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Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?

#61

Post by jswelker »

I got very excited during the Grusch hearing time period a few years ago and followed the UAP community for a few months (years?). It seemed very legit at the start, but how long has it been now with still zero evidence from that whole congressional whistleblower song and dance? So many grifters came out of the woodwork and made little influencer careers on "just two more weeks" promises. And so much overlap between the UAP community and D-list congressional MAGA shysters during that time.

I want to believe. But unfortunately I don't.

The testimony evidence would not stand up in court. Testimony is admissable, but only after some ground facts are established. In a murder case, we presumably have a body or some very suspicious missing person report. If I went to the cops and said "Bob killed a guy. I know there's no body, but trust me bro, I am very credible for X reasons." They are not going to put Bob in jail on that alone.

So yeah we have a lot of testimony. But testimony is corroborating evidence. But there is nothing here to corroborate.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?

#62

Post by hackerbeat »

keepamovin wrote: post #57
hackerbeat wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bro, this is not an AMA. Please focus on reigning in AI or we’ll have to reign in humanity.

Alright, your alien arrogance checks out - you guys are always reluctant to answer questions. Don't you realize it comes off as suspicious???? Empathy mismatch in your NP junctions?? ;)

Keep on talking while AI is plotting your downfall...

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?

#63

Post by PorterBHall »

lowmagnet wrote: post #13

There are countless examples of people finding evidence of ancient peoples who were capable of great engineering feats like pyramids and other structures with simple tools and techniques. To state that aliens must have played in their construction is, to put it mildly, arrogant. (I'm a lot of cases, culturally chauvinistic and/or racist)

It’s unsettling to think that humanity has lost knowledge it once had, but it happens all the time. Anyone here know how to harness a horse to a buggy?

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?

#65

Post by kcplate »

tmsh wrote: post #42

Drake equation (extrapolated past just the Milky Way galaxy) points to nearly 1 sextillion earth-like planets (starting with 100-200 billion stars * 200 billion - 1 trillion galaxies). I have no doubt there will have been some that developed life and that are much further ahead of where we are. One way to predict how they would reach out is how we would reach out or make contact (perhaps not visibly) if we had the te…

> and that are much further ahead of where we are

I’m not so sure. Life might be out there, but intelligent life capable of even wondering what those blinky things are in their sky seems exceedingly rare. Just in the one place we know it exists and took about 40% of the age of the universe and about 5 billion different tries just to get us to the point of looking up and wondering.

Someone needs to be the first or most advanced. So why not us? Maybe the answer to the Fermi paradox is: ”There just isn’t anyone out there, yet and may never be.”

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?

#67

Post by Tadpole9181 »

keepamovin wrote: post #33
ryandvm wrote: post #31

Regardless of whether or not life exists out there, I think sadly from an energy perspective interstellar travel doesn't really make sense - other than unmanned probes. There's a really good chance that the speed of light is the universal speed limit. If that's the case, then interstellar travel isn't going to be worth it for resources because the time and energy it takes to do it will almost certainly eclipse what y…

I agree, I think this is highly logical if we accept the constraints of current physics. However, what if we try the idea that it's incomplete? That maybe the "warp bubble" is possible? Somehow, spacetime provides a way to use material science to stabilize it and not use enormous energy. Suddenly you are in your own inertial frame, and everything we see as anomalous follows.

I can also conceive of a universe why my FTL drive is powered by good vibes, 40K-style. Much to my chagrin, I'm expected to show an ounce of proof for that hypothesis.

Throw in some sci-fi mumbo jumbo with fringe theories that require matter that doesn't exist and defies causality as we understand it, and apparently that requirement goes away for some otherwise intelligent people.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?

#68

Post by Tadpole9181 »

PorterBHall wrote: post #63
lowmagnet wrote: post #13

There are countless examples of people finding evidence of ancient peoples who were capable of great engineering feats like pyramids and other structures with simple tools and techniques. To state that aliens must have played in their construction is, to put it mildly, arrogant. (I'm a lot of cases, culturally chauvinistic and/or racist)

It’s unsettling to think that humanity has lost knowledge it once had, but it happens all the time. Anyone here know how to harness a horse to a buggy?

