Houston, we are not alone..

[Moriarte]

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/18/politics/luis-elizondo-ufo-pentagon/index.html

A former Pentagon official who led a recently revealed government program to research potential UFOs said Monday evening that he believes there is evidence of alien life reaching Earth.

"My personal belief is that there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone," Luis Elizondo said in an interview on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."

So, what would you do if Pentagon gave you 22 mil p.a. in secret and told you to find some aliens? Personally, I'd spend most of it on whiskey and stabilizers and attempt to establish contact. I don't see any other way..

 

[Archbob]

Shoot up a giant flare into space saying "Our Planet Challenges yours to Mortal Kombat".

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The fact that Robert Bigelow was involved in this program should make it lose all credibility in my opinion. I mean I like his inflatable ISS module and his space hotel concepts but he's kind of a wacko.

 

[EgonSpengler]

On the one hand, I guess I believe that there's probably intelligent life on other planets, because that hypothesis just seems more plausible than the null hypothesis, that there is not intelligent life on any other planet.

On the other hand, I also believe terrestrial explanations for "UFOs" are more plausible than extraterrestrial ones. I mean, we know the US military has repeatedly tested drugs and medications on its personnel over the years. We also know that the human brain is prone to misinterpreting sensory information; I think we're already at the point in our criminal justice system, for example, where "eyewitness testimony" is among the least-reliable evidence you can present.

Also, if the object is extraterrestrial, I think it's more likely to be a machine (a drone) than a vehicle. Humans may be more likely to "colonize" Solar System asteroids and the like with drones and robots than with people. Heck, we might be able to do that soon - I was just reading about some of the new drone designs companies are close to rolling out - but getting them out there is probably insanely expensive.

 

[Lexicus]

On the one hand, I guess I believe that there's probably intelligent life on other planets, because that hypothesis just seems more plausible than the null hypothesis, that there is not intelligent life on any other planet.

On the other hand, I also believe terrestrial explanations for "UFOs" are more plausible than extraterrestrial ones. I mean, we know the US military has repeatedly tested drugs and medications on its personnel over the years. We also know that the human brain is prone to misinterpreting sensory information; I think we're already at the point in our criminal justice system, for example, where "eyewitness testimony" is among the least-reliable evidence you can present.

Also, if the object is extraterrestrial, I think it's more likely to be a machine (a drone) than a vehicle. Humans may be more likely to "colonize" Solar System asteroids and the like with drones and robots than with people. Heck, we might be able to do that soon - I was just reading about some of the new drone designs companies are close to rolling out - but getting them out there is probably insanely expensive.

Under the same assumptions that lead to the conclusion that the existence of alien life is likely, it is staggeringly unlikely that this life has ever visited us. Intelligent life may occur, for example, once every hundred galaxies.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

On the one hand, I guess I believe that there's probably intelligent life on other planets, because that hypothesis just seems more plausible than the null hypothesis, that there is not intelligent life on any other planet.

On the other hand, I also believe terrestrial explanations for "UFOs" are more plausible than extraterrestrial ones. I mean, we know the US military has repeatedly tested drugs and medications on its personnel over the years. We also know that the human brain is prone to misinterpreting sensory information; I think we're already at the point in our criminal justice system, for example, where "eyewitness testimony" is among the least-reliable evidence you can present.

Also, if the object is extraterrestrial, I think it's more likely to be a machine (a drone) than a vehicle. Humans may be more likely to "colonize" Solar System asteroids and the like with drones and robots than with people. Heck, we might be able to do that soon - I was just reading about some of the new drone designs companies are close to rolling out - but getting them out there is probably insanely expensive.

For more on the latter, look into Planetary Resources. They are backed by the government of Luxembourg (a huge player in the space industry) and are sending up their first probes now. They plan on robotically mining asteroids for the benefit of mankind. In other words, you are right, drones are the most likely interstellar colonists.

Anyways this study has been sensationalized by the media. UFO's in military parlance are just that, unidentified flying objects, not aliens. The study was meant to track, classify and research strange airborne sightings and phenomena. Unfortunately, Bigelow is a nutjob so giving his company a contract to run this study was a flawed move from the outset. Of course it was going to veer into a study on little green men because that's Bigelow's favorite thing.

 

[Broken_Erika]

If there was intelligent life out there, i doubt they would want anything to do with us. So don't fear the Aliens as i am sure that they would be far more scared of us than we are of them. Especially when they get to know us....

