do you "believe" in UFO's

[Jack]

Two-word question:

crop circles.

If UFO's don't exist, then can someone tell me who is the genius inventor of the perfectly designed images on the crop fields around the world?

Anyone who might have something to gain from it? Perhaps notoriety for their farm?

 

[magister343]

I certainly believe in flying things that are unidentified. Most of these are tropical insects.

I do not lend much credence to the idea of these being craft of intelligent extraterrestrials.




Even if the universe is teeming with advanced alien life, SETI is not likely to ever find it. When it was made the assumption was that since humanity had been increasingly emitting more EM radiation advanced aliens would emit far more, enough for us to detect across great distances. Since then, our emissions have dropped dramatically, as cable and optical fibers are more efficient than radio waves. A planet exactly like our would have to be extremely close for us to detect it, and an advanced society would probably have far lower emissions and be invisible to us even fairly close.

 

[~jet]

My quandary with the topic (having seen some not-easily-explicable things myself) is that, regardless of what us civilians think on the topic, most every government in the world is taking the topic deadly serious. That tells me a thing or two, too. =) Still, I'd be willing to bet that 95% of even the unidentifiable ACTUAL aircraft flying around are man-made black project kinda things.

 

[DoveAlexa]

My quandary with the topic (having seen some not-easily-explicable things myself) is that, regardless of what us civilians think on the topic, most every government in the world is taking the topic deadly serious. That tells me a thing or two, too. =) Still, I'd be willing to bet that 95% of even the unidentifiable ACTUAL aircraft flying around are man-made black project kinda things.

They also don't want to be the last ones to know about it either. We think little enough of our own governments as it is.

 

[AUM]

Anyone who might have something to gain from it? Perhaps notoriety for their farm?

I don't think any farmer would want to destroy their own crops in order for their farm to gain notoriety. And besides, I don't think they would have the tools necessary to perform a perfect geometrical shape and such complex designs.

But who knows, these are mere speculations, I was just throwing that out there.

 

[Stu]

anyone who as spent any time drinking with farmers in western europe knows that they are capable of the quirkiest behaviors.

 

[SPQR]

Two-word question:

crop circles.

If UFO's don't exist, then can someone tell me who is the genius inventor of the perfectly designed images on the crop fields around the world?

They're a hoax. Apparently with some help, you can make a small one in about fifteen minutes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_circle

Still fascinating though. The ones above are works of art as far as I'm concerned. I mean even if these were man-made it doesn't make them any less impressive. How did people make such intricate patterns like these without aerial observation? It's not as if everyone who went out to make one had a balloon or something llike that on hand.

As for aliens, I guess it makes sense for them to exist. Although if we ever come into contact, I'll be very disappointed because I once wrote a short story/myth stating humans were the last of a once great universe of sentient species.

 

[~jet]

It's not a huge stretch to think they'd come here.... we've been squawking our fool heads off (like baby robins) for over a hundred years now. Anyone happening by or within range is gonna have a hell of a time missing us.

 

[kita]

I do believe intelligent life probably exists somewhere in the universe, but I doubt we will ever find each other. It's just way too huge out there.

 

[Jack]

They're a hoax. Apparently with some help, you can make a small one in about fifteen minutes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_circle

Still fascinating though. The ones above are works of art as far as I'm concerned. I mean even if these were man-made it doesn't make them any less impressive. How did people make such intricate patterns like these without aerial observation? It's not as if everyone who went out to make one had a balloon or something llike that on hand.

As for aliens, I guess it makes sense for them to exist. Although if we ever come into contact, I'll be very disappointed because I once wrote a short story/myth stating humans were the last of a once great universe of sentient species.

Like Sagan, I don't really see the connection with aliens, but I don't see all the actual anomalies of the circles as having been adequately accounted for.

 

[DefectiveCreative]

My quandary with the topic (having seen some not-easily-explicable things myself) is that, regardless of what us civilians think on the topic, most every government in the world is taking the topic deadly serious.

Are they though? They took it very seriously during the Cold War, because they were afraid these things might represent some kind of threat to National Security (in fact there are CIA documents showing that they made up a lot of UFO stories as a misinformation campaign), but these days it doesn't seem to me that they have any real interest in the topic.

It's not a huge stretch to think they'd come here.... we've been squawking our fool heads off (like baby robins) for over a hundred years now. Anyone happening by or within range is gonna have a hell of a time missing us.

Space is vast though. What are the odds that a sentient species that has the capability of picking and tracing our signals and being able to make the journey from their planet to ours within a few decades just happens to be living within a hundred light years or so of where we live?

