# Hypothetical: evidence of UFOs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2017, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578 "2017-05-14T06:10:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/1 "2017-05-14T06:10:08Z")
This is a question for people who either don’t believe that intelligent life exists anywhere else, or at least that it isn’t visiting earth. Have you ever considered what it would take to convince you (assuming that aliens are in fact visiting us)? Some possibilities: The classic: a UFO lands on the White House lawn. You personally see a UFO/alien up close and personal; you can tell that you are seeing something not of this earth. Somebody that you trust completely tells you that he saw one, and can give details. The leader of a major nation holds a press conference, and announces that his nation’s government holds evidence that aliens have been visiting us. A well-known, respected scientist announces that he has credible evidence. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/2 "2017-05-14T07:03:41Z")
I am easily convinced so any of those would just reinforce what I already believe/know. All it took me to believe was just thinking, out of all of the sightings on earth, could one really be expected to believe every one was a lie, hoax or misinterpretation? Doesn’t compute well in my head. Same goes with the old analogy about if one does think if there are more stars with planets orbiting them than grains of sand on earth, we are the only ones? It just doesn’t make sense. I suppose I can see the view of another person who believes the opposite, but as I said, does not compute. _Walter Mitty-ish Fantasy below_ I would love to have the media spot a legitimate UFO (Alien) and get it all on camera and distribute it. All of the movers and shakers of the world would crap their pants though, worried about hysteria, plummeting stock prices and their money going down the drain, while I sit back and invest in EVERY private space venture. This way, the bad guys lose, I get rich and get to live out the rest of my days living in amazement and wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/3 "2017-05-14T09:16:51Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > All it took me to believe was just thinking, out of all of the sightings on earth, could one really be expected to believe every one was a lie, hoax or misinterpretation? That is some very strange reasoning. If you accept that some percentage of claimed sightings are either hoaxes or mistakes, then it’s no stretch at all to accept that they all are. We have no way of estimating the likelihood of a particular individual misreporting or inventing a sighting, so how can we begin to estimate whether or not they occur any more frequently than should be expected? ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/4 "2017-05-14T09:32:57Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > I am easily convinced… > [@anomalous1](#): > > …while I sit back and invest… On an unrelated note. I wonder if you would be interested in hearing about an exciting business opportunity? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/5 "2017-05-14T09:38:13Z")
There are multiple sightings of the Loch Ness Monster over a 100 years too. Does that make Nessie real? There is undoubtedly life out there in the Universe, but we will never meet it. Ever. Distances are too great, insurmountable. We will never leave our solar system, nor will any alien species enter ours. And if they did, why would they enter our atmosphere? They’re in a space ship afterall. What anti-gravity device would they be deploying that allows them to enter the atmosphere and hover over Buttcrack, Iowa? (Apologies to people from Iowa.) Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/6 "2017-05-14T10:07:21Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > This is a question for people who either don’t believe that intelligent life exists anywhere else, or at least that it isn’t visiting earth. > > Have you ever considered what it would take to convince you (assuming that aliens are in fact visiting us)? > > Some possibilities: > The classic: a UFO lands on the White House lawn. > You personally see a UFO/alien up close and personal; you can tell that you are seeing something not of this earth. > Somebody that you trust completely tells you that he saw one, and can give details. > The leader of a major nation holds a press conference, and announces that his nation’s government holds evidence that aliens have been visiting us. > A well-known, respected scientist announces that he has credible evidence. Just some evidence. I’ve had reliable friends send me an e-mail to assure me that Microsoft have issued a warning about the most dangerous virus in the World. (Looking on [snopes.com](http://snopes.com) showed it was a 10 year old hoax.) I’ve had a biology teacher tell me about his trip to Loch Ness to spot the monster (which he is convinced exists.) He got rather upset when I asked if there as any evidence. An Irish technology company announced it had discovered a perpetual motion machine. 77% of American believe in Angels. 66% of Americans believe aliens landed at Roswell. And best of all: 4% of Americans (that’s 12 million, folks!) believe shape-shifting aliens control politics. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/7 "2017-05-14T10:36:04Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Just some evidence. > > I’ve had reliable friends send me an e-mail to assure me that Microsoft have issued a warning about the most dangerous virus in the World. (Looking on [snopes.com](http://snopes.com) showed it was a 10 year old hoax.) > I’ve had a biology teacher tell me about his trip to Loch Ness to spot the monster (which he is convinced exists.) He got rather upset when I asked if there as any evidence. Well, the loch ness monster is supposed to be a colony of old dinosaurs, not aliens, I thought? What does a computer virus have to do with aliens, though? Why would aliens bother engineering a computer virus to attack some primitive computers on some backwater planet in the middle of nowhere? Also: how do you know that shape-shifters don’t control politics? If the shape-shifting technology is powerful enough, then no one would ever find out, or at least no one that can actually do anything could ever find out. What if the small groups of “nutcases” saying that there are shape-shifters controlling world politics are actually hiding the fact that there ARE shape-shifters controlling our politics or something like that? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/8 "2017-05-14T11:53:34Z")
