Do you believe in UFOS

[burrunjor]

I'll admit I was always terrified of UFOs when I was young. I even had trouble sleeping as a kid because I thought a UFO would abduct me in the middle of the night. I would literally be jolted awake from a dream where a grey alien would approach me with a blank look and its hand outstretched. Always the same dream. (They were even scarier when they had eyes like us, yet the expression was still blank.) 

Even today as a 30 year old man, whilst I'm obviously not as scared as I once was, I still get this terror when talking about them or watching reconstructions of alien abductions. 

Oddly enough though I'm fascinated by them. No matter how many nightmares they gave me as a child, I couldn't stop reading about UFOs and even today I'm fascinated with the whole mythology around them. 

I do want to believe UFOs exist because it's pretty much an accepted scientific fact that there must be life somewhere in the universe beyond earth. However if there are aliens visiting us, that have been for decades, maybe even centuries, then it would probably mean two things.

1/ It gives us hope as a race, as if they have reached this level of technology, then they did manage to overcome the problems people think will wipe us out, war, climate change, prejudice etc, so there is hope for us to do the same. 

2/ If they are visiting us, then it means ironically we are protected. If they wanted to conquer us, they could have easily done so. If they are visiting us instead, I reckon it will be because there is a galactic federation and they are monitoring us to see if we are ready to join them yet. Depressingly, despite visiting us for at least 70 years, clearly we've failed every test. I doubt the election of Bo Jo and creepy uncle Joe, who probably thinks the USA is at war with Mars and that Putin is an evil alien overlord, will fill them with much confidence. Still ultimately they hope one day we can join them and who knows maybe they've even helped us out in secret. It's insane when you look just how close we've come to ww 3 over the last almost century, yet it's always been averted? Maybe our alien friends have been working behind the scenes, still allowing us to have free will, but making sure we don't go over the edge? 

If they aren't visiting us, then it could mean three things. 

1/ There are no aliens, which is a deeply depressing thought. We truly are all there is.

2/ That any intelligent races that do emerge, kill each other off in wars, which will undeniably be our fate. One of these times someone really will push the button. 

3/ That we just haven't met them yet because space is so vast, but this also means that we could end up meeting a hostile race like the Daleks. If such a thing did happen, we wouldn't stand a chance against them. However if there is already an advanced race monitoring us, well they could protect us at least.

Now just to be clear I am not saying I actually believe in UFOs. Ultimately there has never been any concrete proof for aliens, and a phenomenon known as sleep paralysis has been seen as a more plausible explanation for alien abduction stories. 

Still there are some wacky stories out there that do at least have a lot of eye witnesses support and don't always have rational explanations. Added to that the fact that the US government has admitted that it can't account for all UFOs I think is a pretty big deal. Given what's in some of these photos. 

Still who knows, but either way it's a fascinating subject. 

Do do Do do Doooooooooo

[Deleted]

Apparently the Pentagon admitted to their being real encounters with aliens

[burrunjor]

May 18, 2022 18:01:45 GMT @lex23 said:

Apparently the Pentagon admitted to their being real encounters with aliens

Not quite. They admitted that they couldn't explain all of the UFOs, and released some videos of crafts flying in the sky that did seem quite weird. They didn't say they were aliens, but they have no explanation, and given the nature of some of these videos (that aren't just doctored vids posted on youtube) that does in a lot of people's eyes lend some credence to the visitors theory as ultimately no human craft could move like that. 

[Deleted]

Ah I see interesting I still think they could possibly exist I do believe in other intelligence out there other life forms beyond our galaxy

[iank]

Believing in UFOs is not the same as believing in flying saucers.
Clearly there's something odd going on, but whether it's anal probing little green men is another matter.

[Deleted]

None wants such things to be real more then I do. Sadly I have seen no evidence that in convincing enough to make me believe. It's the same with cryptids, the supernatural or deity/ies.

It's clear that our universe is not like those of fiction. Life seems to be much rarer and likely more scattered across the universe. So the most likely answer is that we have not bumped into any yet.

The idea that alien life had made all the same f*ck ups we have, brining about their own destruction is a sad and sobering one. However another is that possibly intelligent life as we know it, human, is not common. We just presume is it, like we do with a lot of things. Despite what some say, maybe hyper intelligence is not the universal advantage we think it is?

Or maybe we're in a life dry patch or in the wrong part of the universe.

We'll likely never know in my lifetime, but the main lesson I take from it is that if life is rare, we'd better start doing a better job of looking after the only planet thats got it in such abundance. This one.

[UncleDeadly]

May 18, 2022 20:55:19 GMT iank said:

Believing in UFOs is not the same as believing in flying saucers.
Clearly there's something odd going on, but whether it's anal probing little green men is another matter.

Indeed. I believe in objects that are unidentified. However, the fact that they are unidentified makes it difficult to identify them as alien spaceships.

[burrunjor]

May 18, 2022 21:50:34 GMT @palaeoloxodon said:

None wants such things to be real more then I do. Sadly I have seen no evidence that in convincing enough to make me believe. It's the same with cryptids, the supernatural or deity/ies.

It's clear that our universe is not like those of fiction. Life seems to be much rarer and likely more scattered across the universe. So the most likely answer is that we have not bumped into any yet.

