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Flying Saucers and Other Fairy Tales
NYT ^ | 12/23/2017 | Ross Douthat

Posted on 12/25/2017 7:36:27 PM PST by BenLurkin

It is... good for Harry Reid and his little-green-men-obsessed billionaire pal for keeping the flame of weird curiosity alive.

But I also doubt that such research will ever prove that the strange lights and vessels filmed by human pilots actually belong to a starfaring species that’s come to our planet to study, experiment and eventually offer us a hand up or else ruthlessly invade....

Other sapient species may indeed be out there, but the most parsimonious explanation for all the U.F.O. encounters since Roswell is not that our nuclear testing or space program finally inspired the galaxy to come see what humanity is all about.

This was the argument of Jacques Vallée, a French-born scientist and a wonderful character in the annals of ufology, who wrote a wild book in the heady year of 1969 called “Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers,” which The Times’s U.F.O.-spending scoop gave me an excuse to read.

Vallée’s conclusion is basically the reverse of Erich von Däniken’s thesis in “Chariots of the Gods,” published to better sales the prior year. Where von Däniken argued that old myths and biblical tales alike contain evidence of ancient alien visitations ...Vallée suggested that contemporary U.F.O. narratives are of piece with stories about Northern European fairies and their worldwide kith and kin — and that it’s more reasonable to think that we’re reading our space age preoccupations into a persistent phenomenon that might be much weirder than a simple visitation from the stars.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: UFO's
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To: douginthearmy
could hide a base somewhere on this big planet.

There's a great sci fi book that addresses that premise called "Genesis" by W. A. Harbinson........

I thoroughly enjoyed it...

61 posted on 12/26/2017 9:03:15 AM PST by Hot Tabasco (My cat is not fat, she is just big boned........)
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To: MD Expat in PA

You are not well read on the issue. You are merely reacting poorly to something outside of your psychological box. Imagine what an explanation of a cell phone would seem like to anyone in the 1600s.


62 posted on 12/26/2017 10:36:10 AM PST by GingisK
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To: GingisK
I've heard the theory you've mentioned, but it also doesn't make sense. Aliens from another planet would have DNA that is 100% dissimilar from ourselves. We would be far closer related to cacti or a mushrooms, or any other life on earth. There is no way our DNA could benefit them. There is no way we could crossbreed with them for example, since that requires an extremely close DNA match.

As for our nuclear bombs, it would actually take far more energy than that to reach across interstellar space. They would have no reason to worry about our "threat" to themselves.
63 posted on 12/26/2017 11:20:04 AM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Aliens from another planet would have DNA that is 100% dissimilar from ourselves.

How do you know that as a fact? The point is, it is just a guess. Perhaps we are a long lost colony, so long that we have forgotten our history. It is even possible that we were originally exiled to a remote place, much like Australia or Georgia, only on a planetary scale. If we are a creation, is it so hard to believe that the blueprints of life would be copy-and-pasted throughout the cosmos?

We just don't know enough to adopt opinion as dogma. Anything is possible, even something we haven't thought of yet.

64 posted on 12/26/2017 1:05:13 PM PST by GingisK
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To: GingisK

Human DNA contains about 3 billion nucleotides. Life on another planet would evolve independently of our own, resulting in DNA with a completely different combination of base pairs. The odds are fantastically against even 1% of their DNA matching ours, while it takes well over a 99% match to be in the same species, therefore capable of interbreeding. It would be like a jigsaw puzzle with a billion pieces thrown into the air, and while landing on the ground form the puzzles solution just by chance.


65 posted on 12/26/2017 1:38:52 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: GingisK

Oh, and if we were a lost colony from some alien species, our DNA would not match any other life on Earth. But it does at least partially match every other species we have found, clearly indicating we evolved on this planet, not some other one. So I can’t really accept the theory that we are “children” of some alien species.


66 posted on 12/26/2017 1:55:46 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Perhaps if you think evolution is the only way things like this occur. One of the base UFO stories it that THEY came here and elevated us to a higher species by messing with our DNA. Suppose there are some sort or life forms out there that improve struggling life in such ways. They would undoubtedly use cut-and-paste techniques in their labs, wouldn't they?

