"UFO's probably not real" - UFO Enthusiasts Admit The Truth May Not Be Out There After All
52 replies, posted
[quote]
For decades they have been scanning the skies for signs of alien activity.
But having failed to establish any evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial life, Britain’s UFO watchers are reaching the conclusion that the truth might not be out there after all.
Enthusiasts admit that a continued failure to provide proof and a decline in the number of “flying saucer” sightings suggests that aliens do not exist after all and could mean the end of “Ufology” – the study of UFOs – within the next decade.
Dozens of groups interested in the flying saucers and other unidentified craft have already closed because of lack of interest and next week one of the country’s foremost organisations involved in UFO research is holding a conference to discuss whether the subject has any future.
Dave Wood, chairman of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (Assap), said the meeting had been called to address the crisis in the subject and see if UFOs were a thing of the past.
“It is certainly a possibility that in ten years time, it will be a dead subject,” he added.
“We look at these things on the balance of probabilities and this area of study has been ongoing for many decades.
“The lack of compelling evidence beyond the pure anecdotal suggests that on the balance of probabilities that nothing is out there.
“I think that any UFO researcher would tell you that 98 per cent of sightings that happen are very easily explainable. One of the conclusions to draw from that is that perhaps there isn’t anything there. The days of compelling eyewitness sightings seem to be over.”
He said that far from leading to an increase in UFO sightings and research, the advent of the internet had coincided with a decline.
Assap’s UFO cases have dropped by 96 per cent since 1988, while the number of other groups involved in UFO research has fallen from well over 100 in the 1990s to around 30 now.
Among those to have closed are the British Flying Saucer Bureau, the Northern UFO Network, and the Northern Anomalies Research Organisation.
As well as a fall in sightings and lack of proof, Mr Wood said the lack of new developments meant that the main focus for the dwindling numbers of enthusiasts was supposed UFO encounters that took place several decades ago and conspiracy theories that surround them.
In particular, he cited the Roswell incident, in 1947 when an alien spaceship is said to have crashed in New Mexico, and the Rendlesham incident in 1980, often described as the British equivalent, when airmen from a US airbase in Suffolk reported a spaceship landing.
Mr Wood added: “When you go to UFO conferences it is mainly people going over these old cases, rather than bringing new ones to the fore.
“There is a trend where a large proportion of UFO studies are tending towards conspiracy theories, which I don’t think is particularly helpful.”
The issue is to be debated at a summit at the University of Worcester on November 17 and the conclusions reported in the next edition of the association’s journal, Anomaly.
The organisation, which describes itself as an education and research charity, was established in 1981. Its first president was Michael Bentine, the comedian and member of the Goons.
It contains both sceptics and believers in UFOs and has been involved in several notable sightings and theories over the years.
Its current president Lionel Fanthorpe has claimed in its journal that King Arthur was an alien who came to Earth to save humans from invading extraterrestrials.
The summit follows the emergence earlier this year of the news that the Ministry of Defence was no longer investigating UFO sightings after ruling there is “no evidence” they pose a threat to the UK.
David Clark, a Sheffield Hallam University academic and the UFO adviser to the National Archives, said: “The subject is dead in that no one is seeing anything
evidential.
“Look at all the people who now have personal cameras. If there was something flying around that was a structured object from somewhere else, you would have thought that someone would have come up with some convincing footage by now – but they haven’t.
“The reason why nothing is going on is because of the internet. If something happens now, the internet is there to help people get to the bottom of it and find an explanation.
“Before then, you had to send letters to people, who wouldn’t respond and you got this element of mystery and secrecy that means things were not explained.
“The classic cases like Roswell and Rendlesham are only classic cases because they were not investigated properly at the time.”
But Nick Pope, who ran the MoD’s UFO desk from 1991 to 1994 and now researches UFO sightings privately, said there was a future for the subject: “There’s a quantity versus quality issue here.
“So many UFO sightings these days are attributable to Chinese lanterns that more interesting sightings are sometimes overlooked.
“The same is true with photos and videos. There are so many fakes on YouTube and elsewhere, it would be easy to dismiss the whole subject out of hand.
“The danger is that we throw out the baby with the bathwater. And as I used to say at the MoD, the believers only have to be right once.”[/quote]
source: [URL]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/9653499/UFO-enthusiasts-admit-the-truth-may-not-be-out-there-after-all.html[/URL]
That's just what they want us to think :tinfoil:
aliens no doubt exist.
it would be really mind blowing to know that we're the only race out there in this universe, but surely it cannot be possible. I mean, it's just so hard to fathom if there are any other human-like races somewhere out there, and to imagine what they are doing. Words cannot describe.
But UFO's are totally real.
They're just probably not aliens.
With the other millions of billions of planets in this universe I like to think we're not alone.
