UFO over Houston?

[Voij]

My standpoint on this is the same as it is when someone suggests that ghosts could be involved with anything:
Can we prove that ghosts/aliens do not exist (on earth)? No, absolutely not.
Does that mean we should believe that they could exist? Hell no.

There have been thousands of "sightings" over the years. For a vast amount of those, an explanation could not be found. For every single one where we were able to analyse them, we found out that there was a logical explanation behind it. There have been thousands upon thousands of proven cases of it being natural or man-made phenomena, yet not a single case where we could actually provide sufficient evidence to even suggest the involvement of paranormal/extraterrestrial beings.
If I drop an apple 150 times, and it falls to the ground every single one of those, then I'm going to assume that it will happen again on attempt number 151.

[Reeve]

The real scary thought is even though I believe they'd come in peace, it would only be because peace is more resource efficient. If it came down to wiping out our entire civilization they probably wouldn't bat an eyelash.

Honestly, knowing the sorts of humans that dig the idea of space exploration, I doubt we'd go to another inhabited planet looking to start a fight. I don't have any reason to think aliens coming here would feel differently.

[The Kao]

lol that's not a UFO. It's clearly a danmaku pattern floating in the sky.

[Vargur]

They heard that a lot of aliens were coming into Texas and were curious why.

Ah, alien sheep mentality. Figures.

People won't believe that aliens exist but they'll believe that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. Sure thats believable. (Insert eye roll here)

Him. I like him.

[Gheld]

Honestly, knowing the sorts of humans that dig the idea of space exploration, I doubt we'd go to another inhabited planet looking to start a fight. I don't have any reason to think aliens coming here would feel differently.

No but the point is, on the "technology that we can fathom today" angle they need supplies here, lots of supplies, in order to continue their journey. Best case scenario: Trade without resistance. They get what they want, and leave their space elevator behind, maybe cure diabeetus for us while they are at it. Worst case scenario: The trade deal goes sour somewhere in the middle, our government attempts to capture their technology, they encounter heavy resistance and terrorististic threats by fundamentalist groups, they bombard the shit out of us from orbit and collect what they need while surrounded by our rotting corpses.

[Thelxi]

If it really was a UFO many people would have taken pictures and video on their phone of it.

[Reeve]

No but the point is, on the "technology that we can fathom today" angle they need supplies here, lots of supplies, in order to continue their journey. Best case scenario: Trade without resistance. They get what they want, and leave their space elevator behind, maybe cure diabeetus for us while they are at it. Worst case scenario: The trade deal goes sour somewhere in the middle, our government attempts to capture their technology, they encounter heavy resistance and terrorististic threats by fundamentalist groups, they bombard the shit out of us from orbit and collect what they need while surrounded by our rotting corpses.

It's possible they'd have tech that could wipe us out, but I think it's far more likely that we're a whole planet of people with lots of weapons that can reach as high as their ship. Maybe a few hundred thousand of them against billions of us. I honestly think we'd probably win that exchange, unless they've developed some sort of near limitless energy generation technology that can create a force field capable of stopping multiple hydrogen bomb blasts. In which case, they can probably synthesize whatever they want without having to stop at a planet at all.

[Gheld]

It's possible they'd have tech that could wipe us out, but I think it's far more likely that we're a whole planet of people with lots of weapons that can reach as high as their ship. Maybe a few hundred thousand of them against billions of us. I honestly think we'd probably win that exchange, unless they've developed some sort of near limitless energy generation technology that can create a force field capable of stopping multiple hydrogen bomb blasts. In which case, they can probably synthesize whatever they want without having to stop at a planet at all.

Most of our current rocketry can only reach low orbit, especially if it's carrying a heavy-ass hydrogen bomb, and they would be prepared to take advantage of that fact. Although obviously the first thing our governments would do when they arrived is tell some defense contractor "Give me a rocket that can reach those reptilian mother fuckers". But in the mean time that gives them the very real possibility of wiping us out. Obviously they would want to keep the planet fertile in the mean time, so they would probably do it COD ghost style, and drop tungsten rods all over the place from high orbit.

