OT: What would you do...?
 

...if you saw a UFO? I'm talking about if you saw something that you were positive was an alien craft? Would you tell anyone? Let's assume you had no proof that you saw it.

I sure hope I never see one. Because I'm the kind of person who is highly skeptical. It's not that I think people are lying, but I just can't believe in them unless I see one for myself. I just saw a show on TV last night were there were numerous eyewitnesses to several events. These witnessess seem very credible and normal. They are also not trying to make any money or fame for themselves over the sightings. In one case 1 trucker saw a craft and called 911. FIVE other policemen in at least 2 counties reported seeing the same craft as it moved across Arizona (not sure when but this is an older story).

There are other reports of sightings from pilots, Air Force personnel and other highly credible witnesses. But that just doesn't do it for me.

I do believe that we are not the only sentient life forms in the universe, but I also believe that statistically and by all the (limited) technology we understand, it's just not likely that anyone is near enough to visit. This isn't proof by any means, it's just what I believe.

I don't know how or even if I would try to convince others if I had seen something. I guess for me there would have to be absolutely no doubt in my mind about what I saw before I said anything to anyone. I would have to be close enough to see enough detail before I would even consider it to be non-terrestrial. I know if I started claiming such a thing, it would jeopardize my job and people would think I'm crazy.

I sure hope I never see one.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

With all due respect and sincere honestly, my recommendation to you would be to just keep ones mouth shut and avoid the urge to ever tell any one about it. However, write down every detail of what was seen, include illistrations, any information no matter how small and place it into a ceal enveloped and mail it to yourself certified. Once it arrives keep in safe place.

This is what I did, as well as the three people who saw the same thing I did one Septemeber night in 1993 while standing on the strike line.

I tell you this because too many people have made such reports the prevay of crack pots and dumb ****s. So it is better to save face, but have proof that you saw what you saw in case it ever is proven that what you saw, even though you may not speak of it, is an actual UFO. You can then pull that cealed envelope out and open it on national TV and get the credit you deserve.

If for some reason one could not contain himself, I would recommend to that individual, that they seek immedate mental health assistance for there is no such thing as an alien UFO. (Offically - they would classify you as a nut job, especially if you did see what you know you saw.)

Better to avoid the humilation and behind the back laughs all together.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

When I was a kid, I read a book that was more neutral and analytical about UFO's than the modern-day sensationalistic crap that passes for writing these days. (Hey, I haven't had my morning coffee yet, kay? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif) I think I can recall some things from that book.

Try and record what you saw, in reference to real (my bias is slipping, there) things. Determine distance by what landmarks the UFO's pass between, speed by timing them with the second hand of you watch, record accutately any color changes, etc. This all pretty much assumes to me that you've gone out looking for UFO's. If I just looked up and saw one, I'd only tell my friends, "Yeah, I saw a UFO once, it was wierd."

Meh. I feel its always a weather ballon, swamp gas, or the exaust from an advanced military jet. Slick, Fark just this morning had a link to this site here {clicky}. Was this your inspiration?

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

I would talk about it, but be very careful in choosing who I tell it to. I would only tell a few trustworthy and open-minded friends.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

Think Ive read the same book, sounds fimiliar

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

I'd report it at http://www.ufocenter.com/.
That way if other people have reported the same thing maybe it be looked into (yeah right!) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

I would hail them so that they can bring me back home, of course.

I would almost certainly keep it for myself, as I would have a hard time convincing *myself* I saw any such thing as a UFO. I have been known to doubt if I received a mail or just dreamt about it, so I would probably dismiss the sight of a UFO as the product of my vivid imagination. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

I would dismiss it as a goverment project. If there were alien life, and if alien life is in the solar system, they would have already interacted with us by now on a large scale. We couldn't leave the Indians alone when we went over here. People have a tendency to mess with primitive cultures. Aliens would have messed with us already http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

I'd say to myself 'well...that was a fun hallucination...'

Seriously, does anyone seriously think that aliens would be stupid enough to be seen by your average Joe out on the street going for a walk with his dog?? I doubt it. But hey, you never know right? I can't discount it, because I have never seen what those who say they've seen UFO's have. Still, I'm betting on secret military aircraft.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

Nope. I just have thought of this situation off and on for years and wondered what I would do if I saw an alien craft. For me personally, I think there would be added risk of losing my job if I started raving about such a thing. (without going into any more detail).

