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Say did anyone see that UFO special with Peter Jennings last night? While I personally don't believe in flying saucers or alien abductions, it was interesting how this sort of subculture came about and how people react to such alleged "sightings".
Registered: Feb 2005
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WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
Yeah. Can you say "End of Career" for Petey?
I was asked once if I believed in UFO's. I said YES. If something whacks you in the back of the head and disappears, and you didn't see what it was... it was an Unidentified Flying Object.
They treated it like it was a NEW phenomena when you can even find descriptions of UFO's in the Bible. Next will come the "Bermuda Triangle" reports.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
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When people ask me, "Do you believe in aliens?" I say yes. It's a big fucking universe, I can't believe we're the only life in it.
Now as for UFOs... well that's a different story. On the one hand assuming there are alien races relatively nearby odds are they might be searching for other life just like we do. And further assuming they didn't have periods like the dark ages technologically they would be more advanced which SG-1's Tollan they might haved manned 'UFO' versus our unmanned probes.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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I can't imagine that any culture that has learned to travel faster than light would find us interesting enough to study for this long. Nor would they find us to be that much of a threat if their intentions were hostile.
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Under the usual set of assumptions, the universe looks very old and very large. However, since we have no viable theory supported by evidence about the origin of life on Earth, scientifically predicting how much life is likely to be anywhere, let alone how much intelligent life, is a very tricky thing. All I can say is that if we have intelligent visitors, and thus presumably neighbors, they're going to absurd lengths to hide their existence.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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I too believe in aliens, just not in "flying saucers". I think an alien species capable of space flight wouldn't be so brash as to expose their vessels to an entire city a be like,"Hey everbody look at my Constitution class Starship!". I would think they would try to avoid direct contact with a more primitive species. But then again, those UFO's could be Romulan ships with crappy cloaking devices that break down every once in a while
As for Peter Jennings I think he's saying to himself, "Why the f**k did I do this special ?"
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Personally, I think the UFOs people see are the alien equivalent of drunk rednecks with nothing to do but spook the "animals".
Registered: Jul 2002
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You guys should read Greg Bear's Forge of God.
An extremely advanced alien race (s) sends out unmanned probes to search for -then- destroy any sentient races it finds as a means of self-preservation. Kind of a get them before they become a threat kind of thing.
Smart alien cultures keep their comunication signals to a minimum to avoid detection. (imagne a baby deer crying because it's lonely in a forest full of wolves)
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Personally I like the "ant" analogy that G'Kar gives on Babylon 5. IF (big if) we did encounter an "advanced culture" (I've always found that a curious term, it betrays linear or two dimensional thinking, but I digress) chances are that we wouldn't even recognise it for what it was, if we noticed it at all. If life is as diverse as the Universe appears to be then chances are that nothing remotely like us is around for the relatively tiny window of space and time that humanity has existed and even less chance anything will crop up in whatever time we have left.
That's not to say it isn't possible, there are indeed always possibilities. However the fact seams to be that there's currently no way to prove the existence of alien visitation one way or the other.
As for Flying Saucers, they do exist and I've seen photos of them. Some of them had USAF markings, others had German Air force markings, and I believe they were called lifting body aircraft. Some even flew...but most seamed to crash. One nearly killed Steve Austin I'm told.
When it comes to cow tipping and anorexic Talosians with seriously dilated irises, I believe that has much more to do with dream psychology and the subconscious mind than alien visitations. If I remember correctly, even the author of "Communion" said as much.
Not that rational thought and reason ever got in the way of a good belief. The best modern example of this kind of mindset that I�ve heard of is that it wasn�t until the 1980�s that the Vatican, rather half heartedly, admitted that maybe Galileo wasn�t all wrong and that perhaps the Earth isn�t the centre of the universe after all. Too bad he wasn't around to hear the apology in person.
The only time I can say I saw something strange was last summer, when I was staying over my cousin's house in Philadelphia and at about 2 in morning I noticed lights floating around the neighborhood. Now one might say I saw a UFO but you have to consider the following: It was 2am and I was tired as hell but I couldn't sleep, I also did not have a good view of the thing since I was looking at it from across my room and through venetian blinds. As far as I know, I probably saw a helicopter (not a plane since most don't hover) or a really manuevarable blimp. I tend to believe it was a helicopter since I've never seen any blimps in that area. The only thing I find strange is the fact that the "chopper" didn't make any sound.
quote:Originally posted by missmanners: Uh huh...... and I suppose you'll try to tell me that not one of you has a tinfoil hat tucked away "just in case".
mm
No, but I keep a condom in the glove compartment.
In case I meet some sexy aliens, of course. Love me them big eyes.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Flying back home from NZ, we were over Russia in the middle of the night. We saw a bright orange light away towards the Arctic Circle, but over the horizon. It lit up a whole section of whole sky. Probably the flare from a gas or oil platform, but it sure looked eery. And I've just realised I have no idea how that word is actually spelt. Also, I've yet to have any explanation for those long, wide, straight channels we saw in the ice over Canada last year. It's a conspiracy, I tell you. . .
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