This is topic I Believe in UFOs and Here's Why... in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by Shawshank (Member # 8453) on :
 
UFOs are real I don't know why people say they don't believe in them. They really do but think they don't.

Unidentified Flying Object- UFO. I have no problem with UFOs because if people aren't making them up (like I think they do most of the time) it's probably the air force or somebody doing test flights.

UFO's are real.
 
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
 
The problem is, so many UFO reports use "Saucer Logic" in order to determine the thing seen is unidentifiable by any other means.
 
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
 
Most people that "believe in UFOs" believe UFOs are of extra-terrestrial origin*

* Also, known as the "Alien of the Gaps" fallacy. If it's in the sky and I don't know what it is, then it's Aliens. [Wink]
 
Posted by brojack17 (Member # 9189) on :
 
I believe in UFO. They have a website.
 
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
We were reading Acts in Sunday School last week and it reminded me of that movie I saw in fifth grade about UFO experiences in early Christianity. I can't believe they showed us that at school.
 
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
 
I believe UFOs are real too.

I believe that sometimes things seen in an aircraft appear to be flying. These objects are unidentifiable because they don't appear to be of human origin.

I also believe that they may be extraterrestrial in origin. Meaning, they could be meteorites breaking up on re-entry. It could be the atmospheric effect of some kind of energy not originating on our planet.

I do not believe, however, that this immediately means that the UFOs are caused by intelligent life from other planets. Nor do I believe it is caused by life of any kind (except maybe some alien bacteria burning away from a meteorite).

Science has not found a way for mass to travel between stars at any significant speed to make interstellar travel possible. Perhaps this is only because we don't know everything yet and something may be discovered eventually, but, at this point, it doesn't seem possible.

Also, the statistical probability that intelligent life capable of interstellar travel would discover our tiny little corner of the galaxy is so small, I doubt it's easily calculated. The universe is immense and we're just a tiny little speck about the size of Mickey Rooney.
 
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
I believe it's possible that UFO's are actually spacecraft from extraterrestrial life...but extremely unlikely. Fun to speculate about though.
 
Posted by Seatarsprayan (Member # 7634) on :
 
I believe that UFOs exist, because anything flying that I don't know what it is is a UFO.

I don't believe any UFO's are of extraterrestrial origin.

I also note that the U stands for unidentified, specifically, by me. It doesn't mean unidentifiable.

To me, UFO != Flying Saucers from Outer Space

It's a pretty terrible leap to go from "I don't know what that is" to "it must be an alien spacecraft!" Really? That's the only thing it could be?

Can you imagine if zoologists discovering new species proclaimed each one an alien because they couldn't identify the animal they saw?
 
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
 
Oh, and my last year of college, I took a UFO class (UFO's in American Culture) with a great professor. The subject may be bupkis, but it was seriously one of the best classes I have ever taken.
 
Posted by orlox (Member # 2392) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Primal Curve:
Science has not found a way for mass to travel between stars at any significant speed to make interstellar travel possible. Perhaps this is only because we don't know everything yet and something may be discovered eventually, but, at this point, it doesn't seem possible.

If we lived to 1000 years, the stars wouldn't seem so far away even at rather mundane velocities.
 
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by orlox:
If we lived to 1000 years, the stars wouldn't seem so far away even at rather mundane velocities.

But we don't, so your point is invalid.

Unless you are talking about aliens living for 1000 years, in which case you haven't really changed much. 1000 years is nothing. It would take a sizeable amount of that time to reach the nearest star system at sub-light speeds.

Now, if these supposed aliens lived for a billion years, then the distances between planets would be insignificant, but it would ignore the fact that there are billions of star systems and the entire race of mankind would probably evolve away from our current state by the time they arrived or be wiped away entirely by some catastrophic event.

Remember, we've only been on this planet, universally speaking, for less than the blink of an eye.
 
Posted by orlox (Member # 2392) on :
 
No, it is your point that interstellar travel doesn't seem possible that is invalid.

Or at least, you don't pay enough attention to the word 'seem' as a marker of the anthrocentric fallacy.

http://www.philosophicalsociety.com/Logical%20Fallacies.htm#anthrocentric

Note I am not claiming that UFOs are ETs. Only that your perception that interstellar travel doesn't seem possible is problematic. It may well be, but not solely due to distance and the speed of light as you indicate.

Also, time-dilation means that those on the spaceship don't experience the same duration as terrestrial observers, of course.

Again though, the amount of time we've been on this planet has no influence on whether space travel is possible. It may say something about the likelihood of ET visitors, or not, but that is not my issue.
 
Posted by brojack17 (Member # 9189) on :
 
quote:
I believe it's possible that UFO's are actually spacecraft from extraterrestrial life...but extremely unlikely. Fun to speculate
It's not that unlikely. See here.. It's a simple (yeah right) math equation. N = R*fp nefl fi fcL

Interesting question posed to Bill Nye.
 
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
 
The Drake equation is utterly bogus. If each assumption the damned thing makes were a person you'd practically be able to fill Yankee stadium!

(Ok, that's a bit of hyperbole, but there are still way too many assumptions Drake made with that equation to take it even remotely seriously.)

I believe in UFOs. Unidentified Flying Objects. Objects, that fly, that you don't know what it is. Probably of man-made origin. Oh, and flying saucers are real... and Russian [Wink]
 
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
 
Alcon, do you mean Drake made too many assumptions when setting up the variables of his equation, or did he go on to make too many assumptions when filling them in?
 
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
 
Both.
 


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