Ancient Aliens

[Grazza]

Isn't it scientifically more plausible that aliens exist and have visited us than that ghosts exist?

 

I think so, yes. The flipside is that people who have seen ghosts seem to be more reliable witnesses than people who have seen aliens (actual aliens, not UFOs). There are exceptions, such as the Yorkshire policeman Alan Godfrey. That's an amazing case.

 

However, my peers tend to generally think the witnesses for ghosts are more reliable, because amongst them are people they know well. I have to admit, if someone told me they had seen an alien, I'd be very doubtful.

 

My opinion on this and conspiracy theories in general is that if people spent the time they do coming up with this fiction, actually becoming educated and doing research, we'd be a much more advanced civilization today. It might be fun to speculate about, but that's never going to get us anywhere. When there's no evidence whatsoever, theories become little more than entertainment. I especially dislike people who try and push their theories as fact (9/11, JFK Assassination, Moon Landing, etc.).

 

I agree, it should primarily be considered entertainment - something to sell books and DVDs.

 

Conspiracy theories are a little bit different, and more sinister. I'm not sure anyone is saying there is a cover-up about "ancient aliens", it's just a mystery.

[Tales]

If aliens really did visit the Earth a long time ago, they sure cleaned up after themselves. They didn't even forget a walkie talkie or a key card for the janitor closet or something other non essential equipment they forgot to take with them on a bad day.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

I think so, yes. The flipside is that people who have seen ghosts seem to be more reliable witnesses than people who have seen aliens (actual aliens, not UFOs). There are exceptions, such as the Yorkshire policeman Alan Godfrey. That's an amazing case.

 

However, my peers tend to generally think the witnesses for ghosts are more reliable, because amongst them are people they know well. I have to admit, if someone told me they had seen an alien, I'd be very doubtful.

 

Yeah, I think you're right, but sometimes the strangest things can occur naturally, and then people are most likely to attribute it to ghosts. Ghostly phenomena are less confrontational and much easier to believe. The same goes for UFO observations, really. If someone claims to have had close encounters of the third kind, on the other hand, they're likely to have a few loose connections on the top floor.

[Emasher]

Regarding the JFK Assassination, hasn't there actually been uncovered evidence suggesting it wasn't just a lone gunman?

 

Suggesting, not proving. There's a possibility it was another person, however there's also the possibility that Oswald just made an incredibly difficult shot. Even if there was another person involved, chances are it would have just been one of Oswald's socialist buddies, not necessarily KGB agents. I was more, however, referring to the conspiracy theories that involve the so called Illuminati killing him because they thought he was going to reveal details about their secret club.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Suggesting, not proving. There's a possibility it was another person, however there's also the possibility that Oswald just made an incredibly difficult shot. Even if there was another person involved, chances are it would have just been one of Oswald's socialist buddies, not necessarily KGB agents. I was more, however, referring to the conspiracy theories that involve the so called Illuminati killing him because they thought he was going to reveal details about their secret club.

 

Oh, fair enough. I just remember reading about it in a very sceptic conspiracy book, and it said that it was very likely there were some people behind Oswald, even if they weren't some great and powerful organisation.

[Hamishmash]

Saying aliens or gods built the pyramids is a great insult to the creativity and talent of humans.

 

I don't know why so many people chose to downplay how awesome their own species and planet is.

 

I believe life exists out in the universe, I believe some of it might indeed be ancient. But I don't think any alien life has ever made it to Earth, in just the same way as no human life will ever visit an alien world.

Edited August 13, 2011 by Hamishmash

[somme]

Exactly what I was thinking. It sort of makes me wonder though; why would these aliens leave us in the first place? We have a planet's worth of resources and it seems strange they wouldn't want to exploit that.

 

Not that I buy into any of this, but any civilisation advanced enough to reach us wouldn't need to exploit our resources.. They'd be able to gain most of their energy from stars and they'd obtain their minerals from asteroids, moons, etc.

 

The whole idea of aliens being Gods seems to has been lifted straight out of the Stargate franchise. We know how they built the pyramids, or at least how they could of. Archeologists/Engineers have replicated their success with the technology of the time.

 

Remember an alien culture would be just that, alien. There's no guarantee they'd even be interested is us at all. If they were advanced enough to flit around the galaxy at will they'd probably not even give us a second thought.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Suggesting, not proving. There's a possibility it was another person, however there's also the possibility that Oswald just made an incredibly difficult shot. Even if there was another person involved, chances are it would have just been one of Oswald's socialist buddies, not necessarily KGB agents. I was more, however, referring to the conspiracy theories that involve the so called Illuminati killing him because they thought he was going to reveal details about their secret club.

