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To paraphrase Bostrom, there is a lot of interest here, regardless of the the ground truth of UFO phenomena. This perspective is a good one: what would a slow-

To paraphrase Bostrom, there is a lot of interest here, regardless of the the ground truth of UFO phenomena. This perspective is a good one: what would a slow-drip/evolving story be good for? What might its objectives be? That is a useful question, regardless of whether we ever get ground truth. To wit: our government has a very long (now 70 year) history of exploiting UFO reporting for various ends and for murky reasons. Recommended sober account: https://www.amazon.com/UFOs-Government-Historical-Michael-Swords/dp/1933665580 https://www.amazon.com/UFOs-Government-Historical-Michael-Sw... De rigeur disclosure: I am related to one of the authors :) -- A different angle: one of the more interesting perspectives on UFO phenomena comes form Jacque Vallée, VC and real-life model for Lacombe, the civilian expert played by François Truffaut in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He has hypothesized that whatever the ultimate nature of UFO phenomena, it is consistent with a very slow period (think Long Now-scale) inoculation/inculcation of–for lack of a better word–contact. Between humanity and what exactly he does not claim to have any answer.

anoniuyiu33412 6y ago
I would suppose that longer the period, the weirder / dangerous the alien species are to us. Think about some highly intelligent reptile predator species, with a taste for mamal meat. Yeah, the creeps are there. I think not everyone - not anyone - would be kind of having much of fun discovering we are not alone, in that case.
- krapp 6y ago
  >Think about some highly intelligent reptile predator species, with a taste for mamal meat. I mean, let's be realistic, we could still do business in that scenario. Maybe trade a few million tasty human popplers for a stargate or zero-point engine or something.
  - anoniuyiu33412 6y ago
    Exactly, why everyone would need two hands all their life?
    - SauciestGNU 6y ago
      Shit I have a bum leg, hook me up with some advanced prosthetics and they can eat their pulmonary organs out.
- throwaway743 6y ago
  We probably would've already been taken out in that case. If this is about aliens, maybe they're chill dudes just observing. Maybe they're on vacation or doing research on the evolution of various civilizations across the galaxy/universe. Who knows? I just hope the reptilian scenario isn't the reality we face. In any case, whatever we find out will likely be interesting, extraterrestrials or not.

anoniuyiu33412 6y ago

I would suppose that longer the period, the weirder / dangerous the alien species are to us. Think about some highly intelligent reptile predator species, with a taste for mamal meat. Yeah, the creeps are there. I think not everyone - not anyone - would be kind of having much of fun discovering we are not alone, in that case.

krapp 6y ago
>Think about some highly intelligent reptile predator species, with a taste for mamal meat. I mean, let's be realistic, we could still do business in that scenario. Maybe trade a few million tasty human popplers for a stargate or zero-point engine or something.
- anoniuyiu33412 6y ago
  Exactly, why everyone would need two hands all their life?
  - SauciestGNU 6y ago
    Shit I have a bum leg, hook me up with some advanced prosthetics and they can eat their pulmonary organs out.
throwaway743 6y ago
We probably would've already been taken out in that case. If this is about aliens, maybe they're chill dudes just observing. Maybe they're on vacation or doing research on the evolution of various civilizations across the galaxy/universe. Who knows? I just hope the reptilian scenario isn't the reality we face. In any case, whatever we find out will likely be interesting, extraterrestrials or not.