ET can’t phone home if he doesn’t exist. According to the White House, he doesn’t. After all, it’s not like the US Government would lie to us — would it?
Damn. Guess I’d better stop baking those “Welcome To Our Planet, Evil Overlords” cupcakes. According to no less an organ than the official White House We The People Blog, there’s no evidence of of extraterrestrial life. Glad that’s sorted out, then.
Specifically, the blog post is in response to a petition asking the Obama government to “acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence here on Earth”. Yeah, really. Because we all know petitions work so well. Putting my sarcastic headwear aside for a moment (it must be Monday, or something), the blog post does note the scientific research being undertaken to examine the question of extra-terrestrial life, including SETI, the Kepler spacecraft and the Mars science laboratory.
This one rests, naturally enough, on where on the tinfoil hat spectrum you sit. Either the White House is dispassionately reporting the truth as it’s currently understood, or there’s a massive conspiracy of shadowy big government types. Is the truth out there? [We The People via USA Today]
Redacted
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 10:17 AMComment redacted
Boxxy
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 10:53 AMThere’s absolutely no doubt that similar life forms exist in the universe, whether they are more or less advanced is a different matter.
I don’t really have an opinion whether these life forms reside on this planet, either incognito or under government protection – it’s plausible considering we wouldn’t even know what we’re looking for, for all we know they could look just like us.
Mulder
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 11:00 AMCue X-Files music
Scully
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 11:01 AMShut up, Mulder
Director Skinner
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 10:05 PMYou two, in my office. NOW.
CGB Spender
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 9:18 AMThat won’t be necessary, Walter.
Osiris Fox
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 11:24 AMRe, “They could look just like us” – Agreed. Convergent evolution springs to mind. Provided DNA is the common currency of life in the Universe, this could be very plausible. Or at least, they could look enough like us to blend in with minimal effort. Another point of interest for me, is that we have only really been “sort of aware” now for what 20000 years, and perhaps fully aware for the last 2000. Thus, it is also entirely plausible, that the universe produces life like bubbles in boiling water, popping up and dying out continually, though never actually being synchronized enough (technologically and so on) to actually exist at the same point in time and have the means to communicate or interact on a galactic level.
Lillee
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 12:42 PMMy head hurts
Ozoneocean
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 2:30 PMNope, that is impossible. Humans only look the way we do precisely because of all the environmental influences, mistakes in gene codes, social breeding patterns and accidents of geography that have happened over millions of years. The reason other animals have similar traits is because they’re related to us- All those millions of evolution that created two eyes and even finger joints are shared equally amongst almost all animals- insects, mammals, birds, fish etc.
The idea that ETs would look anything at all like us or even like any other earth animal is pure fantasy. If they actually did then that would basically be grounds for proof of the existence of god.
Ozoneocean
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 2:32 PM*millions of years of evolution
Boxxy
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 3:06 PMConsidering how big the universe is it would not amaze me if there were strikingly similar planets like earth, maybe we can see homo-sapiens in a different stage of evolution, either earlier or later – maybe they could be strikingly similar in their evolutionary traits besides a few fundamental difference that might affect their inner biology and would basically look the same but function different.
It is hardly proving grounds for a deity, just coincidental.
woodsdog
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 11:12 AMtin foil hats for all
Timmahh
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 12:18 PMSo now that the US has decided that they don’t exist, does that mean that all those people who have seen them are all lying, or idiots or just imagining them?
Lillee
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 12:48 PMThey exist, they’ve been visiting us for a long long time and the reason governments and entities that have evidence don’t want the public to know is because the root of all religion on Earth is based on their past visitations to seed religion into our society and tame the violent masses.
This would create pandemonium on Earth in a global scale. Or at least that’s the theory which drives the denial.
Maybe, just maybe, we have “grown up” enough to accept the truth. Then again examples of blind “Religious Fundamentalism” might prove that wrong…
MDolley
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 1:46 PM“to seed religion into our society and tame the violent masses.”
Surely if aliens created religion to tame us they’d come back and try again when they realised how badly they’d stuffed it up the first time. I mean religion could easily be argued as the worst thing to ever happen to the human race.
Boxxy
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 1:54 PMYou’ve misunderstood her statement, early man created Religion as their explanation for these creatures and their visitations, man has since taken advantage of this.