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Well they would have to find us and then get to us, which is borderline impossible. And if they could do it, they wouldn't have any reason to do so except to satisfy their curiosity about the universe. Any civilization that is capable of star travel has no need for any material or knowledge that we have.

 

[Lexicus]

You never know, they might have some kind of Galactic Community thing going.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

If that is the case then surely the Prime Directive would be at work. I'm not even joking; surely any galactic civ would be smart enough not to mess with or reveal themselves to a people that are on the edge of self-annihilation.

 

[Lexicus]

If that is the case then surely the Prime Directive would be at work. I'm not even joking; surely any galactic civ would be smart enough not to mess with or reveal themselves to a people that are on the edge of self-annihilation.

A Galactic Civ might consider the stakes laughably low. Of course, if they consider the stakes low they'd probably be on the "don't care about humans at all" side anyway...you just can't win can you

 

[Kyriakos]

On the one hand, I guess I believe that there's probably intelligent life on other planets, because that hypothesis just seems more plausible than the null hypothesis, that there is not intelligent life on any other planet.

On the other hand, I also believe terrestrial explanations for "UFOs" are more plausible than extraterrestrial ones. I mean, we know the US military has repeatedly tested drugs and medications on its personnel over the years. We also know that the human brain is prone to misinterpreting sensory information; I think we're already at the point in our criminal justice system, for example, where "eyewitness testimony" is among the least-reliable evidence you can present.

Also, if the object is extraterrestrial, I think it's more likely to be a machine (a drone) than a vehicle. Humans may be more likely to "colonize" Solar System asteroids and the like with drones and robots than with people. Heck, we might be able to do that soon - I was just reading about some of the new drone designs companies are close to rolling out - but getting them out there is probably insanely expensive.

On the other hand, laboratory mazes usually are empty of crucial life other than the specimen experimented upon

 

[EgonSpengler]

Right, another intelligent species that is, let's say, 20,000,000 years ahead of us might be so advanced they wouldn't have any interest in communicating with us, even if they were here.

 

[Kyriakos]

Right, another intelligent species that is, let's say, 20,000,000 years ahead of us might be so advanced they wouldn't have any interest in communicating with us, even if they were here.

It's not like the chasm in intelligence between humans and mice is to ever close either, though. Besides, in theory (which makes for good literature) the aliens may even have bred humans due to a side-effect of our bio-matter tied to a developed conscience. Eg i always mean to write a story about how one thinks that humans are such a thing, and our mathematical thinking is there because in some future iteration it will provide a part of something needed, although not in a way we could understand in the first place. Never-ending massive war between aliens etc.
(not saying this is likely to be so -- of course )

 

[Ryika]

Well they would have to find us and then get to us, which is borderline impossible.

By our current understanding on space travel and dimensions.
They might be really close to us from their perspective.

@topic: That article basically says nothing at all.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

^ It does say that a lot of money went somewhere that might merit an audit.

 

[Disgustipated]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/...t-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=2

Good place to link this article. Navy pilots find something really strange out in the Pacific near San Diego. Still can't discount it's a hoax by young men. Young men tend to do that sort of thing.

I will always believe it is technologically impossible for alien "life" to reach this planet, but perhaps an unmanned probe could reach here some day.

edit: I can't find the original NY Times article I read a couple days ago, the above one will have to suffice.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/...escribes-encounter-with-ufo-says-it-was-real/

This one from my local newspaper. Not as reputable as the NY times, but close.

 

[uppi]

A Galactic Civ might consider the stakes laughably low. Of course, if they consider the stakes low they'd probably be on the "don't care about humans at all" side anyway...you just can't win can you

As a collective they may not care, but individuals might be curious enough to visit us.

It all depends on the cost of space travel. If interstellar travel remains costly enough to be a major collective effort for any civilization to get anywhere, the aliens might have better places to go. But if every alien has its personal spaceship and can make joyrides all over the galaxy, sooner or later they would come by, either as curious explorers or as the alien equivalent of immature teenagers, who are bored enough to try out how these primitive humans react to plasma blasters.

 

[Berzerker]

I'd spend the money drawing enormous images on the ground that can only be seen from above

 

[FriendlyFire]

We need to check if these Aliens are Muslims or Mexicans !
If they are white and/or supermodels then its OK