Since I have been personally attacked, I will explain my exact position on this subject: I don't have one. If asked exactly what I think is happening, I tell the truth: I don't know. After first gaining an interest in college due to an English assignment, I spent over 20 years seriously studying this subject as a hobby. When the archives at the NSA, DOD, USAF, Arny, Navy, FBI, CIA, and other agencies first became available online, I read every declassified document to be found - thousands of them going back into WWII. I have made a point to study in detail many of the best documented and supported military reports, as well as the most compelling non-military reports that come with particularly impressive evidence. I have personally contacted and had sometimes lengthy discussions with people directly involved, such as Col Halt, from the Rendlesham Forest incident. I have reviewed much if not most of the best video and photographic evidence, esp that which predates modern digital modification techniques. I have done a great deal of research into much older reports, such as that from Nicholas Roerich and his wife; in which case I contacted the Roerich Museum in NY and personally verified their quotes from their diaries, I have avoided conspiracy theories and stuck to the best evidence in hand. I have studied the official history in every detail, to include projects Grudge, Sign, and Bluebook. I read with great fascination The French COMETA report and its conclusion that ET is likely here. I have watched as declassified UFO files became available from many countries around the world, with more and more military pilots telling tales of UFO chases and the original reports to go with it. I am fascinated by the ancient astronaut hypothesis. I find that many compelling arguments can be found that we have been visited many times throughout the ages. So after all of this, what do I believe? I don't. I can only offer best guesses. But I can easily defeat the classically flawed debunker arguments because I've been through them all many many times before. This is a highly complex subject and there are no easy answers. Anyone who thinks it can all be easily dismissed simply doesn't know the facts. I will post momentarily.
The term "flying saucers" originates with the first modern UFO report, made by Kenneth Arnold; June 24th,1947. Arnold was an experienced pilot who flew a small plane regularly for his business interests. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Arnold_UFO_sighting So the term "flying saucers" was coined by the press in response to the descriptions offered by Arnold. It was the next month, July 8th, that the military issued a press release announcing the possession of a crashed flying saucer. Edward J. Ruppelt (July 17, 1923 – September 15, 1960) was a United States Air Force officer probably best known for his involvement in Project Blue Book, a formal governmental study of unidentified flying objects. He is generally credited with coining the term "unidentified flying object", to replace the terms "flying saucer" and "flying disk" - which had become widely known - because the military thought them to be "misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO (pronounced "Yoo-foe") for short."[1] Ruppelt was the director of Project Grudge from late 1951 until it became Project Blue Book in March 1952; he remained with Blue Book until late 1953. UFO researcher Jerome Clark writes, "Most observers of Blue Book agree that the Ruppelt years comprised the project's golden age, when investigations were most capably directed and conducted. Ruppelt was open-minded about UFOs, and his investigators were not known, as Grudge's were, for force-fitting explanations on cases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_J._Ruppelt So the term UFO officially comes from the Air Force; in particular Edward Ruppelt. After leaving the Air Force, he wrote about Bluebook UAP - Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon was first coined by Dr. Richard Haines, http://www.nicap.org/bio-haines.htm
Flying saucers and UFOs sightings became very common as soon as SF alien programs were appearing on TV and radio. Not too hard to give a conclusion......
That has nothing to do with the progression of events. I just posted the evidence. The modern interpretation became popular when we became aware of our place in the universe. The UFO reports have been around a lot longer than science fiction.
A huge increase in reported sightings and contact came after the broadcasting of War of The Worlds in 1938 on radio. Earlier upsurge in reported sightings and contact coincided with the date of publications of works by Verne, Poe and Koch. As for using the term Unidentified Flying Object, it is just that, unidentified - no suggestion that is is from another place
Thinking about interstellar travel, seems to me the crafts will either be enormous, like the ISS on steroids, or nano-sized and robotic. Larger vessels will need landing crafts of some size large enough for 'beings' and supplies to be transported. I still don't think a saucer shape is the best choice??
UFO is an Air Force term. Don't know who termed 'flying saucers' but my point was science-fiction popularized flying saucers and this is what most people think today...
