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U.S. unable to explain more than 140 unidentified flying objects, but no aliens

washingtonpost.com

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Re: U.S. unable to explain more than 140 unidentified flying objects, but no aliens

#11

Post by eindiran »

ALittleLight wrote: post #7

This is a poor title. What part of advanced technology and flying at considerable speed without discernable means of propulsion rules out aliens? Aliens weren't confirmed, or even mentioned, but my reading of the report is that aliens are more likely an explanation than I thought them to be yesterday, not less.

Once you have decided that the UAPs are technological objects, sure, it starts to seem more plausible that aliens are involved. But nothing in the report [0] indicates to me that there is any degree of confidence that the weird, unexplainable UAPs are technological objects.

[0] https://context-cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/do....

Re: U.S. unable to explain more than 140 unidentified flying objects, but no aliens

#12

Post by viraptor »

hn8788 wrote: post #8
ALittleLight wrote: post #7

This is a poor title. What part of advanced technology and flying at considerable speed without discernable means of propulsion rules out aliens? Aliens weren't confirmed, or even mentioned, but my reading of the report is that aliens are more likely an explanation than I thought them to be yesterday, not less.

That's how I felt after reading it as well. Plus the part where it says that it's possible that we aren't getting any readings from them because they have advanced technology that we don't know how to create sensors for.

There are at least two possible ideas when you are something that doesn't show on the radar: 1. A technology so advanced it doesn't show up on sensors. 2. Light / condensation / ... effect which makes you think you're looking at a solid object where the isn't any.

Re: U.S. unable to explain more than 140 unidentified flying objects, but no aliens

#13

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

ALittleLight wrote: post #7

This is a poor title. What part of advanced technology and flying at considerable speed without discernable means of propulsion rules out aliens? Aliens weren't confirmed, or even mentioned, but my reading of the report is that aliens are more likely an explanation than I thought them to be yesterday, not less.

> What part of... rules out aliens?

Because

1) Ruling _in_ aliens requires proof. Insisting that this specific scenario be ruled out is classic "shifting the burden of proof" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burden_of_proof_(philosophy)

The train of thought that "we don't know what we saw, so ... aliens!" is somewhere between wishful and nutty. Extra-ordinary claims require extra-ordinary proof.

2) claiming that it's _definitely_ "technology and flying at considerable speed without discernible means of propulsion" is itself a stretch. Given the supposed behaviour, a _very_ big stretch. More likely it's equipment failure, lens flare, sundog, bug-on-the-lens, etc.

3) the strong argument against this being real is how it is "perpetually liminal" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27354021

Re: U.S. unable to explain more than 140 unidentified flying objects, but no aliens

#14

Post by blacksmith_tb »

ALittleLight wrote: post #7

This is a poor title. What part of advanced technology and flying at considerable speed without discernable means of propulsion rules out aliens? Aliens weren't confirmed, or even mentioned, but my reading of the report is that aliens are more likely an explanation than I thought them to be yesterday, not less.

I can't help but think of Clarke's "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - it seems like the Navy's reports could almost equally plausibly be attributed to dragons or spirits? I personally think the universe is probably packed with aliens, but it's a big place, so it'd be almost as improbable that they're flitting around Earth's atmosphere as dragons...

Re: U.S. unable to explain more than 140 unidentified flying objects, but no aliens

#15

Post by viraptor »

There are two things that just don't seem plausible at all for me in those stories:

1. Previous article mentions "For some Navy pilots, UFO sightings were an ordinary event: ‘Every day for at least a couple years’" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/17/ufo-sightin...) Is DoD too cheap for a bunch of GoPros? If the incidents are that common and a potential security issue, why don't we have validated days worth of high quality video footage already? It seems we can't keep army secrets secure from soldiers taking selfies, but a daily occurrence has barely one annual photo?

2. Given how many non-military flights there are every single day, how do we not have people noticing the same objects from them? Where are the flights with multiple people taking independent videos of the same unidentified object on their phones? (Essentially this issue https://xkcd.com/1235/)

Re: U.S. unable to explain more than 140 unidentified flying objects, but no aliens

#17

Post by BitwiseFool »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #9
drewem wrote: post #2

I think the Wall Street Journal had the best lede on this: “U.S. intelligence officials have examined more than a dozen sightings of unexplained aerial objects that displayed no visible propulsion or that used technology beyond the known capabilities of the U.S. or its adversaries, according to a senior U.S. official describing a new report.“

Not to get too far off topic but the intelligence community isn't exactly a benchmark for truth and transparency. Within its arsenal is misinformation, and it's not afraid to use it. Also, the recent reports I've watched and read all eventually mentioned "national security." Such mentions are euphemisms for more funding, more DOD budget, etc. Granted, it could be aliens. Nonetheless there are plenty of earthlings who…

Intelligence Agencies are designed to deceive. That's their primary function. It is completely within the realm of possibility that this is some psyop, ploy for funding, or tool designed to throw off some foreign adversary about our technical capabilities.

Re: U.S. unable to explain more than 140 unidentified flying objects, but no aliens

#19

Post by dheera »

issa wrote: post #16

I would love for it to be aliens, but it seems like one of the least likely explanations. Occam's razor doesn't magically give you an answer, but humans flying drones seems like it should be the obvious explanation.

If aliens showed up on Earth it would be FAR more likely to be observed and photographed by multiple civilians than the military. Civilian eyeballs outnumber the military by a couple orders of magnitude. You'd probably see it on Instagram first.

Re: U.S. unable to explain more than 140 unidentified flying objects, but no aliens

#20

Post by dragonwriter »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #17
chiefalchemist wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to get too far off topic but the intelligence community isn't exactly a benchmark for truth and transparency. Within its arsenal is misinformation, and it's not afraid to use it. Also, the recent reports I've watched and read all eventually mentioned "national security." Such mentions are euphemisms for more funding, more DOD budget, etc. Granted, it could be aliens. Nonetheless there are plenty of earthlings who…

Intelligence Agencies are designed to deceive. That's their primary function. It is completely within the realm of possibility that this is some psyop, ploy for funding, or tool designed to throw off some foreign adversary about our technical capabilities.

> Intelligence Agencies are designed to deceive.

No, their primary function is to acquire information useful to decisions makers, including info others want to keep secret. Counterintelligence agencies, which are sometimes conjoined to intelligence agencies and sometimes separate have a primary function of preventing information that decisionmakers want to remain secret from being discovered. Deception is frequently an important technique in both intelligence and counterintelligence, and if understood broadly enough is integral to the purpose of counterintelligence.

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