Lillee
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 2:19 PMIt is not their fault that we have misinterpreted their teachings. We are a violent, selfish, ignorant race only once removed from apes. Without belief and faith, we are but animals in a cage called Earth.
Besides, who’s to say they have not tried to come back? I’d argue that they have but we are no longer 1000BC man and see angels in the sky as a threat being the violent beings we are.
If they wanted to annihilate us, they could have done so 5000 years ago when they first visited Egyptians, Sumerians, Celtic tribes and possibly Central Americans.
“There are more stars in the universe as there are grains of sand on Earth”. Lets not kid ourselves…
Lillee
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 2:28 PMOne does not need a degree in astrophysics to google “Hubble deep field” and “Drake equation” to put two and two together.
Hint: Answer is at current estimates there are 10,000 advanced alien races within our galaxy alone
Timmahh
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 3:05 PMYeah, that’s kinda out there, but I don’t think they are from another solar system or whatever. They are either us from the future, or from a parallel dimension. This makes more sense than travelling light years to get here.
Sherry Williams Barnes
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 12:50 PMSeen what exactly? Lights in the sky? lol, planes.
Boxxy
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 1:52 PMI witnessed my first UFO a few months ago in Melbourne around Sydenham, it was flying/hovering erratically for a span of 45-60 minutes, it was changing colors from red – green – purple, a few times the color would turn off and you could no longer see it, during the time it rapidly plummeted to earth a few km’s away, flashing colors instantly on its way down.
I understand you naysayers – you have to see it to believe it, my sister got there when it was gone and was basically laughing at us with the usual “it’s a plane, maybe it was a helicopter, maybe it was a laser, maybe it was a toy plane, oh you guys are so silly and paranoid” until it came back into vision 5 minutes later, she now believes one she has seen it with her own eyes.
I have plenty of people backing what I saw after I found this website;
http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=13389
Numerous people around the same area witnessing the same thing on the same day, all adamant that it couldn’t have been man made if you saw how it hovered around.
Sherry Williams Barnes
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 2:06 PMSounds pretty amazing, but it is quite a big leap from what you witnessed to claiming aliens travelling the immense distance from x to here just to fly erratically in our sky for lols. Why would they do that?
Timmahh
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 3:06 PMDidn’t you read the head line, they don’t exist…. Obama says so :)
John
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 4:23 PMFor shits & giggles of course
Arcane
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 1:15 PMThink about it this way;
If aliens were not visiting us, there would still be UFOs with most of them misidentifying of mundane and not so mundane things . There would also be some that we could never identify because of the issues with humans but would not be aliens spaceships.
If aliens were visiting us, there would be ufos, some of them misidentifying mundane things, some of them unidentified, some aliens but no real evidence but then there would be some that are clearly visiting aliens.
We are missing that percentage of clear alien visitations. It kind of makes the former statement more likely – we would expect more often to get UFOs that were clearly alien spaceships.
Boxxy
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 1:28 PMAnd what’s clearly an alien spaceship?
How do we recognize something we have never seen? Do we know what capabilities they have? Does everyone happen to carry a camera on them when they see one? Do they travel slow enough/close enough to be taped?
Stop getting your information from movies, use a bit of logic.
If one see’s a spaceship, how does one prove it to the masses without being called crazy?
Lillee statement is very correct, modern day religions are based on old religions which are based on early ET contact, we see writings and pictures in these old religions of visitations from creatures from the ‘heavens’ (remember, these are written by civilizations from the dawn of human intelligence).
Why is it the masses are more likely to believe in a mystical, all powerful, hidden deity in the sky/spiritual world then an advanced race from another planet?
Boxxy
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 2:13 PMAgain, use some logic. Think outside the box.
Travelling that distance is an extraordinary, impossible task for us with present day technology – are we aware of their technology?
Flying in our sky for lols? Why would they do that? Who knows if they were actually studying, looking at/for something – who knows, the possibilities are endless.
Read my post again, I never said they were aliens – I said I saw a UFO, provide me a viable explanation for what I saw and I might lean less to the ET side because as far as I know there is no aerodynamic man made technology like that which operates in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
Sherry Williams Barnes
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 3:36 PM“are we aware of their technology?”
No, but, we have a great understanding of physics and what is impossible at any level of technology.