It's not, but they are cute and immersed in folklore. Besides, it was easy to throw pie pans in the air and take pictures of them, then pass them off as "flying saucers"... Technically, it may have been accurate. The US Navy (I will not speak for other branches) revamped how UAP's are reported and handled due to an increase in the sightings and in the chatter in the community, especially between Operators and aviators. Lots of unexplained things get reported or discussed and then turn out to be quite explainable. Here is a good example: We flew down to Okinawa to war game with the USAF and their F-15's. We started flying night missions, ACM's with live ECM (Counter measures, Chaff and Flares). At one point several F-15's discharged their flares but they did it a little to close shore, as we were "feet wet" they were about 4 miles outside the combat zone we designated. Well, Okinawan citizens saw the "strange lights" and reported them to their local Police Dept. and to the military bases. Needless to say, the USAF was pretty quiet about it and slow to react, as they usually are in these cases. But it made the local newspapers and so the USAF was forced to investigate and give a reasonable explanation. The number of stories that were reported were amazing. It stemmed from saucers, to blue/green lights (The flares are orange), to ships defying physics and the like. After the USAF openly admitted it was fighters and a training exercise, many of the citizens refused to accept the answer. They knew it was aliens, they knew it was flying saucers, they knew the government was in cahoots with these aliens..... People believe what they want even when given facts and explanations. Amateur alien hunters are the worst because they have already made up their minds that what they see is "unearthly" and it's everything to them because it justifies their end. They bring tons of useless evidence and sightings and try to tie to a conclusion they had before they even started their hunts. Their minds are closed to any explanation that doesn't support it being from outer space. Remember the strange lights over Arizona that made the news some years back? That was a military training exercise, not some strange alien craft. With that said. We have chased a lot of things that cannot be explained. Also, one thing that is quite revealing is that when the "Charlies" (F/A-18C/D) as replaced by the Rhino's (Super Hornets, F/A-18E/F) sightings and mysterious activity actually ramped up. This is mostly due to the new Radar system. The Charlies used the AN/APG-713 and it was replaced (upgraded) to the AN/APG-79. This was a substantial leap in capability. The range, the speed of scan, simultaneous tracking and target discrimination abilities were drastically better. Not to mention the buffer while pulling heavy G's. The new "79" was mechanically better because it has fewer moving parts. Anyway, the ability to "see" objects better despite surface clutter is now picking up things we haven't seen before. What they are, we don't know but we do know it has a lot to do with the improved systems on aircraft. Coincidence? I don't think so. That is why I said it could very well be an optical illusion or something with the new An/APG-79. It reminds me of the time the guy was taking pictures of the sky and a "UFO" appeared in the pictures. He swore what he captured was only "seen" by his camera and that something was out there. Turned out, it was something inside his camera itself. Anyway, I love discussing this topic, but away from the Science Fiction and all the hoopla that follows it. A lot of what is being reporting cannot be explained yet but that doesn't mean it's "little green men".
Well, science fiction has been around since man's ability to communicate if you count stuff like all the various genesis stories.
No, Kenneth Arnold, the press, and Roswell Army Air Field popularized flying saucers. The movies came after that.
In some cases it does if the reports are true. What you are saying is only true if you cherry pick which reports you want to consider, and what you feel like believing.
It's true that there is evidence and reports. Conclusions drawn from that are not necessarily true. I was looking into the Conden report and the main thing I found was that Condon had an unacceptably hauty attitude about it, considering those who were interested in more thorough research as not worthy of any cnsideration or respect. Carl Sagan called him out on that. He wanted more of a conversation that might lead somewhere - at least toward actual science (like Seti, etc.) rather than creating a divide based on no more than being snotty. I will say that there is no possibility of this issue EVER being settled in favor of there not being ETs. No amount of evidence, investigation or explanation can possibly cause that. I'm OK with people continuing to look. Finding answwers to the Fermi Parsadox would be a monumental achievement. But, we're not there yet.
Thanks for the detailed story...so many of us assume there are 'others' out there somewhere, but for me, I need validation. I'm sure this validation will come soon since technology is ramping up as well as funding for searches.
