Do UFOs exist

[Tolstoy]

I personally find it highly unlikely that we are the only intelligent life in the universe, and I feel the evidence in favor of ETs existing is pretty strong. This puts me in a funny position, as most UFO conspiracy theorists are reactionaries of some stripe

What about you Revleft? Do you believe in UFOs, abductions, catlle mutilation etc.?

[Paul Pott]

We probably aren't the only life in the universe, but it doesn't follow that little green men in flying saucers have been visiting Earth.

[MrCool]

Our little blue planet can't be the only place in the universe where is some kind of life. But it's another thing to speculate have "they" visited us.

I think "they" know we're here, but they have chosen not to take any contact with us yet.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Our little blue planet can't be the only place in the universe where is some kind of life. But it's another thing to speculate have "they" visited us.

I think "they" know we're here, but they have chosen not to take any contact with us yet.

Why would they know? Why would they care? Why would they be intelligent?

These assumptions betray a anthropocentric world-view. Too often our conception of extraterrestrial life-forms are shaped by our knowledge of life on this planet. Even if they were intelligent, to assume that their psychological profile would be similar to ours and extrapolate their motivations on such a basis is the ultimate folly.

[Fourth Internationalist]

I do not. However, I used to (but I was like 12). Though I have to admit that the idea of UFOs (particularly 'Ancient Aliens') is still fun to think about.

[Zostrianos]

There are several yet unexplained incidents, and I believe around 5% or so of sightings are of unknown origin. It doesn't mean they're aliens, but it's interesting. Here's a few interesting cases:

1- The disappearance of the pilot F. Valentich, who said he saw a strange flying object stalking his plane, and shortly after stopped communicating altogether. No one knows what happened to him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentich_disappearance

The Valentich disappearance refers to the unexplained disappearance on 21 October 1978 of 20-year-old Frederick Valentich while piloting a Cessna 182L light aircraft over Bass Strait in Australia. He intended to land at King Island and return to Moorabbin Airport.[1]
During the 127-mile (235 km) flight, Valentich advised Melbourne air traffic control that he was being accompanied by an aircraft about 1,000 feet (300 m) above him.[2] He described some unusual actions and features of the aircraft, saying that his engine had begun running roughly, and finally reported that the "strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again. It is hovering and it's not an aircraft."

2- Shag Harbour incident, where a huge meteor-like object crashed into a Nova Scotia harbour (seen by many witnesses), but strangely enough underwater searches found no trace of it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shag_Harbour_UFO_incident

The Shag Harbour UFO Incident was the reported impact of an unknown large object into waters near Shag Harbour, a tiny fishing village in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia on October 4, 1967.
The impact was investigated by various civilian (Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Coast Guard) and military (Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force) agencies of the Government of Canada. The RCN conducted at least one underwater search to attempt to locate the remains of any associated objects. The Government of Canada declared that no known aircraft was involved and the source of the impact remains unknown to this day. It is one of very few cases where government agency documents have formally declared an unidentified flying object was involved. Several military witnesses that were interviewed, including a RCN diver involved in the search, have claimed an alien spacecraft was responsible.[citation needed] It was also claimed by several of the witnesses that units of the United States armed forces were involved in the search. The case was also briefly investigated by the U.S. Condon Committee UFO study, which offered no explanation.

3- Kecksburg incident, where a fireball (witnessed by thousands of people) crashed in Kecksburg Pennsylvania. Locals who got to the site reported seeing an acorn shaped object with strange characters on it. The US army got to the site, took it away, and no one's heard of it since.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecksburg_UFO_incident
The Kecksburg UFO incident occurred on December 9, 1965 at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, USA. A large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in at least six U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. It streaked over the Detroit, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario area, reportedly dropped hot metal debris over Michigan and northern Ohio,[1] starting some grass fires[2] and caused sonic booms in Western Pennsylvania.[3] It was generally assumed and reported by the press to be a meteor [4] after authorities discounted other proposed explanations such as a plane crash, errant missile test, or reentering satellite debris[citation needed].
However, eyewitnesses in the small village of Kecksburg, about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, claimed something crashed in the woods.[5] A boy said he saw the object land; his mother saw a wisp of blue smoke arising from the woods and alerted authorities. Another reported feeling a vibration and "a thump" about the time the object reportedly landed.[6] Others from Kecksburg, including local volunteer fire department members, reported finding an object in the shape of an acorn and about as large as a Volkswagen Beetle. Writing resembling Egyptian hieroglyphics was also said to be in a band around the base of the object. Witnesses further reported that intense military presence, most notably the United States Army, secured the area, ordered civilians out, and then removed the object on a flatbed truck[citation needed]. At the time, however, the military claimed they searched the woods and found "absolutely nothing"

If anyone has any theories on these, I'd love to hear them

[Brutus]

Are you a pabloite?

[Zostrianos]

Not sure what that is

[Flying Purple People Eater]

They walk among us.

Cthulhu Ftagn.

[RedBen]

in the literal sense of someone seeing something in the sky they cannot identify, yes, it may be lights cause by naturally occurring phenomena within our own atmosphere and space. i do believe there is some kind life we may not recognize out there, there are types of micro organisms and what not. i do not believe in spaceships with monsters visiting here, i believe animals mutilate cattle, maybe even some sicks out there. i do not believe in alien abduction or that nonsense though. why would they come so far to destroy a farmer's crop or livestock? why would they be interested in the contents of some farmer's rectum? why be interested in this planet? the kinds of things that survive in the conditions present on environmentally hostile planets may not be able to survive under our conditions. i think it tin foil hat material. "the cia's after ma prized chickens!!"

