ShivaX
1568
He’s saying that is a concern (and it is, letting people who profit from something frame your views on said thing is rarely a good idea, see: all of right-wing media), but his real argument is Occam’s Razor.
What’s more likely? A instrument malfunction from a new instrument that looks like the instrument working normally or… aliens that defy all known physics and science that also happen to look like said instrument outputs when viewed through said instruments?
If it was a one-off, and just the instruments, yes. It’s been pretty consistently happening since 2004 when these stuff was rolled out, per the testimony from the military personnel we’ve heard. And, again, you need multiple sources of contact to make these sightings interesting. We see the objects on multiple instruments from multiple locations (planes, ships, ground based tracking), and they are seen with human eyes.
Love me some Laser Blast.
Remember when Activision was good?
RichVR
1573
That’s the one with the teenager zapping people into skeletons, right?
Murph
1576
I consider myself a bit of an…open-minded skeptic.
My girlfriend and our girls believe…basically everything. They think it’s ludicrous that I don’t believe in ghosts.
And I don’t, necessarily, NOT believe. I believe there’s a lot of things we can’t explain, and I’m open to the possibility of…well, almost anything.
That said, any given “encounter” I am highly, highly skeptical of. YouTube videos are generally, in my opinion, staged or misconstrued.
I feel much the same way about aliens, and it lines up with what a lot of you have said. I absolutely accept the possibility of alien life, but am highly skeptical of their contact with us.
These videos are interesting, and I’m not so quick to hand-wave them away as “equipment malfunction” or whatever, but I also don’t necessarily jump to extra-terrestrials, either. (But I don’t necessarily have another explanation I feel like really fits, either.)
I kinda like that it’s being talked about and investigated, though, because I think it merits it.
Side note: My ex’s uncle worked at Area 51 back when she and I were together. All he would ever say is “There’s all kinds of crazy stuff going on out there. I can’t tell you any of it.” Which is only to illustrate that people who work there take security so seriously that even over Thanksgiving dinner, you can’t get a peep out of them.
I think this is the key part. I don’t really care that much about the back and forth over specific sightings and equipment malfunctions vs volume of testimony and whatever. If you can place something definitively as “something” rather than “nothing”–fine, let’s make sure it’s not the Soviets with some new-fangled drone or ECM stuff. If you really, really believe that it can’t be the Soviets for reasons X, Y, and Z, well, ok then, that doesn’t mean it’s aliens. There’s just so much that you also need to invoke for something to be aliens that it’s virtually impossible for Occam’s Razor to lead you there. It’s way more likely that it’s something else we haven’t even thought of than that some intelligence has crossed the void (in space and time).
Murph
1578
The only thing that gives me a little pause (and I mean…it’s just a little) is that these videos seem to line up with reports people have told for basically my entire life as far as what these objects look like and how they move, and it…doesn’t line up with anything I think we currently know about.
Again, I’m not saying it’s aliens, although I’m probably more open to that possibility than some people here – but I think we need look at a WHOLE LOT of other options before we get there, barring more evidence.
I have a hard time shrugging this off, and it certainly doesn’t seem to play by the rules we’re familiar with.
I’m still not saying it’s aliens, but it’s definitely…puzzling.
Timex
1579
2600 games peaked with Yars’ Revenge.
That’s fine, but you know what else we’re not familiar with? Weather. There are tons of weather patterns that aren’t fully explained. It’s way more likely that there’s some weird weather thing going on. And if you say, “…but these observations make no meteorological sense!” – ok, sure! It’s still more likely that it’s weather and that our meteorology is wrong, than that it’s aliens.
And that’s just to pick on meteorology. There are yet more things besides weather to consider before we get to aliens.
(Also, not trying to pick on you Murph, I’m using the general “you” here.)
Murph
1581
Yeah no offense taken! Are weather anomalies generally trackable by military equipment? (Genuine question – I would assume not, but I don’t have any actual knowledge of the subject.) Not sure the pilots would’ve seen what they saw either. But I don’t claim enough knowledge on the subject to eliminate the possibility.
I fully acknowledge there are a whole slew of possibilities we’d have to exhaust before I get to ET, but I don’t think it’s COMPLETELY crazy that the possibility shows up on people’s list. Some people are just a little too eager to get there, is all. :-)
It’s a fun thought experiment, though. And it’s cool to watch the videos and hope for genuine explanation someday – although we’ll probably never have one.
Yes yes yes Starmaster for the win! But yeah, Yar’s was great too.
You people are trying to get me to dig out my (backwards-compatible) Atari 7800 aren’t you? And that’d be a terrible idea because none of it is going to be within a hundred miles of my memories.
Oh, and there’s a connection back to the thread topic! The reality of these images is never going to live up to the imaginations of UFO enthusiasts.
Here’s the thing–I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. Even if these observations can’t be explained at all by any known meteorological anything, Occam’s Razor says that it’s more likely there’s some unknown weather phenomenon that violates whatever we know about weather (and physics!) than that there are ETs behind it, because for there to be ETs you need to bring in a whole lot more baggage.
Murph
1585
I can acknowledge that.
And there are still a lot of other options between “weather” and “aliens.”
I’ll believe UFOs are extra-dimensional human crafts before I believe “It’s aliens”
Murph
1587
To each his own, but I’m not on board with that. If you’re introducing “extra-dimensional” as an option, that opens a door for how aliens could overcome the obstacles of getting to us in the first place.
