I too think that complex molecules require elements that are found only after enough of the first stars have gone supernova - I suspect that for the first few billion years, hydrogen and helium really were the only two atoms around. So maybe we really are living on one of the first planets to support organic life.
I also am of the “window of opportunity” school, that to find signs of extraterrestrial life we have to be looking at the right system at the right time, meaning we have to detect radio signals that were sent thousands of years ago, that were strong enough to be detected light years away at the moment when that species felt like broadcasting before giving up out of frustration.
So yes, I believe there are other planets out there with intelligent organic life on them. I just also believe that they are so far away that getting a signal from them is unlikely. They may have sent one, but it will still be hundreds of years until it reaches us. Or we may be ahead of them.
Here’s a great sci-fi book in which mankind, colonizing systems near Earth at sub-light speed, is surprised as hell to find a planet full of alien space bats just entering their industrial age. Worth a read!
With regard to the Air Force footage, what I find annoying is: we all know it’s not fucking aliens-- so what is a possible explanation for this? Why so little footage? The pilot even says “there’s a fleet of them”-- yet we see “one”, whatever it is. If I didnt know any better, Id say it was debris caught on a sensor.
Under Mr. Bigelow’s direction, the company modified buildings in Las Vegas for the storage of metal alloys and other materials that Mr. Elizondo and program contractors said had been recovered from unidentified aerial phenomena.
WTF is this? If there were actual “alien” material would it not be the subject of furious, world-wide, scientific scrutiny? I think it’s more like: the actual scientists they showed it to didn’t find it very interesting-- but amateurs like Bigelow fetishize whatever-it-is-they’ve-collected and insist it is interesting nevertheless.
Just the fact that Bigelow is so certain about aliens and aliens having landed is a huge red flag. I can almost guarantee he held these beliefs before he laid his hands on any so-called “evidence” for it. It is because of people like Bigelow that programs like this are stigmatized.
This is just going to be another “Area 51”, something that has a routine explanation, but is mythologized for decades. Meanwhile, InfoWars gets to throw it into the churn with “chemtrails” and “sexless frogs.”
I will believe it when we have extraordinary evidence, and all other explanations (including dirty sensors) exhausted.
I remember the rash of delta-shaped craft that “didn’t show up on radar” (the blip size didn’t match the craft size) and were too manoeuvrable to be earthly aircraft. Funny how those ceased to be fascinating once we learned about the amazing new Stealth Bomber.
Throw in the fact that pilots (especially test pilots) like to play practical jokes (see the “dick over DC”) and I think I need a little more than this to accept that a species from an alien culture is visiting us – especially since we’re assuming similar motivation for exploration, discovery and/or conquering as is in humans.
Never say never. Remember in Contact how the aliens installed a “repeater” close to earth that mysteriously disappeared? Anything could happen. I’m just waiting for real evidence, not the shifty, grainy, bs and wild stories that we have now. As Neil DGT said, if you are about to get abducted, GET OUT YOUR HI RES PHONE AND START VIDEOING. If you are on the alien ship, play dead and then suddenly when they’re not looking, GRAB A TCHOTCHKE OFF THE SHELF AND STUFF IT IN YOUR POCKET. That way when you come back, you have actual evidence you were there. That’s what’s so confounding about all this alien crap… where’s the evidence?
Versions of that idea have been knocking around since Freeman Dyson proposed his eponymous sphere/swarm (though the concept of enclosing a star dates back to Olaf Stapledon). There are reasons why it can’t account for more than small fraction of so-called dark matter, but it would make certain kinds of stars more difficult to detect.
It’s quite possible as a solution to the Fermi paradox. Unfortunately with a sample group of one we have no empirical baseline from which to extrapolate a statistical analysis. But that can be said of literally any solution to the paradox. We simply lack the data to solve the problem.
Non-biological technology might be quite(relatively) rare in the universe. This is on top of intelligent life already being rare. Humans are intelligent, have the physical means to manipulate their environment in precise ways in order to perform experiments, have the vocal apparatus to develop language, and the dexterity to form written language, and thus spread and share information. A dolphin doesn’t have the physical tools to manipulate its environment, or the need, really. Any knowledge dolphins possess would have to be preserved orally. Even if they have an awareness of humans and dry land, of the stars and space even, they would be limited in the amount of information they could accrue on the world outside of the water.