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

I would say... the vulcans are coming:-D.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

We couldn't stop messing around with the American Indians when we first encountered them, and look at the state they're in now. The only times they even try to practice their old spiritual beliefs is to get cash from tourists, and their old way of life is utterly impossible now that buffalos are extinct and higways aren't. If extraterrestrials have reached our system (which I sincerely doubt, though I do think that there is life out there, intelligent or not) and they are even remotely like us and had a remotely similar history, they would know that messing with primitive creatures like Homo Sapiens Sapiens is not a good idea.

And Area 52 is also buul****. It exists allright, but I don't believe that they've got UFOs there. The "green exhaust fumes" that have been seen at night were attributed to UFOs, but are simply SR-71 afterburners. Many other sightings can also be attributed to a to-secret stealth aircraft that has been retired over seven years ago, and has only been used for test flghts above Area 51.

What I'd do? Keep it to myself, perhaps share it with people I trust totally and completely. The people I trust to such extent are people I would willingly trust with my life.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

What? You guys (& gals) never saw a UFO?

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

Slick said:

Nope. I just have thought of this situation off and on for years and wondered what I would do if I saw an alien craft. For me personally, I think there would be added risk of losing my job if I started raving about such a thing. (without going into any more detail).

Wait, UFO's as in some glowing lights in the distance, or as in some alien spacecraft like a Peacekeeper Prowler lands and something bipedial, biocular, clothing wearing, yet not human walks out and stares right at you?

I used to wonder that second hypothetical question. Sometimes I'd figure I'd try to greet them, communicate, etc. Sometimes I figure I'd run and tell someone in the government. But lately I figure, if that unlikely event occured, they probably have some sort of first contact protocol in place, just in this eventuality. So its really all out of my hands anyway.

I've never seen a shooting star, meteor, comet or aurora 'cause I've never been far enough away from city lights. So I don't really think about seeing UFO's much any more.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

Contact "of the second kind" (I think) is what I am talking about. Meaning that you see in enough detail what you are positive is an alien craft, but no attempt at communication is made. You have no supporting evidence to prove what you saw. Do you tell people and risk being labelled a loony or do you keep it to yourself?

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

I'd probably write down/draw all the details I could remember for my own benefit. I'd tell some people when appropriate, but wouldn't advertise. And ofc, always wonder about it.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

A bit off topic, but have you ever wondered why there are so many languages on the planet, and if we all came from a common starting point, wouldn't all of our language be simular at its root core?

Also if you were born deaf and blind, how would you think? I mean we think in the langauge we are raised with. If I felt an appled, and was deaf and blind, I would not think to myself apple, or food, or anything for that matter. It would simply be something, yet the though, something, would not be what you would think because you do not know, if you were born deaf and blind, what "something" means or that it even exsisted. You would be locked into a world of nothing. You would feel touch, taste, smell, and pain, but how would you define those?

If by some chance the planet was being observed, wouldn't these be questions you would ask if you were an alien scientist trying to understand our life form?

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

To question #1, I dunno, human civilizations were very isolated when formal agriculture allowed the first villages to form. Example, technology found in villages in the Tigris valley was more advanced, than villages found in Turkey that were settled later. So its plausable (to me anyway) why languages are so different.

Question #2, well that's just the Hellen Keller story isn't it. Some glimmer of insight has to occur in the human mind after lots of pattern repetition.

As an aside on point #2, I remember a children's book, and the topic of intelligence of all humans was used to describe a bell curve. Thing was, the bell curve was skewed. Slightly more people fall under the "E=mc^2" heading than fall under the "2+2=5" heading. And I've always wondered if that was true, and why. Maybe the sample is biased, we don't count the really "stupid" because we label that "learning disability" and count it out. Or maybe there are more smart than dumb people. That is, pretty much the definition of human -- not the strongest, or fastest, but finding patterns and making inferences is what we all are designed to do, its what we all want to do, deep down inside.

Consider that the next time someone ticks you off because they did something dumb.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

AT, you are under the misconception that language is required for understanding. It is not. You don't have to define something in terms of language to be able to understand it. The story of Helen Keller and every other person in that situation proves that.

