When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. The principles of science do not allow us to rule out the possibility that these events are the result of al

When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. The principles of science do not allow us to rule out the possibility that these events are the result of alien life or supernatural phenomena. But it does give us plenty of evidence that there are more mundane, more plausible explanations. And when you're faced with a potentially world-changing revelation, like confirmed contact with extraterrestrial life, it is basic due diligence to speculate on and rule out those mundane explanations first. When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. But you have to eliminate first. That is how you arrive at new knowledge, and that is how paradigms are shifted. Could it be supernatural beings trolling humanity? Sure. But such an extraordinary claim requires correspondingly extraordinary evidence. That it was a secret, terrestrial weapons system designed to confound FLIR also requires evidence, but it's a much more likely explanation, and can generally be accepted as probable with correspondingly less evidence.