Don't have to have a reason to lack a belief, but I have a reason and it's fun to use on those that do believe.
If aliens really were here we wouldn't have to know it, for reasons I'll outline below.
We wouldn't have to know alien craft are here because they could hide. We humans, which can't even get out of our own system yet(in person), have aircraft that are very hard to see on RADAR. We're working on active optical camo(think Predator-like), could hit the battlefield by 2020, or sooner. A folded fabric suit that masks IR detection already exists. So, wouldn't a civilisation that's thousands of years, or at least hundreds, ahead of us have the technology to not be seen? Or, their craft could be the size of golfballs, and upon landing they make robots that look just like Earth life(unless you put them under a microscope). That fly on your wall—you get the idea. That tree in the jungle—laser transmitter to orbit, or farther. We'd be more clueless that they were here than targets are to a sniper wearing a ghillie suit. UFOs are not aliens, unless they just get kicks out of showing themselves and messing with people's heads.(talk about a pathetic rationalization) Aliens, until proven otherwise, aren't here. Though, like I've outlined already, they could be. Feel free to use this argument against UFOs-are-aliens believers.

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If we don't play god, who will?-James Watson
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The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.-Tom Waits
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a yo-yo.-Enoch Root, The Confusion
When I was a kid, if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!-Myron Reducto, Harvey Birdman

Well yeah... They are trying to "prepare us" for when they fully reveal themselves by getting us to think more and more about them using these brief appearances.

Didn't you know that already?

</woo>

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I think the phrase "Do you believe in UFOs" is fatuous. Of course I believe in UFOs; in my time I have seen many flying objects, some of which I have been personally unable to identify.

Do I believe the accounts of people who claim to have been abducted and/or annointed by hyperadvanced, demonic or messianic aliens? Well, since there is usually no physical evidence to back up their accounts, I am left only with a rather subjective evaluation of their characters and motives. I am sure there are people out there of unimpeachable character and sober and skeptic turn of mind who honestly believe that they were abducted, but the ones who come to light that I've seen have usually resulted from highly imaginative and fantasy-prone people led on by hypnotists, or from deliberate fabrication.

Given that three percent of people have claimed to have experienced symptoms of abduction, that would require, at modern population levels, (assuming the phenomenon is global) the abduction of 180 million people. Even granting every alien ship the capacity to experiment on a thousand unfortunate individuals, that would require a fleet of 180 thousand ships, or one every hour for 20 years. I suppose that isn't impossible, but one would have to wonder why.

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I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

And then they take their masks off, and reveal they're some sort of horrible lizards ? Sorry- I think I just revealed how old I am...

To answer the original OP, I can believe that the presence of intelligent aliens is possible. The only reason that such a species would visit our planet without either (a) meet with us and unlock secrets of the Universe, or (b) horribly conquer/enslave/torture/genocide the human race to steal our planet and/or its resources, is that they intend to study us, for some unknown purpose.

A basic tenet of a scientific study under controlled conditions is that the test subjects must act as they would normally. This would certainly preclude knowledge that a sinister study was being imposed upon us. That said, why would aliens allow the test subject (invariably an unemployed, drunk man from Arkansas, or else a middle-aged spinster with more than 9 cats) to be anally probed, and then return without a complete memory wipe ? Unless nearly 100% of all self-proclaimed abductees are delusional, which is possible...

Spying on us wouldn't really be that difficult for an advanced space-faring race. One wonders why they would even need to interact with us on such a wide scale. We ourselves, do a pretty good job of spying on ourselves, and the pinnacle of the "dominant" civilization right now seems to be iPods and NASCAR. An alien species could just take refuge on a nearby planet, or assume orbit inside of Jupiter, and just monitor transmissions. Maybe every 10 years, take a junket to Earth and steal a couple of dozen humans, sheep, donkeys, and bamboo plants. Simple, effective- and no need to alert everyone on the ground with blinking lights in the sky.

It's more likely that UFO's are our own creation, like the so-many Russian military test aircraft from the 50's to the 80's spotted in the countryside of the Steppes. Or else they are things that most of us don't understand, like a decaying satellite, meteor shower, or "pocket of swamp gas reflected through a weather balloon...".

Have you ever teased a cat with a laser pointer?

Maybe UFOs are the laser pointers, and we are the cats.

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So you're saying that the UFO's are almost wholly a particular element of a test study of our reactions ? While of course I can't ever know the reason for such a test, or why so long a test period would be required, I'd have to question why aliens would mimic the action of aircraft, meteors, or persons conducting a hoax, so often.

If such a study is likened to cats and laser pointers, the analogy is simple: the cat thinks he's chasing a bug- instinct tells him so, and he does it because he thinks/needs/wants/desires, or is required to pursue. Human beings are little different. We find out the likely reasons, do a cursory investigation, and then abandon the more extravagant, more difficult-to-prove theories to the nuttier elements of society to dream about. We pursue daily the likely causes of UFO's- planes without beacons, celestial events, etc., and that really satisfies most of the requirement, until there's more convincing evidence to examine.

No, not a test. Merely amusement.




(You know I'm goofing, right?)

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Ahh well then, yes. I have.

I've tortured my cat to no end by: tying bells to his feet, making him chase laser pen projections, placing him under the covers with the corners tucked in, and thrown him in a full bathtub. But I haven't dressed him up in little outfits though- cuz that would be sick.

Well then...

Some of could be providing some real knee-slapping entertainment to the galactic neighborhood kids.

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Poor argument. Just because they COULD hide does not mean they would bother to do so.

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Fiction has to be plausible. Reality is under no such constraint.

Oh please, Lance. What evidence have you that the aliens even have knees, let alone that they might slap them?

In Lance's defense, the Llama tells him....

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Poor refutation. Remember, SkepticJ was referring to "aliens," not UFOs. If "they" are here and could hide, they obviously are. If they are here and not bothering to hide, tell me where to find them.

Well, I don't. That's why I said "could".

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Imagine a lifeform, smart enough to cross the vast gulfs of space, brilliant enough to arrive undetected, clever enough to walk unseen among us...

But too stupid to turn off their running lights at night.

Doesn't wash.

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
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Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

I agree it seems strange but are you suggesting that we impose our thinking / rationale on their behavior?





Aside: why did up some dusty old bones like this thread?

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

What you are saying is not a reason for irrational behavior, it is an excuse for irrational behavior.

I asked a question, RAF.
I wasn't "saying" anything.

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"Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the greater view?" - Hugo

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Churchill

It is of course improbable that 10% of the UFO's are piloted by ET. 1% is often suggested by UFO experts. One in a million might be reality. We can speculate similar numbers for experiencers some of whom think they might have been abducted. There are numerous reasons why ET teases us, but snatches away the evidence. It is working great. More than half of the common folks think ET may be visiting Earth, but hardly any of the movers and shakers, who can act on belief significantly are believers. ET has prepared about 4 billion humans for intigration of the their society with ours, or some other reason. Only the elete humans who are sure there are no ET amoung us will freek out when they find out they were wrong.
It is also possible no ET have visited Earth and the experiencers have all jumped to a wrong conclusion. Neil