The human mind is perfectly capable of observing, analyzing, processing, and remembering the environment around us without any concept of language. Each mind will process the information available to it in a different way. There might be similarities in the manner in which we percieve things which are caused by biological factors, but much of it would probably be totally unique to the individual. But what language is neccesary for is communication. Without some common frame of referance, language, we have no way of communicating our observations to each other.

Helen could touch and smell, and she could feel vibrations. She could tell the difference between her mother, her father and a dog. She didn't conceptualize them in those terms, but she had a concept of self identity. She was aware these other people were different from her, and different from each other. She knew what objects in her world were food, and which were water. She even had a rudimentary verbal communication. It was all unintelligable grunts from her families point of view, but there were subtle differences in tone and inflection that had meaning for Helen. The breakthrough for Helen was when her teacher was able to bridge the gap, to make her understand that the hand gestures she was making for Helen were representative of the physical objects. That is the basis of language, using words to represent something tangible, without having to see, or touch in Helens case, the object itself. That was when she started communicating in a meaningful way.

It doesn't mean she didn't have any concept of the world around her before that. She was just incapable of sharing that concept with anyone else.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

I think Helen Keller wrote a book one day.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

NullAshton said:
"I think Helen Keller wrote a book one day."

She accomplished much more than that. For a meagre synopsis, check out this {Wikipedia link}

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

Thermodyne writes:

> What? You guys (& gals) never saw a UFO?

Actually I did, although I'm almost certain it was really a "fireball" type meteor.

It was the late nineteen-fifties, and I was a kid spending summer vacation with my mother and siblings on the ancestral family farm in northwest Iowa. I was alone in a semi-wooded area (the farm's "orchard"); the time was about twilight. Through a break in the trees above I spotted a circular object about the apparent size of the full moon. It appeared to be burning with a reddish-orange light and trailed tiny flames as it moved south to north. It didn't seem to be moving very fast, but it passed behind the trees again probably in less than ten seconds. I ran to another clear spot, but couldn't reacquire it. I fetched my mother and we searched the sky from a better location, but all we could see were the moon and the comet that was visible that summer.

In later years I saw film of fireballs on TV and the internet and figured that was probably what I saw. "My" UFO lacked the debris and smoky trail of the filmed meteors, but I could easily have missed those details in the gathering darkness.

Recently I wondered if anyone had reported "my" UFO, so I tried to nail down the time. The only late fifties comet that matches the time (naked-eye visibility in both August -- when I was in Iowa -- and September -- when I was home in New York) is MRKOS, 1957. On the Web I found a couple of UFO/meteor reports similar to mine, but none that fit both time and place. So I guess I'm really reporting a UPIFO - Unconfirmed Probably-Identified Flying Object. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

i'd stand up and walk out on you.

oh, wait. UFOs? I thought you were singing out of... nevermind.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

You know...For the 'why would they even let us see them' arguement...Suppose that 10% of all UFO sightings are real. Do they have to worry?

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

If I experienced a contact of the second kind (UFO landing) and I had no proof, then there is only one person that I would tell it to: an old friend of mine, a true friend, that I keep no secrets from.

If I experienced a contact of the third kind and was abducted by aliens, I would not keep it to myself: I'll write a book about it.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

Seconded. I'd keep it secret for a decade or two, and develop a hobby about new Military Aircraft being released world-wide.

A few scientists today believe all those Triangular UFO's years ago were actually the US Airforce testing out the stealth bomber http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

If UFO were able to land here, I'm sure that quickly some rogue would show up to make money/gain power/wathever you want. When europeans discovered the world they never ever try to hide. So why the UFO would ?

The only way is if they are so different that we does not identify each other as living sentient thing.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

A couple spectacular UFO shots:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up5jm...amp;playnext=1

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

There's a fascinating true story of a UFO / alien encounter in this old thread.

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

Man, I was about to write a bunch of replies to the thread, and then I noticed it was mostly a couple years old. Hopefully you guys have seen some lights since then. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: What would you do...?
 

How about an ULO (Unidentified Landed Object)?

http://home.comcast.net/~anglewyrm/marsphoto.jpg