 

I've always found it interesting reading about the "magic bullet" theory. I'm reading up on the subject know and it was one hell of a shot. It was difficult, but it had some journey getting from the weapon. Most anti-conspiracy theorists believe it was only one bullet fired, but those who are pro-conspiracy say there was more than one. When I was growing up, I was always convinced there was a second person. But, the evidence supports only one.

 

Saying aliens or gods built the pyramids is a great insult to the creativity and talent of humans.

 

I don't know why so many people chose to downplay how awesome their own species and planet is.

 

I believe life exists out in the universe, I believe some of it might indeed be ancient. But I don't think any alien life has ever made it to Earth, in just the same way as no human life will ever visit an alien world.

 

I agree. Most human reaction to the pyramids seems to be "wtf...how could WE do THAT?" Well, it took years and painful labour to get that job done. I wouldn't want to do it.

 

It would make for an interesting story if life were created elsewhere and somehow found its way to Earth. We love stories and that's part of what makes us human. It may be true, but I don't think it is, not from what I know at the moment anyway.

 

About the last part of your post: Do you think we'll never visit an Alien world? Technically, if we landed on Mars, that would be an Alien world, since it's Alien to us. I think with human curiosity and perseverance, it will happen. But, I don't think it will happen for hundreds of years. We definitely won't be around to see it happen, seeing as humans have only got as far as the Moon.

[Grazza]

The whole idea of aliens being Gods seems to has been lifted straight out of the Stargate franchise. We know how they built the pyramids, or at least how they could of. Archeologists/Engineers have replicated their success with the technology of the time.

 

Not Stargate. It goes at least as far back as Erich Von Daniken.

 

Remember an alien culture would be just that, alien. There's no guarantee they'd even be interested is us at all. If they were advanced enough to flit around the galaxy at will they'd probably not even give us a second thought.

 

Unless our DNA came here on asteroids. That could mean there are aliens very much like us.

 

I agree. Most human reaction to the pyramids seems to be "wtf...how could WE do THAT?" Well, it took years and painful labour to get that job done. I wouldn't want to do it.

 

Stonehenge too. If you visit it, there really is no mystery as to how it was built, and very little mystery as to why it was built (clock/calendar).

 

About the last part of your post: Do you think we'll never visit an Alien world? Technically, if we landed on Mars, that would be an Alien world, since it's Alien to us. I think with human curiosity and perseverance, it will happen. But, I don't think it will happen for hundreds of years. We definitely won't be around to see it happen, seeing as humans have only got as far as the Moon.

 

Hmm, you really think we won't see it? A disappointing, but quite possible prediction. Personally, I think it's due to money. If the economy recovers greatly, I suspect NASA will be onto it quite soon.

[MoogleViper]

About the last part of your post: Do you think we'll never visit an Alien world? Technically, if we landed on Mars, that would be an Alien world, since it's Alien to us. I think with human curiosity and perseverance, it will happen. But, I don't think it will happen for hundreds of years. We definitely won't be around to see it happen, seeing as humans have only got as far as the Moon.

 

I'm pretty sure he means a world with alien life though.

[somme]

 

Unless our DNA came here on asteroids. That could mean there are aliens very much like us.

 

 

 

Even if the same asteroid planted life on another planet, doesn't mean it evolved to be anything like us. There are so many factors you'll never really know. There have been many extinction events on this planet, the same may not have happened elsewhere.

[Eenuh]

There was actually a news story three days ago that scientists discovered the DNA building blocks on meteorites that crashed on Earth. DNA coming from outer space. So there is a chance those helped create life on Earth. And it's also possible it came from another planet where those DNA blocks created life too.

 

Sources: http://theweek.com/article/index/218127/the-dna-from-outer-space

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/dna-meteorites.html

[Emasher]

But, I don't think it will happen for hundreds of years. We definitely won't be around to see it happen, seeing as humans have only got as far as the Moon.

 

This is discounting the potential advancements in medical, neural, and computer science, as well as computer engineering that could potentially lead to our lifespan increasing, well, quite possibly indefinitely.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Not Stargate. It goes at least as far back as Erich Von Daniken.

 

 

 

Unless our DNA came here on asteroids. That could mean there are aliens very much like us.

 

 

 

Stonehenge too. If you visit it, there really is no mystery as to how it was built, and very little mystery as to why it was built (clock/calendar).

 

 

 

Hmm, you really think we won't see it? A disappointing, but quite possible prediction. Personally, I think it's due to money. If the economy recovers greatly, I suspect NASA will be onto it quite soon.

