Pentagon Ufo

[TheDevil]

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-52457805

[TheDevil]

" If accomplished at sufficient speed, an object would likely appear translucent, though not quite invisible."

"People inside a cloaked area wouldn't be able to see out because all visible light would be bending around where they are positioned. They'd be invisible, but they'd be blind, too."

[Zacs-Master]

Submarines don’t have windows. People inside the cloaked device wouldn’t need to be able to see out.

[TheDevil]

Why not?

[Zacs-Master]

I’ve used a submarine as an example, TD.

[TheDevil]

But these were flying in the sky. You can't compare a fish to a bird

[andy-hughes]

naomi - // //They have no need to 'make contact' because nothing we can offer can possibly be of the remotest interest to them.//

I doubt that’s true. Should we discover intelligent life in the universe, however technologically or socially undeveloped that civilisation may be, we would want to discover all we could about it. //

My observation is that we will be of no interest to them - your observation is that they will be of great interest to us.

The two are exactly opposite, so I fail to see how you feel mine is incorrect.

[AuntPollyGrey]

If we as humans find a new simple life form on earth we don't squash it, or ignore it because its of no interest and not as intelligent as us. We study it to see how it works. I can't see how any alien contact would be any different to be honest.

[andy-hughes]

APG - // If we as humans find a new simple life form on earth we don't squash it, or ignore it because its of no interest and not as intelligent as us. We study it to see how it works. I can't see how any alien contact would be any different to be honest. //

It's our humanity that makes us curious. By definition, no alien species will have humanity. It may have something comparable, but there is no guarantee obviously.

In terms of form, attitude, intelligence, attitude, and so on, absolutely nothing is assured, and everything is available.

[AuntPollyGrey]

Surely Aliens would arrive for a reason though? They may not formally introduce themselves, but would carry on and do what they came for, which I presume would be research on new life forms.

[andy-hughes]

APG - // Surely Aliens would arrive for a reason though? They may not formally introduce themselves, but would carry on and do what they came for, which I presume would be research on new life forms. //

You are assuming that aliens will behave like the Starship Enterprise - once again, you are assuming human attitudes and characteristics.

Aliens may be on the way from one place to another and stop off for a look, they may stop at every single star or planet they pass, they may assess us from space and move on without bothering …

The list of possible attitudes reasons and behaviours is as big as the universe itself - nothing can be ruled in or ruled out.

[naomi24]

AH, life being so scarce in the universe (well estimates make it relatively scarce even though they sometimes come up with some surprisingly large numbers) I don’t think technologically superior beings would ignore life on any planet they happened across…. especially intelligent life … even rarer ….but that’s just my opinion. As you say //nothing can be ruled in or ruled out.//

[andy-hughes]

naomi - // AH, life being so scarce in the universe (well estimates make it relatively scarce even though they sometimes come up with some surprisingly large numbers) I don’t think technologically superior beings would ignore life on any planet they happened across…. especially intelligent life … even rarer ….but that’s just my opinion. As you say //nothing can be ruled in or ruled out.//

You are making a common assumption I believe - that any alien lifeform that has managed to make it to earth from space must automatically be of a superior intellect, with attendant curiosity added in.

Since you agree that nothing can be ruled in or out, it is possible that any such species may have the scientific capacity - or simply the physical ability which does not involve any craft at all - to travel vast distances and happen upon our little planet, and then have all the intellectual curiosity of a cockroach.

[naomi24]

Could be...

[jno]

APG, they may just be building a hyperspace bypass.

[andy-hughes]

Oh not Douglas Adams!!!

If there is a bigger load of self-satisfied, priggish, in-joke, too clever for it's own good, studenty heap of tosh than The Hitchhiker's Guide, I have yet to find it!!!!!!

[jim360]

I couldn't disagree more with Naomi's interpretation of this and even *I* can see what she means when saying that "I don’t think technologically superior beings would ignore life on any planet they happened across..."

It may or may not be a uniquely human trait to be curious about the world, but what *is* clear is that only those species curious enough about the Universe would be capable of exploring it. The two traits go hand in hand. Since there's no intrinsic need for a species to learn how to travel to other planets in order to survive (in the short term), only those capable of foresight and planning would do so.

[andy-hughes]

jim - // It may or may not be a uniquely human trait to be curious about the world, but what *is* clear is that only those species curious enough about the Universe would be capable of exploring it. The two traits go hand in hand. //

Only if you apply the human trait of curiosity to any other species, and as I keep saying, we cannot assume curiosity, or any other trait of humanity in a species that is not human.

// Since there's no intrinsic need for a species to learn how to travel to other planets in order to survive (in the short term), only those capable of foresight and planning would do so. //

Another invalid assumption. You cannot know what any other species apart from our own needs or would learn, anymore than you can assume that they employ foresight and planning to do anything - human attributes which there is no guarantee that they possess.

As humans we make assumptions - that is our nature.

As long as Mankind has been able to look up at the sky he has been curious about what it is, and who or what may be in it - but that is no grounds for assuming that any other species operates on a similar system of curiosity, or an urge to explore.

We make assumptions, we always have - and that is what drives the common perception about alien life, that it must be curious and interested in us.

There is no evidence at all - they may be, but equally they may not.