Extraterrestrials

[Homeless Nutter]

Originally, I would have been inclined to agree with most of you. My thought was that intelligent life very likely exists right in this galaxy, but that it was probably not making house calls. I'm an evidence sorta guy. Problem is, when I finally got past the decades long practice of ridiculing anyone who's interested in studying a phenomenon, I found that there is stacks of evidence for it everywhere.

OK, then. How about just ONE piece of credible evidence, please.

2 or 3, 10 or 20, maybe even 1 or 200 accounts could be dismissed. Not thousands.[...]

LOL... Really? Where's the line? Can we dismiss 202 accounts? 500? 1500? What's so special about thousands of stories? It seems to me like you fail to account for the number of people there are on Earth. Among billions, you will EASILY find thousands, upon thousands of liars and nutjobs, not to mention people who are simply mistaken.

[...]That being said. There's far too much evidence collected in the last 80+ years to blindly dismiss the possibility.

Yeah, you keep saying that. Can I please ask you for just ONE compelling example of this evidence?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Thousands of people have claimed to see ghosts. This proves we're being visited by dead aliens.

I think this is their Hell.

[Succubus]

...2 or 3, 10 or 20, maybe even 1 or 200 accounts could be dismissed. Not thousands...

The plural of anecdote is not 'Evidence'. One bullshit story is just what it says on the tin; bullshit! Now multiply that by a thousand and what do you have? More bullshit.

[The Grand Nudger]

 I saw in 1st post you mentioned Roswell, but there is really nothing there. 

Just because it's an interesting and important case to the entire phenomena..it might be useful to point out that there was a hell of alot there @ roswell..just not aliens.  Roswell can be pointed to as the moment that the US government realized that the flying saucer fetish could be used to our benefit.  In a way, they turned it from the geek fanboyism of it's time to a global craze on purpose. They didn't need to do any covering up, if the imaginations of yokels would do the work for them. They even nudged it along, going forward. Their "weather balloon" story was brilliant for it;s mundanity, and the fact that it so closely mirrored the truth that in searching for what the US gov was lying about people invariably drifted away from what it actually was. It was a balloon...but it wasn't sent up to figure out the chances for rain in new mexico that day.

Cut to a few decades later and you have an entire wing of the russian intelligence apparatus believing that flying saucers were either highly advanced us aircraft..or the alien allies of the united states hell bent on their destruction.  The soviets pissed money away due to this paranoia. This isn't to say that everyone over there was a blithering idiot. Cooler heads realized that by the pattern of distribution and occurence of credible ufo sightings in their own country..they were dealing with surveillance apparatus. AKA..."weather balloons".

Or, obviously..you know...that;s all a part of the cover-up.

[Minimalist]

Billions of stars in billions of galaxies. We cannot be the only life out there.

Absolutely agreed my friend, but more to the point ...
are they here visiting Earth?

Horrible thought.

[Astreja]

I could make a good case for being a sentient collective of molecules from a long-dead star, but otherwise I doubt there are any extraterrestrials skulking about Galactic Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha. Universe is just too damn big, and the commute is a bitch.

[Cinjin]

In the most generous interpretation, cutting out all of the anal probings during happy hour in rural america (it was your boy Jimbo, not aliens, sorry Cletus!).....many people report seeing UFOs.  

I'm completely comfortable dismissing thousands of UFO sightings if the subject is aliens..because even if there were aliens they're not likely to be the explanation for very many of those ufo sightings.

Do you have any favorites?  I'll take one credible alien craft over mountains of ufo accounts.  Quality, not quantity.  "Too much" bad evidence is still bad evidence.

(I want to believe superbad)

@Succ....did I get POE'd?  It isn't really that strange of a position for a person to hold.  If so, ofc it would be Cin...least expected and all that jazz, lol...

Aye, a little research tells me he has an inordinate fondness for polls, mostly shallow drivel, or about him. We have a new (recently resurrected) attention seeker.*



*May contain limestone!

Ok, yeah I'm good. That's enough. I don't know why I bothered. Tiberius was right.
At least Khemikal made an attempt at a rational conversation while maintaining his position. Which was all I was hoping for.
We really are all just a bunch of angry atheist dicks waiting around to pounce on someone who has a differing point of view. Never mind that I was polite and that I made every effort to clarify my position without insult. 

Succ,
I'm sorry I posted a thread that was all about me in the Introduction forum, I thought that it would be polite to do so and I thought that was the exact point of that particular forum.  I would've talked about you, but I just don't know a whole lot about your life.
I'm sorry that I find levity in polls. They amuse me and they're always just meant to be fun and pointless, as I THOUGHT anyone could clearly see.
I'm sorry I've been using this site to apparently "seek attention" rather than have interesting conversations. As you can see, it's difficult to even get one off the ground unless it's a circle jerk and the topic is one in which we all agree.

