Aliens are a pain in my you-know-what so I need to get some stuff off my chest.
I just had a long conversation with several people who are “true believers" in current alien visitations to our planet. To them UFOs are alien spacecraft. Now, that might be possible but I must say I am not the least bit happy if superior, space-traveling aliens have these idiotic craft.
Come on, if you look at our technology of just two hundred years ago and compare it to this morning’s – we are now living in a comparatively magical age. Picture 500 years from now. Wouldn’t today’s technology seem completely primitive?
“Oh, Puddin Head, look at those cave drawings and those iPads. So quaint."
“You mean they used to get into contraptions called planes and fly? How awful. Why couldn’t they just fly the way we do?"
“They burned what to go around in that ugly car thing?"
So my problem is that here are these superior aliens flying around in craft that might be 20 years ahead of what we fly around in now. How could they make it through the galaxy in those crummy vehicles? Maybe if they could just teleport themselves as beings of light and zip through our world that would be impressive.
Or if they could simply transfer their minds into our minds without our minds knowing they were there – then they could see everything we see, feel what we feel, be what we are. That would be advanced since we wouldn’t really know they were here and yet their minds had been shooting through the void to get to us. Impressive.
The other thing about these aliens is that they are creepy. “Greetings, I am Agog from a distant planet and I have traveled many light years in my superior spacecraft to come to your planet. Now turn over so I can shove this metal device up your buttocks."
Would superior aliens be that interested in our anal openings that they would travel so far to do this to us? Yet, the “contactee" cases almost always seem to have aliens shoving things into us.
One of the people I spoke to said in a hushed whisper, “The government knows all about this but they are suppressing it. They don’t want anyone to know we are being visited."
Excuse me? Then how did she know? Go look it up; there are hundreds if not thousands of books on UFOs and aliens with their anal probes. This could be the worst cover-up in history since everyone seems to know about it.
I really do hope there are aliens out there and I do hope we get to meet them – sans a scoping. But the whole field of UFOs right now just seems as annoying as a prostate exam.
Not only creepy, but just plain ridiculous if you think about it.
Welcome to the CFI forums, Frank.
Or if they could simply transfer their minds into our minds without our minds knowing they were there – then they could see everything we see, feel what we feel, be what we are. That would be advanced since we wouldn’t really know they were here and yet their minds had been shooting through the void to get to us. Impressive. .Hmmmm... Maybe that's exactly what's happening..... have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered "who is this strange-looking critter with the tired weary eyes.....?" TFS
Welcome, Frank. Unfortunately, logic and reason are very weak tools in efforts to convince true believers.
Even with a few centuries of additional technological advancement, I just don’t think anyone is going to be able to circumvent the physical laws of the universe. Warp drives and wormholes sound great, but when one does the math, somewhere along the line it comes out that they will require an infinite amount of energy. The stars are just too damned far away from each other for travel between them to ever be likely.
Occam
I wouldn’t be too harsh on so-called UFO true believers. I’ve never heard of one of them trying to legislate AGAINST science in the classroom, or against Choice for women for example. Most I think just want to believe in something bigger than themselves, much like religious folks. Mix that innocent belief with our “prod and poke” oriented society, especially TV, and you get these abduction stories.
Now as to whether there might actually be visitations, I’d consider myself a bit of a true believer but for a different reason…large numbers. Estimates I’ve heard about regarding the sheer number of stars and possible planets make me believe it’s almost impossible for there to NOT be life everywhere out there. Or put it another way, given 100 trillion pennies, what are the chances that you flip all of them and only one single penny turns up heads? Technology-wise, I think most people I’ve talked to tend to be too tied to current technological thinking, or projections of it. But think of a civilization a mere 10,000 years more advanced than us. (10k being a spec on the cosmic timescale) They might think what we call the “laws of physics” quaint. And maybe who knows, they could be so advanced physically that our current form IS of interest to them, like an entomologist finds a bug. So they probe (though, yes, if they’re so advanced you’d think they could probe without all the hoopla.)
I agree with your probabilities, Cuthbert, that there are almost certainly a great many planets with life on them, and a fair number where some species developed internal computers as a survival mechanism. Many like cetaceans, may not develop technology, and many may, like humans develop self-destructive systems that may end their existence.
The problem is that the universe has a reality separate from any civilation, no matter how advanced. Two plus two is going to equal four, no matter what level of technology exists. Similarly, they’ll be stuck with the laws of thermodynamics and Einstein’s relativity equations. They may be able to circumvent them, but it’s very doubtful that it will be by traveling in material flying saucers.
Occam
I think there is life out there — of some kind anyway; maybe as we know life or as a kind of life not at all like us. But this book Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique by John Gribbin is an interesting read. It makes you not so sure. He has some interesting thoughts on the matter.
