UFOs exist, or do they?

[Lebowski]

If us humans managed to travel to another planet and found life on it we’d be investigating that planet nomatter how dumb we thought the inhabitants were. You have to imagine another planet’s travellers would do the same. Just general interest. Especially if they’ve seen us sending things to the moon and Mars.

In an "aww cute they got to the moon, im gonna stick this mission report on the fridge" kinds of way.

We haven got much further in the last 50 odd years bar a few probes and Lander's. unless we discover some sort of different method for space travel where not going to get very far. Space exploration is expensive and resource intensive with our current understanding and fuel systems.

[fishbowlhead]

Voyager 1&2 have now gone extra solar but that’s really it as far as our space accomplishments go. Then a lot of nothing really, then re-usable rockets from SpaceX.

For a species so intent of destroying our planet were doing a piss poor job of bothering to look for new one/s.

[Anpanman]

I think we are probably at the limit of our reach as far as technology goes, travelling to places like Mars or further afield means taking more food, water and so on. Then you have the time it takes, bone wastage and what to do with our own waste. I've seen some footage on NASA labs where they were looking at recycling poo but until we crack being able to put us in suspended animation and get our vehicles to travel at many times light speed we are probably stuck here.

As far as the UFO's go, if beings from other places could get here then you would think they may make more journeys so we would see them more often.
Don't see how they could completely avoid radar though.

I am interested in Roswell, if it was a UFO then that could explain the apparent huge leap the US made with planes like the Blackbird, B-1/2, F-117.
It of course could have been a secret US plane from the time (X project) and the aliens on board could have been pilots testing flight suits - a bit like that real life documentary where that bloke in his De-Lorean got caught at Peabody's farm.

[Dogg Thang]

As far as the UFO's go, if beings from other places could get here then you would think they may make more journeys so we would see them more often.
Don't see how they could completely avoid radar though..

And why would we only see them when they are flying around in our atmosphere? They can get there totally undetected but then keep getting caught faffing around in the sky.

[Asura]

Certainly if some of the UFOs were alien in origin, I think the only explanation is that we, as a species, have missed something.

Like presently nearly all our plans to go out into space involve bigger, badder versions of the same thing; so bigger rockets, more effective rockets, nuclear rockets... Even the fringe stuff like using solar sails driven by laser are still kinda the same physics using different materials.

Part of me would love aliens to contact us, and when we express confusion as to how they got here, they just say "have you not tried, just, y'know" and then entirely redefining our understanding of the universe by, hmmm...

Like imagine if we've been doing the cosmic version of writing things down on post-it notes instead of copy-pasting on your computer.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I don't know if anyone has read the wiki page for the Fermi paradox. It's one of my favourite wiki pages.
Basically, it's the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations and various high estimates for their probability.
Definitely worth a read. It's a paradox, so there is no conclusion.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

[MartyG]

UFOs exist, or do they? Yes of course they do - anything in the sky that can't be identified is, by definition, an unidentified flying object.

If they question was meant to be Are Aliens Visiting Our Planet? Then the answer is no.

I will change my mind when iodroutioi;sjdr;ol;lknsdlkfngvkblhzkfdhyt from the planet **&%&746hghy634ngkek comes along and jkcfuyiuye84yuiosdhfui on us all.

Just like God needs to do to prove he exists too, although he's more likely just to flood the entire planet again and wipe everyone out - he's got form for it according to a made up book.

For a look at the phenomenon from the sceptical end of the telescope, Mick West's YouTube channel is well worth a look:.

Pffft - you can prove anything with maths and science

[prinnysquad]

No one can definitively state with 100% certainty that aliens haven’t/aren’t visiting. And it’s absolutely correct for the opposite. The reliance on one’s own eyes for confirmation is a peculiarly subjective notion. It’s never sat right with me.

Delving into the realms of post-modernism now, though.

[MartyG]

Given the size of the universe, the vast distances between systems, the energy and time required to travel those distances, the time dialation they'd experience in reference to their home planet, the fermi paradox and that they haven't drained the Earth of its resources or popped up across all media proclaiming themselves as galactic rulers - I'm 99.999999% certain aliens aren't visiting.

[Jaz]

The Ruwa encounter. It is compelling evidence for sure.

[prinnysquad]

So not 100%, then. Vast collection of statements referring to the limitations of current understanding and scenario-building aside, it’s a logical fallacy to state otherwise. It simply cannot be a concrete certainty. Glad there’s agreement.

[Cassius_Smoke]

What about this as a theory...
They are von Neumann probes, sent out millenia ago by aliens, to find habitable planets. Following behind is a massive alien invasion force that's just taking time to get here.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_spacecraft

[prinnysquad]

The former idea is interesting. The latter is just depressing. It could just be that probes are an effective and cheap method of exploration!

[prinnysquad]

I don't know if anyone has read the wiki page for the Fermi paradox. It's one of my favourite wiki pages.
Basically, it's the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations and various high estimates for their probability.
Definitely worth a read. It's a paradox, so there is no conclusion.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

I’ve read about this before. It’s a big, big question. It only holds relevance, I suppose, if we presume that not one sighting, or landing, or anything else related to the ETH of UFOs, is genuine. And therefore, we come back full circle to what I said earlier. We can’t conclusively dismiss the ETH for every sighting. Neither can even one be confirmed. Instead we’re left hanging in a fuzzy grey middle ground containing intriguing anomalies, such as the Trans-en-Provence landing. To claim certainty one way or another is hubristic.

[Cassius_Smoke]

The former idea is interesting. The latter is just depressing. It could just be that probes are an effective and cheap method of exploration!

As it says in the Fermi paradox, if we take only our current technology we could technically enhabit the galaxy in 10000 years. If aliens sent out probes that long ago we'd see them all over the place. Maybe we are.