UFOs - Have you ever seen any convincing evidence?

Hi All,

I've always been interested in the subject of UFOs, going back as far as I can remember. I really wanted to believe in them if I'm being honest. I consider myself and open minded skeptic, but the evidence just doesn't weigh up for me (yet). I fully believe in extraterrestrial life I just don't believe were being visited.

My main problem is with the type of evidence. Most, or alot of it is just "anecdotal" which, in my opinion you just can't take as fact - there are just too many variables: Human error, hoaxes, misinterpretation, fantasy prone personalities, sleep paralysis, etc.

When I hear about the physical evidence, it's usually through more "anecdotal evidence". When we actually see the physical evidence, it can usually be explained by terrestrial phenomena. However, you nearly always hear the person who makes the claims in the first place saying something like, "scientists are baffled". Unfortunately these claims aren't generally verified. I'd be more interested in who the scientists were, and exactly how these tests were conducted, also do the involved parties have any financial interest in the project (much like the cloning cold fusion issues). I remember listening to Stanton Friedman (famous ufologist and Nuclear physicist) recently, he claimed one of his peers had over 5 thousand pieces of physical evidence, again I have not seen these, only heard about them.

There is a bazillion photographs out there - obviously some are hoaxes, but most, I feel, are due to people not really knowing what they are looking at. Such things as astronomical and weather anomalies. The phoenix lights are a really good example of this. If you look at the evidence - you'll have little or no doubt that they are military flares. But yet people seem to rush to the concussion that they are extraterrestrials - This is where a lot of people fall down in my opinion. The principal of Occam's razor should be applied before leaping to and extraordinary conclusion. IE - look for the simple explanation first!

To quote Marcello Truzzi:
"Extraordinary claim require extraordinary proof."

So in conclusion, I've been waffling, have you guys seen anything that might tip you over the edge to believe?

Cheers,

R.

Nice post Rob,

im sure someone must have seen a ufo,

unfortunately theres so much evidence against it............


regards,

Den.

Cheers Den,

Ironically, I've seen one myself. Myself and Katie (my girlfriend) were having a pick nick up in the Dublin mountains. We saw a most peculiar cylindrical shape object on the horizon - with very odd movement. Can't say what it was as it was very far away. However, we both decided that it wasn't a UFO, more likely to be some kind of Blimp.

There has been some very interesting cases, like the "Rendlesham Forest" incident back in the 80's. While I find some of the anecdotal evidence interesting (and it's a great story) - I'm just not convinced. The famous tape recording could've been faked. But I'm still utterly enthralled by Ufology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendlesham_Forest_Incident

The search goes on,

Cheers,

R.

Hey Rob

I have mate

Was in the local shop today and in the sweet Isle, they had all diff coloured ones
full of sherbert. does that count? my kids even made them fly by winding up baseball pitching style and sending it off about 20 feet.

apart from that Im still sitting on the fence on this one.

I cant and refuse to believe we are the only intelligent life in the universe. it just does not seem like a logical conclusion.

Craig

Craig wrote:

Was in the local shop today and in the sweet Isle, they had all diff coloured ones
full of sherbert. does that count?

Heh.... My girlfriend loves those! I think they taste like cardboard though.

I definitely believe that the universe has other intelligent life, as in the "drake equation". Although I doubt they are visiting us. It's possible, but very unlikely due to the immense distances involved, and whether our times lines even cross, ie - they could be extinct or we could.

But never say never!

The Drake Equation.

N = N* fp ne fl fi fc fL

regards,

Den.

err... sorry, I should have mentioned who Frank Drake was. Basically that's his equation (or theory) of how many life forms could exist in the known universe. No one can say how accurate it may be - but it's a very interesting way of looking at it.

Heres more info':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

Cheers,

R.

Wiki saves me again!