[Jabba the Nutt]

These are UFOs, that means unidentified. I'm not among those, who insist these are spacecraft piloted by aliens. They're unidentified.

There's been a spate of UFO sightings, we could be in the middle of a wave. My main interest is the effect UFO sightings have on public opinion and molding ideas.

What would the effect of an undeniable landing be on the public, on religion, on culture?

[johnny7]

I'm not among those, who insist these are spacecraft piloted by aliens. They're unidentified.

Sober assessment... any night sightings are very dubious as well.

[Lil'freeper]

Weird. Last week’s episode of Dr. Who was about Shakespeare...

[weegee]

Drinkers spilled out of pubs...

[stuartcr]

It could mean we wouldn’t hear so much about Lindsey Lohan, we’d have to find out if they were Muslims or not, and if they believe in same-sex marriage.

[edcoil]

Looks like the lights that were above AZ a few years back.

[cripplecreek]

There are lots of unexplained natural phenomenon out there.

A sure landing by ETs would change many things but not all things. Assuming they weren’t here to harvest us we would mostly go on with our lives. After a few months the novelty would wear off and others in the universe would simply become a known fact.

[jonrick46]

No UFO. Just an airplane towing a banner. It probably was meant to light up words like: “BEER IS GOOD AT ONEALS.” The message lights probably failed showing only the running lights.

Case closed.

[zadox]

What would the effect of an undeniable landing be on the public, on religion, on culture?

Good question. One of my all time favorite SF books on the topic is First Contract : A Novel Of Big Business And Alien Invasion (Paperback) by by Greg Costikyan. Here is a bit more:

In First Contract, Costikyan has resurrected an idea from some long-forgotten shoebox, a novella originally titled "Sales Reps from the Stars." A savvy CEO, a power-suit-wearing, proper Indian businessman by the name of Johnson Mukerjii, gets screwed by an alien invasion. The ETs want to do business, except we're the Aztecs and they're the Spaniards, and we can kiss our gold good-bye. But Mukerjii, after losing everything--his millions, his San Jose manse, his leggy wife--figures out how to beat the aliens at their own game in a characteristically Costikyan way: by producing exports in the form of cheesy, shoddily constructed spaceship beverage accoutrements.

Fun topic, thanks for the post.

[BenLurkin]

Ping

[Dengar01]

Ping the UFO Group

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

I don’t know what they are... but that’s exactly what my wife and I saw on I-40 on the border of Texas and Oklahoma in August, 2001.

I mean EXACTLY.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Headline: “Remnants of center fuel tank explosion, say authorities.”

[Lawgvr1955]

What would the effect of an undeniable landing be on the public, on religion, on culture?

I think the result would be the same for all three parts of your question.

/The public would be transfixed, hoping to find out as much as possible about the Visitors. The particular question would be the issue of hostility. From a religious perspective, I believe there would be great consternation among the masses to learn if the "proof" of life off this planet is consistent with a persons faith. Hostility on the part of the Visitors would increase IMHO church attendance, etc. Culturally, the Visitors would be bigger than the I Phone, David Beckham and low carb donuts combined. All Visitors, all the time.

The bottom line, people wouldn't be going to work, those that did work would be spending much of their time watching the news, etc. It would be an event in human history that was unparralelled.

[Southack]

"What would the effect of an undeniable landing be on the public, on religion, on culture?"

Similar to how the Aztecs reacted to the Spaniards, or Hawaiians to the British, etc.

Reactions wouldn't be universal, of course. You'd have different groups behaving differently.

In this day and age no doubt some would scheme to gain technical knowledge, political power, military advantage, of course.

[SamAdams76]

Has anybody considered the fact that most UFO's are simply time travelers from our future?

They will never actually land and interact with us because they know better than to mess around with the past. But they like coming to observe us.

When I am able to go back in time, I plan to visit Europe during the mid 18th Century so I can observe Johann Sebastian Bach writing some of his great works.

[Calvin Locke]

What would the effect of an undeniable landing be on the public, on religion, on culture?

Hopefully, it will be like that South Park epi of John Edward (the crossing over guy, not John Edwards, the crossing gender guy) and they'll come to haul Algor, most of Congress, and other assorted ilk away for a "Biggest [whatever] of the Universe" contest.

[SlightOfTongue]

Just another weather balloon...er, no, it's some kind of Northern Lights over the UK..., uh, no, it must be an optical illusion with the way the stars are aligned./sarcasm

Just ask the tinfoil kook patrol. They know everything and have all the answers. ;>)

[LeeHarvey]

http://www.ufoballoons.co.uk/
http://dandare.wordpress.com/2007/05/19/ufo-balloons-what-are-they/