I know it seems a bit of a daft question, and I'll probably change my mind tomorrow, but at the moment for some reason it seems to me that there probably is.

I know the statistical arguments against there being any sentient lifeforms buzzing around our planet, but tonight I'm feeling generous and wanting the to be there.

Do you think that humanity has ever been contacted by aliens?

Bah, I doubt it.

[hard-boiled cynic]The only evidence of aliens is always some crockpot farmer trying to get attention or "evidence" that was "accidentally" released by the government. It's all a scheme made up by the oil companies. Nikola Tesla's cold fusion machine was banned by the Supreme Court, and his super-efficient flying machine [which was eerily simialar to the average description of UFOs] got him exiled from the country. The government has that technology, they're just using triple-revers psychology.[/hard-boiled cynic]

i'd say yes and no.. do i think the goverment has a secret underground place named area 51 that covers up aliens? no. do i think the government knows of aliens exsistance? yes. it just seems like they jump to tell us what a UFO "really" is.

I would have to agree with you there. I do think that we have had some contact with extra terrestrial life I just don't think it's the aliens we were hoping for, so rather than have the entire planet scouring their ponds for alien plankton after a down pour I think they've just elected to ignore it until we can see a little green man and shake his hand or the whole world dies of space flu. And as for area 51- I think that area 52 is the one we should be worrying about. Think about it- all those years of loons camping out in Arizona wouldn't it be hilarious is the aliens were next door?

Unfortunely, I cannot accept the idea of an alien intelligence visiting us surruptitiously enough to not be caught by scientists, but blundering enough for every country bumpkin to have an experiance with them. Besides which, I think that Unidentified Flying Objects are least likely to be extraterrestrial. I tend to try to find the simplest solutions first, not the most complicated.

I've never really examined this conspiracy theory. Why exactly do people think there are aliens in Area 51 specifically?

Here's the best explanation I've seen
http://www.area51zone.com/base.shtml

Pretty much - there are lights, and guards...umm...that's it....oh, and someone said that they had worked on an alien spacecraft 1n 1989.

I think I'm right in saying that all the Roswell stuff was supposed to have been taken there too.

The Roswell 'crash' is quite interesting, there's a lot of things that don't add up in the statements and the reasons given by the US military don't fit with their normal behaviour or the eyewitness reports. This said, if there are secret tests happening on the base (highly likely) then the military is not likely to be telling everyone what they're doing which will give the appearence of unusual behaviour, and eyewitnesses have always been unreliable... But still I think that this is one of the more convincing UFO events in recent-ish history.

There was another one near a military base in the UK fairly recently which had many professional eyewitnesses and has so far been inexplicable. I can't remember the name of the base though... Essentially lights were seen in trees by soldiers, on checking it out the lights disappeared. A few nights later the lights were back, the soldiers went to have a look and the light moved up very fast into the sky, zoomed around with no regard for normal physics, and then disappeared.

I think it would be daft to assume we are the only intelligent life in the universe, and I know full well the difficulties involved with inter-stellar travel, but something in me wonders if there is more to all the stories than pilots with dizzy spots, malfunctioning radars, and drunken 'witnesses'. This might be because I really want UFOs to be true, but I think I'm rational enough to also see that there have been some odd events that science has not described yet.

While I want to think aliens exist somewhere, I don't believe the popularized versions are accurate. Someone pointed something out to me that kind of sums up my theory on the UFO/Alien abduction bit. Primitive countries have demons, spirits and supernatural happenings with occasionally bizarre happenings. We have UFO abductions. I believe there's a spiritual element, but I wouldn't be surprised if some people have a need/illness/dream and put the culturally appropriate spin on it as well.

I'm certain there could be intelligent life and I'd like to think there's been some sign of it, but I don't think we have enough to rule it out or in yet. If there's been signs, we might not know how to interpret them and the goverment can't even be honest and clear about policy, let alone something like this. Maybe we'll find out someday.

What precisely is it about America's recent foreign policy that makes you think that if they had access to advanced technologies they wouldn't use them to subjugate all of humanity to their will (bwa-ha-ha etc)?

And that's reason enough for me.

Oh, and the Fermi Paradox is rather thought-provoking too.

No. I believe that there is alien life out there. Hell, I could even go with some super secret stuff being located there (think new weaponry and the like) and some weird testing. But alien life? Doubt it.

If we had aliens, we shoud keep tem at Area 42!

I would have to agree with those who said that there is alien life out there somewhere, but probably not on Earth, and especially not in area 51.

And the doors are padlocked, bolted and duct-taped shut?