There’s also the fact(as far as we know so far) that the speed of light is the hard limit for movement in space, and that it is incredibly slow compared to the actual size of the universe, and that we(as far as we know so far) can’t travel at anywhere near that speed, and the universe appears to be extremely inhospitable to complex biological life in general.
Given how unfathomable large the universe is, there are probably instances of technologically advanced life forms being close enough to each other to make contact, but generally I would think they would be so far away from each other that contact would be nearly impossible.
I actually really think that this is the case: As a species, we’re simply too volatile to allow into a larger, galactic society.
We don’t see signs of this society because our solar system is “reverse cloaked”, that is to say, there is a barrier between us that shields us from artificial goings on in the galaxy.
I think for the data we have it’s reasonable conjecture for now and I guess I combine it with Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” essay in that there’s no one coming to hurt or save us out there. We’re effectively alone. For now.
A sensor platform which has a very narrow range of what it is looking for rather loose requirements.
A fighter jet’s non-visual sensing devices are designed to look for and identify aircraft (and sometimes large ground targets if it has strike roles) by certain tell tale signs we associate with them (heat signatures and radar-cross section). Their range is quite limited and largely rely on other craft for macro views of their surroundings (AWACs, Satellites, ground radar stations).
Its not designed or suited for much else because there isn’t much else one uses a very expensive fighter jet flown by a very expensively trained pilot for.
Plus we are still talking about devices built by the lowest bidder.
David Skal’s book on “Mad Science” in culture, “Screams of Reason” posits a theory that the UFO abduction phenomena has been following reaction to distressing trends in medical science and healthcare. The way people describe being poked and prodded against their will by aliens is very close to how people describe being hospitalized and the lack of empathy seen in doctors/healthcare in general (something also gone into detail in the book).
Well, still more garbage from you with zero actual analysis, versus, you know, what the Air Force itself has confirmed – that these two videos were absolutely legitimate UFO encounters/chases, with signs of intelligent control, of physical aircraft. But hey, keep spouting BS, some people will undoubtedly eat it up, and I’m sure you’ll sit back and feel superior. Those of us who are actual thinking people, however, will be happy to continue to actually evaluate the phenomenon, which is real, no matter what you want to say about it.
Actually, we don’t know that at all, and the guy who ran the Pentagon program has said publicly that he seems to think aliens IS a likely explanation, as has the fellow who ran the British UFO program, as well as other high level military figures in a variety of other countries, such as France, Belgium, and many others. What exactly is your agenda, here?
The Air Force calling something a UFO is not the same as saying aliens. That is one conclusion to many than can be supported by evidence.
The difference between a rational way to look at a situation and a crackpot is the willingness to say, “We don’t know what it is yet, lets gather more evidence”, rather than “it must be THIS!!!”
It helps to have some idea about the basic nature of military aircraft, their intended role and the systems that are built for them. They are called “fighters” because their role is to shoot down other aircraft. Everything around their design and function is for that role. Its understanding the limitations of how evidence can be gathered here so as to not make over-assumptions here.
I think the problem with the many of these UFO sightings is the fact the speed of which such alleged vehicles operate at wouldn’t work even with extreme engineering. Inertia is a pesky thing and changing directions at 90 degrees like some are shown would turn even an unmanned vehicle into a pile of junk. Not to mention friction in the atmosphere would probably lead to an envelop of plasma that could mess with any kind of sensors you’re using (this is assuming said plasma created doesn’t burn off the skin of your vehicle). So we’re stuck with videos of lights which look at ships that move at incredible speeds then stop or suddenly change direction. There’s no known material that can deal with the stresses of changing speed like that nor any known compact power or fuel source to increase to such speeds in a short amount of time. Like I’d love to be wrong on the physics here but it’s going to take a ton of evidence to make such a thing possible. And I’m not even talking about extraterrestrials here. Just the vehicles alone would be incredible, alien made or not.
Because most of the time it is either military aircraft we don’t want to disclose to the public (UFO sightings went through the roof when the F-117 and B-2 were being test flown) or junk.
Not unlike the “fireflies” John Glenn saw in his orbit (which were parts of his craft disintegrating)
