3 ms·

> UFOs (or at least, against UFOs being aliens) This right here is a huge issue. You get UFO believers who can't talk about UFOs without mentioning aliens. Bu

> UFOs (or at least, against UFOs being aliens) This right here is a huge issue. You get UFO believers who can't talk about UFOs without mentioning aliens. But then you get disbelievers with the same problem! It's ridiculous and automatically calls into question individuals' claims of rationality or scientific intentions.

vkou 3y ago
I don't think anyone doubts that some non-alien flying objects built by humans happen to be both flying, and unidentified by someone taking video of them. It's not an interesting thing to discuss. In fact, it's the most obvious, mundane, simple, and unsurprising explanation for UFO videos. It's so banal, it's not even worth mentioning. That's why skeptics talk about how the alien-ufo conspiracies are bunk, and why conspiracists talk about little green men at Roswell. It's way more interesting then 'The Air Force is testing weird air-frames at Area 51' or 'Some pilot somewhere saw some Russian aircraft but couldn't identify it.' Everyone already knows they are testing weird air-frames at Area 51, and that Russians occasionally fly around in airplanes.
- themodelplumber 3y ago
  > non-alien flying objects built by humans I get the feeling you think "ET/alien" or "human-made" are the only two possible choices?
  - vkou 3y ago
    There's also bubbles of swamp gas, birds, weird atmospheric optical phenomena, miscalibrated radars, and hoaxes. I'm not hugely interested in figuring out which one of a million different, mundane explanations is responsible for any particular UFO sighting. There's a never-ending stream of those sightings, all of them very low-quality, and they never amount to anything interesting. Maybe some spy wonk somewhere three stories underneath the Pentagon has looking at them as his OKR, but I don't get paid for it!
    - themodelplumber 3y ago
      > There's also bubbles of swamp gas, birds, weird atmospheric optical phenomena, miscalibrated radars, and hoaxes. Damn, some of my favorites aren't even here! I think the never-amount-to perspective is interesting. It's very outcome-focused. IMO this psychology is not normally a great fit for UFO research, which is rather income-focused and outcome-distracted. So you get a diffusing effect and the most promising work is to be found in pockets and almost never in the big-picture view.
  - mrguyorama 3y ago
    What third category could there be? God?
    - themodelplumber 3y ago
      I don't want to share my list after reading that category. Please keep going! Maybe my list is more boring than I give it credit.
    - ljf 3y ago
      Animals Weather Airborne rubbish (in the form of plant or land material if you consider 'human made' already covered) Etc.

vkou 3y ago

I don't think anyone doubts that some non-alien flying objects built by humans happen to be both flying, and unidentified by someone taking video of them. It's not an interesting thing to discuss. In fact, it's the most obvious, mundane, simple, and unsurprising explanation for UFO videos. It's so banal, it's not even worth mentioning. That's why skeptics talk about how the alien-ufo conspiracies are bunk, and why conspiracists talk about little green men at Roswell. It's way more interesting then 'The Air Force is testing weird air-frames at Area 51' or 'Some pilot somewhere saw some Russian aircraft but couldn't identify it.' Everyone already knows they are testing weird air-frames at Area 51, and that Russians occasionally fly around in airplanes.

themodelplumber 3y ago
> non-alien flying objects built by humans I get the feeling you think "ET/alien" or "human-made" are the only two possible choices?
- vkou 3y ago
  There's also bubbles of swamp gas, birds, weird atmospheric optical phenomena, miscalibrated radars, and hoaxes. I'm not hugely interested in figuring out which one of a million different, mundane explanations is responsible for any particular UFO sighting. There's a never-ending stream of those sightings, all of them very low-quality, and they never amount to anything interesting. Maybe some spy wonk somewhere three stories underneath the Pentagon has looking at them as his OKR, but I don't get paid for it!
  - themodelplumber 3y ago
    > There's also bubbles of swamp gas, birds, weird atmospheric optical phenomena, miscalibrated radars, and hoaxes. Damn, some of my favorites aren't even here! I think the never-amount-to perspective is interesting. It's very outcome-focused. IMO this psychology is not normally a great fit for UFO research, which is rather income-focused and outcome-distracted. So you get a diffusing effect and the most promising work is to be found in pockets and almost never in the big-picture view.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  What third category could there be? God?
  - themodelplumber 3y ago
    I don't want to share my list after reading that category. Please keep going! Maybe my list is more boring than I give it credit.
  - ljf 3y ago
    Animals Weather Airborne rubbish (in the form of plant or land material if you consider 'human made' already covered) Etc.