Do UFO's really exist? [Archive]

CreativeChaos

18 Feb 2005, 03:46 PM

Here is a news site that says that 50% of Americans believe in UFO's. ABC will be having a special on this subject. See below:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Primetime/story?id=468496

Do you think UFO's exist?

MacGuffin

18 Feb 2005, 04:04 PM

It's alogical.

earwax

18 Feb 2005, 04:07 PM

Don't know.. Never seen one...

Lee

18 Feb 2005, 04:08 PM

By the sounds of things 50% of americans are clearly something else as well

I am going to create a new term : unlogical
It means outside the bounds of logic and alogic.

CreativeChaos

18 Feb 2005, 04:16 PM

Well, I don't know. If there is indeed life on other planets, this is a fact of existance that can be proven by scientific methods, somewhere in the future. I have also read that many scientists believe that life exists on other planets, simply by using the logic that given the size of the known universe, it is more than plausable that another planet, if not billions of them will be in the right circumstances to create life. A plausable logical, based on facts argument could be made for that, just as an argument is made for evolution.

I for one will be watching this with interest.

Besides, if 100's of people witnessed the same large triangular spacecraft at the same time, doesn't that make it VERY plausable?

Don't you think it is worth scientific study to determine if this phenonmenon is real? Are there not many scientist interested in finding life on other planets? Well, maybe life on other planets have found US?

jimkopelli

18 Feb 2005, 04:20 PM

I see them all the time. I'll be walking along and someone will throw something at me... and I'll be turning around to chase them before I figure out what it was that they threw... thus making it an unidentified flying object.

earwax

18 Feb 2005, 04:41 PM

... given the size of the known universe, it is more than plausable that another planet, if not billions of them will be in the right circumstances to create life.

I would have to say that it is indeed quite plausible that there is other life out there. I have no reason to think that we are anything special. In fact, I suspect (and maybe even hope) that there is life out there.

Having said that, that makes it even more critical that we be very careful as to what we accept as proof.

n0mad

18 Feb 2005, 04:45 PM

Maybe they'll have jobs for INTPs? 8O

Psiber

18 Feb 2005, 05:17 PM

I see them all the time. I'll be walking along and someone will throw something at me... and I'll be turning around to chase them before I figure out what it was that they threw... thus making it an unidentified flying object.

Exactly. I also see lots of UNFO's (unidentified non-flying objects), as in driving down the road and seeing something strange looking but you've passed it before your brain can register what it was.

However, given the number of other solar systems in the universe it does seem plausible that there would be other intelligent life out there some where. But do I think that they visit us in flying saucers? No, I think so-called UFO's are more likely an anomaly of human perception. A dozen people can witness some event and all of them will have a different perception of what happened. For some real interesting reading on UFO's and other odd phenomenon like little green men and virgin Mary sightings, check out Robert Anton Wilson especially the Cosmic Trigger series.

Dman

18 Feb 2005, 05:23 PM

If by UFO’s you are referring to alien operated spacecraft, no. Very unlikely, anyways.

About life existing elsewhere in the Universe? Absolutely. The sheer size of the universe, and abundance of elements necessary to result in life as we know it, the probability is quite high.

However, that life resembling what we would recognize as life, and that life contacting us, seems very implausible. Think about it – how long has our species been capable of “communicating” any signals out into space, signifying our existence? 100 years or so? Consider how long that takes to get “out there” in the universe. Consider the dinosaurs – they were around for MILLIONS and millions of years. In that time, numerous advanced civilizations could have been sending signals out into space, hoping for a response. They would get none from our planet. Now here we are, barely around for a fraction of an instant. The enormous distances required for contact are a huge barrier, and would take considerable amounts of time.

Furthermore, consider that perhaps the nature of our universe is that once a species reaches a certain level of intelligence and capability, it inevitably ends up destroying itself. Thus, when an “advanced” civilization does arise, it is not around long enough to ever establish contact with another.

One final point is that were there a species advanced enough to have overcome the time/distance barrier, and had found out that we were here in this short time, it isn’t too much of a stretch to say they would probably also be advanced enough to escape detection if they so chose?

The likeliest explanation for UFO’s is simply human doings, like testing of aircraft. Just this year, Iranian newspapers and people were reporting UFO’s, thinking aliens were visiting them. In a sense they were right. It turned out to be US spy drones.

mgb

18 Feb 2005, 06:35 PM

It's alogical.

