that had an encounter?

No personal experience myself. No one I know has had an experience.

I really want to believe the friendly ones exist and are watchin us until we achieve some sort of "warp signature" or like before inviting us into a Federation.

(1) I think that intelligent life exists elsewhere.

(2) I think that the practical limitations in travel/communication make/will make contact pretty much impossible--barring a complete change in our understanding of physics.

(3) I certainly think that the Star Trek model of "once y'all discover Warp, we'll invite you into the club" is the most appealing.

(4) The technology that would be needed to get to Earth from another planet is so much more advanced than what we have that we would have to hope that any aliens who get here are benevolent. Because we will be completely at their mercy.

Ping: Kodos

You guys are toast.

The Fermi Paradox.

The Fermi Paradox - Wait But Why



Excellent alien existence discussion from a great website with a lot of cool material.

Can civilizations get passed The Great Filter?

I hope intelligent life exist somewhere, because it definitely doesn't here.

If we meet aliens more technologically advanced than us then we're in for a world of anal probing.

If they're less advanced then the best we can really hope for is that they're tasty.

After weighing the pros and cons of meeting other races, I hope that we're alone.

I voted for Kang

I don't think it's foregone that aliens exist. The Rare Earth Hypothesis has some merit.

I don't think our technology is *that* far away from space travel either, but it would certainly be enough that I do agree we'd be at the mercy of any aliens who did it.

The whole Fermi Paradox thing - I think Neil de Grasse Tyson's take is quite plausible though not ironclad. Basically the idea is that any civilization with enough impetus to advance and explore would also wipe itself out through internal conflicts before it ever became a galaxy-spanning civilization. The ambition required is self-defeating when you get to the point of that kind of expansion, resource exploitation, etc - to have the drive to do that you're also going to just fight over it and ... bad things will happen.

A number of potential Great Filters, that's just one of them. AI is another. Etc. And then there's the whole simulation theory question of is any of this really happening in the first place.

It's possible we have been visited by aliens, but I'm on the side of it's unlikely. I don't think governments (not just our current one in the US) are good enough at keeping secrets to keep that from ever getting out, for one thing.

Yeah, I kinda agree with this statement.

Also, why do aliens need to keep on abducting and releasing humans anyway? There's supposedly been 40+ years of this happening and you would think they know everything these need to know already - anatomy, language, inter-species reproduction etc. More believable if they abducted people that won't be noticed as gone and then keeping them in human zoos forever.

But nevertheless, doesn't eliminate Vulcans out there watching us but not interfering.

I think it is looking more likely that intelligent life is at least extremely rare. The Kardashev scale is well worth a read. Makes a lot of sense to me.

If there was an extremely advanced lifeform in our galaxy you would think we would of spotted something by now. Time is always an enemy. There may have been an advanced species which are now extinct. Of course most of what we are looking at out there is actually millions of years old so we are not getting a true picture of what is happening now. Although in a 13 billion year old universe, I guess a few million years is not a huge amount of time.

Recent studies I have read have become more pessimistic. Doubting intelligent life in our galaxy. Swinging around the 50% mark in the entire universe. I find that hard to believe considering the vastness, but that is what I have read of late.

I think if a species did turn up, it would likely be bots created by a life form which started out as biological. Thinking is an intelligent life form will eventually merge with AI, moving away from being purely biological. If our understanding of Physics is correct, the time to travel through space would be vast. I guess as a planet we have only been detectable to any reasonable extent for a very short period of time. In millions of years a lifeform would actually pick up the signals we are sending now due to speed of light limitations. For that reason a visit seems unlikely.

Unless of course we were created by an advanced alien lifeform. This seems as likely to me as being created by any "God". That said, I have always leaned towards hydrothermal vents or some type of similar explanation for the origin of life.

I like this idea.

Self-reparable droid AI's that live on long after creators are gone.

If there is an super-intelligent life form that has the technology to visit Earth, they would be tens of thousands of years more advanced than us. So (1) if they wanted to be seen, they'd be able to make themselves known easily or (2) if they didn't want to be seen, there's no way we'd ever detect them.

I find it telling that basically every person on earth has a HD video camera on them at all times, yet there aren't more UFO "sightings".

Yeah, camera phones really have (or should have) been the logical end to a whole host of conspiracy theories.

I do like the advanced intelligence argument for Fermi. Like you say any intelligence that has managed to master interstellar travel is so far ahead of us that they either a) just aren’t that interested in us or b) have ethics that preclude them from interfering and making themselves visible to us.

For those 2 reasons I just don’t think the UFO theory holds up to any logical examination. That and the fact as somebody mentioned that there’s no way a large group of people would be able to keep that secret.

There’s also the fact that we as a species have been around for an infinitely small proportion of the time the planet’s been around, so, even if they exist, the chances of UFOs arriving while we have been here are tiny.

You guys just aren’t that interesting. Get over yourselves!