The idea that alien life had made all the same f*ck ups we have, brining about their own destruction is a sad and sobering one. However another is that possibly intelligent life as we know it, human, is not common. We just presume is it, like we do with a lot of things. Despite what some say, maybe hyper intelligence is not the universal advantage we think it is?

Or maybe we're in a life dry patch or in the wrong part of the universe.

We'll likely never know in my lifetime, but the main lesson I take from it is that if life is rare, we'd better start doing a better job of looking after the only planet thats got it in such abundance. This one.

I don't know some the stories are a bit compelling. 

Like this famous encounter.



What would these two men have to gain by lying? Also a bit much that two of them had the exact same, random hallucination? 

Also the fact that the US government did admit that it can't explain what these strange crafts are is a lot more compelling than people think. A lot of the videos which the pentagon have admitted are real do show crafts flying around with designs that no known earth ship has, and in ways that we can't conceive yet. With this in mind, either you believe it's Putin or the Chinese who have invented some special craft, to spy on us, or........ I honestly don't know what else it could be? 

Again who knows maybe it is all a hoax, but I don't think it should be quite written off just yet. 

[Deleted]

May 19, 2022 7:54:21 GMT burrunjor said:

May 18, 2022 21:50:34 GMT @palaeoloxodon said:

None wants such things to be real more then I do. Sadly I have seen no evidence that in convincing enough to make me believe. It's the same with cryptids, the supernatural or deity/ies.

It's clear that our universe is not like those of fiction. Life seems to be much rarer and likely more scattered across the universe. So the most likely answer is that we have not bumped into any yet.

The idea that alien life had made all the same f*ck ups we have, brining about their own destruction is a sad and sobering one. However another is that possibly intelligent life as we know it, human, is not common. We just presume is it, like we do with a lot of things. Despite what some say, maybe hyper intelligence is not the universal advantage we think it is?

Or maybe we're in a life dry patch or in the wrong part of the universe.

We'll likely never know in my lifetime, but the main lesson I take from it is that if life is rare, we'd better start doing a better job of looking after the only planet thats got it in such abundance. This one.

I don't know some the stories are a bit compelling. 

Like this famous encounter.



What would these two men have to gain by lying? Also a bit much that two of them had the exact same, random hallucination? 

Also the fact that the US government did admit that it can't explain what these strange crafts are is a lot more compelling than people think. A lot of the videos which the pentagon have admitted are real do show crafts flying around with designs that no known earth ship has, and in ways that we can't conceive yet. With this in mind, either you believe it's Putin or the Chinese who have invented some special craft, to spy on us, or........ I honestly don't know what else it could be? 

Again who knows maybe it is all a hoax, but I don't think it should be quite written off just yet. 

Fair points, but it's not always lying or deliberate hoaxes.

The human mind is very funny thing and our perception of reality is not as flawless as we'd all like to believe. I say this as someone who's seen some weird shite once or twice but then on examining and researching about it came to find far more realistic explanations.

Firstly our brains can be affected by a wide range of stimuli, chemical, trauma and even sound. Powerful low wave sounds can actually affect our bodies, inducing emotional responses and hallucinations. Even our perceived self is not as rock hard as we would believe, as the changes caused by damage to the brain will attest. It's why I stopped believing in souls and why I'm of the opinion the part of my body that is my thinking mind is just few sections of my brain. 

Back on topic, let me give you an example. In the X-File Mulder states that he went through hypnosis therapy and this is how he came to better understand his sisters obduction and that aliens were involved. It's now believed that such techniques are very inaccurate, as the brain of the person can construct false memories were none exist. These can be as extreme as abductions and sexual abuse. In fact from a quick search serval 90s court cases based on hypnosis retrieved memories have since been overturned because of this.

An then there is just general self delusions, believing it and telling yourself you do until your convinced that is the case.

Matching testimonies do not even make stories credible with, as people talk to eachother, memories change and maybe worst of all the people documenting these people stories suffer from major confirmation bias or simply poor researching techniques. 

In all cases the person who tells the story is not lying, they honestly believe what they say but we we believe and what actually occurred are two different things.

Now with all this on the table, I cannot in good faith any claim of encountering extra-terrestrial life without skepticism and again I say this as person who wants to believe. I once had the fright of my life many years ago when I woke and saw a shadowy figure in my room, who then slipped out though my barley open bedroom door and down the stairs.  For a time I believed it was the spirit of my recently pasted Grandfather, but the more I examined it the more realised I was wrong. I had just woken up, I had not even gotten my eyes open and upon self reflection I realised that the part about shadow going down the stairs I had no proper memory of, I had just been telling myself thats what had happened. I could picture is in my head but not as a true memory. I had caught myself in the act constructing a false narrative in my own mind. I can't even trust my own memories of the event anymore as it has faded and my brain has begun patchworking it with imagination. 

Now with something like that, had I been of a different mind set I could have easily come to believe that what happened was real, many of my family still do. Since then  I've come to feel  the likely explanation is that it was either a waking dream or just an optical illusion.

Hopefully you can now see why I think the way I do, for I'm not some off hand sceptic. I apply the same level of skepticism to others stories I applied to myself.

[Deleted]

I don't know really. Truthfully, I've always been more interested in the Patterson–Gimlin Bigfoot sighting more than UFOs.