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When I see these videos I think of a cat chasing a laser beam dot on a carpet. The dot looks like a real object, it shows up on video and probably even has a he

When I see these videos I think of a cat chasing a laser beam dot on a carpet. The dot looks like a real object, it shows up on video and probably even has a heat signature. It also moves erratically and disappears whenever. Is it so inconceivable to us that humans can create a localised atmospheric effect in three dimensional space with some form of phased array that reflects radar and emits heat and light so as to be visible? Just like a laser pointer can disappear behind a couch or be stitched off, so can this thing.

jxf 5y ago
Such an object would not have meaningful mass and would not leave vortices or a wake, which some of the UFOs do.
- clouddrover 5y ago
  Laser induced plasma can produce sound waves: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/07/19/pentagon-scientists-are-making-talking-plasma-laser-balls-for-use-as-non-lethal-weapons/ https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/07/19/...
  - kcplate 5y ago
    And visible light, infrared light, and sensor artifacts apparently too. Occam’s razor… https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/05/11/us-navy-laser-creates-plasma-ufos/?sh=44e6c36b1074 https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/05/11/us-nav...
- aliasEli 5y ago
  It looks that you are assuming that all these reports have a common cause. It is the same kind of fallacy that causes people to believe that because something was observed somewhere and something similar was observed very soon after that but 60 miles away, that it must have been an object that moved at a very high speed.
aliasEli 5y ago
Even a standard laser and some clouds will work in some cases, such as the Tucson incident. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609973
eitland 5y ago
Something similar has been my best idea as well: If I was suddenly magically in charge of the investigation to figure out what was really happening I'd probably continue all existing lines of inquiry anf then as secretly as possibly also try to hire a team of magicians and known inventors of magic tricks and ask them to try to reproduce it. After all, Clarkes third law says: - Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and a variation says: - Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo Am I serious? Oh yes, world class magicians have decades of experience in fooling multiple keenly interested observers and at least certain "sensor platforms" (i.e. top of the line cameras) simultaneously.
garren 5y ago
I thought this [0] explanation from a post a few days ago was pretty interesting. The idea being that the US gov is likely able to create a kind of localized plasma phenomenon with some interesting properties (i.e., “ would be circular, as seen from below, and oval, as seen from the side”.) Potentially useful for “radar spoofing.”[0] All it requires is a powerful particle accelerator and a willingness to “[dump] a high energy proton beam into the atmosphere [creating] a glowing ball of plasma.”[1] These balls of plasma could be coaxed to behave in very unusual ways, and would likely have a oval or round shape depending on a viewer’s perspective. Lots of interesting and tangentially related bits on Bob Lazar/Area 51 (Bob has to stick to his story to stay out of jail, and Area 51/Groom lake is heavily associated with radar evading technologies like stealth, SR-71/OxCart, so experimenting with plasma balls by shooting a particle accelerator high into the atmo seems way more of a practical explanation than aliens or super exotic tech) His idea that the ginormous black triangles that people have reported are also radar experiments is pretty compelling as well when compared to the alien explanation. [0] https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strange-places/so-ya-dont-believe-it-was-a-proton-beam-eh/ https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strang... [1] https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strange-places/looking-at-the-bob-lazar-story-from-the-perspective-of-2018/ https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strang...

jxf 5y ago

Such an object would not have meaningful mass and would not leave vortices or a wake, which some of the UFOs do.

clouddrover 5y ago
Laser induced plasma can produce sound waves: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/07/19/pentagon-scientists-are-making-talking-plasma-laser-balls-for-use-as-non-lethal-weapons/ https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/07/19/...
- kcplate 5y ago
  And visible light, infrared light, and sensor artifacts apparently too. Occam’s razor… https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/05/11/us-navy-laser-creates-plasma-ufos/?sh=44e6c36b1074 https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/05/11/us-nav...
aliasEli 5y ago
It looks that you are assuming that all these reports have a common cause. It is the same kind of fallacy that causes people to believe that because something was observed somewhere and something similar was observed very soon after that but 60 miles away, that it must have been an object that moved at a very high speed.

aliasEli 5y ago

Even a standard laser and some clouds will work in some cases, such as the Tucson incident. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27609973

eitland 5y ago

Something similar has been my best idea as well: If I was suddenly magically in charge of the investigation to figure out what was really happening I'd probably continue all existing lines of inquiry anf then as secretly as possibly also try to hire a team of magicians and known inventors of magic tricks and ask them to try to reproduce it. After all, Clarkes third law says: - Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and a variation says: - Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo Am I serious? Oh yes, world class magicians have decades of experience in fooling multiple keenly interested observers and at least certain "sensor platforms" (i.e. top of the line cameras) simultaneously.

garren 5y ago

I thought this [0] explanation from a post a few days ago was pretty interesting. The idea being that the US gov is likely able to create a kind of localized plasma phenomenon with some interesting properties (i.e., “ would be circular, as seen from below, and oval, as seen from the side”.) Potentially useful for “radar spoofing.”[0] All it requires is a powerful particle accelerator and a willingness to “[dump] a high energy proton beam into the atmosphere [creating] a glowing ball of plasma.”[1] These balls of plasma could be coaxed to behave in very unusual ways, and would likely have a oval or round shape depending on a viewer’s perspective. Lots of interesting and tangentially related bits on Bob Lazar/Area 51 (Bob has to stick to his story to stay out of jail, and Area 51/Groom lake is heavily associated with radar evading technologies like stealth, SR-71/OxCart, so experimenting with plasma balls by shooting a particle accelerator high into the atmo seems way more of a practical explanation than aliens or super exotic tech) His idea that the ginormous black triangles that people have reported are also radar experiments is pretty compelling as well when compared to the alien explanation. [0] https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strange-places/so-ya-dont-believe-it-was-a-proton-beam-eh/ https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strang... [1] https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strange-places/looking-at-the-bob-lazar-story-from-the-perspective-of-2018/ https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strang...