 

I want to visit Stonehenge at some point.

 

You're right about the funding being low, but also we just don't have the technology. I'm sure we'll put a man on Mars at some point in the future, within the next 20 years, for certain. But, it's pretty much guaranteed that we'd need to go much further than that to find life. I can't see us getting anywhere near outside of our solar system in our lifetime. Or even two lifetimes.

 

There's always the slim possibility of life being found on one of Jupiter's Moons, but it's more likely we'd have to go outside of our solar system to find it.

 

I'm pretty sure he means a world with alien life though.

 

He is, yeah. But, I'd still class somewhere like Mars as an Alien world.

 

There was actually a news story three days ago that scientists discovered the DNA building blocks on meteorites that crashed on Earth. DNA coming from outer space. So there is a chance those helped create life on Earth. And it's also possible it came from another planet where those DNA blocks created life too.

 

Sources: http://theweek.com/article/index/218127/the-dna-from-outer-space

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/dna-meteorites.html

 

I think we looked at something like that together, yes?

 

This is discounting the potential advancements in medical, neural, and computer science, as well as computer engineering that could potentially lead to our lifespan increasing, well, quite possibly indefinitely.

 

We'd have to discount those at the moment because we can only go off what we know. If it's proven tomorrow than I can live for a hundred years longer than I currently can, then fuck yeeeah.

[Emasher]

We'd have to discount those at the moment because we can only go off what we know. If it's proven tomorrow than I can live for a hundred years longer than I currently can, then fuck yeeeah.

 

To make a worthwhile prediction, you can't discount any variables. We obviously don't know the specifics, but making a claim like "will not happen in our lifetimes" generally is meaningless in this day and age. We're probably one of the first generations that really has no idea how long our lifespans will be.

[Fierce_LiNk]

To make a worthwhile prediction, you can't discount any variables. We obviously don't know the specifics, but making a claim like "will not happen in our lifetimes" generally is meaningless in this day and age. We're probably one of the first generations that really has no idea how long our lifespans will be.

 

That may be so, but the advancements would have to be unthinkable if we're thinking of living for a hundred years (maybe more) more than we currently live for.

 

Let's look at the facts. A human hasn't set foot on a planet other than our own. A man hasn't even walked on the Moon since 1972. President Obama wants to put a man on Mars within the next 20 years from now. So, that gets us as far as Mars. So, it will possibly have taken us from 1972 to the 2030s to get from walking on the Moon to walking on Mars/taking missions there. But, how long will it take to walk onto a world with other life? Given that we don't actually know where this life is (for certain), it seems we won't be doing that for quite some time.

 

I'm fairly certain that in our lifetime we'll be walking on a planet other than ours. But, I don't think we'll be walking on another inhabited world. We might be able to add another 20 or so years onto our lifetime, but that won't be enough. I don't think even my grandchildren will see this either. My opinion.

 

 

About the last part of your post: Do you think we'll never visit an Alien world? Technically, if we landed on Mars, that would be an Alien world, since it's Alien to us. I think with human curiosity and perseverance, it will happen. But, I don't think it will happen for hundreds of years. We definitely won't be around to see it happen, seeing as humans have only got as far as the Moon.

 

Just to clarify, the bold part was about Hamishmash's part about an Alien World, when I questioned what an Alien World really is. The rest of the post (unbolded) is about visiting another inhabited world.

[Emasher]

That may be so, but the advancements would have to be unthinkable if we're thinking of living for a hundred years (maybe more) more than we currently live for.

 

Let's look at the facts. A human hasn't set foot on a planet other than our own. A man hasn't even walked on the Moon since 1972. President Obama wants to put a man on Mars within the next 20 years from now. So, that gets us as far as Mars. So, it will possibly have taken us from 1972 to the 2030s to get from walking on the Moon to walking on Mars/taking missions there. But, how long will it take to walk onto a world with other life? Given that we don't actually know where this life is (for certain), it seems we won't be doing that for quite some time.

 

I'm fairly certain that in our lifetime we'll be walking on a planet other than ours. But, I don't think we'll be walking on another inhabited world. We might be able to add another 20 or so years onto our lifetime, but that won't be enough. I don't think even my grandchildren will see this either. My opinion.

 

We're not talking simply about extending our lives 20 years though. We're talking about life support systems that will possibly allow us to live hundreds of years longer. I suggest looking into the writings of Ray Kurzweil, I understand what he says isn't absolute proof, but its still worth considering what he has to say given that he probably understands better than anyone where we're headed.