Ufo

[zandiago]

So do you beleive in UFO's?

[John A]

Yes, I believe that some flying objects could potentially be unidentified.

[Ancient Dragon]

nanno nanno

[briansmall]

with my own eyes

[nicentral]

It is entirely possible that a lack of UFOs (being defined as alien spacecraft, not just something in our atmosphere that cannot be identified) does not necessarily mean that there is no other life outside of our planet. They may be on the same time line as us and haven't been able to explore outside of their own solar system yet.

[Ancient Dragon]

Chariots of the Gods is a very interesting book that tries to explain many things on Earth were actually created by spacement who visited here. It was the inspiration for several popular sci-fi tv series and movies.

[vegaseat]

If you talk about visitors from outer space, I would say 'no', since distances are simply too far. It would take thousands of years of travel in even the best case.

If you talk about loonies, dopers and drunkards seeing something strange, then I would say 'of course!'

[jwenting]

there are things in the sky that are at some stage unidentified, these are UFOs.
Once they are identified (as they invariably are) they're UFOs no longer.
So yes, there are UFOs but no, they're not extraterrestrial spaceships.
And yes, there's likely life on other planets but no, they're not going to come here to snoop around.

[GrimJack]

Chariots of the Gods is a very interesting book that tries to explain many things on Earth were actually created by spacement who visited here. It was the inspiration for several popular sci-fi tv series and movies.

There is actually nothing very interesting in CotG; every significant factoid mentioned in the book that was not an outright lie has been debunked - thanks for pointing to the wiki, rather than, say - pointing to one of these sites .

(digression) Here in Seattle there was an ice cream parlor in the 'U District' called DanKens - we used to call it Van DanKens - Ice Cream of the Gods. It was really, really good ice cream(/digression).

I used to visit some of these crackpot sites but they eventually began to run together - way too many bangs (!), weird underlining, and random capitalizations. I say "if any paragraph has more than one bang, they're a crank!!!"

(new digression) the British call bangs 'shrieks' - which I kind of like ie MATLAB GEEK: look right here you want a shriek so you 'shell escape' "(/new digression).

[joshSCH]

Coincidentally, there was a recent "UFO sighting" in Texas. Stevensville, I believe is the city name. It has recently received national attention.. apparently many people saw some 'unidentified' object.. The initial two responses from the government were that they had no idea what the object could have been. However, the government recently made a new statement saying that there were actually F-16s in the area. This, of course, has created no government conspiracy theories..

As to the idea of other life out in the universe.. I think the obvious answer is: Yes. Seriously, now.. the universe is infinitely expanding.. The probability that there is other life somewhere out there is approaching one indefinitely. The real question is whether we will ever make contact with other civilizations. Unfortunately, the universe is huge.. and most likely not navigable over great distances.

[twomers]

Obviously not comprehensive (cause of unheard-coverups), but here's a longish list (I like lists):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UFO_sightings

You're one's mentioned at the end, Josh: Dozens of residents of Stephenville claim to have seen a "large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast." Several also reported having observed fighter jets chasing it.

[Ancient Dragon]

There is actually nothing very interesting in CotG; every significant factoid mentioned in the book that was not an outright lie has been debunked - thanks for pointing to the wiki, rather than, say - pointing to one of these sites .

Yes, I know, but its interesting reading anyway. I don't really believe what I seen in Start Trek either, but I like to watch it.

I visited that link you posted -- wow what a bunch of nasty stuff.

[briansmall]

If you talk about visitors from outer space, I would say 'no', since distances are simply too far. It would take thousands of years of travel in even the best case.

If you talk about loonies, dopers and drunkards seeing something strange, then I would say 'of course!'

The distances are too far for who?

That is true for us certainly, at this point in our developement. But it is not beyond the realm of possiblility that some other civilization could have developed methods that bypass our limited technological means.

It is also conceivable that individuals within some race could live millions or billions of years, so that travel from there to here would be no more impressive than, say, walking around the world would be for one of us.

Finally, we could appear to be so insignificant to them that they simply take a look and move on. We might be no more to them than, say, a bit of mold on an orange peel generally is to us.

Anyone who disbelieves in the possibility of life elsewhere either wants it to be that way or has never thought of the possibilities at length.

In an infinite universe, there is infinite possibility. It seems rediculous to judge what might be happening "out there" simply in terms of our personal limitations.

[Jx_Man]

I don't believe if UFO is present. i think UFO is superstition....

[briansmall]

I don't believe if UFO is present. i think UFO is superstition....

And why is that?

[EnderX]

The distances are too far for who?

That is true for us certainly, at this point in our developement. But it is not beyond the realm of possiblility that some other civilization could have developed methods that bypass our limited technological means.

