To Mr. Jerry, these UFOs are not a recent phenomena. They have been interpreted differently depending on the era and culture. How do you imagine a Roman general would interpret seeing lights moving around in the sky? I am of the notion that once a civilization expands successfully into a few star systems they will eventually fill an entire galaxy unless someone else stops them. There is a huge technological and biological hump to overcome, but once you are past it you go everywhere like spores born up by a strong gust. Somewhere in our galaxy, given the span of time behind us, that must have already happened. Earth would be nothing new to them, just one of millions of worlds covered in primitive life. They probably just come here for a vacation to drown out the boredom of their technological immortality.

“Could be”

Is this a Richard Hoagland story?

Could it be a giant alien flying space baked potato? Could be.

There is much more actual evidence that this https://youtu.be/34Kjt9Os8uY is in deed so rather than this story about this asteroid being something other than it is. And I am certainly open to the concept that there are aliens somewhere, but “could be” and “may be” do not make it for me when there are plenty of other observations right here on the planet that indicate something other than what we know or recognize as being so.

I’ve said it and I’ve said it with certainty. Could I be wrong? Yes, and I will be the first to admit my mistake when someone brings forth credible evidence that our planet is being visited by creatures from another world. But until then, I will be a skeptic on this issue.

Carl Sagan said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Now, I may not be in the same league as Carl Sagan, but in this case I agree with him completely. Stories of strange lights in the sky, sightings of aircraft performing seemingly impossible acrobatic maneuvers before “shooting straight up,” presumably into space, or recollections of missing time after observing one of these weird aerial phenomena do not qualify as extraordinary evidence.

But what about the pictures? Since there have been cameras, there have been fuzzy pictures of these strange objects in the night sky. Most are obviously fake, some are clearly explainable, and, yes, some are truly puzzling—but a puzzling object seen from an aircraft window does not an alien spaceship make! Much simpler explanations (than alien visitors) are almost certainly waiting in the wings to be proffered.

I don’t want to get into a debate with true believers out there who have seen something they cannot explain, or have read about an encounter that had to be with a creature from another world. Sending me pictures taken with your cell phone camera will not convince me. No, the evidence would have to be something akin to Gort standing on the National Mall for me to be convinced aliens are visiting us.

Why am I so adamant? Why would I take a position that will almost certainly cause many readers to call me “closed minded” and a veritable Luddite? Because the thought of us being visited by aliens from another planet at this time simply is so highly improbable as to be, for all practical purposes, impossible.

Let me be clear. I do believe that there may be other life in the universe. I find the thought of humanity being alone in the universe to be not only depressing, but also arrogant. Surely, if it can happen here, with us, then it can happen elsewhere also. But, almost as certainly, life is rare. Intelligent tool-using life is likely even more rare. It is incredibly unlikely that intelligent, tool using life just happens to come visit us during a brief moment in the history of our species when are beginning to explore space ourselves.

I’d better explain how I come to this conclusion.

Pity – I would have loved it to be Rama.