131–140 of 244 posts
If that's the case, it would be embarrassing for the US and Pentagon. We (the US) should be the best in all defense technology given how much we spend on it.
And there you have it. The "money quote" in both the literal and metaphorical sense. Of course the Military / Espionage / Industrial Complex community is going to try to keep paranoia about "UAP's" and "UFO's" stoked... as long as they can use that to justify more $$$ flowing into their coffers.
They have to play a delicate balancing act though: stoke just enough fear to keep the money flowing, but not so much that anybody starts demanding they actually deliver anything measurable with that money.
Nice gig if you can get it.
The sensors mounted on U.S. military platforms are typically designed to fulfill specific missions. As a result, those sensors are not generally suited for identifying UAP.
Anybody want to team up on a new startup focused on "UAP sensors" and sell them to the government for $43,927.33 each?
The only thing they left out was swamp gas as a possible explanation (RIP Hynek). Seems like another whitewash, "it can't possibly be happening" report. If you spend some serious effort on this and stay away from the crazies you'll come to the opposite conclusion of this report. A good starting point is Vallee's books.
I don't know about Vallee, but after being briefly in the defense industry, reading much, and having some experience with aerospace everything seems to fit very well into one of three categories 1) known US aircraft activity either simply misinterpreted or kept secret from the public or even most of the military apparatus, sometimes strongly denied either as a way to disseminate vague information to adversaries or mi…
Get out your phone, and take a picture of your hand. Its very close, and you'll get a great photo.
Now, go outside at night, look at the beacon on top of a crane in the distance, or a plane landing a few kilometres away. Try to take a photo of it with your phone camera.
We have great cameras, sure, but not everyone is carrying a 300mm lens in their pocket
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I am someone who thinks there likely is alien activity on earth Can you elaborate on why you think this (or provide some additional detail)? For example, do you mean "intelligent" life? Or is this more along the lines of panspermia? Thank you.
No, I don't care to elaborate on my personal opinions about this topic. I only noted that because I habitually remind people on HN that UFO just stands for Unidentified Flying Object and the reason the US government is interested is for national security reasons. I noted it just to suggest "If you are inferring that I am on your side in thinking only nutters believe in aliens you are wrong." I have no desire to have…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "There is nonhuman intelligence visiting and engaging with Earth. We could not tell you before for national security reasons, but now we can tell you." At least, not without many years of plausibly deniable hints before-hand. Do you really think that'll be the outcome? I'd be shocked. If there is nonhuman intelligence in our solar system, it's orders of magnitude smarter than us, and I'd also wager it's probably by…
> I'd also wager it's probably by design impossible for us detect. Humans are orders of magnitude smarter than dolphins, yet that doesn't prevent humans from experimenting on them.
Biological aliens are more than likely carbon and water based, and most likely use oxygen/oxidation for energy. The worlds that harbor these must be of a certain temperature and mass, which means the biological aliens evolved adapted to these conditions. Gravity, gravity wells, temperatures, metabolic and resource needs that are far from ideal for space.
Let's also assume post-biology intelligence has the extra benefit of duplicating, transmitting, and modifying memories, experience, etc. and optimizing it. Compute nodes probably have access to more than the sum total of human knowledge at an instant, and can probably run math, chemical, and physical simulations rapidly. These intelligences will be orders of magnitude smarter than us. Imagine a trillion of the smartest humans operating at peak performance, except even smarter.
These intelligences will also be concerned about other intelligences that have more resources and that may not take a friendly disposition. Unless there's an omnipotent intergalactic police force that prevents attack and extermination, intelligences will hide their presence by default.
Since other adversarial intelligences probably also have technologies beyond our own, the technological needs and techniques for advanced cloaking may be beyond our present understanding.
I didn't claim alien intelligence wouldn't study us. (They probably would.) I claimed they would remain very well hidden.
And there you have it. The "money quote" in both the literal and metaphorical sense. Of course the Military / Espionage / Industrial Complex community is going to try to keep paranoia about "UAP's" and "UFO's" stoked... as long as they can use that to justify more $$$ flowing into their coffers.
They have to play a delicate balancing act though: stoke just enough fear to keep the money flowing, but not so much that anybody starts demanding they actually deliver anything measurable with that money.
Nice gig if you can get it.
The sensors mounted on U.S. military platforms are typically designed to fulfill specific missions. As a result, those sensors are not generally suited for identifying UAP.
Anybody want to team up on a new startup focused on "UAP sensors" and sell them to the government for $43,927.33 each?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'd also wager it's probably by design impossible for us detect. Humans are orders of magnitude smarter than dolphins, yet that doesn't prevent humans from experimenting on them.
An interstellar intelligence is probably post-biology. Biological aliens are more than likely carbon and water based, and most likely use oxygen/oxidation for energy. The worlds that harbor these must be of a certain temperature and mass, which means the biological aliens evolved adapted to these conditions. Gravity, gravity wells, temperatures, metabolic and resource needs that are far from ideal for space. Let's al…
But when we experiment with dolphins, the beach ball has to be visible so we can see what the dolphin does with it (even if we're hidden behind two-way glass). If it is aliens (and I'm not suggesting it is) why can't it be that they're measuring our intelligence capacity? This is the proverbial, beach ball, as it were.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, I don't care to elaborate on my personal opinions about this topic. I only noted that because I habitually remind people on HN that UFO just stands for Unidentified Flying Object and the reason the US government is interested is for national security reasons. I noted it just to suggest "If you are inferring that I am on your side in thinking only nutters believe in aliens you are wrong." I have no desire to have…
Wasn't trying to be confrontational. It just seemed like you might have a contrarian view that might be worth hearing.
I'm also not interested in a large number of people inferring I believe the opposite and then acting like I'm "lying" or "did an about face" on my opinion should I ever change my mind and decide I wish to discuss it.
People are really bad about making unfounded inferences no matter how carefully you talk about a thing and then hanging their baggage on you over what they imagined you believe when you never said anything about what you believe.
Government reports about unidentified aerial phenomena aren't motivated by a belief in aliens. Me reminding people of that fact is not motivated by a belief that "aliens don't exist."
Maybe "UFO" will stop getting used in titles and the new term UAP will get popular and these conversations will generally improve.
After I left my comment, the title was changed. That's a good thing and makes my reminder less pertinent. Maybe I will just stop leaving them entirely.