But much of the western world is overweight. We may not be that interesting but I'm sure we taste good cooked medium rare :)

And then, of course, we have Gal Gadot and like all over the world.

I got abducted and they took my nose to use as an aphrodisiac and then dumped me in the woods.

Chairman of Harvards Astronomy Dept. says alien technology visited in 2017

Harvard Professor Says Alien Technology Visited Earth in 2017

I saw that the other day. I have to admit that cigar-shaped object was weird looking.

Did we ever get a good photo of it? Is the cigar-shaped something that someone extrapolated?

Just a rendering
But it was 10 times longer than wide

So it could have been a damaged battle cruiser (with everyone/thing dead) just floating around!

The article said "there was excess push away from the sun"

They named it a Hawaiian name for scout. Soooooooo

I spotted this again in my toilet this morning.

Speaking of aliens here & now ...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nashvil...ore-explosion/

TMI

One of my favorite radio shows to listen to in the 00's was Coast to Coast with the Art Bell. So wonderful. I loved believing.

I caught him now and then when I was driving home late at night from the airport.

Have they found someone to replace him? Or is Coast to Coast off the air?

George Noori has been the main host since 2003

Human horn!

SI

Wonder who championed to sneak this in? Also, hasn't Congress already asked for similar information? No reason why what is presented won't be same whitewash as the other time(s).

If I was Pres, I would ask for this info and also find out where money for Area 51 goes to, speak to that 4-star generally personally & promise him Joint Chiefs, and then take a field trip to check it out. If there was an alien dangling in formaldehyde, I'd start a change and communications program to prep the US & World, and then let all but the most sensitive information out. And then, of course, ask for more money for our space force! (and maybe redesign the darn belt)

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/10/us/uf...rnd/index.html

I really want to believe we have some aliens floating in a tank and remnants of a spaceship in Area 51 but apparently not.

The Air Force actually embraced the conspiracy theorists' obsession with Area 51 harboring alien technology. Over the years, this helped to deflect the attention from the real functions going on there, namely the testing of U-2 spy plane, Archangel-12, SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter. Modern day photogrammetry reveals a much more mundane site than the ones depicted in sci-fi movies. It's actually not an impressive looking place at all.

... and they've probably moved to an Area-61 by now.

Yes, many of the Area 51 conspiracy theorists have shifted their attention to the Dugway Proving Ground in northern Utah.

I just want to mention that Joe Biden nor Donald Trump have ever denied being a lizard-person, or being in affiliation with the lizard people.

Doesn't seem like 16 people is enough for this effort.

Would be nice if they also categorized any like unknowns globally.

Video: NASA launches study on 'unidentified aerial phenomena' | CNN Business

Me as a kid thinking about alien visitors: "OH NO! I'm really scared."

Me today thinking about alien visitors: "Well, it took you long enough. The to-do list has gotten pretty big. Why don't y'all start by removing atmospheric CO2, and we'll go from there while we work on priorities."

I'm actually the other way around. As a kid, I was thinking about the Federation of Planets.

As an adult, I'm a little concerned about aliens wanting to eat us and steal our resources.

But yes, I want to believe there are aliens (benevolent) studying, observing us right now.

I mean aliens being here explains edward

I'm not sure how big the staff for Project Blue Book ever actually was (and can't seem to find a reference to its numbers) but given that it was run by a Lt. Col most of the time, I doubt it had big staffing either

Jokes on them!!

We've already destroyed our resources and are nothing but fatty meat...

That is what I was called when I immigrated.

And that's why the US is up first for any alien dinner invitation ... because the collective "we" are more flavorful.

I prefer to think of myself as "marbled"

SI

Hah, that's a good one.

The best alien story I ever heard was on the Lex Friedman podcast #122 David Fravor.

A senior american air force pilot who got a good look at a tic tac looking type craft with no visible propulsion. 3 other pilots also viewed the, erm, craft. Visibly capable of speeds beyond our technology. All picked up and confirmed by uss nimitz radar. Pretty tough one to explain. All happened in 2004, so that seems to rule out super modern technology of our own making as we are yet to see anything close.

I think there's more publicized sightings by commercial, military pilots, mass witnesses to (at the very least) keep an open mind.

Here's a wiki list of unknown phenomenon sightings

List of reported UFO sightings - Wikipedia

I think the problem with the sightings is that even highly trained professionals are very susceptible to the flaws in human observation by our own senses. I.e. eyewitness testimony/observations are notoriously unreliable.

I think NDT has a very good point on this. If these kinds of things are happening, why in a technological era where we have high-definition videos of just about every thing you can imagine, are there no high-quality videos of alien abduction/UFO encounters/etc?

I think it's possible, but I also find the state of evidence available to date highly unconvincing. There are a lot of people who really, really want it to be true, just like they want JWST to find alien civilizations (the fact that it isn't designed to do that notwithstanding).