[QUOTE=redBadger;38321208]aliens no doubt exist.
it would be really mind blowing to know that we're the only race out there in this universe, but surely it cannot be possible. I mean, it's just so hard to fathom if there are any other human-like races somewhere out there, and to imagine what they are doing. Words cannot describe.[/QUOTE]
This seems appropriate.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/q9Cmf.jpg[/t]
It's a shame this guy doesn't have hope in something he's so enthusiastic about, like a crushing blow ;_;
But what about the History Channel shows?
[QUOTE=TMBGFan;38321223]But UFO's are totally real.
They're just probably not aliens.[/QUOTE]
Yup. Technically speaking any time you see something flying and can't figure out what it is you're looking at a UFO.
"Flying objects you cannot identify do not exist."
[QUOTE=TMBGFan;38321223]But UFO's are totally real.
They're just probably not aliens.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=TestECull;38321308]Yup. Technically speaking any time you see something flying and can't figure out what it is you're looking at a UFO.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Bumbanut;38322076]"Flying objects you cannot identify do not exist."[/QUOTE]
UFO implies aliens. Almost no one says UFO these days and strictly means "unidentified flying object".
[QUOTE=yawmwen;38322330]UFO implies aliens. Almost no one says UFO these days and strictly means "unidentified flying object".[/QUOTE]
the meaning of UFO is "unidentified flying object"
while this does imply aliens after 70 years of correlating "ufo" with "alien spacecraft", the word is not strictly limited to the description of aliens
for instance, the word "alien" implies something from outer space, but is not strictly limited to describing extraterrestrial life; perhaps in this case it means an unnaturalized immigrant?
[QUOTE=TMBGFan;38322365]the meaning of UFO is "unidentified flying object"
while this does imply aliens after 70 years of correlating "ufo" with "alien spacecraft", the word is not strictly limited to the description of aliens
for instance, the word "alien" implies something from outer space, but is not strictly limited to describing extraterrestrial life; perhaps in this case it means an unnaturalized immigrant?[/QUOTE]
Technical definitions mean very little; context is important.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;38322405]Technical definitions mean very little; context is important.[/QUOTE]
the context is important but that doesn't change the fact that UFO isn't just a word, it's an acronym for "Unidentified Flying Object"
and anyway its not like i meant to imply that the enthusiast was saying that everything in the sky was identified; it was a silly joke, get the stick out of your ass
What if there are aliens, but they are just like us humans?
Like, "humans" from another planet?
:tinfoil:
they do exist just last week me and my friend who are straight edge (never drank alcohol or tried any drugs) saw a well what looked like a ufo
there was a bright orange/redish light that was a sbright as the sun during 1;30 am.
it starterted doing circles and then it just disapeared into space in a matter of seconds
Well, you can only hope I guess.
I did see a strange, erratically moving light in the sky a few years ago. But whether it was an alien spacecraft or a military aircraft is up for debate.
[QUOTE=Rocâ„¢;38322448]What if there are aliens, but they are just like us humans?
Like, "humans" from another planet?
:tinfoil:[/QUOTE]
It's possible, but improbable. If the universe is large enough, there's more planets with creatures identical to humans out there.
watch aliens will show up when we stop looking for them :v:
The government can only hide their existence until they launch a terror attack on a major city.
I want to believe.
Should be piss obvious, there's no other forms of advanced life in this system, and the nearest system is 4 light years away. Speaking of which, unless you can travel at about 25% the speed of light, it would require an average human lifetime to go from there to here one way. Also there's no planets capable of harboring life in the Centauri system anyways.
[QUOTE=TMBGFan;38322365]the meaning of UFO is "unidentified flying object"
while this does imply aliens after 70 years of correlating "ufo" with "alien spacecraft", the word is not strictly limited to the description of aliens
for instance, the word "alien" implies something from outer space, but is not strictly limited to describing extraterrestrial life; perhaps in this case it means an unnaturalized immigrant?[/QUOTE]
Do you also tell people that a bathroom technically requires a bath?
[quote]Its current president Lionel Fanthorpe has claimed in its journal that King Arthur was an alien who came to Earth to save humans from invading extraterrestrials.[/quote]
Not only is that the greatest sounding name ever, that's one of the funniest serious sentences I've ever read.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;38323362]The government can only hide their existence until they launch a terror attack on a major city.[/QUOTE]
Or an intercepted UFO crashes inside their back woods
"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying" - Arthur C. Clarke
[QUOTE=Valnar;38323660]Do you also tell people that a bathroom technically requires a bath?[/QUOTE]
"Bathroom" is not a technical term; "Bath" does not stand for anything but "bath" but "UFO" stands for "Unidentified Flying Object" which means that it's definition is literally the word itself.
Incidentally, "bathroom" was apparently not used universally to mean "room with a toilet" until recently (and probably still isn't totally universal) so in a some places [I]yes i absolutely would tell people that.[/I]
[QUOTE=shrinkme;38321293]But what about the History Channel shows?[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/I4YYa.png[/IMG]
Still, I'd like to know we aren't alone. Captured images and video of UFOs alone are startling enough; to think those things might not even be really alien would be another story entirely.
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