Hashishi

I didn't want to push Bhikku's thread any further off topic... hence this thread.

I'm sure that's true for many a case.

Don't they? Or rather, can't they? Things entering the atmosphere at supersonic speeds and vaporizing can, as I understand it, have a variety of interesting visual effects. There's also a wealth of light and atmospheric phenomena to account for before aliens can be considered. One of the most comprehensive studies compiled found that natural phenomena accounted, beyond reasonable doubt, for 83% of UFO sightings.

While you may not, I've watched lectures in which leading physicists claim they do. Their speculation ends at self-replicating probes sent across the galaxy to form a communications 'web'. The hypothesis is that if a super-intelligent species could travel across astronomical distances in a reasonable amount of time, why would they? Surely such an advanced species could conduct all the surveillance they wanted without having to be there in person; sticking things up the rectums of the back-water inhabitants of this planet?

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macphearsome

me too. in fact it's usually my first instinct.


I believe that. But I was talking about what my mom saw (or claims to have seen). Her car was followed by a distinct, uniformly shaped object. It travelled at a very slow speed. It was blue. Here are the major possibilities

1) She was lying - very likely
2) She was hallucinating - less likely
3) Something human? - surprisingly likely
4) Something alien? - very unlikely but who knows
5) Atmospheric phenomena? - doesn't really match the description


well, I expect that another species that evolved to dominate a planet would be just as curious and adventurous as we are. We sent people to the moon! People climbed everest! Did we have to do that? Fuck no, it was THERE. Curiosity and adventure are evolutionary traits that led to human domination of our planet. Why wouldn't an alien species have those same traits?

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hippie557

For a long time I've been convinced that there is other forms of life out in the universe because let's face it, we're 1 speck of dust (planet) in a stadium full of other dust specks. If the conditions are right for water to form there (distance from star, atmosphere, micro organisms) some evolution of said micro organisms and bacteria had to take place. Then the next criteria has to be met that the predominate species has been in existence longer man which would therefore lead to better technology and the such, a commonplace among many sci-fi tales that aliens would be a far more older race in terms of evolutionary stages. But perhaps the planet has had many species capable of evolving to the stage of civilization to which conflict arrives and have never had motivation to explore the world.

I watch a program on the universe just the other day on National Geographic, Journey to the Edge of the Universe, and they raised some very interesting points about our universe and how we have such little grasp on it. Hell, we've even just begun to think that all the "emptiness" isn't even empty, but filled with Dark Matter that's holding hold galaxies, that's right, GALAXIES together. Whether or not this is speculation and theory, it could mean that we walk and live in Dark Matter.

The universe in and of itself fascinates me because of its sheer grand size, different planets, cool spectacles, and so many other things. But to answer your question, I'm a "Yaylien" fan although it's hard to say whether they've even made an attempt to make a stealth recon mission and see our planet.

marcusJay

I'm thinking it could be possible so instead of Yayliens or Nayliens, how about Maybeliens?
The universe is a big place and there are lots of unanswered questions.
I'm thinking there could be beings who aren't wrapped up in material things like we are and have focused their intellect on creative things instead of weapons and money. Instead of fighting among themselves, they focused their energy on science and knowledge gathering.
Give such a race of beings a million years (or 10 million) to evolve and they could be capable of things we would call "magic".

Vitamin 420

Maybe it's Maybelline?!

blondie0420

And the other 17%?

Your argument would have been better if you had some data that showed that natural phenomena accounted for 100% of UFO sightings. Anything less than 100% leaves open the possibility that at least one UFO sighting was actually a UFO rather than some reflective space junk or something. Any really, you only need just one real sighting to prove that aliens exist. They don't have to be coming here in gaggles.

Why wouldn't they? If we're assuming they are super-intelligent (that is, waaaaay more intelligent than we are), how in the world should we be expected to understand anything they do?

Furthermore, you should also realize that you can't speculate as to how aliens would behave without admitting that they exist in the first place. Otherwise, you're not talking about anything and your "conclusions" would be meaningless anyway.

"Surely?" On what basis do you qualify that judgment?

If they're a super-intelligent species, we shouldn't expect to understand everything they do. That's like my cat trying to figure out why I shave my legs. She's smart for a cat, but that doesn't mean her intelligence compares in the slightest to that of humans. Even if the smartest human were to speculate what aliens were up to, he's still only smart for a human, so he may be (read: probably is) unqualifed to make any of kind of judgment as to what aliens are deciding to do with their super-intelligent minds.

This is always something that bothered me. Given that the universe is infinite, why can't we ever speculate that other lifeforms aren't necessarily dependent on water? Couldn't there be some other forms of life out there in all of infinity that survive on some other substance(s) or element(s)?

Why would they have to have been around longer than man?

Horses have been around longer than humans, and they have done a lot of evolving (they used to be the size of small dogs). But they aren't smarter or more technologically advanced than we are. There is no reason to believe that aliens must have been around longer than us. IMO, basing an argument like that on science fiction is completely useless anyway.



For the record, I believe that it's entirely plausible to assume that aliens could (or even *might*) exist. I just think that trying to make judgments as to what they are like, where they came from, or what they're up to is kind of like trying to make judgments about what God is like, where He came from, or what He's up to. In other words...we have absolutely no way of knowing at this point in time.

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Equilibrium

they are called greyliens man.

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Hashishi

Why not?

I should've rested on the argument that space travel on the scale you're suggesting is physically improbable... if not downright impossible, but I'm also tempted to extrapolate that a species capable of inter-galactic travel would probably get their jollies somewhere else IN THE UNIVERSE than planet Earth.

Uh... yup. Anything less than 100% certainty does indeed leave open the possibility of speculation.

And, once again, FTR: I do believe aliens exist.

The only people expecting anything of the sort are the victims of cosmic ass rape and their followers. Besides that, if you conceptualise a universe devoid of the underpinnings of empiricism anything is likely.

For future reference, when you hover your pointer over text and it changes colour it usually means that it's clickable. It's worth investigating if you're going to dispute the author's claims.

The universe is not infinite. It is homogenous and isotropic but it is still finite.

Oh FFS.

WeedAndSnow

Yo that's crazy you posted this tonight cause I just got in real high and might have seen a ufo while driving. All of a sudden across the sky flashed a blue line of something lasting only about a second. It appeared than disappeared. I even looked back while driving after I saw it to see if I could see it in the sky anywhere and nothing was there. Whatever it was, it's pretty weird.

Zocalo

About the Universe being finite... isn't there proof that it's expanding? so how can something that's infinite expand? I really don't know...it's like saying infinite + infinite = infinite...

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