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Apollo 14 Moonwalker Claims Aliens Exist

An anonymous reader writes "Former NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell — a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission — has stunningly claimed aliens exist. And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions — but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades. Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'"

130 of 1,268 comments (clear)

  1. Space Madness! by FatSean · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think he just had a case of the space madness.

    --
    Blar.
    1. Re:Space Madness! by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

      And how many times have YOU been in space? This guy has BEEN there. He knows the facts on the ground.

    2. Re:Space Madness! by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's ridiculous. That's like saying an airline pilot knows about the latest top secret fighter plane designs. Personally, I find it a bit hard to believe that a civilization is smart enough to travel interstellar distances but too stupid to use basic camouflage.

    3. Re:Space Madness! by MrMacman2u · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think you meant "He has Space Dementia!"

      --
      This signature is lame.
    4. Re:Space Madness! by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Says who? Hey, we're already arguing on conspiracy grounds, why not argue for fake moon landings while we're at it?

      I'm a programmer, but that doesn't make me more credible than someone who has no clue about programming when I claim that Cthuluh is controlling the internet.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Space Madness! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Every time something good happens to me you say it's some kind of madness. Or I'm drunk. Or I ate too much candy. Well I saw a real alien. And I wish for once my friends would have decency and kindness to believe me.

    6. Re:Space Madness! by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or land their crates safely after traveling for billions of miles, or at least crash somewhere else but in the middle of nowhere, midwest USA.

      One could imagine that they're either more subtle when they try to remain under cover than leaving mutilated cattle and anally probed people lying around after their departure, or that they'd be more choosy when trying to reveal themselves than to show themselves only to some moonshine-swigging hicks. Why not land in the middle of the Superbowl finals, now THAT's revealing!

      Seriously, for such an advanced species, they make very little sense.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:Space Madness! by unlametheweak · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nope,

      He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.

      Sounds more than likely he bumped into Ross Perot on a dark night.

      Ref:
      http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot

    8. Re:Space Madness! by tritonman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Unfortunately, all the UFO buffs who would be delighted to hear this information are also the same people who believe that the moonwalks were a sham, so they won't believe a word he says.

    9. Re:Space Madness! by SpleenVenter · · Score: 5, Informative

      > when I claim that Cthuluh is controlling the internet.

      That was not supposed to be revealed. A nasty tentacle is on its way to claim your mortal husk.

    10. Re:Space Madness! by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And how many times have YOU been in space? This guy has BEEN there. He knows the facts on the ground.

      response.funny == "I thought the point was that he knew the facts in space."

      response.obligatory == "You mean, he had the script handed to him on the sound stage?"

      Seriously though, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. This guy is either a wingnut or expects proof to be forthcoming. I hope for the latter but expect the former :)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:Space Madness! by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 5, Funny

      or Space Herpes

    12. Re:Space Madness! by blahplusplus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "Says who? Hey, we're already arguing on conspiracy grounds, why not argue for fake moon landings while we're at it?

      I'm a programmer, but that doesn't make me more credible than someone who has no clue about programming when I claim that Cthuluh is controlling the internet."

      While I agree with you somewhat, I've it's a hobby of mine to scour the "crazy's", because frequently because of their over-active paranoia they'll pick up things that most people normally wouldn't that are in fact TRUE, the problem with these people is that - they mix truth with imagined relationships or patterns that aren't there, thereby most people disqualify all of what they say by association, instead of just 'ignoring' what is false, and finding what is true.

      The truth of a statement is not determined by:

      -The status of the person
      -Their education
      -Whether or not that society considers them crazy/kooky, etc
      -and on and on.

      A statement is true whether or not someone is crazy, educated or not, has a job or not, or is rich or not. This 'false by association' stuff is programmed into us from birth, and while it can be a nice heuristic. I'd really like a study done on the amount of true statements vs false statements, done scientifically and with an eye towards taking what is said statement by statement to analyze the truth value's. I imagine the kind of patterns that you'd find would be interesting to say the least.

      I imagine paranoid/crazy people would pick up a lot of true stuff that we deem false because we've been programmed by education/the media/entertainment, etc, and vice versa.

    13. Re:Space Madness! by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I hope that we're not alone. The idea that this is the only planet with sentient life anywhere in the Universe isn't just a waste of space. It chills me to the core to think that there's no Others out there. I hope they're waiting for us. "Hey, humans, you made it! We thought you'd never get out of that singularity."

