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I expect those doing the laughing couldn't possibly be fooling themselves about their motivations. Only other people do that. It's obvious there's a huge amoun

I expect those doing the laughing couldn't possibly be fooling themselves about their motivations. Only other people do that. It's obvious there's a huge amount of woo around all of this, but it's equally obvious there are real phenomena which are unexplained. For example, the Hessdalen Lights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessdalen_lights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessdalen_lights The scientific approach is to collect data and generate theories which try to explain it. Condescending nyucking is self-indulgence, not science. Meanwhile we have no idea what alien intelligence would be like, or what it would be capable of. Assuming it would be recognisable, never mind interested in interaction, is naive in the extreme.

the_af 5y ago
> I expect those doing the laughing couldn't possibly be fooling themselves about their motivations. Only other people do that. That's a non-answer. > but it's equally obvious there are real phenomena which are unexplained. Yes, that's how the natural world works, and it's science's mission to try to understand it. There's almost no logical connection or implication from "unexplained phenomena" to "evidence of extraterrestrial life". > For example, the Hessdalen Lights. Well, the case for ET life there is really tenuous and the people and organizations jumping to that conclusion are suspect. > The scientific approach is to collect data and generate theories which try to explain it. Yes, and UFOlogists really fail to understand this. Or rather, they do not want to, because for various reasons they cling to their need for intelligent ET life visiting us and abducting people or doing flyovers over their houses. > Meanwhile we have no idea what alien intelligence would be like, or what it would be capable of. We do have some ideas. The universe of possibilities for intelligent life is finite. If your ET life is unrecognizable as such, uninterested in meaningful interaction with us, and essentially invisible to our perception, then that's... a not very interesting perspective, is it? By all means it's indistinguishable from the nonexistence of ET life, except maybe in a faith-like sort of manner, which is uninteresting to science. In many ways UFOlogy is a modern religion.

the_af 5y ago

> I expect those doing the laughing couldn't possibly be fooling themselves about their motivations. Only other people do that. That's a non-answer. > but it's equally obvious there are real phenomena which are unexplained. Yes, that's how the natural world works, and it's science's mission to try to understand it. There's almost no logical connection or implication from "unexplained phenomena" to "evidence of extraterrestrial life". > For example, the Hessdalen Lights. Well, the case for ET life there is really tenuous and the people and organizations jumping to that conclusion are suspect. > The scientific approach is to collect data and generate theories which try to explain it. Yes, and UFOlogists really fail to understand this. Or rather, they do not want to, because for various reasons they cling to their need for intelligent ET life visiting us and abducting people or doing flyovers over their houses. > Meanwhile we have no idea what alien intelligence would be like, or what it would be capable of. We do have some ideas. The universe of possibilities for intelligent life is finite. If your ET life is unrecognizable as such, uninterested in meaningful interaction with us, and essentially invisible to our perception, then that's... a not very interesting perspective, is it? By all means it's indistinguishable from the nonexistence of ET life, except maybe in a faith-like sort of manner, which is uninteresting to science. In many ways UFOlogy is a modern religion.