UFOs = Aliens: any convincing evidence?

Great Debates
21

In the early 90’s, maybe even the late 80’s, my friend and I would DL files from a local BBS about UFOs and such. They were on other servers, and overnight they’d propagate out to local BBS’s. I can’t, for the life of me, remember what that was - It might have been the early days of Usenet newsgroups. Probably was. Anyway, these files were fascinating. Mostly text, but they told about gov’t programs, sightings, abductions, etc. My friend & I liked reading them, and we liked to keep an open mind.

Decades later, my mind is now somewhat less ‘open’, in that I don’t believe any of it. The Drake Equation, the Great Filter theory, a better understanding of the true distances involved, and a more pessimistic attitude towards the ability to achieve faster-than-light travel all lead me to believe there are no aliens visiting us. Even approaching the speed of light is problematic. Hell, the inverse-square law makes it unlikely that any other civilization would even have a reason to visit us - all those radio waves going out don’t really reach as far as some of us think. Of course, radio waves don’t travel faster-than-light either, so they couldn’t even have traveled all that far.

The recent video from navy jets released by the US gov’t has been gone over and reasonable, likely explanations have been given. Nothing earlier than that has proven to be convincing, either.The more you think about it, the more unlikely alien visitors are. And as smithsb illustrated in the XKCD comic above, even the overwhelming number of people who carry cell phone/cameras with them now have not added any new, convincing evidence. I’m pretty convinced that anyone seeing UFOs are seeing craft of human construction or natural phenomenon, are mistaken, or are lying.

My friend mentioned in the first paragraph hasn’t got there with me, and I don’t think he will. He watches those “ghost hunter” shows, still seeks out UFO info, and believes some of the more problematic conspiracy theories floating around politics today. I don’t know why, starting from almost the same point, we would diverge like that, but we have. In his heart, I’m pretty sure he believes there may be ghosts, and that one day soon we will develop warp drive and be Star Trekkin’ across the universe. There’s a lot of “agreeing to disagree” going on these days. :smiley:

22

Preceding replies provide excellent commentary at length. I’ll offer a much shorter response for contrast.

Convincing evidence, by definition, is evidence that is persuasive to someone whose beliefs do not already align on a given topic. In other words, to determine whether evidence is convincing, you should evaluate the reaction to it from people who were not already adherents on the subject.

On this particular topic? The answer is no. If convincing evidence were available, people who were not already convinced would have been persuaded to change their minds. QED.

23

Correct. Certainly they are Objects, that are Flying, that are also Unidentified. Some may be hoaxes, some tricks of light, some venus, and some may be top secret military stuff, etc.

But to assume it is aliens, we also have to assume:

  1. They have FTL travel. This seems very doubtful.
  2. They live within 100 ly of Earth- and there are few inhabitable planets in that range.
  3. That instead of “Take me to your leader” they want to remain hidden, probe a human’s anus, and what not.
24

Well, your first two points make a lot of sense.

25

LOL! :crazy_face: :alien: :robot: :space_invader: :sweat_smile:

26

Recently I was interviewing a rancher about access to an archaeological site on her land. She was interested in the history, shared her knowledge of the site and we agreed on some rules for access. When she walked me to my car she revealed an event of the previous evening. As she was feeding her horses a giant UFO came over the ridge to the east. It was surrounded by brilliant lights and hovered there for several minutes. It was not a single event. It happened frequently.

Her ranch is isolated only because it is on the undeveloped east side of the Rio Grande. The property is a few miles line of sight from where I live. So, any giant UFO would have been visible and raised alarm within the community. It wasn’t and it didn’t. But, she was matter of fact in relating the event.

So, that is puzzling. I do not doubt her report, but I don’t see how the rest of us miss it. Perhaps it is simply the manifestation of a belief. I have seen people on hwy 380 waiting with their luggage to be picked up by a space ship. There is even a ranch there that was purchased with the goal of providing a safe zone for UFO landings.

I don’t believe UFOs are going away any time soon.

27

Wellington Paranormal, a lame New Zealand comedy series about deadpan police investigating aliens and suchlike, had a bit in which they saw multiple colored lights flashing nearby. When they rushed over, it turned out to be the flashing lights on their police car.

My own UFO experience was similar. As part of a crowd exiting a movie theater, I noticed people pointing and exclaiming about colored lights hovering in the sky. The next day the paper reported that it was a helicopter with an advertisement.

My point is that lots of things can produce colored lights, but sometimes only the lights are visible from a distance. Without a body to attach them to, they make for spectacular UFOs. Up close, though, they’re just everyday objects.

Or not close. Here’s one from yesterday.

28

Exactly! Nigh everyone carries not only a camera, but a movie camera with them at all time. Any such UFO sighting should be all over FB and YouTube, shared by dozens.

I had such high hopes for that show but the cast is all so clueless and bordering ondumb, that it was painful to watch.

I was driving down a country road, being chased by Venus. It was uncanny, I agree.

29

With a nod to the XKCD comic, the late Irving Langmuir said it best in his lecture about pathological science, which is one step beyond pseudoscience. One characteristic is that “evidence does not strengthen over time.”

Contrast this with the once-preposterous theory that the continents fit together like a puzzle, therefore must have been together once. Over time, accumulating good evidence showed this was correct.

The evidence for UFOs being aliens or any other paranormal phenomena is not improving over time. We aren’t finding any verifiable objects, bodies, or crashed saucers at a greater rate than before.

Furthermore, although phenomena are often referred to as “objects,” without a physical specimen, this is a highly speculative description. We can only say that there is unexplained light in the sky. Lights can be many things other than objects, and a spot of light can move faster than a physical object. If it appears to be moving at impossible speeds and trajectories, it’s probably a misinterpretation of light.

REF: Langmuir Talk - Middle Part

30

Same here. It turned out to be a one-joke show and that joke got tiresome quickly.

31

Why would aliens have lights on their spacecraft?

33

So they wouldn’t crash into other alien spacecraft, obviously! :roll_eyes:

34

Port and starboard are universal, I believe.