Honestly, I highly doubt our current government's ability to keep secret alien life, when secret memos and whatnot leak to the media regularly... Plus, if an alien had the technology to come here, how exactly would we overpower it (or them), and keep them in some lab for god-knows how long? Must be one stupid (and therefore useless) alien...

Well, they haven't really kept the secret all too well if there are aliens there, because a whole lot of people seem to know about area 51.

I don’t believe there are aliens at area 51

I think if there were aliens with super advanced technology they would view our continual attempts at self destruction and put a giant intergalactic warning sign for all other ships passing our planet
If they were nice friendly aliens that is

If they were nasty critters we would be eradicated or enslaved forced to work till we die.

Just in case I am right regarding the second one

HAIL SPACE ANTS

I will betray my people for you

Seen half-life 2? I’d happily be that doctor guy selling my people down the river

And if there is no space ants then the above is a joke and should be treated accordingly

I'd like to believe in the possibility that there are aliens who just so happen to try and come visiting to "study us" despite the fact that they are way more advanced then us. Personally if I were an alien capabable of understanding and utlizing space or quantum or how ever you think they travel methods Id probably be out looking for a race at least close to my smartness.
As for area 51 well I think its more likely that the government has something else they want covered up, and are more then willing to let people thinks its an alien space ship then speculate what it is.

hmmmm... well oobunnie makes a good point, i'm always one to love a conspiracy theory... and this ones been going around for so long there has got to be some truth to it....Ok, so that sounds like dumb reasoning, but even if there aren't aliens in area 51, i'm sure there are a fews science experiments gone ary (such as phsycic mouldy bread) or something that would still make it an intresting place

I don't think that aliens really do visit us, but, have you ever been bird-watching?

no but the idea seems very tedious to me. And at that most birds would probably figure out you're there. They really are smarter animals then people give them credit for.

I definately think they's life out there. It's be arrogant to think otherwise. However, the Government isn't some Borgish entity. I really don't think there's any one a single government could contact/control/et cetera alien life without anyone else noticing or telling. For god's sake, they can't even keep track of how much the military is spending on toilet paper. I seriously doubt they could control all the information about aliens.

I think that the military performs a lot of its more experimental ideas there, and so the government prefers there to be an idea of either - "it's aliens!" or "I have no reason to be interested in that because only the nutty alien people are" rather than "I wonder what they are actually doing there?". Disinformation is a good thing for military projects - don't just tell people nothing is happening, let them believe something else, so ludicrious, that other people will just ignore it.

Clicky clicky

The last part sounds kind of iffy, but it's got some good points.

Nikola Tesla also created the Alternating Current motor, the fridge and the tesla coil.

EDIT: He also invented the pop-gun at a very early age.

Hm, This one i change my mind on frequently.
There are definately aliens in the universe- but whether they've visited earth, besides bothering to allow the US Govt to access their technology i think is highly unlikely.

Theres a lot of unexplained stuff that gets attributed to aliens, and a lot of unexplained stuff that gets attributed to anything but aliens, no matter how obscure.

I suppose I'm more interested in spatial anomalies with as yet no natural cause than conspiracy theories.

Yeah, Area 51- most likely just a base for experimentation of fully human, if not entirely humane, technology.

Also if Aliens could travel all this way surely they could do it without crashing next to someone in Texas. Or perhaps they were trying to get to somewhere far more interesting and happened to forget we were in the way.

While I agree with the sentiment that 'governments are probably rubbish at covering things up so surely we should know by now' there have been lots of official witnesses to odd things that they have attributed to aliens, but these have been dismissed by most people purely because they are talking about aliens.

If a fighter pilot said that he flew over a field and saw two groups shooting at each-other then you'd probably believe him, or at least think that it was likely that there was some sort of cover-up going on if no evidence was found, but when they report that they see UFOs, complete with inexplicably fast-moving radar blips, they are mostly dismissed.

As I said before, I know that the chances of aliens really being here and visiting us are ludicrously remote, but that doesn't mean it's not happening either. The chances of life even existing are pretty slim, but that's happened!

In regards to the question of motivation for them watching and not contacting us, it doesn't seem unreasonable that they might be interested in watching our social and biological evolution. Just as we study primitive life-forms to find out about where we came from it doesn't seem too far-fetched to think that aliens might be interested in us for similar reasons.

*sings*
The chance of anything coming from Mars are a million to one... But still they co-ome! */sings*

Uuuuuuulaaaaaaaaa!

Maybe aliens are clever, they only pick random nut-job loner Americans to study because they know that the rest of the world will never believe them... except the people who have nuclear bunkers and rock back and forth in corners wearing tin foil hats, but they don't really count.

If there are aliens then I hope StarTrek is a realistic representation, so many different varieties and so many who are able to co-exist quite happily. Of course you'll always have some who feel left out and wage war with you but that's going to happen aliens or no aliens... every species will have at least few ASWs, others will be made of them.

