# Could NASA or the government really be able to hide the existance of Aliens? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476 "2009-03-23T17:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/21 "2009-03-25T20:13:13Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve been to TTR, and they aren’t any aliens or flying saucers. For exotic technology there wasn’t so much as an atomic cocktail shaker there. > > Stranger And of course, if there _were_ aliens, you wouldn’t tell us anyway, because you’re part of the the coverup… (hey, that’s what makes conspiracy theories so much fun—you can always find “proof”). oh, one more thing: what’s TTR stand for? (also : how does an atomic cocktail shaker work? It sounds like something the aliens use every day.) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/22 "2009-03-25T20:38:25Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I don’t think so. Look how well we did at keeping the atomic and hydrogen bombs a secret. The Soviets had one just a few years after we did, followed not too long afterward by several other countries. If we had reverse-engineered some cool alien technology, other countries would have stolen that information and found out where it came from. > > [Buzz Aldrin doesn’t think he saw something of alien origin, and says some things he said have been taken out of context](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Aldrin#UFO_and_Apollo_hoax_allegations). That’s only because \*they \*made him say that! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Umbriel2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel2)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/23 "2009-03-25T20:41:13Z")
I could possibly buy the idea of a small group in the government keeping the lid on a single find of alien wreckage or a dead Grey, keeping it locked up somewhere and ignoring it out of fear and/or befuddlement. The idea of a far-reaching conspiracy, with its own infrastructure of secret bases, Presidential briefings, technological reverse engineering, etc. is, IMHO, moonbat city. > [@devilsknew](#): > > Personally, I believe Alien conspiracy is a great proxy and smokescreen/counterintelligence as jettisoned by Project Bluebook. It is a living and highly successful example of the US Government’s propaganda arm. The proving ground that simultaneously misdirects and discredits all other lines of inquiry. > > Every thing is deniable as long as there are aliens. They can propagate their ET archetype/stereotype whilst the objective truth is twice as mundane but three times more fantastic. My wife and I have reached the same conclusion. It’s simultaneously a research project on mass psychology and how to manipulate it, and an active smokescreen for concealing military research projects and intelligence activities. It’s debatable whether it grew out of earnest inquiries into the nature of UFOs, or whether the seeds were planted during WWII OSS projects, and the post-war UFO flaps were primarily driven by the project. I suspect that some other sorts of government/paranormal entanglements, like the [First Earth Battalion](http://www.jonronson.com/goats_04.html) might have drawn inspiration from it, in terms of cloaking actual activities in discrediting weirdness. ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/24 "2009-03-26T14:38:27Z")
There are no secrets-- there are just things that haven’t been stolen/leaked/unclassified yet. The more interesting a secret, the faster the above happens. The existence of UFOs-- like the assassination of JFK, or the events of 9/11-- are fertile grounds for conspiracy theories, but in reality, are mundane and well-understood. If there _were_ conspiracies in any of those cases, they would have broken long before now, simply under the weight of interest they’ve each engendered. That said, mysteries still abound, and weird stuff that can’t be easily explained happen all the time, whether it’s a “magic bullet” or strange lights in the sky. But just because the explanations for such things are not obvious from the available evidence is not evidence of things that they do not prove, i.e. massive cover-ups and conspiracies by governments. Governments, BTW, staffed by real people, with real flaws, and routinely demonstrating incompetence (deliberately or accidentally) even in the best of times. ---
**Author:** ![EpicNonsense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@EpicNonsense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpicNonsense)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/25 "2009-03-26T15:29:33Z")
I’m sure there are other life forms out there, though I think the reason we have not found them yet is because of our inability to perceive them. Well, anything that hasn’t evolved on the earth, that is. It’s very likely with the aid of advanced technologies alien species have been encountered which explains why we, the public, have never encountered them but is why others have come to speak about these sightings. On a side note, how do we define “alien”? I doubt we’d classify any new species discovered on earth as “alien” - we simply give it a name and move on. Atleast, we have been, right? Unless of course it matched our ideal alien figure… As for these supposed “UFO’s” that are in existence… I think it’s a big misunderstanding and is simply advanced flight technology our _people_ have been creating, but those who “spot” it find it unimaginable (not a standard airplane) so they create folk tales of alien species flying spaceships around our planet and abducting them, etc but in actuality it is just them being paranoid and beginning to believe the crap their minds come up with. Unless there is another species out there exact or similar to humans which evolved on a planet like the earth (all of the same elements) and whom are at the same or similar phase of technological evolution it’s impossible any human-perceivable crafts would exist… I dunno, just my observation. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/26 "2009-03-26T15:41:51Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I think it’s a way to get attention. > > People see stuff in the sky that they can’t explain. But which is more likely to get you attention and interest from your friends- “I saw something in the sky that I’m not sure what it was” or “I saw a UFO”? > > I guarantee you various people and businesses in Roswell, NM, are playing this up to get attention and tourist dollars. Would people go there to see the site of a top-secret aircraft crash? > > I suspect quite a few authors of books about aliens and UFO’s (or maybe their publishers and publicists) of doing it for the attention and money they get. What’s kind of funny is that it’s become such a joke by now that if aliens really did decide they wanted to land in some farm in Nebraska they could do so completely out in the open and be relatively confident that the rest of the world would just laugh at anyone who claims to have seen them. