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ITT: Multiple fighter pilots (whose sole job is to understand aerial objects by eye and sensors), radar, camera and infrared have seen these. “It’s a glitch,

ITT: Multiple fighter pilots (whose sole job is to understand aerial objects by eye and sensors), radar, camera and infrared have seen these. “It’s a glitch, lens flare and/or the pilots are stupid, but me a programmer is an expert in this.”

mberning 4y ago
Yeah it’s a bit disappointing, but I’m not surprised. Regardless of whatever it turns out to be, it should be earnestly looked in to and documented. And if it turns out to have some national security implication then just acknowledge that you looked at it, made a determination, and won’t be providing further comment at this time. I realize that would “stir the pot” but it’s hard to imagine that being worse, especially if this becomes a major topic in the zeitgeist.
radus 4y ago
This is most threads on topics outside of the CS sphere
Slighted 4y ago
Every once in a while I'll come across threads like this on HN where most posters make enormous assumptions, are confidently incorrect, or refuse to be even slightly open-minded, and it makes me lose faith in this place. It comes off as a red flag, indicative of the rest of the site. There's a relevant Reddit quote that I don't have access to at the moment, but it goes something like this: "I'm an expert on X topic. I've seen people talking about my subject of expertise with extreme inaccuracy many times before and its irritating... Immediately afterwards I'll move into another thread and will forget everything I just witnessed and will take reasonably convincing posts as factual (Even though they're of the exact same nature as the post that was entirely wrong but was reasonable and convincing enough that it got hundreds of upvotes)."
- Infinitesimus 4y ago
  That is the Gell-Mann amnesia effect in action: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmnesiaEffect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmn...
nprateem 4y ago
I'm pretty sure it's a fear of looking like an idiot if there turns out to be a rational explanation. I mean, healthy scepticism is healthy, but some people conveniently ignore the context when 'debunking' things they don't want to believe in. Plus, that's a good way to drive traffic and Youtube ad money, so they're not exactly unbiased either.
kashunstva 4y ago
And yet, like us mere mortals, surely fighter pilots are susceptible to cognitive and perceptual biases and distortions particularly around phenomena at or beyond the edges of their training and experience.
ikrenji 4y ago
I find this thinking fascinating: "the pilots and the military don't know shit, they are easily fooled by bokeh. mick west, a video game programmer, will now explain how a classified f-18 FLIR targeting pod works and why its showing us a bird"

mberning 4y ago

Yeah it’s a bit disappointing, but I’m not surprised. Regardless of whatever it turns out to be, it should be earnestly looked in to and documented. And if it turns out to have some national security implication then just acknowledge that you looked at it, made a determination, and won’t be providing further comment at this time. I realize that would “stir the pot” but it’s hard to imagine that being worse, especially if this becomes a major topic in the zeitgeist.

radus 4y ago

This is most threads on topics outside of the CS sphere

Slighted 4y ago

Every once in a while I'll come across threads like this on HN where most posters make enormous assumptions, are confidently incorrect, or refuse to be even slightly open-minded, and it makes me lose faith in this place. It comes off as a red flag, indicative of the rest of the site. There's a relevant Reddit quote that I don't have access to at the moment, but it goes something like this: "I'm an expert on X topic. I've seen people talking about my subject of expertise with extreme inaccuracy many times before and its irritating... Immediately afterwards I'll move into another thread and will forget everything I just witnessed and will take reasonably convincing posts as factual (Even though they're of the exact same nature as the post that was entirely wrong but was reasonable and convincing enough that it got hundreds of upvotes)."

Infinitesimus 4y ago
That is the Gell-Mann amnesia effect in action: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmnesiaEffect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmn...

nprateem 4y ago

I'm pretty sure it's a fear of looking like an idiot if there turns out to be a rational explanation. I mean, healthy scepticism is healthy, but some people conveniently ignore the context when 'debunking' things they don't want to believe in. Plus, that's a good way to drive traffic and Youtube ad money, so they're not exactly unbiased either.

kashunstva 4y ago

And yet, like us mere mortals, surely fighter pilots are susceptible to cognitive and perceptual biases and distortions particularly around phenomena at or beyond the edges of their training and experience.

ikrenji 4y ago

I find this thinking fascinating: "the pilots and the military don't know shit, they are easily fooled by bokeh. mick west, a video game programmer, will now explain how a classified f-18 FLIR targeting pod works and why its showing us a bird"