I mean I think you're right... we would have to (or a select number of us) would have to fuck up royally to end up in a "do or die" exchange with the aliens, but we're humans afterall, fucking up is our super power.

[Yvaelle]

No but the point is, on the "technology that we can fathom today" angle they need supplies here, lots of supplies, in order to continue their journey. Best case scenario: Trade without resistance. They get what they want, and leave their space elevator behind, maybe cure diabeetus for us while they are at it. Worst case scenario: The trade deal goes sour somewhere in the middle, our government attempts to capture their technology, they encounter heavy resistance and terrorististic threats by fundamentalist groups, they bombard the shit out of us from orbit and collect what they need while surrounded by our rotting corpses.

Eh, like I said - if you have an interstellar mothership - the wealth of entire solar systems is at your fingertips - they likely don't need anything from us or Earth.

The only really advantageous thing we have going for us is our unique garden planet-ness, unique life to study, unique plants - etc. If anything, they will show up - take a few of us as pets and to fill the zoos on their homeworlds - along with an arc full of monkeys and moths and etc - and continue on their way.

Frozen water is abundant in space, metals are abundant in space - they won't want gold or diamonds or water or whatever.

Maybe they will want some of our items - a father will bring his daughter home a weird book full if flattened tree pulp that the humans use for writing down their thoughts - or alien hipsters will use our latest technology because it's so retro, etc - if anyone gets this far, our value to them is as a novelty - as entertainment.

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Obviously they would want to keep the planet fertile in the mean time, so they would probably do it COD ghost style, and drop tungsten rods all over the place from high orbit.

Melding tungsten rods sounds like a lot of work though - just huck rocks at us like w40k orks - there's a nice big asteroid belt right next to us full of debris that would get us to submit pretty fast. Pretty much the simplest alien that makes it to our solar system is capable of single-handedly bring Earth to its knees - just by throwing rocks at us.

[poser765]

Eh, like I said - if you have an interstellar mothership - the wealth of entire solar systems is at your fingertips - they likely don't need anything from us or Earth.

The only really advantageous thing we have going for us is our unique garden planet-ness, unique life to study, unique plants - etc. If anything, they will show up - take a few of us as pets and to fill the zoos on their homeworlds - along with an arc full of monkeys and moths and etc - and continue on their way.

Frozen water is abundant in space, metals are abundant in space - they won't want gold or diamonds or water or whatever.

Maybe they will want some of our items - a father will bring his daughter home a weird book full if flattened tree pulp that the humans use for writing down their thoughts - or alien hipsters will use our latest technology because it's so retro, etc - if anyone gets this far, our value to them is as a novelty - as entertainment.

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Melding tungsten rods sounds like a lot of work though - just huck rocks at us like w40k orks - there's a nice big asteroid belt right next to us full of debris that would get us to submit pretty fast. Pretty much the simplest alien that makes it to our solar system is capable of single-handedly bring Earth to its knees - just by throwing rocks at us.

Yeah I'm pretty sure if someone wanted to wipe us out for the sake of "fuck humanity" we wouldn't even see them. All we would see would be 2 or 3 well aimed rocks.

[Stonecloak]

Even a video could be manipulated pretty easily to make it seem like a UFO was in the sky. I'm probably not going to buy it until I see it with my own eyes. Or it shows up in the news.

[poser765]

Even a video could be manipulated pretty easily to make it seem like a UFO was in the sky. I'm probably not going to buy it until I see it with my own eyes. Or it shows up in the news.

Me too. I want to believe in UFOs here on earth. Badly. I just can't yet.

[sonshinegreene]

YES! Our alien overlords have finally arrived to show us how to live in peace! Of course, they're going to do that by wiping us from the face of the earth.....but still! All hail the alien overlords!

[Tuor]

Some of the people you chat with online could be them.

These Guys want to speak with you.

