# Really...so anyone have a feeling about UFO's? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876 "2013-03-03T02:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dwb4444](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b3f665/32.png) [@dwb4444](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwb4444)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/1 "2013-03-03T02:28:11Z")
Are we alone or is space all “just a waste”? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/2 "2013-03-03T02:30:36Z")
I don’t think we’re alone. However, unless there’s a way to get around the speed of light limit, no one is visiting here. Even if it were possible, you would need vast numbers of exploring ships to be likely to stumble across our tiny, insignificant ball of dirt. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/3 "2013-03-03T02:33:47Z")
Whether or not there’s life elsewhere in our galaxy, let alone the universe, is an altogether different question as to whether or not Earth has ever been visited by extraterrestrials. The former is far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far\*, more likely than the latter. Also, there isn’t a shred of convincing evidence in E.T. visitation. \*far ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/4 "2013-03-03T02:43:31Z")
You know those flying objects that you can’t at first identify? Those are UFOs. Unidentified Flying Objects. Astronomers, Air Force personnel, and educated skeptics will be able to identify them, though. What you’re talking about is Extra Terrestrial visitation, convincing and tangible evidence of which is precisely 0%. Yes, there probably is life on other planets, some of it intelligent enough to create space travel much like ourselves. However, they are not visiting Earth. We are too far away from everything for it to even be a practical possibility, let alone be discovered and targeted by alien civilisations as a viable destination. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/5 "2013-03-03T02:52:22Z")
I believe there’s life out there with galaxy-spanning civilizations, interstellar war, trade, time travel, you name it. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/6 "2013-03-03T03:01:59Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I believe there’s life out there with galaxy-spanning civilizations, interstellar war, trade, time travel, you name it. Teleportation? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/7 "2013-03-03T03:12:58Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Teleportation? Yep! The sky’s the limit, and last I checked, the universe was mostly sky. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/8 "2013-03-03T03:16:38Z")
Surely there’s life out there. But the distances are so huge… I do enjoy ufology(ology), like this from [Blather](http://blather.net/blather/1997/11/pontifications_on_pabulum.html): > [@](#): > > Though employing such kewl-sounding techno-babble as Coherent Thought Sequencing, Koch-Kyborg Pyramidal Visualisations, Photon-Talk, etc. ad ridiculum – in an apparent attempt to make their bizarre Modus Operandi somehow more palatable to those who nosh only at the Buffet of Club Science – the long and short of it all is that they spend a great deal of time “thinking happy little thoughts” to attract the clever space aliens who, occasionally appearing in space ships DISGUISED TO LOOK LIKE 747’s, after zooming countless light years through the cosmos to reach this blue ball-of mud way out here on the outskirts of the Milky Way, are apparently incapable of landing safely without the aid of Eager New-Agers “vectoring them in” with high-powered flashlights. > > It’s all very scientific, you see. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/9 "2013-03-03T03:18:26Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Yep! The sky’s the limit, and last I checked, the universe was mostly sky. Actually the sky’s only about 50+ miles up or so. And I’m a huge nerd. 😉 Of course, the only real limitations is physics (and practical limitations), but that doesn’t necessarily preclude your beliefs. Except maybe non-relativistic time travel and faster-than-light space travel. Those two are doozies. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/10 "2013-03-03T03:20:57Z")
For us, maybe. For now. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/11 "2013-03-03T03:29:47Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > For us, maybe. For now. Well, that’s why I say it doesn’t necessarily preclude your beliefs. And I am pretty damn optimistic, bordering on fanciful, when it comes to what advancements in science and technology might offer future generations, but those aren’t just big hurdles in engineering or mathematics — they violate the laws of physics (as we currently understand them, but that’s still a pretty big deal).\* Advanced science and technology beyond our understanding would certainly appear magical, but they are still at the mercy of the laws of nature, and subsequently so are we or any other advanced civilization that may be out there. \*and so far, it’s not looking good. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/12 "2013-03-03T03:49:42Z")
One of the “Laws of Nature” is Murphy’s Law. So far, nothing humans have ever devised has failed to fail. It might be that FTL can be engineered, using “negative energy” and some other weird hypter-tech stuff – the stuff that Clarke said was indistinguishable from magic. And…what happens when one of _those_ fails? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/13 "2013-03-03T04:03:17Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > …Yes, there probably is life on other planets, some of it intelligent enough to create space travel much like ourselves. However, they are not visiting Earth. We are too far away from everything for it to even be a practical possibility, let alone be discovered and targeted by alien civilisations as a viable destination. And any civilization that is capable of visiting in some form is probally more than capable of doing it _without_ being caught. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/14 "2013-03-03T04:13:56Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > And any civilization that is capable of visiting in some form is probally more than capable of doing it _without_ being caught. Maybe they’re just in it for the laughs. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/15 "2013-03-03T04:23:34Z")
The Martians are probably writing their own equivalent of the [Book of Ezekiel](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=681645), having seen what we landed recently. As someone else mentioned in another thread, _we_ have just become the aliens that we’ve always written about. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/16 "2013-03-03T04:24:40Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > One of the “Laws of Nature” is Murphy’s Law. So far, nothing humans have ever devised has failed to fail. > > It might be that FTL can be engineered, using “negative energy” and some other weird hypter-tech stuff – the stuff that Clarke said was indistinguishable from magic. > > And…what happens when one of _those_ fails? An earth-shattering _KABOOM!_ ---
**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:** [March 3, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/17 "2013-03-03T04:27:36Z")
Somebody has to be the Elder Race, the Ancient Ones, the first technological intelligent species in our galaxy capable of leaving their home planet. The sad truth is that it is probably US. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/18 "2013-03-03T04:40:03Z")
One point I like to take comfort in is the single data point we have for intelligent life in the universe. Ourselves. Life practically exploded on our planet almost as soon as it was possible to even do so, after the earth cooled down enough ~four billion years ago. This is encouraging that any Earth-like planet that may happen to exist out there might inevitably give rise to life. Whether or not intelligent life will evolve still seems to be a crapshoot, or worse, but who knows. Then again, there always has to be a first, might be us. ETA: Beaten by **Dallas Jones** on my last point! ---
**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:** [March 3, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/19 "2013-03-03T04:49:11Z")
As someone years ago mentioned to me on here, it’s not just a matter of distance; it’s also a matter of time. Our own planet is 4.5 billion years old, and humans have had some technology for, what 200 years now? That alone is mind boggling. Then throw on top of that that the nearest star (after the sun) is 4 light years away. Four years traveling at the speed of light! Yeah, there’s life out there, but there’s no possible way we will ever, ever come in contact with it. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876/20 "2013-03-03T09:54:50Z")
Assuming there is life out there capable of traveling great distances quickly AND wish to visit Earth out of curiosity we would never know about it. Consider the current state of technology regarding small spy devices and advance that a couple of hundred years. They would be the size of dust mites. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-so-anyone-have-a-feeling-about-ufos/651876.md?page=2)