# Are Aliens Visiting Earth? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2020, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949 "2020-06-25T10:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![AlienBabble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alienbabble/32/3344_2.png) [@AlienBabble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienBabble)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/283 "2023-07-14T23:40:40Z")
> **Bare pdf link with no explanation** > > [https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/uap\_amendment.pdf](https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/uap_amendment.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/284 "2023-07-15T02:00:26Z")
Moderating: @AlienBabble, I have hidden your link because you offered only a link to a PDF with no explanation. That’s not allowed. ---
**Author:** ![AlienBabble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alienbabble/32/3344_2.png) [@AlienBabble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienBabble)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/285 "2023-07-15T03:39:39Z")
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Mike Rounds have collaborated on a 64-page proposal to disclose information about “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAPs). They plan to introduce the proposal as an amendment to a defense funding legislation. The amendment would require immediate disclosure of UAP records, establish a review board for document classification, and ensure public access within 25 years. Schumer’s support, along with Rounds’ expertise, adds weight to the initiative: > **[uap\_amendment.pdf](https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/uap_amendment.pdf)** > > 116.82 KB ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/286 "2023-07-15T03:55:18Z")
You ought to check out all the categories. We can be an amusing bunch. I run the Death Pool in the Games section, we can always us more macabre players. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2023, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/287 "2023-07-15T04:56:13Z")
The time lime actually points at my pet theory being correct, military tech that is confused as UFOs is better to be kept as being as mysterious in origin, because the real explanations are not so mundane, they are dangerous if other nations find out about what the military is toying with right now. 25 years from now, what those “toys” were will then be already known. Just as we know now that a lot of people thought that sightings of the stealth fighter and technology used to develop them and test them were aliens. Not to be. > **[Secret behind ‘best ever’ UFO sighting revealed](https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/secret-behind-best-ever-ufo-sighting-revealed/news-story/105a08c1a7caf70f6f41c477a563fd3a)** > > A former defence intelligence officer has revealed the secret behind the “world’s best” UFO photo, claiming the massive, diamond-shaped vehicle captured in the image was a top secret US aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/288 "2023-07-16T00:03:50Z")
My guess is that it will be a big pile of stuff all with the conclusion of “This stuff happened and we don’t know what caused it”. Those who believe in Extra terrestrials will view this as proof that its aliens, but all it really shows is that there is a bunch of stuff that people don’t know what caused it. Aliens is an explanation but a particularly lazy one that for which there is no evidence. Read about the ~~gods~~ aliens in the gaps [argument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps). I view these as tricks in a magic show. You see things that astonish and amaze. Things that you don’t have any explanation for. Concluding therefor that the magician must really have magical powers is a mistake. The infinitely more likely answer is that he did some trick fully within the normal laws of physics that we just didn’t have enough imagination to come up with. TLDR: Just because aliens are an explanation for a phenominon and we don’t have another one doesn’t me that aliens are the explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/289 "2023-07-16T03:05:37Z")
What’s so funny about UFOs is that most of them are based on bad newswriting. If you go back and look at the 1947 infamous “flying saucer” sightings, it’s clear the original statements were garbled and badly reported by the newspapers. What happened then? Thousands of sightings not like the original, but like the newspaper stories. People see what they others to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/290 "2023-07-16T03:18:52Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > People see what they others to hear. I’m not sure if this is a typo, an attempt at illustrating your above point, or a transient ischemic attack. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/291 "2023-07-16T12:52:17Z")
OK, so you are an extraterrestrial race interested in surveying our planet and our race…how do you go about it? If it is stuff on a more granular scale (land use and so on), hiding an alien satellite up with all of ours seems to be a pretty safe bet. Telescopes, radio antennas, and various advanced sensor capabilities that we can only dream of. Highly unlikely that we’ll ever know they are there. Norrow-focused uninterceptable transmissions to whatever is your nearest starbase out in the great beyond. If it malfunctions it will either be just another hunk of space junk out of thousands, or will burn up when and if the orbit decays. [Self-destruct modules would also be a good idea] If you want to see what is going on at the ground floor tho (as in interpersonal interactions between all of these semi-intelligent apes), things get a little bit trickier. My suggestion would be to hijack various insects with your high-tech devices, perhaps involving nano-level circuitry, use the organism’s base sensors and just add in your own tiny devices to transmit to the mother ships above. Bonus points if these circuits can quickly degrade after the organism’s death to thwart any nosy apes who might get ahold of one. But flying around at high speeds in the atmosphere seems like the worst of both worlds. The resolution of your sensors doesn’t seem to be THAT much greater, 5 miles up vs. 100 miles, but now you are risking a crash if your craft malfunctions such that the overcurious apes can now acquire said wreckage and thus tech on a large scale (if not biology if you are dumb enough to actually have biological pilots flying the things). ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/292 "2023-07-16T14:23:27Z")