      Let's also assume that they have different physics and that FTL travel is possible and routine.

      If there were aliens that were aware of our existence, it's likely that they would watch us to see what we would want them to do.

      "Hmm. There's genocide here and here, 40 000 of their offspring starve to death each day. They do not interfere. We should not interfere with their development.

      "They are afraid of things which are different. We are different. We should not show ourselves."

      --

      ---
      ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
    14. Re:Space Madness! by KillerBob · · Score: 5, Funny

      Maybe they're just fetishists... we have some pretty messed up fetishes among the human population, so why is it so hard to believe that aliens might get off by sticking things in your bum?

      --
      If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
    15. Re:Space Madness! by BobMcD · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's ridiculous.

      Really? Picture this scenario: Aliens are real. You know it, and you're about to send an Astronaut to the moon, where you feel it is likely they may encounter aliens. Would you NOT brief said Astronauts beforehand? No procedures, no protocol, not even a heads-up? Really?

      I think that THIS would be the ridiculous position.

      Personally, I find it a bit hard to believe that a civilization is smart enough to travel interstellar distances but too stupid to use basic camouflage.

      What stupidity would be required? Again, imagine you're an alien. You know these inferior beings represent no threat to you at all. Likewise, you know their civilization will deny your existence. Why, then, would you waste any spare cycles on camo?

      Your assumptions seem to be based on excluding the possibility that aliens do, in fact, exist. There's nothing wrong with that, as an opinion, except that it limits the opposite conclusion unnecessarily.

    16. Re:Space Madness! by MarkGriz · · Score: 4, Funny

      or Space Herpes

      ...which he got from Aliens. QED

      --
      Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
    17. Re:Space Madness! by Forcepath · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just because they're advanced doesn't mean the have the same notions of importance as we as human being do. Add in language, cultural, and technological barriers, and it isn't so strange at all that aliens could do some really dumb things by human logic. Perhaps aliens use biotechnology we haven't dreamed of, or have never heard of radio waves, etc etc.

      --
      this .sig for sale
    18. Re:Space Madness! by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Or land their crates safely after traveling for billions of miles, or at least crash somewhere else but in the middle of nowhere, midwest USA.

      If you were an alien, where would you land your craft? In the middle of nowhere, where there is no one around to mess with you or your stuff, or in the right in the middle of Central Park, where the Bloods or the Crips might gank you and jack your ride?

      One could imagine that they're either more subtle when they try to remain under cover than leaving mutilated cattle and anally probed people lying around after their departure

      Mutilated cattle may be an entirely different phenomenon than aliens (see el chupacabra, for instance, for a weirder, but alternate explanation), but as far as anally-probed people -- well, again, if you were going to anally probe people, would you anally probe the President or some celebrity or would you pick some poor schmuck whom no one is ever going to believe?

      Why not land in the middle of the Superbowl finals

      I assume they also wouldn't want to get involved in local conflicts.

      C'mon, try to see it from the alien's perspective.

    19. Re:Space Madness! by eonlabs · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'd love to play with this a bit:

      1. There's a lot less to crash into during space travel than when you're at or near a planet. We did a lot more crashing of probes into Mars than in the space between here and Mars.

      2. The mutilated cattle and anal probes are probably being done by people and being blamed on aliens. That never had to be UFOs, and it can still be someone covering up for their sick relatives.

      3. Why not land in the middle of the superbowl? What if they deemed our civilization was not secure enough for open contact. What are the odds that enough scared people with the means of launching a missle would be interested in doing so out of fear. Pre-emptive strike ring any bells? From that perspective, landing in desolate areas makes logical sense. Although it would probably make more sense for a water landing if possible. Easier to hide.

      4. We need more gratuitous references to our typical /. memes

      I for one welcome our alien brethren/overlords

      1. mutilate cows
      2. anal probe astronauts
      3. flashy thing people
      4. ???
      5. profit!

      --
      I wouldn't consider the mad hatter mad. Just reality impaired. He sure can make a mean cup of tea.
    20. Re:Space Madness! by Reapy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think people think too much with their 5 senses when thinking about alien life forms. What's to say there isn't a whole world existing in the same space as us, and we just cant perceive it.