Telepathic Intruder, reach out with your imagination. It is a lot easier to find many ideas that fit the overwhelming "evidence" of thousands of sightings of these things compared to the two reasons some folks rely on to explain it all away. It is a short jump to assume that WE don't know everything about physics, since we've practiced it only for a couple of hundred years. Older species are likely to be FAR ahead of us technologically, including in ways we think are impossible. Heck, that is an easier reach for me that relying on out of hand dismissal.

67 posted on 12/26/2017 2:05:23 PM PST by GingisK
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Well, it sure would make sense to me to bring my own plants and things if I were going to put my butt down on an other planet. It would be a short life in the new home if you couldn't rustle up some grub now and then.

Then there is that nagging bit about Creation, even guided evolution. Those ships might just be tending their garden.

68 posted on 12/26/2017 2:08:25 PM PST by GingisK
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Well, the stupid ships have been sighted through hundreds of years on this planet. Thousands of trained and reliable witnesses have seen them up close and declared them to be something that does not come from here.

The Ostrich Approach if funny to observe from my perspective.

69 posted on 12/26/2017 2:11:25 PM PST by GingisK
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To: GingisK

It’s not really out of hand dismissal, just failed attempts at understanding. If UFO’s do represent visitors from across interstellar distances, they’re here for reasons I can’t fathom. In this case I’d prefer some basis for understanding it rather than jumping blindly to conclusions. That’s in line with the scientific method. Faith is for God.


70 posted on 12/26/2017 2:15:15 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Telepathic Intruder

I’d sure like to sit down with you an chat a few hours. I think that would be a lot of fun. Your head seems screwed on right.


71 posted on 12/26/2017 2:33:16 PM PST by GingisK
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To: GingisK

I can argue a point when I have the facts, but I’m pretty hard hitting with them. I don’t like debating creationists, for example, because I don’t like shattering their illusions. Their beliefs don’t bother me but I can’t help correcting their misunderstandings, and somehow I feel bad about it at the same time. I also pick movies apart for their plot contradictions and scientific inaccuracies, which some people seem to think distracts from the enjoyment of them.


72 posted on 12/26/2017 2:52:39 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Telepathic Intruder

We all know why they’re here - ANAL PROBING!!!


73 posted on 12/26/2017 2:58:17 PM PST by Reily
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To: Reily

Yeah, perverts from outer space. Almost as bad as Killer Klowns.


74 posted on 12/26/2017 3:03:37 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Telepathic Intruder

“Perverts From Outer Space” would be a great Mystery Science Fiction 3000 film!


75 posted on 12/26/2017 3:06:18 PM PST by Reily
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To: Reily

We seem to have enough of those in Hollywood already.


76 posted on 12/26/2017 3:07:44 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Telepathic Intruder

Maybe they indeed are from outer space!


77 posted on 12/26/2017 3:09:23 PM PST by Reily
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Movies. Egad! They can't seem to get anything right.

Creationists can be a real nuisance. One must forcibly overlook a lot of evidence in order to dismiss evolution. It always puzzles me to see people just dismiss evidence because it doesn't fit in with their initial conclusions. That is why this UFO phenomenon is so intriguing. It just doesn't seem to fit in with anything we understand; yet, it is obvious people are seeing something. Mass hallucination? Over centuries? I'd love to have some answers before I croak. I suspect that will not occur.

78 posted on 12/26/2017 4:51:44 PM PST by GingisK
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To: Telepathic Intruder
If UFO’s do represent visitors from across interstellar distances, they’re here for reasons I can’t fathom.

Field trips to study entire species gone berserk? ;-D

79 posted on 12/26/2017 4:53:09 PM PST by GingisK
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To: a fool in paradise

... and what if the other species were humans and the earthlings were their criminal filth?


80 posted on 12/26/2017 6:02:16 PM PST by himno hero (hadnuff)
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