Something akin to what I’m about to say has probably been posted upthread (I haven’t read it all), but here’s my thinking. Imagine that an alien race has the ability to travel between stars at something approaching a reasonable speed (viz, not the millions of years it would take our spacecraft at speeds we can attain). The fact that they can do this means that they’re centuries ahead of us technologically. Such a race would have absolutely no reason to visit here. It would be like the US invading [North Sentinel Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island) (which I’m inclined to believe doesn’t have rich oil deposits, hence, no US invasion). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/293 "2023-07-17T15:58:09Z")
Visiting? “Chariots of the Gods, man. They practically own South America. I mean, they taught the Incas everything they know.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/294 "2023-07-17T16:39:11Z")
Should have taught them “don’t trust hairy strangers carrying metal sticks and riding giant deerish things”. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/295 "2023-07-17T16:40:45Z")
I’ll believe it when “I see it.” I mean, for all the recent statements and press conferences and reports, I’ve still not seen any conclusive evidence of anything. It’s just talk and artists renderings. The tic-tac case is one of the most compelling but far from conclusive about anything. So, I’ll believe when I see it. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/296 "2023-07-17T16:41:27Z")
I guess that means I don’t think it’s Aliens. . . so far. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/297 "2023-07-17T16:48:29Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Should have taught them “don’t trust hairy strangers carrying metal sticks and riding giant deerish things”. > **[Pinterest](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/88453580156048991/visual-search/)** > > Discover recipes, home ideas, style inspiration and other ideas to try. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/298 "2023-07-17T18:58:38Z")
They might want our stuff. By which I mean the stuff we’re standing on. Materials from our planet. Assuming their infrastructure is made from matter, they might need a top-up of that. They could get it from asteroids and small moons of the gas giants I suppose, without having to haul it up out of our gravity well, but then centuries ahead of us, travelling between stars etc, gravity wells might not be a big deal to them, or they might just grind up the whole of our planet and sift out the bits they like. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/299 "2023-07-17T19:04:13Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > I’ll believe it when “I see it.” I mean, for all the recent statements and press conferences and reports, I’ve still not seen any conclusive evidence of anything. Yup, so far the best we’ve got is a handful of government employees who say, “A guy told me…” To which I say, great - come back with some real evidence and I will be one of the people truly thrilled to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/300 "2023-07-17T22:35:21Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Yup, so far the best we’ve got is a handful of government employees who say, “A guy told me…” > > To which I say, great - come back with some real evidence and I will be one of the people truly thrilled to see it. “Highly trained pilots” saw something and took a blurry picture. At any one time of day there are about one million people who are not on the planet, because they are flying somewhere. And all of these planes have highly trained pilots. Thousands of them, and they are highly trained in the same way a metro bus driver is. They can do thier jobs. The classic “Appeal to Authority” propaganda applies, even to military pilots who see something they can’t identify. We think they should _know_, but they don’t really. _Is it possible_, (insert guy with bad hair and Greek name), that aliens from another planet would come here in aircraft with flashing aircraft lights? Yes it is. It is equally possible that Bigfoot got a pilot’s license and that is why the real answer is so elusive. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/301 "2023-07-17T22:38:07Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > At any one time of day there are about one million people who are not on the planet, because they are flying somewhere. And all of these planes have highly trained pilots. I happen to be one of those highly trained pilots and… > [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > It is equally possible that Bigfoot got a pilot’s license and that is why the real answer is so elusive. I resemble that remark. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949/302 "2023-07-17T22:39:06Z")
My Magic 8-Ball says “No.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-aliens-visiting-earth/912949.md?page=16)