I hope you can forgive me Succ. I'll do my best to return to glib responses and making people feel stupid. Sadly, I am every bit as guilty as you on this offense.

Have a good circle jerk. I would have enjoyed a quality debate on the topic, but as it is now, I just don't care anymore.

[Whateverist]

Yes, this is about Aliens from outer space. (Not border-crossing aliens for all you so eager to post a meme you just found on Google images)



UFO sightings around the planet now number in the tens of thousands since the 1940s and there's an overwhelming amount of compelling cases for extraterrestrial life visiting this planet. Oddly enough, I have found that many atheists scoff at the notion of intelligent life visiting and/or residing here on Earth.
One would think that the religious right would be far more inclined to this position (as many are), but I have found that despite the overwhelming evidence and the fact that the topic itself is based in science and reality rather than magic and superstition, that many open-minded people will not even consider the possibility.

So...

What are your thoughts on the matter?
Is it all a hoax? 
Do you think extraterrestrials have or are possibly still visiting this solar system?
Roswell?
Abduction?

Discuss.

Yes, this is about miracles from our Heavenly Father.

Miracle sightings around the planet now number in the tens of thousands since the 1940s and there's an overwhelming amount of compelling cases for miracles from God on this planet. Oddly enough, I have found that many atheists scoff at the notion of miracles happening and/or their being a gift from our Lord and Savior.
I find it truly incredible that many open-minded people will not even consider the possibility.

So...

What are your thoughts on the matter?
Are they all hoaxes? 
Do you think miracles have been performed by our Heavenly Father?
Fátima?
Resurrection?

Discuss.

Well .. I'll admit this was my response as well, at least in response to the place of testimonials or the question of numbers of reported experiences.

At least UFOs don't require us to presume there is a supernatural zone.  But the thought that they are real, here and about to make contact with us appeals to many of the same people who go in for other woo.  That said, I don't have any reason to categorically dismiss the possibility as I do where gods are concerned.  But what really is there to discuss until there is more than speculation to go on?

[Succubus]

In the most generous interpretation, cutting out all of the anal probings during happy hour in rural america (it was your boy Jimbo, not aliens, sorry Cletus!).....many people report seeing UFOs.  

I'm completely comfortable dismissing thousands of UFO sightings if the subject is aliens..because even if there were aliens they're not likely to be the explanation for very many of those ufo sightings.

Do you have any favorites?  I'll take one credible alien craft over mountains of ufo accounts.  Quality, not quantity.  "Too much" bad evidence is still bad evidence.

(I want to believe superbad)

Aye, a little research tells me he has an inordinate fondness for polls, mostly shallow drivel, or about him. We have a new (recently resurrected) attention seeker.*



*May contain limestone!

Ok, yeah I'm good. That's enough. I don't know why I bothered. Tiberius was right.
At least Khemikal made an attempt at a rational conversation while maintaining his position. Which was all I was hoping for.
We really are all just a bunch of angry atheist dicks waiting around to pounce on someone who has a differing point of view. Never mind that I was polite and that I made every effort to clarify my position without insult. 

Succ,
I'm sorry I posted a thread that was all about me in the Introduction forum, I thought that it would be polite to do so and I thought that was the exact point of that particular forum.  I would've talked about you, but I just don't know a whole lot about your life.
I'm sorry that I find levity in polls. They amuse me and they're always just meant to be fun and pointless, as I THOUGHT anyone could clearly see.
I'm sorry I've been using this site to apparently "seek attention" rather than have interesting conversations. As you can see, it's difficult to even get one off the ground unless it's a circle jerk and the topic is one in which we all agree.

I hope you can forgive me Succ. I'll do my best to return to glib responses and making people feel stupid. Sadly, I am every bit as guilty as you on this offense.

Have a good circle jerk. I would have enjoyed a quality debate on the topic, but as it is now, I just don't care anymore.

What's up, did I scupper your thread with the Rendlesham take down?

That being said. There's far too much evidence collected in the last 80+ years to blindly dismiss the possibility.

It's taking you a long time to produce this evidence.

[The Grand Nudger]

  But what really is there to discuss until there is more than speculation to go on?

The nature of such speculation?

For example, we might think that if we speculate advanced aliens then it becomes more likely that they visit us - or at least more credible.  I don't think that's true.  The residents of europe come 1k ad had 40k years worth of technological development on their ancestors.  The atlantic was still a barrier.  But, you know..some of them made crossing.  Even so, did they visit any of our specific burgs?  No.

The likelihood of there being advanced aliens visiting us, if they exist, is the same or less than that of finding an ancient bust of Odin in Boise, Idaho.