If anything, I tend to be more skeptical because I WANT to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/9 "2017-05-14T12:11:54Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > I am easily convinced so any of those would just reinforce what I already believe/know. All it took me to believe was just thinking, out of all of the sightings on earth, could one really be expected to believe every one was a lie, hoax or misinterpretation? So does that mean that you still believe in Santa Claus? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/10 "2017-05-14T12:15:30Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > Well, the loch ness monster is supposed to be a colony of old dinosaurs, not aliens, I thought? What does a computer virus have to do with aliens, though? Why would aliens bother engineering a computer virus to attack some primitive computers on some backwater planet in the middle of nowhere? > > Also: how do you know that shape-shifters don’t control politics? If the shape-shifting technology is powerful enough, then no one would ever find out, or at least no one that can actually do anything could ever find out. What if the small groups of “nutcases” saying that there are shape-shifters controlling world politics are actually hiding the fact that there ARE shape-shifters controlling our politics or something like that? I think you misunderstand. I was giving separate examples of things that people believe without evidence. I didn’t mean there was a global conspiracy involving computer hoaxes, the Loch Ness monster, perpetual motion, angels and aliens. As for your suggestion that we are in fact controlled by shape-shifters - there have been a couple of TV series in which we were, but actual no evidence. If I tell you that there is an alien standing behind you **right now** , are you going to look? :eek: (If you did look, I have a bridge to sell you…) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/11 "2017-05-14T12:15:31Z")
Alien is gonna have to show me naked pictures of his sister to convince me. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/12 "2017-05-14T12:53:50Z")
Thirty years ago, it was extremely rare for a person to have immediate access to a video-recording device, and still there were a few film clips of UFO’s. Now, nearly everyone, in every country, has a highly reliable videorecorder in their pocket that can be deployed in seconds. Where are the UFO videos? There has been an incease of maybe a million-fold in the number or people who could capture images of UFOs or aliens. But an actual decrease in the number of such videos. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/13 "2017-05-14T12:58:23Z")
Regarding shape-shifting, there was an episode of “Daria” in which they discussed the prospect that many people among them in their daily lives are aliens in disguise. Jane asked “Why would a highly advanced race cross vast reaches of time and space to go to high school?” ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/14 "2017-05-14T13:28:08Z")
Evidence. Not stories. Internally consistent evidence or repeatable observations from independent sources. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/15 "2017-05-14T13:59:13Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > There is undoubtedly life out there in the Universe, but we will never meet it. Ever. “Exists without any evidence, or any possibility of evidence” is awfully close to “doesn’t exist”. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/16 "2017-05-14T14:52:52Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > “Exists without any evidence, or any possibility of evidence” is awfully close to “doesn’t exist”. It’s often quoted here that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. Alien life has got to be a prime example for this. It seems almost unimaginable that in all the estimated 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in the universe, this is the only one where a planet developed life. And not ever meeting it, is not the same as never getting any evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/17 "2017-05-14T14:57:32Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > The classic: a UFO lands on the White House lawn. I’d need concrete evidence that a [UFO landed in the ghetto](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCapM_J0I_Y). > [@](#): > > A well-known, respected scientist announces that he has credible evidence. This would be the least believable alternative. I’d just assume he had a bad case of Nobel Disease, like [when Kary Mullis was abducted by aliens](https://www.davidhalperin.net/the-biochemist-and-the-raccoon-the-alien-abduction-of-dr-kary-mullis/) (an event facilitated by a glowing raccoon). ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/18 "2017-05-14T15:24:27Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > “Exists without any evidence, or any possibility of evidence” is awfully close to “doesn’t exist”. The chemical element Prometheum was not discovered until WWII. But it was certain that an element with an atomic umber of 61 must exist. Even if, to this day, it were not found anywhere where humans could possibly imagine themselves ever detecting it, it would not be very close to “doesn’t exist”. The fact of highly-probable existence trumps the human-attainable evidence of it. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/19 "2017-05-14T15:49:42Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > I am easily convinced so any of those would just reinforce what I already believe/know. All it took me to believe was just thinking, out of all of the sightings on earth, could one really be expected to believe every one was a lie, hoax or misinterpretation? As noted, this is odd reasoning. Humans, collectively and individually, have believed utterly untrue things until their death (sometimes caused by that belief). There are many explanations for “UFOs” and I have no trouble believing that yes, the millions who saw something and believed are misled and misinformed. All it will take is one unambiguous, irrefutable piece of evidence… and no such thing has turned up in literally millennia of collecting odd things and interpreting them. Not one self-sealing stem bolt or used phaser battery, anywhere, ever. QED, IMHO. So yes, that one piece of evidence showing up now would be (globally) life changing. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578/20 "2017-05-14T16:12:04Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Alien is gonna have to show me naked pictures of his sister to convince me. If this alien is truly alien, how likely are pix of any naked alien based on a silicon life-form going to excite _you?_ > [@Leaffan](#): > > There is undoubtedly life out there in the Universe, but we will never meet it. Ever. I will agree if your definition of “meet” is limited to a face-to-tentacle clawshake. I will not agree if you claim we will never _see_ or _hear_ aliens, or evidence of such. Think electromagnetic connections, not physical ones. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-evidence-of-ufos/786578.md?page=2)