6 ms·

Wow, that's a fresh book. I'm not deep enough into this to order paperback to hear the full story, but since you disagree with the article can you provide your

by comboy 4y ago

Wow, that's a fresh book. I'm not deep enough into this to order paperback to hear the full story, but since you disagree with the article can you provide your explanation and how you see it? If you think it was made by aliens, then how do you think it happens (e.g. the force needs to be not too high), why would nothing be recorded, why only on planted fields and not elsewhere? Just to be clear, I don't think any of them were made by aliens, but my questions are sincere, I hope you have some coherent structure built upon different axioms and would love to explore it.

whatshisface 4y ago
The aliens made it the same way the pranksters did, by walking around with a piece of wood underfoot. If you recall the basic principles of extraterrestrial contact with pre-warp civilizations, it is against the prime directive to reveal yourself or imply that your advanced technology is possible. In this legal context, the prank crop circles were a loophole - that allowed aliens to land and write messages that we will all have a good laugh about once you are admitted to the local group federation.
sibeliuss 4y ago
I honestly don't know what it is and am completely agnostic to whether it was created by man or supernatural being or alien or whatever. But there's a lot of evidence that many of them were created near-instantly, and they always leave a unique radiation signature. I'm not aware of a technology that can do that, but perhaps it's out there.
- hunter-gatherer 4y ago
  > But there's a lot of evidence that many of them were created near-instantly, and they always leave a unique radiation signature Since there is a lot, can you point us lazy people to a few legitimate references for these claims? I can't find any.
- whatshisface 4y ago
  I do not really believe in the radiation signature, but because photosynthesis preferentially fixes the unstable isotope of carbon, the smell of freshly cut grass would technically have a newer carbon date than plain air.
  - lupire 4y ago
    More directly, you could make a crop circle and measure it and compare to a discovered crop circle.
- ben_w 4y ago
  > But there's a lot of evidence that many of them were created near-instantly, and they always leave a unique radiation signature. I’m not aware of any such evidence. My mum loved all things supernatural, occult, and so on — she took it all very seriously, but all her sources were either anecdotal or literally conspiracy theorists, never, for example, a CCTV camera or a Geiger counter. What even is a “unique radiation signature” in this context? Is this in the same sense that DHMO is “a deadly industrial solvent”?
- TheOtherHobbes 4y ago
  I don't believe there was ever a "unique radiation signature." But there were some very interesting circles. Like this one, which appeared overnight next to the A303, which is one of the busiest roads in the area. https://www.science.org/content/article/jaw-dropper-crop-circle https://www.science.org/content/article/jaw-dropper-crop-cir... The Doug and Dave story is obviously ridiculous. IMO there's no way two fat old dudes could do something like this. It would be challenging to draw a design like this by hand on paper with drawing tools, never mind across nearly half a kilometre in a wheat field at night. At the very least it's clear it was planned, measured out, and laid with unusual competence. You'd need a team of a good few people and very possibly some surveying equipment - not impossible, but not at all a trivial project. Compare with a more recent attempt which shows what a crude circle looks like. https://nextnature.net/magazine/story/2007/crop-circles/065_crop.jpg https://nextnature.net/magazine/story/2007/crop-circles/065_...
  - comboy 4y ago
    > https://www.science.org/content/article/jaw-dropper-crop-circle https://www.science.org/content/article/jaw-dropper-crop-cir... All parts are based on a circle ("arms" are just incomplete circles). That's a stick in the ground and some string. Start with the big circle in the middle. Why 6 arms? Because then distance between biggest arm circles is the same as the distance from them to the center circle. Easy to put them evenly around. I'm sure it still takes some time to make them, but the figure is neither complex nor accurately done. I don't see why a few bored students couldn't do it overnight.

by comboy 4y ago

whatshisface 4y ago

The aliens made it the same way the pranksters did, by walking around with a piece of wood underfoot. If you recall the basic principles of extraterrestrial contact with pre-warp civilizations, it is against the prime directive to reveal yourself or imply that your advanced technology is possible. In this legal context, the prank crop circles were a loophole - that allowed aliens to land and write messages that we will all have a good laugh about once you are admitted to the local group federation.

sibeliuss 4y ago

I honestly don't know what it is and am completely agnostic to whether it was created by man or supernatural being or alien or whatever. But there's a lot of evidence that many of them were created near-instantly, and they always leave a unique radiation signature. I'm not aware of a technology that can do that, but perhaps it's out there.

hunter-gatherer 4y ago
> But there's a lot of evidence that many of them were created near-instantly, and they always leave a unique radiation signature Since there is a lot, can you point us lazy people to a few legitimate references for these claims? I can't find any.
whatshisface 4y ago
I do not really believe in the radiation signature, but because photosynthesis preferentially fixes the unstable isotope of carbon, the smell of freshly cut grass would technically have a newer carbon date than plain air.
- lupire 4y ago
  More directly, you could make a crop circle and measure it and compare to a discovered crop circle.
ben_w 4y ago
> But there's a lot of evidence that many of them were created near-instantly, and they always leave a unique radiation signature. I’m not aware of any such evidence. My mum loved all things supernatural, occult, and so on — she took it all very seriously, but all her sources were either anecdotal or literally conspiracy theorists, never, for example, a CCTV camera or a Geiger counter. What even is a “unique radiation signature” in this context? Is this in the same sense that DHMO is “a deadly industrial solvent”?
TheOtherHobbes 4y ago
I don't believe there was ever a "unique radiation signature." But there were some very interesting circles. Like this one, which appeared overnight next to the A303, which is one of the busiest roads in the area. https://www.science.org/content/article/jaw-dropper-crop-circle https://www.science.org/content/article/jaw-dropper-crop-cir... The Doug and Dave story is obviously ridiculous. IMO there's no way two fat old dudes could do something like this. It would be challenging to draw a design like this by hand on paper with drawing tools, never mind across nearly half a kilometre in a wheat field at night. At the very least it's clear it was planned, measured out, and laid with unusual competence. You'd need a team of a good few people and very possibly some surveying equipment - not impossible, but not at all a trivial project. Compare with a more recent attempt which shows what a crude circle looks like. https://nextnature.net/magazine/story/2007/crop-circles/065_crop.jpg https://nextnature.net/magazine/story/2007/crop-circles/065_...
- comboy 4y ago
  > https://www.science.org/content/article/jaw-dropper-crop-circle https://www.science.org/content/article/jaw-dropper-crop-cir... All parts are based on a circle ("arms" are just incomplete circles). That's a stick in the ground and some string. Start with the big circle in the middle. Why 6 arms? Because then distance between biggest arm circles is the same as the distance from them to the center circle. Easy to put them evenly around. I'm sure it still takes some time to make them, but the figure is neither complex nor accurately done. I don't see why a few bored students couldn't do it overnight.