The results of the latest, unscientific poll, are not very surprising, given the overall nature of this blog. As almost everyone must know, I believe that we have been visited by creatures from other worlds. The evidence, when looked at in a dispassionate way, seems to be overwhelming. Everything from reports of the alien craft interacting with the environment, recordings on various forms of instrumentality, to eyewitness testimony, some of it gathered in a day or so after the events.
So, when the most people suggest they too accept alien visitation, I’m not too surprised. It does not mean that we all think that every UFO is an alien craft, only that some of them, probably just a few of them, are alien.
That so many believed that UFOs were just misidentified natural or manmade objects is no surprised. We all know that more than 95% of all UFO sightings have a mundane explanation. And when we throw in the next generation of military aircraft being tested, it is sometimes difficult to tell the alien technology from that we’re developing.
And, I’m not overly surprised that some thought that there was an inter-dimensional component to UFO sightings. When you begin to think about the vast distances that must be covered by an alien race on another world, almost anything that suggests a way around those distances deserves a closer look.
Don’t misunderstand. I believe that we will someday travel around our galaxy. In fact, we do have the technology to do that now, but the journey would last centuries. We’ve launched unmanned probes on interstellar flights. To do it with a living crew is another matter.
I threw time travel in there, but only because it is an interesting suggestion. The implication here is that our descendants are travel back for some reason but I’m not sure that travel into the past is possible (Yes, I know that Stephen Hawking talks of gravity bending time and space so that travel into the past might be possible but I think it very unlikely). Travel into the future is certainly possible, but once there, you just can’t get back.
You might say that all the answers are the correct ones. Some UFOs are alien craft. Many UFOs are misidentifications. Some could be inter-dimensional travel and a very few could be time travelers. In fact, I’ll be posting a story at http://www.thesciencefictionsite.blogspot.com/ (called Travel Guide, you'll have to scroll down for it) that deals with the time travel aspect of the survey. You might say that it is a theory wrapped in the guise of a science fiction story.
So, there were really no wrong answers here. Just a series of them that suggest that the UFO phenomenon will not be solved by a single solution. It just tells us that search should continue.
I've always considered the ETH the most parsimonious view. We know life can arise and progress on a planetary surface in our Universe-- or we wouldn't be here--and extrasolar planets are obviously numerous. How can we be sure life is possible at all in some other dimension--a different realm of existence altogeter?
ReplyDelete"We all know that more than 95% of all UFO sightings have a mundane explanation."
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing that stat tossed around by Kaku and Kean, but it seems pretty dubious to me. I'd like to know the source if it's available.
If 20 different people report 20 different UFOs, they're going to be able to describe the event well enough for someone to figure out what they saw 19 out of every 20 times? I don't know about that.
Frank, I accuse you of NOT being cynical! Quite nobly you're thinking about rational people reporting what they saw -- and nothing more -- to rational investigators. Unfortunately, that's not happening much these days.
ReplyDeleteSpend an evening on youtube or riffling through the MUFON reports. You would be surprised -- I was -- at how many people really really want to believe airplanes are from the Pleiades or that camera reflections are crowding our skies.
Add in reports from small local papers, where people often report Chinese lanterns travelling hundreds of miles per hour. It's bewildering.
The earnest and awe-filled reports of yesteryear are rare today.
Hawking also has mentioned the posibility of an ET race that is migratory rather than planet based.
ReplyDeleteConsider the mass sightings of the mid 1500s, the Spanish astronomer's report of a river of objects passing across the Sun roughly a century later, and the recent reports of unknown objects between the Earth and Sun.
A colony in orbit around our own Sun wouldn't need to travel light year long distances to get here.
And our little world could be a great weekend trip for the family.
Actually the real answer maybe that many UFOs are both alien spacecraft as well as interdimensional visitors.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that the other dimension which they come from is not really what we think of as another dimension. It is a just state of matter where we humans exist as well.
For a more detailed explanation see www.ufocoverup.org
> www.ufocoverup.org
ReplyDeleteExecutive summary: "The Space Brothers are working with Earth's Spiritual Hierarchy for the Return of the Christ."
But I wonder, why after all this time are the Space Brothers still worried about nuclear weapons? Wouldn't they save a lot more lives by having a group hug with terrorists? Or helping Ethiopia with food production? How about finding new homes for the polar bears? Our saviors gotta keep up with the times.
@ Dave
ReplyDeleteYou wrote on your site:
Also France is technically a Catholic country. The France would like to defer to the Vatican for the timing of revealing the ET phenomenon.
That was about all that I had to hear. The French haven't deferred to the Vatican on anything in centuries, really since the Revolution. This is just one example of your complete lack of understanding or insight into history. It was an amusing read, however.
@ Kevin
No surprises in your poll. I still think you should have added "all of the above" and "none of the above" categories, however.
Paul
It really catches my attention that so many people find the extra/ultra dimensional theory an option, when 90% of us have no real in depth knowledge of what dimensions are. Now, there could be a 'universe next door,' but why would that be more viable than having ET come from Zeta Reticuli? I think it goes to show that hollywood has more influence on how we think than any science textbook. Sad but true.
ReplyDelete@TLC
ReplyDeleteHollywood and sci-fi are not to blame. Keep in mind the 19th-century mystical movements and talk of aetheric realms (which heavily influenced the contactees). Before that there was Swedenbourg and his astral projections to other planets. Etc.
If people require a magic wand to make their notions "true" and irrefutable, people will find that magic wand.
I've studied UFOs for quite a while now and talked to a dozens of people who have seen strange objects at close range. Out of all the folks I've talked to about their experiences only a couple actually reported it. The statistical data is pointless at this juncture.
ReplyDelete