On topic:

As several other people have pointed before, i think that the possibility of inteligent alien life coming to earth is reduced. They would need to be very close to Earth, but currently there are no known habitable planets closer then 20 light years. traveling throught great distances normally requires a lot of energy, our current techology is able to detect those energy distorcions. A mother ship would be easely spoted at distances 8AU (the distance of Pluto). Any other kind of techology, such has the proposed warp bubble, would cause a so huge release of energy that it would be a kindergarden playground to detect for modern scientists. Any other unknown form of travelling would require a huge amount of energy, our current sensors would be able to detect that energy, at this moment our own scientists are using those same sensors to detect things such as supernova blasts... And they are getting results all over the milky way, which 100 000 light years long , this means that a huge energy release, such has the one required by a intersteller travel, would be easely spotted.

I really believe that Inteligent Alien life does exist... I just doubt about their hability to travel throught intersteller space.

[Mazeari]

and didn’t realize what he had until he played it back at home.

Come on, you're trying to say you don't reconize ufo when you see them?
I mean, he was just taping lightening stuff. And watched it back and was like dang, it kinda looks like an ufo now I see it again?

It is trying to hard, you should see it at first glance.

[bufferunderrun]

I just think they come here as a form of entertainment, i imagine that alien family that take the childrens on trip to the savage earth where a primitive population live, like a safari.

[Laerrus]

It's probably just one of those toy drones. I seem to remember seeing ones for sale that were shaped like a saucer.

Even if we were being visited by aliens (which I don't think we are), I am pretty sure we would have already made first contact.

[Realtalk]

As several other people have pointed before, i think that the possibility of inteligent alien life coming to earth is reduced. They would need to be very close to Earth, but currently there are no known habitable planets closer then 20 light years. traveling throught great distances normally requires a lot of energy, our current techology is able to detect those energy distorcions. A mother ship would be easely spoted at distances 8AU (the distance of Pluto). Any other kind of techology, such has the proposed warp bubble, would cause a so huge release of energy that it would be a kindergarden playground to detect for modern scientists. Any other unknown form of travelling would require a huge amount of energy, our current sensors would be able to detect that energy, at this moment our own scientists are using those same sensors to detect things such as supernova blasts... And they are getting results all over the milky way, which 100 000 light years long , this means that a huge energy release, such has the one required by a intersteller travel, would be easely spotted.

I really believe that Inteligent Alien life does exist... I just doubt about their hability to travel throught intersteller space.

It amuses me when people use distance as a reason why aliens couldn't get or be here. Einstein's theory says its theoretically possible to bend time and space via wormhole. Why people think its impossible is beyond me. Look around you. In just the last 100 years humans have gone from candle light to electricity and to the moon. Imagine how advanced an intelligent race with say a relatively small 1 million years of evolution would be. To them harnessing the energy of star may seem as infantile as our steam engine.
As for whether or not governments would admit they were here or even incoming. They would be foolish to do so. People panic over much more trivial events. Admitting an alien race is here or inbound would result in world wide chaos. Religions would fail, governments etc....
One last caveat for all those wishing they would land and say take me to your leader. Is be careful what you wish for. There is not 1 time in recorded in human history that a civilization has met a more advanced one and survived. More than likely we'll be looked at like we look at apes or ants.

[Mainer]

Because Texas is our 2nd largest, 2nd most populated, 2nd wealthiest state with a massive variety of cultures and customs compared to the rest of the United States?

I would think New York City would be a better fit for the culture piece.

[Gwiez]

Maybe there are aliens visiting Earth, and they come to watch how many people mistake reflected lights as flying spaceships.

If there were alien visitors, they would have to be significantly more technologically advanced. As in either able to effectively get around the speed of light for traveling large distances, or (if they started close to us) so far past using electromagnetic technology that their civilization gave off no detectable radiation (eg: radio waves). Such a civilization would not be flying around like 1950s idiot-ball space invaders.

There is not 1 time in recorded in human history that a civilization has met a more advanced one and survived.

You're right, there's multiple times that a civilization has met a more advanced one and survived. That's how the Roman Empire worked, in fact. Sure, they took control, but after that the people they conquered became parts of the empire, and their cultures were adapted and the people enjoyed the benefits of being Roman. Or Japan during the Tokugawa and Meiji periods.

A civilization can adapt to new technology and knowledge and survive. Different technology levels doesn't automatically mean genocide. Be wary of thought stopping cliches.