“Read my post again, I never said they were aliens ”
If you do not think it was alien, then why did you bring it up on a story about aliens.
“provide me a viable explanation for what I saw”
It’s not my job to prove your theories wrong.
Matt
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 4:45 PM“No, but, we have a great understanding of physics and what is impossible at any level of technology.”
Our knowledge in physics is not complete, think of a type III civilization that is tens of thousands of years more advanced then us, they are biologically superior to us (live to be in the hundreds, maybe thousands) and live in our galaxy. Drake’s equation estimates there to be 10,000 other advanced races in our galaxy alone.
“If you do not think it was alien, then why did you bring it up on a story about aliens.”
Because it very well could have been, I didn’t say they weren’t or were aliens – I just pointed out the fact that I saw a UFO.
“It’s not my job to prove your theories wrong.”
Clearly, you would be failing miserably if it were. =)
Sherry Williams Barnes
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 4:52 PMMatt, I think you misunderstand, by saying it’s not my job to prove your theories wrong I mean you need to prove them right, so you see, it is you who is failing. I’m sorry.
Dan
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 4:11 PMI have no doubt that there are intelligent extra-terrestrial lifeforms. However, if earth has indeed been visited by aliens, then they are an order of magnitude more technologically advanced than the human race. They’d have to be to have managed realistic inter-stellar travel.
Given their technological superiority, one would have to wonder what their purpose in coming here is? If they’ve come to quietly reconnoiter the planet, then they’re not very good at being stealthy. They get seen all the time. If they’ve come to make contact, then why do they choose to introduce themselves to some six-fingered in-bred from Hicksville, Alabama. Surely an intelligent alien race would choose to land in Times Square or the Champs Elysees or downtown Toowoomba. OK. Maybe not Toowoomba.
To me, the only really logical answer is that aliens have not visited this planet. But then, alien invasion might go quite a long way to explaining Senator Bob Brown…
Simon Reidy
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 1:48 PMI agree with everything except the Bob Brown theory. I think you’ll find Barnaby Joyce is the most prominent alien in politics, followed closely by “Mad as a Hatter” Katter :)
But in all seriousness, the response from the U.S Government is a perfectly rational and open one, with the most up to date situation of what they, and some of the world’s best scientists, currently know. SETI is by far the most respected organistation when it comes to a proper scientific hunt for aliens, and there is so much great material on their website. (www.seti.org).
SETI’s head scientist Seth Shostak also hosts a weekly podcast called “Are We Alone” which you can find in iTunes. As he often says when asked about UFOs or aliens on Earth: “If scientists thought for one second that there was even the remote possibility of alien visitations on Earth, they would be falling over themselves for research grants. They are not”. Funny that!
To suggest the “Government”‘ (which has actually been a long succession of hundreds of people working at The White House, since the first reports of U.F.O.’s and “alien visitations” came in ) is covering anything up about extra-terrestrial life is so absurd its hard to even know where to begin debunking such a ridiculous myth. Governments can barely contain secrets as it is (look at all the leaks from ours and the US!) and do you really think that not one of those thousands of people that have worked at the whitehouse would have spoken out or leaked something by now? I don’t see anything on WikiLeaks about them!
And WHY would they? Even if a Government would want to cover up something this huge, people talk, and something would have slipped out.
As the late great scientist and sf author, Arthur C. Clarke used to say; UFOs certainly exist. People see them every day and I’ve even seen a couple of mysterious ones myself. However the vast majority of them can be explained by checking what was in the air at that given point of time. People have been tricked by everything from clouds, to weather balloons to satellites. And there are thousands of planes in our skies every day and so on. Just becuase you see something wierd in the sky, does not automatically mean they are an alien visitor. And why would they just skirt around our skies without making genuine contact or exposing their vistation? As Dan said above, the only reports about alien visitation happen in remote areas, generally to some illiterate hick. The rest can be explained away by various states of dreaming, and altered consciousness. The brain is a lot wierder andf more powerful than you think when it comes to waking hallucinations.
I could go on about this all day, but if you really are silly enough to think aliens are here, then you should at least read http://www.skepdic.com/tialien.html before making up your mind. You’ll learn a lot.
Ddo I believe the universe contains lifeforms other than us? Absolutely. It would be an awful waste of space if it didn’t! However I don’t think there’s any credible evidence that they have ever visitied Earth, and they probably never will.