[Comrade Dracula]

Are you a pabloite?

Shouldn't that be Posadista? Wasn't Pablo the one obsessed with thermonuclear class warfare?

[Sasha]

moving this to the Science and Environment section
note, not to chitchat, keep it serious or it gets trashed

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

We probably aren't the only life in the universe, but it doesn't follow that little green men in flying saucers have been visiting Earth.

The "little green men," song and dance is silly, do you realize how insignificant we truly are? It's almost cute the importance we place on our species, our achievements; what hubris. We're really just shit slinging apes that got blessed by evolution with symbolic thought and built some tin cans that somehow made it off this dirt ball. To me it's like of course there is other intelligent species out there with either technology comparable to our own or perhaps even better.

I also support and entertain ancient astronaut theories. Why would other species visit Earth and do X? I don't know why do we do anything we do? Why do we explore, document, quantify everything and so on? Do you really think if humanity had the ability to visit another planet we wouldn't we abduct X specimen and then perform experiments and autopsies? Ever hear of cargo cults?

[ANTIFA GATE-9]

There could be life around the universe but as bacteria and microorganisms.
That's how life started on Earth kinda so it doesent rule it that there isn't intelligent life somewhere else but it's going to be really far since we know about our galaxies around us and we know that they are not suitable for life.

[RedBen]

There could be life around the universe but as bacteria and microorganisms.
That's how life started on Earth kinda so it doesent rule it that there isn't intelligent life somewhere else but it's going to be really far since we know about our galaxies around us and we know that they are not suitable for life.

life as we know it. there may be (i hate hyper theoreticals of "there might possibly could perhaps i think be") life that can survive atmospheres we cannot. i do not rule out life or even intelligent life. i doubt we would be able to recognize it and the fact that every alien seems to be humanoid or earth related according to people is self serving and merely a reflection of their experiences and backgrounds, fabricated from their points of reference and not reality. if there are what might be called imperialist aliens, that to me feeds into the whole "nature or a being" thing that i disagree with. i believe in material conditions affecting development. i suppose aliens also have imperialist tendencies, economies, standing armies and what have you? because after all, these are our points of reference? we invent "aliens" based off of what we know. this is detrimental to understanding something different from us when we use us as a reference point. i do not believe in little green men. i am open to the possibility of some form of life we may or may not be able to recognize, there is a distinct difference there you see.

[Fourth Internationalist]

We're really just shit slinging apes that got blessed by evolution with symbolic thought and built some tin cans that somehow made it off this dirt ball.

That's a very anti-Marxist view of humanity and of our history.

I also support and entertain ancient astronaut theories.

Which are not taken seriously by any major academic institute.

[BIXX]

That's a very anti-Marxist view of humanity and of our history.

I totally agree, but I think you should probably explain why. Cause often people say "this or that lacks material analysis" but then when challenged as to how they know that, they never answer.

[ANTIFA GATE-9]

life as we know it. there may be (i hate hyper theoreticals of "there might possibly could perhaps i think be") life that can survive atmospheres we cannot. i do not rule out life or even intelligent life. i doubt we would be able to recognize it and the fact that every alien seems to be humanoid or earth related according to people is self serving and merely a reflection of their experiences and backgrounds, fabricated from their points of reference and not reality. if there are what might be called imperialist aliens, that to me feeds into the whole "nature or a being" thing that i disagree with. i believe in material conditions affecting development. i suppose aliens also have imperialist tendencies, economies, standing armies and what have you? because after all, these are our points of reference? we invent "aliens" based off of what we know. this is detrimental to understanding something different from us when we use us as a reference point. i do not believe in little green men. i am open to the possibility of some form of life we may or may not be able to recognize, there is a distinct difference there you see.

so your saying that there could be life in places that we think based on our knowledge cant be?
i think i get what your saying but why would life evolve somewhere without the features that our planet has.i mean how can scientists miss signs of life in nearby planets? doesn't life need the same features of our planet to evolve wherever it forms? i read somewhere that there are signs that there was water on mars and there is ice on one of Jupiter's moons so wouldn't every planet in the universe that could support life be similar to ours[have some kind of water solid or liquid] so life would evolve to be recognizable to us?
from what i understand you know more about this topic than me so forgive me if my questions don't make much sense.

[Fourth Internationalist]

I totally agree, but I think you should probably explain why. Cause often people say "this or that lacks material analysis" but then when challenged as to how they know that, they never answer.

To briefly explain:

That was why when Marx and Engels first formulated their ideas, they did so by developing a completely new understanding of how human beings relate to the world around them. This involved rejecting the two dominant ways of seeing this relationship: idealism which sees human beings as semi-divine, subject to God’s will and completely separate from the animal world; and crude materialism which hold humans to be no more than machines or animals, either simply reacting to stimuli from the external world (today generally labelled “behavourism”), or as biologically programmed to perform in certain ways (today, called “sociobiology”).

Marx and Engels first presented their own view in The German Ideology and the Theses on Feuerbach of 1845-6. They saw human beings as products of the natural, biological world, and history as part of natural history. But they also saw the specific character of humans as lying in their ability to react back on the circumstances that had created them, changing both those circumstances and themselves in the process.

The entire first part of the book deals with this and our beginnings. I haven't read the second and third parts yet, so I don't know if they continue on about the issue.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/harm...engels.htm#bra

[Brutus]

Shouldn't that be Posadista? Wasn't Pablo the one obsessed with thermonuclear class warfare?

You're right on the first question (whoops) but not on the second. That was Posadas too. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Posadas