Light limit. While it doesn't completely preclude the possibility of making the journey, the fact that a ship of any kind cannot travel faster than the vacuum speed of light (due to the laws of physics if I recall correctly) means that a trip would take a vast length of time. The nearest extrasolar star, after all (technically that should be stars, as there are three of them) sit somewhat over four light-years away, meaning a journey from them would take at least that long. And I'm fairly sure they don't have planets; the trip from a planetary system would be, by definition, longer.

It is also conceivable that individuals within some race could live millions or billions of years, so that travel from there to here would be no more impressive than, say, walking around the world would be for one of us.

I'd think someone actually walking around the world would be pretty impressive, actually...or did you simply mean 'travelling' around it?Finally, we could appear to be so insignificant to them that they simply take a look and move on. We might be no more to them than, say, a bit of mold on an orange peel generally is to us.

They've taken years to get here, and they'll just take one look and say 'skip it'? Not even take the time to stretch whatever leg-equivalents they have out?Anyone who disbelieves in the possibility of life elsewhere either wants it to be that way or has never thought of the possibilities at length.

I believe it could exist, I simply find it unlikely that the human race will ever find out. Which side of the options you just gave does that fall on?In an infinite universe, there is infinite possibility. It seems rediculous to judge what might be happening "out there" simply in terms of our personal limitations.

Are you presuming a steady-state universe? If we go with the big bang theory, then by definition it can't be infinite because it's been spreading for a finite amount of time since it began, and it is presumed to have begun at a single point, which would give spatial limitations to the area within.

[briansmall]

Light limit. While it doesn't completely preclude the possibility of making the journey, the fact that a ship of any kind cannot travel faster than the vacuum speed of light (due to the laws of physics if I recall correctly) means that a trip would take a vast length of time. The nearest extrasolar star, after all (technically that should be stars, as there are three of them) sit somewhat over four light-years away, meaning a journey from them would take at least that long. And I'm fairly sure they don't have planets; the trip from a planetary system would be, by definition, longer.

I'd think someone actually walking around the world would be pretty impressive, actually...or did you simply mean 'travelling' around it?

They've taken years to get here, and they'll just take one look and say 'skip it'? Not even take the time to stretch whatever leg-equivalents they have out?

I believe it could exist, I simply find it unlikely that the human race will ever find out. Which side of the options you just gave does that fall on?

Are you presuming a steady-state universe? If we go with the big bang theory, then by definition it can't be infinite because it's been spreading for a finite amount of time since it began, and it is presumed to have begun at a single point, which would give spatial limitations to the area within.

I'm aware of the limitations of our notion of the universe. I happen to not believe that "what we see (and know how to do) is all there is."

But even assuming that light speed is an ultimate limit, so what? Time is meaningful only in terms of how much or how littlewe have.

Using the Big Bang theory to dismiss the infinite is a stretch. However you wish to view the universe, the notion of infinite is close enough to what is there for purposes of this discussion.

Yes, I meant walking around the world. Walking around the world is not much of a stretch at all. Granted, one cannot walk on water, but 20,000 miles is not much. Given a path upon which to do so, a healthy person could do it in a year and a half, walking 10 hours a day (assuming they had support along the way).

They could skip over us for any number of reasons. I won't try to guess at that. This might be their equivalent of a desert. We might be deemed too nasty to thier lives, like a virus. Their existance and ours might be so far apart that they'd be at a loss as to how to communicate. Perhaps they are only partially "in" our dimensions and could not interact with us if they wanted to. Use your imagination.

Where do I stand? Only in the realm of possibility, not in expectation. That said, I do not expect we will or will not find out.

[Ancient Dragon]

>>the fact that a ship of any kind cannot travel faster than the vacuum speed of light (due to the laws of physics

We don't know if that hold true throughout the universe. Who says we can not travel at worp speed like they do in Star Trek?

>>Yes, I meant walking around the world. Walking around the world is not much of a stretch at all
Dave Kunst has already done that; riding on ships/boats only to cross large bodies of water.

[briansmall]

>>the fact that a ship of any kind cannot travel faster than the vacuum speed of light (due to the laws of physics

We don't know if that hold true throughout the universe. Who says we can not travel at worp speed like they do in Star Trek?

Ilove that documentary. It never ceases to amaze me though how little deviation there isis in the size of the aliens they encounter, and that they mostly speak english.

[vegaseat]

>>the fact that a ship of any kind cannot travel faster than the vacuum speed of light (due to the laws of physics

We don't know if that hold true throughout the universe. Who says we can not travel at worp speed like they do in Star Trek? ...

Well, warp speed is simply an imagination of Hollywood to make the whole Star Trek series possible. Imagine you would even hit a speck of stellar dust at such speeds! Earlier, some imaginator invented Superman, Peter Pan and other flying objects (don't try it yourself). You are right AD, all very entertaining and good for your own imagination!

@BS:
If other life forms could live extreme long lifes and travel at any speed, we would have had visitors already. Look out the window, are you seeing any?