We know that the government kept the SR71 secret in the 50s and 60s and the stealth bomber secret in the 80s and 90s. There’s a great book called Skunk Works that details how massive military aviation advances were kept secret for decades.

Now, we’re 60 years on from the Blackbird and 40 years on from the stealth bomber. We know the military has operated drones for decades and that Russia has hypersonic missiles.

I find it much more plausible that these are top secret man made UFOs. In 10-20 years when this technology is outdated we’ll probably find out what it really was.

> In 10-20 years when this technology is outdated we’ll probably find out what it really was.

Based on something I saw in the mid 90s and the numerous reports of these cylindrical crafts, I think it will be more than 10-20 years before these are outdated. Like the Stealth version of the UH-60 helicopter that crashed during the Osama raid, we likely won't know more about these crafts unless there is a similar sort of accident.

Reports and witnessing of UFOs are not something that started happening only in recent times. And by recent, I mean the last ~80 years (which is far longer than the 10-20 year window). You can find examples - stories and depictions of UFOs - throughout the history.

There have been stories throughout history of ghosts, supernatural powers, witchcraft, dragons, Bigfoot, a flat Earth, etc.

Eye witness testimony is notoriously poor evidence on it’s own.

Of course anything is possible, but stories alone are not sufficient evidence since we do have a history of misinterpreting things or making things up without physical evidence and buying into it en mass.

>Why poo poo it? That's what I don't understand.

I think many people take a certain comfort in the assumption that we basically have the universe and the nature of reality figured out. They can accept the possibility that there may be some microbes buried deep on Mars, because it doesn't disrupt their world view or understanding of the nature of reality. But to consider the possibility that there are actually "alien" intelligent beings from other worlds, other dimensions or places unknown flying around on earth shatters their entire understanding of how the world works. It turns all of their assumptions about the universe, the history of our planet and the nature of life itself on its head. Its too much for many people to even contemplate, so they reflexively look for mundane explanations that fit into their perceived understanding of reality. For those predisposed to cling to the safety of what they think they know, the further idea that the government could have been aware of this phenomenon for decades while lying about it and covering it up is just another bit of paradigm busting trauma. The possibility is just too frightening for some, so they refuse to consider it (consciously or not).

> I think many people take a certain comfort in the assumption that we basically have the universe and the nature of reality figured out.

People have that assumption? That's... a pretty terrible assumption, and even a cursory read of some pop-sci articles is enough to tell you there's a ton we don't know. I'm just not convinced that most people assume we know these things.

> That's... a pretty terrible assumption

Couldn't agree more. Unfortunately it doesn't make it any less prevalent.

If there are aliens, we are in deep shit.

There are two poles: Either the aliens are extremely rapacious, or very enlightened.

If they're rapacious, we are weak annoying ants to be crushed.

If they're enlightened, a cursory examination of our history and treatment of the world would show that we are extremely rapacious, and need to be contained or destroyed.

So no matter where on that continuum, we are either destroyed or enslaved.

Why would alients want to enslave us if they have robots? In any case they are not very talkative, they didn't even contact us; if it is them they are just monitoring; makes sense: the only thing one could do with a primitive culture is to monitor it, because otherwise you risk destoying it. Maybe these are alien anthropologists doing a field study.

Do you worry about how rapacious a cockroach is on a distant island in the middle of the ocean? Even if, one day, you decided to visit that island and see what this distant place was like, would you feel compelled to seek out the cockroach and destroy it? Would you worry about the possibility that a million years from now the cockroach might develop the technology to escape its island and challenge you?

A million years?

Again, they'd know the future tech path forward better than we, but I'd see a "cockroach" that went from basic agriculture to nuclear weapons and launching rockets into space within 100 years.

We've had the tech to be a significant solar system race for 60 years now. If the military budget were allocated to space development we'd have a full fledged space civilization and manufacturing base by now.

If you were a civilization that was a million years (or tens of millions of years) farther down the tech road from us, perhaps you wouldn't view a small outpost of intelligent apes that are barely able to visit their own nearby moon as a threat. The larger point is that its far from certain that alien beings would see us only as either a threat or a useful commodity. Both are possibilities but both are from from the only possibilities.

You're only addressing the rapacious pole.

If they are enlightened, they will very much see us as dangerous to the planet that needs to be curtailed.

Your assertion that a civilization that is a million (or more) years ahead of us technologically would see us as a threat is, ironically, just more confirmation that they have absolutely nothing to fear.

>need to be contained

Yes? When was the last time you were on the Moon?

It sounds like you’re saying “the absence of evidence IS evidence of an advanced alien civilization (because they’d hide)”.

Or do I misinterpret?

Exactly. I'd even build upon Asimov a little: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and any sufficiently advance civilization would appear both magical technologically and would LIKELY trend towards being highly elusive.

Then, by your logic, they don’t exist since they got caught on tape.

What's your opinion on existence of Planet nine?

Thank you for this comment. I think what poo pooing is showing us is that the majority of humankind is not yet ready to be in contact with an extraterrestrial civilization because such thinking is way too narrow to even begin a conversation.

This is why publishing such articles is important, and why they should make more people think that there is a possibility after all that humans are not the only ones in the universe and that life is all around them.

This is such a preliminary line of thought, that, if most humans lack this perspective, why even begin to engage?

>... Think of the lawsuits!

On what grounds? Besides, the federal government is sovereign and can't be sued in most circumstances.

Another reason to not dismiss it: UFO does not mean extraterrestrial, it just means unidentified.