You think everything is alogical.

Since mass UFO sightings is a pretty recent phenomenon I would have to agree with Dman and say that people over-react to things they see in the sky. I don't know if it's too many movies or too much X-Files, or even watching the X-Files movie too many times but there just aren't UFOs up there.

There is almost always an explanation to the UFO's making them not alogical at all. Jumping to the conclusion that a weather balloon or distant plane in the distance is illogical, which is usually what happens.

joft

18 Feb 2005, 06:48 PM

I wish they existed... but I can't see myself believing any of it. I'm too rational. Stupid self-conflict

MacGuffin

18 Feb 2005, 07:21 PM

It's alogical.You think everything is alogical.That is illogical.

mgb

18 Feb 2005, 07:39 PM

That is illogical.

I know.

CreativeChaos

18 Feb 2005, 09:13 PM

You think everything is alogical.

.

Yeah, he's like a kid with a new toy. I learned the word alogical from Boo a long time ago. Geeze! Way before that monstrous thread came along. Pffttt!

Thermo

20 Feb 2005, 12:50 PM

I agree with most of the other posters. It makes sense that there is other life in the universe. I think science is going the wrong way though. They assume other life has our needs for life.

glassmoon

20 Feb 2005, 01:09 PM

Architectonic

20 Feb 2005, 02:11 PM

UFOs or extraterrestrial life?

Extraterrestrial life is certainly a possibility, although it is still unlikely that there will ever be an communication between humanity and any extraterrestrial life.

UFOs? No comment.

Falling Star

20 Feb 2005, 02:21 PM

Well, I don't know. If there is indeed life on other planets, this is a fact of existance that can be proven by scientific methods, somewhere in the future. I have also read that many scientists believe that life exists on other planets, simply by using the logic that given the size of the known universe, it is more than plausable that another planet, if not billions of them will be in the right circumstances to create life. A plausable logical, based on facts argument could be made for that, just as an argument is made for evolution.

I for one will be watching this with interest.

Besides, if 100's of people witnessed the same large triangular spacecraft at the same time, doesn't that make it VERY plausable?

Don't you think it is worth scientific study to determine if this phenonmenon is real? Are there not many scientist interested in finding life on other planets? Well, maybe life on other planets have found US?

I seriously doubt if an alien species capable of crossing interstellar distances would send clunky ships manned with humanoids. More than likely they'd send advanced AI the size of nanotech to stealithy report on our species. But who knows.

glassmoon

20 Feb 2005, 02:52 PM

I seriously doubt if an alien species capable of crossing interstellar distances would send clunky ships manned with humanoids. More than likely they'd send advanced AI the size of nanotech to stealithy report on our species. But who knows.
Good point, as technology advances, we know of more possibilites of how 'aliens' can sniff around our planet. This is why I think all the UFO field is a cultural concept - we simply can't imagine what an "adavanced" race can be capable of, as Stanley Kubrick once said (in regard to 2001: Space Odyssey) about science-fiction which is limited to what we know is scientifically possible.

Edit: Lol, I just noticed this thread is in entertaiment and not in science...

jyakulis

20 Feb 2005, 02:58 PM

I always found it odd that peoples description of aliens are always very very similar (regarding abduction and what not). You would think they would be all completely different.

CoHo

20 Feb 2005, 06:11 PM

Yeah, there's a term for this stuff, it's called pseudoscience
http://www.chem1.com/acad/sci/pseudosci.html

You would think they would be all completely different

Since this is pseudoscience we can't expect the same rigorous attention to detail that you would see in an established body. This means that in all likelihood there could be LOTS of people that claim to see all sorts of aliens. Descriptions of pineapples, squids, snakes, crabs and other hoopla may not make as believable a story, so they could just be omitted!

I think it is interesting that everyone describes the same sort of alien but all sorts of alien ships: Round, cylindrical, pie shaped, square… doesn’t that seem rather disorganized?

euterpenc

21 Feb 2005, 05:30 AM

Jung thought they were mandalas. A very interesting observation if you ask me.

Though, I would venture to guess that there is extraterrestrial life, I mean this universe is humungous, there has to be somewhere. It's actually kind of exciting to think about. So much is still unexplored. Too bad I won't be here to see it.