My pleasure, sorry for all the typos. I need validation and actual proof myself. I have seen enough and chased enough "ghosts", but until we have actual proof, it's not actual evidence. Here is another tidbit that will probably anger the alien hunting crowd but to me this actually important. Edward Snowden had access to the CIA and some of it's closely held secrets. He used his access to go after something he desperately wanted to know: Did the US Government know that alien life existed and did we make contact or have proof. The answer: No. As it turns out, the US government is not aware of any intelligent, extraterrestrial life, he says. "For the record, as far as I could tell, aliens have never contacted Earth, or at least they haven't contacted US intelligence," Snowden wrote in his memoir. To Joe Rogan, he stated: "But the idea that we're hiding them -- if we are hiding them -- I had ridiculous access to the networks of the NSA, the CIA, the military, all these groups. I couldn't find anything," he continued. "So if it's hidden, and it could be hidden, it's hidden really damn well, even from people who are on the inside." - E. Snowden If someone in the military or in the US Government got a hold of an alien craft or made actual contact, the amount of "chatter" it would cause via reports and escalations up the chain of command would be unprecedented. It would be impossible to contain such leak due to the amount of people that would have to be included, briefed, debriefed and the recording of such an event. We have reports and no actual evidence. There is not one shred of evidence that I have seen that conclusively points to alien life or a "spacecraft from another planet" visiting earth. We have plenty of reports, plenty of "eye witness" accounts and plenty of stories. But also remember, we have the same for Big Foot, The Loch Ness Monster and for other various creatures that we are told walk the earth. DNA samples from the Loch prove that "Nessie" can not be a plesiosaur but rather a giant eel, larger than a Great White Shark. Sonar has spotted 3 of them in the Loch. All the photos they have, all through the years, by the way, are all fake. Same goes for Big Foot. Back to aliens, the closet shred of evidence we have of life is fossilized microbes in lumps of rock that came from Mars. It was found in 1996 in Antarctica. Sometime in our past, parts of Mars ended up on Earth, major collision, or something... You can read all about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant-impact_hypothesis Anyway, NASA researchers claimed to have spotted signs of “nanobacteria” under microscopes, however, it is all being challenged by others who doubt the conclusions. But, unfortunately, we have no solid evidence or a "smoking gun" to prove aliens have been here, visited us, contacted us or are even real. There is no solid evidence. If I had to guess, the first signs of life we find will be of evidence they left behind on another planet or floating in space. Garbage, destroyed craft, abandoned station or buildings, etc. Like finding Bear crap in a woods, you know the Bear is around but you haven't seen it. I am all for keeping the search up as well. It will lead to the discovery of many things and one of them may be life on other planets.
I agree, but there certainly are those who would point to photogaphs as evidence. Court cases often have evidence that is found to be fabricated, irrelevant, contaminated, etc., and is therefor ignored. So, I choose to accept that they have evidence. I just don't accept that the evidence has been shown to identify flying objects as being from some unearthly intelligence.
Discovering intelligent ET's, whether face-to-face or across interstellar space, would arguably be one of the most significant moments in the history of mankind. It would be like finding the 4th Stooge! There would be no possible way to maintain secrecy...
Here is the thing, we've been shooting radio waves into space for 100 years. So even if aliens were looking and capable of getting here, they'd have to be within 100 light years of us to detect that we we had technology. There is only 800 stars within 100 light years. In 5 billion years only one species on earth developed any technology. So while it seems likely aliens are out there, its unlikely that they are in those 800 stars.
And it would be a flawed conclusion and not account for all of the evidence involved. At least those above your pay grade know they exist and can shut down our nuke defenses anytime they want whoever they are . There is no question that these flying objects exist the question is where do they come from and why do they spend time in our skies?
If not from an unearthly intelligence then we have scientists hiding from humanity new physics aand an energy source that would change the world in a huge way. And that would be a conspiracy involving the scientific community. Which is harder to believe than govt not spilling the beans on who makes these craft as seen by pilots of the nimitz . There are legit govt documents found that mention ets are responsible for ufos so it is hardly a secret. Govt just chooses not to disclose what they do know . I would think ufos are stove piped and this happened at some point to keep some knowledge secret . Telling Americans some intelligence can fly around and we cant stop them is not a good idea unless you want hysteria .. I can see why no govt would do that. And it is reasonable .
Your argument is valid based on traditional physics. However, if ET travels across dimensional boundaries rather than across physical space-time, your argument no longer applies. Since humanity has not yet discovered ways to access & utilize trans-dimensional travel, we aren't familiar with the laws of physics that apply there, so we can neither confirm or deny the possibility of such travel by ETs. But there is already ample evidence, & growing, that ET is here now, & has been for a very long time.
There is convincing evidence that ETs are here & have been around for a very long time. They didn't get here by crossing space at sub-light speeds, so that demands we recognize that trans-dimensional travel is possible, & that it is being utilized by them now.
Does the fact that these "UFOs" have been observed traveling at hypersonic speeds from a dead stop in a single second, to making instant right angle turns at hypersonic speeds without slowing down, not suggest they are from another place?
