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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder about aliens

69 replies

Russiawithlove · 08/12/2018 06:52

A friend of mine is completely obsessed with ufos.
It's been a bit of a standard joke and over the years I've listened but not taken much notice.
Last night we had a good discussion and he lent me a book by a respected ufologist called above top secret.

Apparently Ronald Regan had heavy involvement of top secret knowledge of their existence. And also high level military chiefs.

Now I'm becoming a bit fascinated. Could there really be a top level worldwide cover up?

OP posts:

CoughLaughFart · 08/12/2018 10:47

Also, you're buying the idea that every nation's military and government have managed to agree for over 50 years on this one issue AND keep it all under wraps? Since when have they all agreed on anything?

Exactly. I can remember a handful of times in my lifetime when the Conservatives and Labour have been united on an issue. What you’re suggesting is that we extrapolate that to major powers worldwide who, in the last 70 years, have fought countless wars. The US and the USSR were ready to destroy each other for over 40 years. Western and Eastern Europe were divided by communism for the same period. The Middle East is a hotbed of in-fighting before we even consider the relationships of those countries with other world powers. Yet on this one issue, every single country, EVERY government those countries has had in the same period, has been 100% united on this? Not ONE has gone rogue?

Even if you assume it’s SO secret that only a handful of governments know, those that do are likely to be major superpowers - and I think I’ve already covered the relationships between said superpowers.

quarterpast · 08/12/2018 10:48

I think alien life very likely exists in various forms across the universe, on the balance of probabilities. I also think that it's logical that we haven't directly seen or been contacted by any alien life forms, simply due to the distances involved between stars and plants in the universe.

Planets that are considered 'close' are measured in light years, so an Earth year of our time spent travelling at the speed of light. If you consider just how mind blowingly far away from our planet one light year actually is, it makes sense that life forms like our own are in no way able to even leave their own solar systems, let alone travel to ours.

Interstellar space is an incredibly hostile environment, full of debris and massive objects travelling extremely fast. There's deadly radiation and incredible gravitational forces surrounding stars and planets which would mean it's virtually impossible to travel past without being inescapably pulled towards them. There are also all sorts of phenomena like black holes, neutron stars/pulsars that would impossible to pass by, even by light years and remain unaffected.

Then there's the problem of time 'slowing down' as you approach the speed of light, so even if you could create some kind of craft that could withstand all of the above, while moving at the required speed to cross the distances involved with being pulverised, it may be the case that life onboard would not survive as time goes screwy at these kind of speeds...

TooTrueToBeGood · 08/12/2018 10:52

a respected ufologist

Respected by like-minded crackpots possibly, not by the academic or scientific community.

Original poster

Russiawithlove · 08/12/2018 11:37

The author cannot be a crackpot. His name is Timothy Good. He has been in meetings at the Pentagon and on Russian tv.
Why would such presidents want to speak to him?

OP posts:

Ifailed · 08/12/2018 12:03

The author cannot be a crackpot. His name is Timothy Good. He has been in meetings at the Pentagon and on Russian tv.

So has Donald Trump. QED.

TooTrueToBeGood · 08/12/2018 12:11

The author cannot be a crackpot

He's a UFOlogist, the very defintion of a crackpot. You used the word "respected" as though he is some credible source. He is no more worthy of respect than David Icke or Erich von Däniken.

He has been in meetings at the Pentagon and on Russian tv

That proves the square root of fuck all.

Original poster

Russiawithlove · 08/12/2018 12:17

Ok il shut up. And il put my book away now haha

OP posts:

prole · 08/12/2018 12:21

I can believe life exists elsewhere in the universe. The distances involved make it unlikely we'll ever meet up. In terms of 'warp speed', even aliens have to put up with the same set of physics we do.

Regarding aliens with bases on earth zipping about the place, I think we'd have noticed. This planet has CCTV under the guise of weather satellites which you can receive at home with the right gear.

Is there a multi-verse and can beings nip between them? That's a very different story perhaps.

ManicUnicorn · 08/12/2018 12:35

I think that most people accept aliens exist, given the size of the universe it's inevitable that there is life elsewhere. Not sure they've been Earth though. How could you cover that up?

SeaWitchly · 08/12/2018 13:28

Around 20 years ago now... I saw four orange lights, slightly bigger than the stars, moving slowly in a line formation across the sky. I pointed them out to the friend I was with and asked what’s that? Almost immediately the lights started zig zagging incredibly fast and then all shot off in the same direction, leaving a trail of light behind. Yes, I may be particularly bad at identifying flying objects... can anyone help me make sense of what I saw that night?

WhoTFIsAlanBrazil · 08/12/2018 13:42

In summary, yes there may well be alien life forms, it could even be quite prevalent, but the chances of them actually visiting us are very slim, and would involve a much higher level of technology than we have such that they would be invisible to us, why would they be so clumsy to be actually seen, or even worse, captured?

This ^

I just don't understand how some sort of international cover-up would work, either.

There are definitely things that governments aren't (quite rightly) sharing with regular citizens, but it's probably along the lines of experimental military technologies rather than alien encounters.

MissConductUS · 08/12/2018 14:04

Trump is not a lizard person alien. If he were he'd be considerably smarter.

I live near a nuclear power plant and have never seen a UFO or heard of any reports of any.

I think it's very likely that there is other intelligent life but given the vastness of the universe they are probably unaware of us or completely uninterested.

CoughLaughFart · 08/12/2018 23:54

What no one on this thread - or indeed anyone who believes in aliens - has been able to explain is how they’ve visited Earth (and have done so often enough to inspire an international cover-up), yet we’re still struggling to get to Mars.

TheMatriarch · 09/12/2018 00:03

We can't get to Mars because we don't have the technology?

I'm on the fence about believing. There are some intriguing cases that can send you down rabbit holes.
OP, have a google for Bob Lazar, you might enjoy what he has to say about his former career.

marmitedoughnut · 09/12/2018 06:38

Our planet (and technology) is young in terms of the universe, it is quite possible there are other planets out there with civilisations that are millions of years more technologically advanced than we are - seeing how tech has advanced here in even the last 50 years I find that thought truly mind boggling.

Ifailed · 09/12/2018 06:56

marmitedoughnut Quite. The idea that these aliens would be sending some of their own kind to visit us in a metal saucer is laughable!

TooTrueToBeGood · 09/12/2018 10:06

One thing is for sure. For aliens to visit earth they would have to have technology beyond our comprehension. With such a technological advantage they could either walk openly amongst us with total impunity or, alternatively, ensure they would never be detected even by our most sophisticated equipment. What defies logic is the possibility that they would try to "fly under the radar" but would occassionally get caught out, not by reputed scientists, observatories and research labs but by trailer-dwelling rednecks, deadbeats, fantasists and people clearly suffering from mental health issues.

Meangirls36 · 09/12/2018 16:37

I want to believe

Cooroo · 09/12/2018 16:42

For balance, try finding relevant episodes of the Skeptoid podcast.

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