UFO's

[Mr Slugger]

I tried to see if this has been discussed, couldn't find it, which I'm kind of shocked.

Anyway I'm curious on what you all think of UFOs, and do you believe in them, or are they just imaginations running wild?

Personally I think it's pretty stupid to believe that there isn't the chance that there are other intelligent species out there in the cosmos. That being said have they come here I dunno. Personally I think if I had to put numbers on them. Probably 70% of all UFO sights are hoaxes or the mind/electronics playing tricks on you. Or people thinking common things are UFOs. 28% are probably some kind of military testing. I mean especially out in arizona, or near military bases. I'm sure they're testing things that are out of the norm. The other 2% are definitely I have no clues. Like that huge one that popped up over I think Phoenix that there was huge amounts of people that saw it. I really don't think the military would test something like that over a populated area, and from my understanding it was too big to be a hoax. So I dunno.

I'm not entirely convinced though that aliens are visiting us though.

[protege]

Also interesting, is that sighting of UFOs and other "out there" things really didn't start going until works by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

[Nyoibo]

I'm sure that there is intelligent life out there somewhere, but the universe is so massive that we'll probably never meet them, I think of Mass effect, that game takes place in just one galaxy, and there's still unexplored systems in it, let alone exploring another one, the universe it to massive to comprehend, so, if there is another race out there, and they have the technology to come visit, I really don't think that they'd let people see them at random, let alone crash.

So, yes to alien life, no to UFOs being seen.

[BroomJockey]

Also interesting, is that sighting of UFOs and other "out there" things really didn't start going until works by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

Actually, I'd be willing to bet before that, they'd been thought to be ghosts, angels, spirits, and similar things, making up Slugger's 70%.

[Fashion Lad!]

UFO's exist. And they are true. I see unidentified flying objects all the time. Sometimes, I see them too late and they hit me.

I think people would be naive to believe that we're the only ones in the whole until galaxy or universe or whatever. If we are, that's a lot of wasted space.

[Mr Slugger]

I'm sure that there is intelligent life out there somewhere, but the universe is so massive that we'll probably never meet them.

See that's my take I mean we've been kinda looking now for what 40 years for alien life. And I think alot of scientists would tell you we've just scratched the surface of the cosmos. I mean sure we know a bit about a couple of stars outside of our galaxy, and we've found a few planets, but we know almost nothing about them.

As far as before HG Wells, and stuff I'm sure that they saw stuff, but at the same time the night sky was different than it is now. I mean if you look up at night you see almost nothing. You look up at the sky in a dark sky environment where lights from cities and stuff don't effect the night sky you see more. So maybe they thought they were asteroids, etc. Plus in all honesty we've got far more crap in the air now than 40-50 years ago.

I mean hell we've got people that will say they saw a UFO and it was just a helicopter or something.

[powerboy]

I believe that their are UFO's and aliens. I mean, we have flying objects here on earth. Surely somewhere in the huge universe, someone or something can do the same. There has to be someone living in space in another solar system.

[Gravekeeper]

Ah yes, the Fermi Paradox.

Statistically speaking, given the size of the universe its impossible for there to not be other life out there. Whether or not its advanced ( Remember the driven force of our technology was living on a planet with an abundance of fossil fuel ) or even interested in attempting to find and meet us is another question entirely.

That said we're very new at actually searching for it ( SETI ) and SETI is underfunded and poorly equipped. Honestly any civilization likely doesn't emit radio waves for a long enough period of time before moving on to another form of technology. Even we're moving away from it. So in order to detect them by radio waves our rise to radio technology and the span during which we use it would have to overlap their's. In order to detect them with our current methods.

Edit: I should clarify by overlap I mean we have to be listening at the same time they were A) Broadcasting and B) It had enough time to cross the universe to us. -.-

[Nyoibo]

125,000,000,000 galaxies, we'll be luck to even explore the milky way before the human race is extinct, it's a fair bet life has existed, does exist and will exist again, our chances of finding other life are astronomical, pardon the pun, At least 125,000,000,000 to 1 provided that there is another life form developing alongside us in the universe.

[Gravekeeper]

125,000,000,000 galaxies, we'll be luck to even explore the milky way before the human race is extinct, it's a fair bet life has existed, does exist and will exist again, our chances of finding other life are astronomical, pardon the pun, At least 125,000,000,000 to 1 provided that there is another life form developing alongside us in the universe.

The Drake equation. -.-

We can also only measure the amount of the universe we can currently see. Which is to say the part of it which has had enough time since the big bang for its light or radiation to reach us. Its quite possible for new galaxies to appear and continue to appear as their light finally reaches us.

The measurable universe is estimated to be such a small fraction of the universe ( if indeed it is not infinite ) that what we can see vs what we can't is equivalent to a marble next to the planet Earth. >.>

So ya statistically speaking its impossible for us to be alone. The problem is not that we're alone. Its the possible distant between us and how to transverse that. Which would require a faster than light propulsion system ( Which is technically forbidden by general relativity ) such as a "warp" drive ala Star Trek. As the only way to get around relativity is to warp or bend space time around the ship.

Something we have a very very loose working theory of but has two small set backs. Namely it costs more energy to operate than we could possibly produce without harnessing something like the core of the sun or dark energy. Also, if it became unstable in any way, it would annihilate our solar system and leave nothing but a black hole. <cough>

However, a civilization more advanced than us may have overcome these obstacles. Of course, you could also worry that if they ever crashed anywhere remotely near our solar system they would kill us all! ^^

Makes you wonder more about the Rosswell incident.

[Mr Slugger]

Well see something like Roswell will always be one of those big debates because initially the military said it was a UFO, and then backed off. Honestly if their story had started with I dunno what it is rather than UFO then Roswell would have disappeared.

[BroomJockey]

You know, if the military said "UFO", my mind would immediately go "secret test plane that they don't wanna release details of." That's the kind of conspiracy my mind goes to.

[Bloodsoul]

Alien life can't be that intelligent if they're interested in us. Or maybe they're just bored?

[Gravekeeper]

You know, if the military said "UFO", my mind would immediately go "secret test plane that they don't wanna release details of." That's the kind of conspiracy my mind goes to.

Indeed. UFO is just as the name sounds, unidentified flying object. Not nessacarily alien. Some military aircraft, such as the stealth bomber, were misidentified by civilian sightings during test flights as UFOs in the alien sense before they were officially declassified and put into service.

God only knows what the US military current has and is testing. They can't just come out and say it either when one of them gets spotted.

That said, experimental craft isn't an explanation for everything. Though I think about 98% can be explained through more mundane events and phenomena than alien visitation. The other 2% are still in WTF territory.

[Nyoibo]

Ah ha, I found the video I was looking for to go with my earlier post http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAVjF_7ensg it's the ultra deep field image from hubble, helps illustrate what I was saying about the universe being to big to every know more than even a bit of your own galaxy.