 

[~jet]

Are they though? They took it very seriously during the Cold War, because they were afraid these things might represent some kind of threat to National Security (in fact there are CIA documents showing that they made up a lot of UFO stories as a misinformation campaign), but these days it doesn't seem to me that they have any real interest in the topic.

When they threaten people's lives over the subject, that's a pretty good sign of taking is seriously.

Space is vast though. What are the odds that a sentient species that has the capability of picking and tracing our signals and being able to make the journey from their planet to ours within a few decades just happens to be living within a hundred light years or so of where we live?

Why yes, it is large... and if our own technological advancement / self destructive tendencies, either of which can lead us to becoming rather quiet again in relatively short order, have anything to say about it... due to the distances and scale, someone COULD potentially miss us just by having starting to listen too soon or too late, whether we're still kicking around or not. BUT, keep in mind that when stars are born, they aren't born singly... and their siblings tend to have similar qualities to them... all traveling in roughly the same direction down the grand circular stream of the galaxy together as they slowly age and disperse. In other words, many of a star's neighbors are going to have a little something in common with it, ours included.

 

[Stu]

When they threaten people's lives over the subject, that's a pretty good sign of taking is seriously.

Let's see the source on this one

I do not argue with the proposition that there may well be more intelligent life in the universe. I do not argue with the proposition that physics may prove that faster than light travel is possible.

Here, now, amid us..... Yes or no, what do you believe.

 

[88chaz88]

I definitely believe that at times we cannot identify flying objects and thus must classify them as unidentified.

They might be unidentified but if that's the case then how can we be sure they're flying?

It could be an unidentified floating object, or an unidentified falling object.

 

[DimensionX]

I believe in Unidentified Flying Objects...I've seen them, I know they exist

 

[88chaz88]

I believe in Unidentified Flying Objects...I've seen them, I know they exist

But how did you know it was flying if it's unidentified?

 

[~jet]

Let's see the source on this one

I do not argue with the proposition that there may will be more intelligent life in the universe. I do not argue with the proposition that physics may prove that faster than light travel is possible.

Here, now, amid us..... Yes or no, what do you believe.

Difficulty in debating someone whose already made up their mind is that they're not interested in evidence to the contrary. Still, there's dozens of books written by researchers of varying levels of repute detailing 1000s of incidents over six decades, spanning back even prior to the time that bug-eyed grey things became a part of popular culture. A google search on the subject produces 300000 pages (most of which I'd suggest are garbage, though.)

As for me, I'm not entirely sure yet. I've seen stuff that allows me to lend credence to what I've heard from many others who've described everything from odd lights in the sky right down to abduction scenarios (some I believe, some I don't.) As I'd said from the beginning, I start out by disbelieving every account. If I had to guess, the stereotypical 'alien' we're all familiar with today is probably not really alien at all, but us by some extraordinary mechanism. Just look at the vastness of successful 'designs' of life coming from just one planet. Grey parrots outperform many of our students at basic math... dolphins have come up with the science of economy all on their own (albeit in response to stimuli from us and fish!)... octopi can understand basic language and character (read, letters) concepts and use them to ask for things, etc... the latter case, with all those arms and their incredible flexibility, may prove in the future to be very capable of invention and environmental manipulation. Their only problem so far is that they die awfully fast (though frankly, some early monkeys do that, too.) The whole point being, given the vastness of opportunity just one world has given over to the eventuality of intellect and creativity, another planet's attempts at the same thing resulting in something that is structured 99% like us... I'd call un-possible odds.

No, if they're real, I think they're us. Alternate version, splinter evolution, from the future... the best I could do is guess. Still, broadly consistent descriptions not only of them but of their behaviors stretch back to decades before the public became aware of and adopted them as a media fad.

 

[Poetic Justice]

Do aliens exist?

Almost certainly

Do aliens visit earth and "probe" people?

Almost certainly not

 

[muir]

I don't know about UFO's but a friend was telling me recently that there are as many stars in our galaxy as there are grains of sand on a beach and there are as many galaxies in the universe as there are grains of sand on a beach.

If that is the case, you gotta wonder about the possibility of life on other planets.

Just to be clear, the poll question asks the poll taker if they believe that (some) UFOs are in fact ships from another world. Not whether it is likely that sentient, intelligent life exists somewhere other than in (some of) humanity.

I reserve my right to obfuscation,
Whilst pursuing my online education,
I know it's a pain,
But my thoughts i'll retain,
On the subject of an alien nation.

 

[DimensionX]

But how did you know it was flying if it's unidentified?

Cause that the time, I didn't know what it was, it was kinda smallish and it flew around making quite a weird sound. It wasn't until later, when I looked it up that I found out it was actually a Kestrel, so then of course it became an IFA (Identified Flying Animal) or something similar.