While I posted above that “I want actual physical evidence that can be closely examined and is freely available”, the original question was regarding what evidence would be sufficient to convice one to believe in UFOs.
I take it to mean that this refers to UFOs being spaceships and not ufos such as “what was that thing that splattered on my windshield”
Some of the responses refer to the question “Is there life elsewhere in the universe”…an alltogether different question.
I remain skeptical about UFOs being spacecraft visiting earth (although it would be cool!)…however, I have faith that there is life somewhere else in the universe.
Faith = unsupported belief in some idea or fact; not based on evidence.
RexDart–as t-keela noted, this argument is somewhat flawed. We could just as easily argue that, since the Aztecs never sent radio signals to the Spanish, we European descendants clearly aren’t here in the Americas now.
But thanks for your viewpoint, which was, indeed, a valid answer to the OP (“Absolutely NO evidence would be sufficient for me.”)
Do UFO’s exist? Yes
Are they Alien Ships? No
What are they? That’s what the U is for
Are there Aliens somewhere? Yes, most likely
Are/Have they ever been here? Nope
Will They? Hope so.
What would make me believe? Well although I’m a atheist I think that Tomas was the smartest character in the Bible. Prove it to me, let me see it. What do people like James Randi have to say about it? I’ll believe in a heartbeat once I have proof. Much like God
The Spanish had a pretty good reason to be in Mexico even without knowing there were people there. For one thing, the earth is small. For another, sea voyages paid for themselves back in those days through the trade routes they established. For another, it took relatively few resources to finance such a journey. Once in Tenochtitlan, Cortez’s lieutenants were able to spread out and explore the whole of Mexico, a good chunk of South America, and a big piece of the North American west north of the Rio Grande. They did all this within a couple decades.
Contrast this with space travel. Unless you know there’s something there worth finding, would you finance the trip? Keep in mind that the travel time could well be hundreds of years. Keep in mind that the likely energy requirements of the trip are equal to or greater than the energy produced by the Sun over its entire lifespan. Would you use all that time and all those resources without being almost certain that the trip will be worthwhile? Cortez and the Spanish would have settled for returning with sacks full of gold, and claiming the land for Spanish colonization to extract those resources, even had no people been living in the Americas. Surely any intelligent race that could finance such a journey across the stars would not be satisfied merely by discovering natural resources, as the value of such resources lightyears away from the rest of their civilization would be essentially nil, especially compared to the cost of the venture. So the only logical reason that some race would visit Earth is if they knew, with almost complete certainty, that there was an intelligent race here that they wished to encounter. Which means, logically, that they will not come until they discover we are here. Since they cannot have discovered that and had sufficient time for the journey, they quite simply cannot be here.
I know this isn’t exactly what you asked, but I wanted to clarify and expand on my reasoning to respond to the counterargument you raised.
Rex, that is typical Earthling reasoning. Who knows why They would venture into space. For myself, I wouldn’t need any reason at all, I would hop on board, who needs a reason to fling oneself into the greatest possible adventure!
RexDart, what if they are fabulous spectroscopists, and simply detected oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere, any time between the start of the Devonian and now, and investigate any planet supsected to harbor life?
Well, now, look, guys, there are certain things a gentleman simply doesn’t do. So I’m afraid details are out of the question.
I thought a couple of things were pretty remarkable, like what she was doing hanging out at a Greyhound Bus station, but I guess she’s just real democratic, or something.
Kind of shows you how much stuff can be done in movies these days to make those stars look better. In the movies, you can hardly see her Adams apple, but in real life its kinda prominent. And in the movies they change her voice so it isn’t so “husky”.