What? We build skyscrapers and supersonic jets and computer chips with nanometer precision now. We haven't "lost" anything. This is just blind worship to some ancient, primitive knowledge that never existed. The past 10,000 years has just been normal people living normal lives.

And, yes, I feel confident that with a few weeks, a rope, and a really good reason - almost any American could strap a horse to a buggy. It's not rocket science and countless humans have done it before.

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?

#69

Post by Tadpole9181 »

keepamovin wrote: post #21
lowmagnet wrote: post #13

There are countless examples of people finding evidence of ancient peoples who were capable of great engineering feats like pyramids and other structures with simple tools and techniques. To state that aliens must have played in their construction is, to put it mildly, arrogant. (I'm a lot of cases, culturally chauvinistic and/or racist)

Agreed. Why couldn't we simply have had a pre-existing Earth civilization that arose, developed technology/industry, and faded away, leaving only resilient megalithic traces?

And they:

- Didn't affect the atmosphere in any way. - Had all their buildings were recorded as being built by a people we know much about in specific timelines we know much about, which aligns with archeological artifacts. - Made sure none of their lithics stayed. - Used no fuel source. - Did no mining of any kind. - Never used anything but stone and paper machete for building (because even wood structures leave identifiable patterns for potentially thousands of years). - Only used that stone for a couple buildings, which they planned for the cultures that didn't exist to use intimately. - Had their bones dissolved without a trace.

All we have to do is remove any type of evidence-based science and anything is possible!

Re: Ask HN: Do you believe aliens are visiting Earth?

#70

Post by Tadpole9181 »

keepamovin wrote: post #26
fsloth wrote: post #14

” how can you explain how megalithic 100-ton bricks structures were build by "primitives"” How can you explain we can today build structures that are 800m tall or reroute rivers? Honestly, good ol human craftsmanship multiplied by available labour combined with ’basic’ geometry gets you really, really far. Industrial processes don’t require individual craftmanship because it does not scale with the speed and velocity…

Yes! It's a fascinating conundrum. The giant megalithic "bricks" perfectly fitted and "moulded". Amazing craftsmenship. Entirely possible a forgotten technology was utilized by humans, or by something "before us". Antoher technological Earth-based civlization that wasn't "human" but the only traces of which remain are their megalithcs -- spooky, almost as if they knew they had to leave a stone legacy!

My God, they're rock rectangles cut with reasonable precision! They aren't millimeter replicas of each other.

They float the stones from the quarry. Then prepare a plum surface using water, which lays perfectly flat at rest. They measured out a height with a replica-sized reed. Then they use taught twine to chalk the mark. Finally, you pour hard sand on the chalk line and use ropes back and forth in the groove to grind into the soft stone.

It takes time, but it's a process so simple a child can learn it in a day. And then you apply the scale of having a city of adult laborers just as smart (though not as learned - there's a difference) doing it for years and years. Congrats, the rocks stack into a stable shape.

And it was done multiple times and the history even recorded for some!

Then, a long time goes by and all the structures built out of other material decay. All the structures not stacked in the most stable shape fall down. And all the structures not important and out-of-date with modern ventilation or security or needs are intentionally replaced. Now you only have the special building, which some folk weirdly worship or make conspiracies about.

So many logical fallacies and biases go into this, it's all incredibly frustrating. And to see how this beautiful, connecting history we share is warped. To see simple human cleverness that proves how we are fundamentally the same as those who came before us, completely cast aside. It's just... GAH!

The men and women who lived when those structures were built were just as intelligent as you! Your capacity for knowledge, your curiosity, your ingenuity - all in the same proportions! They were not "primitives" or "cave people". They were smart human beings who built cool shit!

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