Interesting UFO discussion (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Tk]

It's unlikely that a species intelligent enough to successfully travel at speeds faster than the speed of light (necessary to actually span the galaxy), it's highly unlikely that they would actually fly into our atmosphere just to "take a look around". If they are already that technologically advanced, then they can observe from great distances, a lot more than 1000 feet up. They also could sample what they needed without being caught.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Meters. The international standard abbreviation for meter is m, and to the extent that there are standards for abbreviating English units, the usual form for mile is mi. You do see "miles per hour" abbreviated "mph", but mi/hr is probably at least as common outside of roadsigns. Anyway, the rest of my post is in metric units.

Two metres of steel is one thing ; two miles would be another entirely! (Of course, the sphere with diameter 168 mi does have surface area 360 000 mi², but with 2 mi thickness of steel shell its mass would be immense.)

 

[Henry Gale]

CRyan is an alien, that's no kinda name for an Earthing.
I'm suspicious of ChristopherDAC too.

 

[DaveF]

There are aliens but none of them even have radio yet, much less spaceships. Unfortunately for the UFO fans, we're the most advanced race in the universe. And we're still stuck on this rock...

In a century or two, those primitive rock bangers on other worlds will be having these same conversations...and we can sit back and laugh about putting crop circles in their fields.

 

[Will_B]

Brian Greene, on his NOVA special, suggested that we were more likely to meet (or at least send communications to and from) aliens that live in parallel universes/dimensions, rather than aliens who are far away.

But I suspect that once you start getting into other universes that are parallel with our own, there will be ways to overcome distance in "our" universe. Slide into another universe, slide back in to this one at an entirely different point.

As to the question of "why would [aliens] keep visits a secret", who says they have? Have any of the many people who say they've encountered them ever been told "Hey, don't tell"? Seems like all we can say for sure is that if alien contact is real, it is a pretty democratic process - bypassing our notions of "leaders" and just going straight to the people.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

If their planet is only a few light years away, why would they have to travel at light speed or greater to get here? Couldn't they have traveled for a much longer time at slower speeds?

The idea that it's impossible to go faster than light is just a theory anyway. 150 years ago people thought it was impossible to fly other than in a balloon, let alone travel to the moon.

If you could describe today's technology to people from 300 years ago, it would seem as far out as Star Trek does to us.

Just because we don't yet know how to do something doesn't mean it's impossible that someone else hasn't figured it out.

 

[Bob McLaughlin]

And now we have THIS...

Moon-walker claims alien contact cover-up | NEWS.com.au

 

[Scott McGillivray]

Wow, Bob...that is quite an aritcle!

See, it is stuff like that article that makes me really wonder. When you have what seems to be VERY ligitimate sources like that claiming that we have been visited, it sure makes for a stronger argument.

Again, I am certainly not a UFO nut or even enthusiast, but I do find stories like these interesting!

 

[Will_B]

The people who work at NASA now, say they don't endorse his comments. But considering that anyone who worked at NASA when he did would have been long retired now, that doesn't mean much!

Update: Actually, he doesn't say he heard this from NASA, anyway. ""I've been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited." he said.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Edgar Mitchell is a great guy, but it has to be pointed out that he's… working on a somewhat different plane of existence from the rest of us. As a result of an experience he had on the way home from the Moon, he founded the "Institute of Noëtic Sciences", which is devoted to putting psychic and consciousness phenomena on a scientific basis. I'm not one to say he won't succeed, but it's obviously something a bit out of the ordinary. Of course, years ago, the National Enquirer asked one of the Apollo astronauts, who was then serving in the Senate — I think it must have been Harrison Schmitt — whether he was the original, or had been replaced with an alien duplicate. Apparently in a playful mood (as opposed to a Buzz-Aldrin-hitting-you-in-the-face mood) he refused to deny being an extraterrestrial impostor, so they ran the story. Aliens in U.S. Senate!

 

[drobbins]

Now, where did I put my aluminum foil hat?!

 

[Will_B]

Yeah it's true, he is the kind of person that someone would feel comfortable telling something like that to. Even when he was an astronaut, he attempted to see if telepathy might be stronger if one was away from the billions of people on the Earth (result: nope). IONS does great work, and their annual Shift Report is a credit to good scholarship, but they definitely are leading edge:

The Shift Report

 

[Will_B]

It's the "foil hats" versus the "courduroy suits w/elbow patches"* on the playing field at dawn!


(*Reference to tv series Cosmos and the late science nerd Carl Sagan)

 

[Chris Lockwood]

I saw this headline today: "Moon-walker claims alien contact cover-up."

I thought cool, Michael Jackson believes in extraterrestrials, too.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Heh, I got a spam e-mail with the subject line "Aliens Abducted by Michael Jackson."

 

[Radioman970]

"Chillingly, he claimed our technology is 'not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had they been hostile', he warned 'we would be been gone by now'"

Oh my...the dreaded BBG...be been gone.

Seriously, it does make the prospect of aliens visiting us a lot more probable when somebody like this says it's true. Although if he is a nut he wouldn't be the first one to work for NASA.

 

[Radioman970]

When he dances and holds "his front"? From what I heard he should be guarding his back side.

 

[Bob McLaughlin]

But these guys never have any real proof, that's always the catch. My daughter truly believes in Santa because in her mind all the experts (mom and dad, other adults) say there is a Santa.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

The real proof is hidden at Area 51 and an Air Force base in Ohio. Everyone knows that.

 

[Bryan X]

Exactly. I was listening to a Fox news show this morning and they had the astronoaut from the article, Dr Edgar Mitchell, on. He admitted he had no first hand proof of aliens. He just kept saying that "officials" and other "people in the know" told him they existed. When pressed to name names, he wouldn't. After hearing him first-hand, it's ridiculous this even made news.