Do We Think of UFOs as Crafts [sic] or Beings, and Why Does It Matter?

Psychology Today ^ | July 11, 2026 | Liz Stillwaggon Swan PhD | Reviewed by Margaret Foley

[BenLurkin]

There is a pretty pervasive and consistent assumption in our long history of UFO sightings: that the unidentified objects some of us see in the night sky are vehicles or crafts inside of which are what we're really interested in—the aliens themselves. But what if this assumption is mistaken? What if the craft or vehicle itself is what's alien?

UFOs are like mirrors for human nature

The long history of UFO sightings in the world, taken as a whole, can act as a reflecting pool for our often subconscious beliefs and assumptions. The term "flying saucer" has been around since the late 1940s, when a private pilot named Kevin Arnold reported seeing something fitting that description in the skies over Mount Rainier in Washington state. The moniker stuck because it seems to aptly describe what so many people since then have described seeing in the night sky. UFO sightings often involve a disk-shaped object in the sky, sometimes with lights or doors or other hardware that suggest the object opens to allow for entry and exit. But of what or whom?

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Could the UFO crafts be the aliens? Why not? I think it's interesting that we assume the objects we see in the sky and admit are "unidentified" are nevertheless assumed to be the vehicle and not the being itself. How would we know?

Some more far-out hypotheses suggest these crafts are some manifestation of ourselves (humans) from the future visiting current reality. .... perhaps these UFOs are programs that are briefly rendered real (as in taking on physical form) as they dip into our "reality" almost like a 3D-printed object, which begins as an idea and takes form as it's "printed."

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TOPICS: UFO's
KEYWORDS:

[Does so]

We are alone...

[Sirius Lee]

The two I saw at fairly close range appeared to be silent solid airborne objects performing maneuvers that neither plane, nor helicopter, nor drone could.

[DannyTN]

You can't tell me this guy is not from a different planet.

[Nervous Tick]

I think of them as ‘figments’.

[BenLurkin]

This report interests me. The flying whatever it is followed a radar plane and beamed radar at it.

https://www.theblackvault.com/casefiles/rb-47-ufo-encounter-july-17-1957/

[simpson96]

From “Psychology Today”. What a world these people live in. Spend your time thinking, why do people think what they think, when there’s no practical goal to it.

[dware]

Aliens are what you get when people who don’t believe in an all powerful, intergalactic being came to earth in the form of a man to save mankind are looking for an all powerful, intergalactic being to come to earth in the form of a man to save mankind.

[Nervous Tick]

Yes, interesting, particularly the timeframe in which the event occurred.

[Dave Wright]

Our fascination with unexplained aerial phenomena is an interesting story. The belief that they are piloted by beings from another galaxy is impossible science fiction. Whether life evolved on some other planet in some other galaxy is speculation based on probabilities, but, in the end, it’s irrelevant.

No massive sentient being could traverse the distances between galaxies in any conceivable time that would make the journey useful. The laws of physics are clear; this is impossible.

[Jamestown1630]

How do you know they were solid? they can probably do a lot of stuff with lasers now that we don’t even know about.

[Sirius Lee]

How do you know they were lasers. Did you see them?

[Jamestown1630]

I don’t know that they were lasers; but I think we can be fooled by a lot of things now, and we can’t always rely on what we think we ‘see’.

[Fungi]

Psychology Today, Scientific American, and numerous other publications went woke before the term was even coined. Too liberal for the real world and their own good.

[Vaduz]

UFOs = Drones

Your not cleared to know why

[Jamestown1630]

That doesn’t account for the ones seen decades ago, or even hundreds of years ago as depicted in old paintings.

[Sirius Lee]

I don’t know that they were lasers;

Then why tell that’s what I, who was there on both occasions under clear skies, were?

but I think we can be fooled by a lot of things now

Again, who is “we”? I Were you there? I stated what I saw and have given further details in several previous threads that completely obliterate the tired swamp gas theories pushed as explanations.

[Jamestown1630]

If I see something in the sky that acts in ways that no known aircraft can act, I'm going to ask questions; not just accept was 'appears' to be.

That seems how an intelligent mind should approach something like that. But YMMV.

[Liz]

Yup

[Auslander154]

Why assume they come from planets or objects thousands of light years away? Why assume the almost impossible?

“perhaps these UFOs are programs that are briefly rendered real (as in taking on physical form) as they dip into our “reality” almost like a 3D-printed object, which begins as an idea and takes form as it’s “printed.”

I have long believed UFO’s come from alternate dimensions. UFO designed objects slip in and out of these dimensions. Designed by us when we leave our mortal coil. The last thing I want when I pass on is to sprout wings and play a harp on some cloud. My soul, my mind, still wants to be useful. We will all be teachers, inventors, designers, guides, comforters beside God.

John 14:2. “ In my Father’s house there are many mansions.”

[Vaduz]

The ones seen decades ago.

Ball lighting caused by atmosphere conditions with different minerals in the area more so if rivers or lakes in area.

No such thing as a UFO thousands of satellites have yet to spot one and planes spot blob photos or fake images.

NASA hasn’t spotted on yet