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/27 "2009-03-26T15:48:56Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > oh, one more thing: what’s TTR stand for? [Tonopah Test Range](http://www.dreamlandresort.com/info/tonopah.htm) > [@chappachula](#): > > (also : how does an atomic cocktail shaker work? It sounds like something the aliens use every day.) You use fast neutrons to activate radioisotopes in the drink. The resulting fluorescence makes for much entertaining discussion, and the beta burns the next day are a reminder of what a great time it was. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/28 "2009-03-26T21:43:43Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I don’t get it. The supposed “alien” sightings, in 1940’sealy 1950’s New Mexico have all been explained (ad nauseum) by the US AirForce. The “sightings” were actually due to the wreckagefrom two Top Secret Air Force programs (Project “Mogul” and a proect to test the safety of high altitude parachute escapes). The Air Force has released all of the info on these programs-and even answered all of the questions. They even published a summary of all the information. > It didn’t stop the true belivers-for that reason, I belive the UFO movement is really a religion.:smack: You’re right except that if you go trolling around A-51 you get chased away so it fuels the notion that aliens are a little shy. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/29 "2009-03-27T00:21:45Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > SETI is looking for radio signals out in the ether, any competent ET crew would be using microwave or more exotic means of communication. > > Declan Before I say something snarky… can you define the difference between radio and microwaves? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/30 "2009-03-27T01:25:46Z")
Could the govt keep it secret for a couple decades? Probably. Would they? It’s the sort of secret that has value to the keepers of it. But it’s got a “use by” date for the original discovers, and its value to them is rapidly diminishing the older they get. They apparently aren’t profiting and they haven’t built or reverse-engineered anything profitable or even just really, really cool. So why keep the secret? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/31 "2009-03-27T18:29:21Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > Before I say something snarky… can you define the difference between radio and microwaves? Radio would be omni directional, where as microwave transmission would be more directional. I would imagine in space both make sense depending on usuage. But I cant believe that a technological society would broadcast its location ,but thats a human centric view point I guess. We are the third planet in from the sun, so all of our older transmissions , concievably could have simply been able to bypass the other six planets and moons and the kuiper belt, to merrily go about their way, so for another planet in a distant solar system, does the exact same thing, I have low expectation that the seti folks are going to find anything but false positives. So to reflect on your question both are Radio, but the difference would in my opinion be the coherence of the beam spread over light years. I dont mind snarky by the way , sometimes its how I learn stuff. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/32 "2009-03-29T00:23:01Z")
The field of astronomy is constantly examining the sky, especially but not exclusively at night, and doing so in many ranges of wavelength. And, not only are there professional astronomers, but many amateur astronomers. Astronomy probably has more genuine contribution from amateur practicioners than any other study (consider variable star observers, people timing occultations, comet searchers, and groups that count meteors). If aliens were coming and going, wouldn’t some of these people be among those likliest to notice, and to have cameras and other equipment on hand to record it? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/33 "2009-03-29T13:03:56Z")
A slight hijack, but what are the chances that an alien species would find up tasty? It is a stock item for sci-fi (aliens coming to the earth to eat us)-but it seems preposterous. Humans aren’t even a preferred meal of sharks. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/34 "2009-03-29T18:14:27Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > A slight hijack, but what are the chances that an alien species would find up tasty? > It is a stock item for sci-fi (aliens coming to the earth to eat us)-but it seems preposterous. Humans aren’t even a preferred meal of sharks. Yeah i could see them strip mining our planet before eating us ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/35 "2009-03-30T16:54:51Z")
Another interesting item is that this is largely an American phenomenon. If you were an alien, you have dozens and dozens of countries to choose from. What about conspiracies in Russia, China, India, etc? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/36 "2009-03-31T06:07:04Z")
The alien cover-up conspiracy theory posits that the government is keeping aliens a secret in order to avoid a mass panic, right? But that’s easy to debunk. If it were true, then why would the government have gone to the trouble of faking the 9/11 attacks in order to _cause_ a panic? It makes no sense! ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/37 "2009-03-31T06:31:45Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > The alien cover-up conspiracy theory posits that the government is keeping aliens a secret in order to avoid a mass panic, right? But that’s easy to debunk. If it were true, then why would the government have gone to the trouble of faking the 9/11 attacks in order to _cause_ a panic? It makes no sense! Look at the silly monkey ! ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476/38 "2009-03-31T13:43:04Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Personally, I believe Alien conspiracy is a great proxy and smokescreen/counterintelligence as jettisoned by Project Bluebook. It is a living and highly successful example of the US Government’s propaganda arm. The proving ground that simultaneously misdirects and discredits all other lines of inquiry. > > Every thing is deniable as long as there are aliens. They can propagate their ET archetype/stereotype whilst the objective truth is twice as mundane but three times more fantastic. This reminds me of a B5 Crusade episode in which an alien government fakes ET involvement in their affairs to distract their population from domestic problems :-P. It’s actually a fairly brilliant X files spoof. > [@phreesh](#): > > Another interesting item is that this is largely an American phenomenon. > > If you were an alien, you have dozens and dozens of countries to choose from. What about conspiracies in Russia, China, India, etc? Well, in Russia and China you didn’t need to worry about aliens coming to seize you in the night, that’s what the government was for. less sure about india. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-nasa-or-the-government-really-be-able-to-hide-the-existance-of-aliens/490476.md?page=1)