31–40 of 158 posts
This idea that we have a database that covers all possibilities for anything that would qualify as alien is delusional. It's like Neatherandals claiming that they have a complete database for hard things, and it contains exactly two entries: rock and stick. If they somehow stumbled across an iPhone, and ran a few tests, they would decide it is a rock (since it can skip across water - just like other flat rocks). In t…
I hate articles like this. Someone makes an extraordinary claim, journalist finds some experts to insist that claim must be false based on their current understanding rather than testing the claim. This is ridiculous. Either ignore the claim, or test it. Speculation is information-free and a waste of everyone's time. Same goes for the EM drive. I don't care about hearing some random expert's opinion on why it's impos…
> based on their current understanding rather than testing the claim. The point is that there is no claim. It is very very straight forward to identify an unknown material (figuring out how it was made, what it's for, etc., is the difficult task). If you want to claim there's an 'unknown' material, show us your XRD patterns, your EELS/XPS/NMR/EDX/PL/SIMS spectra, your AFM surfaces, your electron micrographs, atom pro…
Is it in the alloy database? yes : no
Is its isotopic ratio terrestrial? yes : no
Does it appear manufactured or natural in elemental distribution? yes : no
If the answer is yes to the first two, then yes, the alloy is indeed "mysterious". Simple as that. This article didn't debunk anything. It just corrected a wording technicality.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> based on their current understanding rather than testing the claim. The point is that there is no claim. It is very very straight forward to identify an unknown material (figuring out how it was made, what it's for, etc., is the difficult task). If you want to claim there's an 'unknown' material, show us your XRD patterns, your EELS/XPS/NMR/EDX/PL/SIMS spectra, your AFM surfaces, your electron micrographs, atom pro…
Right, so if they have no idea what the material is then what's the point of their comments claiming that they are impossible?
[0] To be charitable, I have no doubt that there exist substances in the universe we can't currently characterize. But if you restrict it to objects that you can physically store in a warehouse (that is, they're stable under ambient conditions), I have little doubt we can figure out what they are without much trouble.
This idea that we have a database that covers all possibilities for anything that would qualify as alien is delusional. It's like Neatherandals claiming that they have a complete database for hard things, and it contains exactly two entries: rock and stick. If they somehow stumbled across an iPhone, and ran a few tests, they would decide it is a rock (since it can skip across water - just like other flat rocks). In t…
Some metals don't mix. They mix as liquids but as they cool they crystallize differently, sometimes separating from each other. So an "alien alloy" could be a mix that was formed by some advanced tech (zero-g fabrication, strong magnetic fields etc) that we cannot replicate. Try getting a perfect crystalline mix of steel and neon. Maybe it is a miracle substance. But we don't know because we cannot fabricate such structures. If that showed up in a lab it would be "alien".
A few years ago any jet engine would contain "alien alloys" in the sense that nobody could have replicated the single-crystal structures now common in blades.
There is a very simple explanation for why the alloys are so mysterious. Harry Reid was able to get the program funded, and directed most of the $22M in spending to one of his closest backers, Robert Bigelow so he could build a fancy warehouse. If that fancy warehouse wasn't storing super valuable alien artifacts it just looks like Reid filling the pockets of a close friend with government monies, and people might th…
While I don't doubt that Harry Reid is as corrupt a politician and as expert at funneling money to his cronies as, say, the late Robert Byrd was; there are A LOT easier and quieter ways of making it happen. Especially for a sum as small as $22 million. Even county-level politicians can make that amount of money disappear without a trace and without leaving behind a warehouse and a paper trail. To play the other side:…
Or do you have an actual argument as to why these materials couldn't be readily identified and studied by competent physicists using well known technology?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, so if they have no idea what the material is then what's the point of their comments claiming that they are impossible?
I read it as saying it was impossible that there were materials being stored that we couldn't identify[0], not that the existence of the materials themselves was impossible. The point being that if these materials exist it should be quite straight forward to identify them, and if they're 'unknown' then that's simply because no one's taken the time in a lab to figure it out. [0] To be charitable, I have no doubt that…
> I have little doubt we can figure out what they are without much trouble.
How can you be so sure of that? Have we learned pretty much all there is to know about material science and physics at this point? Do you think someone from 500 years ago could analyze a microchip or some superconducting ceramic? Do you think we could figure out a material designed by a being a million years in advance of us? The physics as we understand it in 200 years is certainly going to be magic and "impossible" by today's standards, let alone alien tech.
Of course the materials could not actually exist, or not be of alien origin. But given the premise that they are of alien origin, it's not absurd at all to think that we can't figure out the nature of the materials.
There is a very simple explanation for why the alloys are so mysterious. Harry Reid was able to get the program funded, and directed most of the $22M in spending to one of his closest backers, Robert Bigelow so he could build a fancy warehouse. If that fancy warehouse wasn't storing super valuable alien artifacts it just looks like Reid filling the pockets of a close friend with government monies, and people might th…