Frank’s new book is Confessions of a Wayward Catholic
[From: Graulblort KK76449/AS/V
Galactic Federation: Sector MMZ3334
To: Vorkal KK38780/AS/L
Most Respected One:
Obviously our plan to subvert the mind of Earthling Gribbin has succeeded beyond our wildest hopes. His book claims to “prove”, scientifically (an odd notion!) that the 8,784 worlds of our Federation do not exist! This means that the inhabitants of “Earth” (note: Sol III) will believe that they are alone in the galaxy and thus will not bother to defend themselves against offworld aggression. Though it is noted they continue to fight fiercely among themselves: indicating that our introduction to their world of various competing and incompatible “religions” (note: their word for what we call “Belief Systems”, or BS) has also succeeded.
Our plans for conquest and annexation of Sol III can now proceed as predicted.
We await only Your Vastness’s further instructions in this matter.]
(Note: The above is a conjectural translation of certain mysterious signs inscribed on a sheet of aluminum-iridium-ytterbium alloy, approx. 110 x 76 x 0.01mm, found near a small meteor crater in the Central Peruvian Highlands in July 2013. A copy has been couriered to OMSI Headquarters but no reply has yet been forthcoming. We, also, await instructions. It is our belief that this threat should not be ignored.)
Yrs. at 17/01/2014 c.e.
Elias Ashmole Crackbone, OMSI 33deg.
Excuse me? Then how did she know? Go look it up; there are hundreds if not thousands of books on UFOs and aliens with their anal probes. This could be the worst cover-up in history since everyone seems to know about it.You hit the nail right on the head here! I was watching a program about some gigantic UFO that flew over Arizona and something like three or four other states, and the first thing I was thinking was... "OK explain to me again why these aliens don't land on the White House lawn and call a press conference." .... Well they're not interested in contact, they want to observe us and experiment with us first... "Yeah and they drive this honking big spaceship in plain sight across four states? Was the pilot high on Saurian brandy or something?" :)
Or these aliens are truly crazy.
[From: Graulblort KK76449/AS/V
Galactic Federation: Sector MMZ3334
To: Vorkal KK38780/AS/L
Most Respected One:
This may serve to amuse you, but it also furthers our purposes with respect to the annexation of Sol III. Our scout ships have been patrolling Sol III’s vicinity for several decades now, but our cloaking and masking technologies have ensured that reports to the “authorities” of sightings of our craft from the planet’s inhabitants seem so ridiculous and inconsistent with their views of how aliens “should” behave, that so-called “serious scientists” among them dismiss such reports as hallucinations (which Sol III’s inhabitants seem especially prone to), hoaxes, or misidentifications of common phenomena, and mostly refuse to even investigate them. When we eventually invade, we expect that reports of our arrival will be treated in the same dismissive manner, so we should expect little opposition until annexation is achieved.
It will not be long now.]
Provenance uncertain. The above missive was received by us by hand delivery at approximately 0845 this morning. It is obviously at least a third or fourth generation photocopy and we cannot hazard a guess as to its genuineness. However its message is consistent with previous communications to this office so it should perhaps be treated at least somewhat seriously,
Yrs. at 18/01/2014 c.e.
Elias Ashmole Crackbone, OMSI 33deg.
[… or perhaps the Aliens (who of course do not exist. Of course.) are simply performing breaching experiments on us, as is quite commonly done in psychological research; presenting us with spacetime events far outside what we normally “expect”, to see how we react. Or, indeed, if we notice anything at all (viz. the classic example; the guy in the gorilla suit during a catchball game…)
TFS]
Oh, do watch the new season of “Face Off”, a competition by make-up artists presenting their visions of alien life forms and mutations. Positively frightening.
UFO aliens probably think we’re pretty creepy, too. That may be why they haven’t introduced themselves.
Just imagine coming upon a race of creatures who are out to annihilate each other, build unimaginably cruel weApons to do it, and who kill, mutilate, rape, cheat and steal the way humans do.
I don’t believe in UFO aliens and I think they know it. 
Lois
I think they would also find just about all life forms on this planet to be relatively nasty — earth life must kill to eat; constant battles within each species (chimps go to war, one tribe versus another) and so on. Humans have just become expert at it. We have the pleasure of knowing that our violence can end it all. Something to be proud of. Maybe that’s why the aliens do all those anal probes? They are kind of saying, “Gotcha!”
Frank Scoblete, author of “Confessions of a Wayward Catholic”
Wrong, wrong, wrong. A great many earth life forms don’t kill to eat. Almost none of the plant life does. All earth life is made up of a few basic organic compounds: amino acids, carbohydrates, and deoxyribonucleic acids. A moderate amount of inorganics are used along with these. Animal life depends on the transfer of these compounds along with energy sources among themselves.
And what makes you think any aliens would have your view of morality, i.e., something being “nasty”?
The vast majority of organism behavior is either of no effect on others or cooperative, not “constant battles”.
I feel sorry for you if your post demonstrates your very negative view of our living world.
Occam
Didn’t really think of plant life.