More "evidence" for UFOs than God

I was recently having a discussion with someone about Ufos and things. I said that It could very well be true. He asked How can I believe in that more then God? I said Because there is more evidence and I do believe there must more life in the Universe. Is this a reasonable view?[This message has been edited by DC85, 03-22-2004]

It seems reasonable to me, but then I think flying pink elephants are more likely than god(s) existing.

The likleyhood of life on other planets in some form is probably quite high. The chemical proccesses for life work everwhere. The real question is how common are planets that have the right requirements to sustain life. Any probabilites would be a guess. Numerically speaking though, the odds are that there is life somewhere.
The second, and more glossed over questions is the liklihood of intelligent life. Considering the millions of species that have existed (and most gone extinct), there has only been a single species that has shown deep understanding and manipulation of the physical world beyond simple tools. It may be possible that the rational mind as we know it is a fluke, and exception, perhaps even unique. Even if the galaxy is teeming with life, the probabilities for what we consider sentient tech using life maybe be so low that the odds are only one per serveral galaxies. Again, any value here is a guess.
Of course, assuming that there is life, and assuming there is technological capabale sentient life, I would venture to say that the odds of them having located us, traveled at near instanteous speeds, abducted, probed and proded, and safely returned humans to their beds none the wiser are just a snowball's chance in hell more likely than the existance of various gods and deities. In other words, both probabilties are low. Go buy a lotto ticket, your odds are better.

"...would venture to say that the odds of them having located us, traveled at near instanteous speeds, abducted, probed and proded, and safely returned humans to their beds none the wiser are just a snowball's chance in hell more likely than the existance of various gods and deities. In other words, both probabilties are low."How is this even a snowball's chance in hell more likely? If something's omnipotent it can do anything, while a mortal being would have more trouble pulling feats like that off undetected. Furthermore,
neither of them have been disproven or proven. I'd say you can't put odds on either of them.

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Wanna feel God? Step onto the wrestling mat and you'd be crazy to deny the uplifting spirit.

Yes but UFOs we have MASS sightings , Pictures, Videos, and Detailed reports...
How many of those can be said about God?[This message has been edited by DC85, 03-23-2004]

What do you mean by UFO?
It does stand for Unidentified Flying Object.
Of course those exist. I've seen plenty of those, though i doubt any of them contained LGM. (Little Green Men)Doesn't it strike you as a bit convinient that every unidentified flying object that has had some research put into it has either been:
- Explained by a natural phenomenon,
- A prank
- The evidence is just in a too bad condition for any conclusion to be reached at all ?

I never said they exist or Believe they truly are creatures from space... I said it is More reasonable to believe in then God... Apparently the US government Takes it seriously though. Look at things like Janap 146..There is still no explanation for the things over Belgium... What else could they be? It could be natural.... but what are they?[This message has been edited by DC85, 03-23-2004]

Fair enough
I agree they are more likely to exist than an omnipotent god.
But then again an insanely intelligent, highly advanced alien race capable of flying to us from distant stars would maybe qualify as lesser gods to us ?What was the things over Belgium you speak of, what did I miss ?

In 1961, Frank Drake created an equation as a way to focus on the factors which determine how many intelligent, communicating civilizations there are in our galaxy (http://www.activemind.com/...Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html).
The equation doesn't give an absolute answer, but includes best guesses for how many "ET civilizations" there are out there in our galaxy alone.
If we can find evidence for life on any other planet than Earth, even bacterial that have been extinct for millions of years (like say on Mars), this equation will give a larger estimate than what we have today (and it seems to be teeming with life out there). But keep in mind that it is still best guesses.As for UFO's with ET's visiting Earth, check out the articles written by theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku at Error 404...
They give an insight in how it's mathematicly feasable for ET's to visit us."The best evidence that there is intellligent life out there, is that we still haven't been contacted" [This message has been edited by SkepticScand, 03-23-2004]

Belgium is like a Hot spot for Ufos if you really want to see one your best bet is to head over to Belgium. Although there arn't as many now... 1989-1993 there was a large wave of UFO sightings. they still continue but not as many(thats not to say theres not alot there where just so many from 89-93)

I live in Bonnybridge in Scotland, do a Google and you will discover that I am in the UFO capital of Europe!I haven't seen anything at all that remotely resembles a UFO, but I must be about the only person in the village that hasn't.There are a lot of Christians in Bonnybridge as well, maybe there is something in the water that makes people here hallucinate. ( I dont drink water BTW).Brian.

"Yes but UFOs we have MASS sightings , Pictures, Videos, and Detailed reports... How many of those can be said about God?"There have been lots of people who claim to have seen Angels, groups of people included. Pictures? I could make a UFO picture with a metal cylinder, tin foil and a can of spray paint. Videos have mostly been either dismissed as hoaxes or natural phenomena mistaken for alien activity. Detailed reports? Present some, and you'll notice they were reporting to something, probably the government, and they could be hoaxes just the same. In fact, I could write a report for you about the little red slime with teeth that attacked me in my sleep the other night.I could probably find some reports from exorcists and would you consider that evidence for the supernatural?"I never said they exist or Believe they truly are creatures from space... I said it is More reasonable to believe in then God... Apparently the US government Takes it seriously though. Look at things like Janap 146..
There is still no explanation for the things over Belgium... What else could they be? It could be natural.... but what are they?"I don't see why Belgium's UFO sightings stand out more than anywhere else. Could you fill me in on that, please?

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Wanna feel God? Step onto the wrestling mat and you'd be crazy to deny the uplifting spirit.

somehow I doubt the stuff going on in Europe are pranks... if they are the people doing it are DAMN good..... Europe in the last 20 years has had so many UFO sightings they set up a government group for it... Whens the last time God appeared in the view of hundreds people at once?Information on this is something Governments WOULD cover up... Look at the war of the worlds radio show and the panic it caused... Information on things are really never released for some reason

The US government has had several "investigations" as well. Ie. project bluebook. What they found was that most UFO are simply misidentified natural phenomena, planes, weather balloons, etc. There was a portion that was simply flat out hoaxes. In the cases that the object couldn't be identified, it was usually due to lack of information or poor credubility.
From what I have seen, the data suggests people simply filling in the unexplained with fantasy, the same thing people have always done. However, instead of demons, angels, and ghosts, we now have "visiting aliens".

Many years ago I stood next to someone who was seeing a flying saucer.He rented the upstairs from my parents with a view of the western sky. The radio broadcast reports of a UFO over the city. All the classic stuff; coloured windows flashing, moving fast, stopping instantly. He started to yell from upstairs that he could see it.I ran up and stood beside him. He was pointing out the window to the dark western sky. Clouds scuttling fast after a storm. He was hopping up and down, pointing and yelling. He described the flying saucer, windows, moving fast, doing sudden turns etc.I stood there for several minutes looking out the window and not able to see it. Finally, I realized he was looking at Venus, bright and low, appearing to move as the clouds moved. When we finally got clear that we were looking at the same object he realized that maybe it wasn't moving afterall.If I hadn't been there it would have been an unexplainable, eye witness account of a 'mysterious phenomenon'.I've been spectacularly fooled myself by a confused viewpoint and know how very wrong we can be by what is as 'plain as the nose on your face'. I once spent about 2 minutes near a good sized pond in the forest that hadn't been there a week before and was where a small canyon should have been. I was thunderstruck and trying to figure out how it got there. I was trying to figure out how it got there not doubting that it was there, it was obviously, for a minute or two, a pond. But it wasn't there at all.