Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to re:It seems obvious that you misunderstand me totally.

Where I stand on UFOs (rec room, usually), and 2 !great! links
alcaray — (archived)

1) Terminology - "UFO", when some use the term, means flying alien visitors. When I speak to one like that (and perhaps I have misidentified you as such?), sometimes when I use the term UFO I will use their definition rather than mine. This does not mean that I believe that we have alien visitors. It more likely means that I was entertaining my opponent's conceit and accepting something just for the sake of the discussion. Since this seems to be a continuing point of disconnection between us, I will try to stop using the term when I speak to you.

2) Specifically what I suppose about the subject of visiting ETs [please note my selection of the word "suppose"] - I think there is likely other life in the universe. I think it is likely that some of it is intelligent. I think that it is unlikely that there are any close-by intelligent neighbors. I think that interstellar travel is insanely costly, difficult, and time-consuming. I think it is extremely unlikely that there are fleets of an infinite variety of ETs crowding our skies.

I think it is quite normal to see things that you don't understand, in the skies and elsewhere. However, seeing something you don't understand should not lead one to assume explanations that are not in evidence. For example: the first person to see a clay cup floating in water should not have jumped to the conclusion that this was a new kind of clay that was lighter than water [although that would be one possible explanation].

Check this link about experiments done on false recall.

3) Reasons to treat claims of visiting ETs with extreme skepticism - In addition to the reasons in #2 above, one has to consider the messengers. Many proponents have been shown to be charlatans. Much evidence supported by honest true believers (Lindy is a good example) has been shown to be manufactured by charlatans. Many proponents have been brought to the field by the strong [possibly paranoid] belief that the government keeps a ton of bizarre secrets. And that any crazy thing asserted about the government is completely reasonable.

Here is a great link to a piece about teaching critical thinking to psychology students. It covers in exquisite detail the characteristics of pseudoscience. While it does not address the topic of visiting ETs directly, many of the points raised are pertinent to this discussion.

In your case, jeez at the simplest level, your crazy use of bolds and quotes makes it pretty hard to take you seriously.

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