OK you just made me choke

YES YES YES !!!!!YESS!!!!!It HAS been prof of aliens and UFO's i am a true supporter.

I think it's because the government keeps coming up with new denials of the UFO crash, changing their story each time, and each denial sounding more phony than the last... I think that the conscensus is that they are doing SOMETHING clandestine there, and studying a crashed UFO is as good a theory as any. Either the Pentagon has been incredibly stupid, and not taken human nature into account in trying to deter attention from area 51, Or they HAVE taken human nature into account, and are using area 51 as a smoke screen for what they are really doing , but it's doubtful that there are aliens at area 51. It's just too simple a solution for the puzzle. As for what they are really doing, at area 51, it's probably some new kind of terrestrial aircraft, or a new formula for nerve gas... something unconscionable, but mundane...

What exactly do you mean? What definitive proof (I assume you mean proof) has there been in favor of aliens, and what do you support?

If aliens could travel, the least they would do is invest in seat belts. Or crash absorbers.

No, if they were capable of interstellar travel they would NOT plow straight into the earth, which most conspiracy theorists think they would do.

And think for a moment... why the US south? Why crash into an area where electric lighting is considered the devils work! Go somewhere like Switzerland or California where people are eager to support your work!

I feel that there may very well be MANY alien lifeforms in the multiverse. Some may have visited Terra in our immediate time frame. Though why they would restrict their activities to Nevada I have no idea.... maybe they did, but it makes no sense to me.

To me Nevada seems like a place for extremely high tech research, no more.

For instance they recently used an electronic pulse that contained more ampage (or voltagage... can't remember which) than 3-6 times more than the entire Earth combined. Is that alien tech? Or is that just research? Bear in mind that the Hiroshima atomic blast involved a heat more than that of our Sun.

To me it seems like the area is just used for incredible high tech research.

Aliens? Well if they are high tech enough to reach us then they could own our planet completely. By now you and me would be speaking Vesudan.

Isn’t the moon landing set self-explanatory?

Not necessarily. No where has it been proved that the 'set' was any more than a training facility (to my knowledge). Photo's, etc. It could just have been a set for later work. Although there is some nagging doubt in my mind that there are places where the moon buggy takes a an almost 90 degree turn, or places where footprints are shown to have dust settle quicker than gravity would allow... and shadows themselves. But I am not an expert on solar system dynamics.

....... although I agree that it does raise a considerate ammount of questions. I would hate to think that the entire Cold War was just an elaberate screen for something else...


And there are certain anomalies in the Moon Landing pics that defy rational explanation

But even so... shouldn't there be a whole host of information about them that is impossible to cover up or deny if they are here?

*shrugs*

The investigation continues....

Like what? I've yet to find any that defy reasoning.

Oh pulease. Let's not get into the whole "Teh m00n landings where fake!!!1111oneoneeleven".

¬_¬

They are quite clearly genuine.

didn't the flag wave or something? i swear theres no air on the moon.....

The flag moved from inertia, and the fact that the bar which was supposed to keep it stretched didn't extend all the way made it look like it was permanently blowing in the wind. Flags naturally sag and look rather terrible, so they had to put something in it to stretch it and make it look more patriotic, but it failed and looked like it is always billowing.

Well, Calantyr, here is ONE thing of many that really ensures me that, beyond reasonable doubt, Neil Armstrong DID land on the moon. During the video, the dust kicked up after the Dune Buggy fell directly to the ground, rather than floating all around. This is because the moon has no atmosphere, so the dust has no force to keep it up in the air once it loses its vertical momentum. For it to be re-created on Earth, the crew would need acces to a large, enterable Hermatic vaccum room, something that is impossible even at today's level of science.

The fact which interested me was, apart from the shadows, the fact that later moon landing expedition videos could all be overlayed on each other to reveal that all cameras were placed in exactly the same location each time. Sorry if that sounds a bit waffly.

I am relatively certain that there is alien life somewhere out there, but whether there's any on earth, I dunno. I'm sure aliens wouldn't want to come here for a nice weekend break knowing that the stupid primitive occupants would strap them to a big chair, cut them open and remove their vital organs.

This is not true. The fact is that since there is no atmosphere, objects miles and miles away look sharp and clear. Try this experiment. Go somewhere there are either mountains, or obscenely tall buildings in the distance, a few miles at least. Take a photograph of them. Move fifty yards in any direction and take a photograph of them. The photographs will look like they were taken from the same spot. Now, remembering that, look at the moon pictures again, and realize that since there is no atmosphere, the distant mountains will look the same from many angles, within a very large area.

The shadows is also bull hockey.


The source