      But step back from that philosophical stuff, and imagine that why would there be another species similar humans? I think people think aliens, they think human with different features with similar concepts of life, death, morals, social "revealing" ( would they even understand what that is? ) rather then something so foreign, we couldn't even begin to understand it, nor its motivations, if it has those?

      Sci fi is fun because we graft human behavior on something different, and its fun for us to say ooh look they are just like us. But in the end it is just the human ego projection our emotions on something else.

      I watched wall-e the other day. I was amazed at how well pixar could make a box with eyes utterly human. Our minds see patterns, shapes, and behavior in the right spot, and we fill in the blanks with the emotions. This is the same thing people do with the idea of "aliens". I think it is limiting, egotistical, and utterly human. We just need to remember to keep open minds about what we see, or "alien" life, because in reality it just seems like we are looking for life "similar" enough to what we know, to call it life.

      For any geeks out there, orson-scott card's ender books (the later ones) deal with this a bit, as they try to discover whether a virus is actually a species, and wiping out a really smart virus is in fact genocide.

      Just interesting stuff, but we have to remember to stop grafting our humanism on top of alien things we do not understand.

    21. Re:Space Madness! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Attempts to expand Godel's incompleteness theorems to anything beyond their original scope are foolish. From the Wikipedia article you cited: Authors such as J. R. Lucas have argued that the theorems have implications in wider areas of philosophy and even cognitive science as well as preventing any complete theory of everything from being found in physics, but these claims are not generally accepted. Don't make poor Godel into a sociologist!

    22. Re:Space Madness! by Jay+Clay · · Score: 5, Funny

      Score: 5, >> INFORMATIVE It's the little quirks in Slashdot that entertain me so.

    23. Re:Space Madness! by colmore · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, the seemingly logical human brain makes all kinds of silly blunders.

      Such as inserting a naive interpretation of Godel's theorem into a debate that isn't about the derivable elements of a formal system.

      --
      In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
    24. Re:Space Madness! by muellerr1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm not sure what's funnier: your response, or the fact that your telling somebody that a tentacle is on its way to claim their mortal husk was modded +5 Informative!

    25. Re:Space Madness! by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 4, Funny

      What's to say there isn't a whole world existing in the same space as us, and we just cant perceive it.

      On a wild guess, I'd say physics.

    26. Re:Space Madness! by pla · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or land their crates safely after traveling for billions of miles, or at least crash somewhere else but in the middle of nowhere, midwest USA.

      I know, right? Why, just imagine, if you can, a civilization that has the ability to launch things out into space, sending a craft all the way to another planet, only to have it crash due to some absurd oversight such as, oh, say, a Metric-to-Imperial measurement conversion or the like!

      Sheer absurdity, I tell you!


      Seriously - Aliens, if they do exist, do not count as infallible techno-gods come to save us from ourselves. They most likely have similar flaws to our own, and have simply made it a few centuries further along than we have.

    27. Re:Space Madness! by clone53421 · · Score: 3, Funny

      futility: playing devil's advocate for little green men.
      irony: playing devil's advocate for little red men.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    28. Re:Space Madness! by ArsonSmith · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I thought Scifi was just a way that people could project racist stereo types and project hate in a non-specific manor. "They're not really people so we can slaughter them. Who cares if they bare a striking resemblance to chinese people."

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    29. Re:Space Madness! by isomeme · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously, for such an advanced species, they make very little sense.

      Yep. It's almost like they're, you know, alien or something.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
    30. Re:Space Madness! by herriojr · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Why would they feel the need to "reveal" themselves to us? When biologists study wildlife, they try to stay as hidden as possible. Who's to say that we're not wildlife to them? And seriously, just like rogue biologists, there could be rogue aliens that try to get closer than they are supposed to.

    31. Re:Space Madness! by neomunk · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Because we know every detail about every iota of matter and every detail about every energy transfer, right?

      I think you overestimate your fellow humans there, being that we've oh-so-barely scratched the surface of understanding the world around us. How long have we known about radio waves? Microwaves, particularly? How about Bose-Einstein condensates? Mmmhmmm. Seems to me that there is a WHOLE LOT goin on right under (and inside!) our noses that we BARELY are able to detect, let alone understand in any significant way. Don't get me started on complex systems, the nature of many-variabled interactions or even something so esoteric as 'consciousness'. We know next to nothing (and in some cases, I'd bet we know EXACTLY nothing) about a great many of the universe's more detailed workings. Even those bits we THINK we know oftentimes cannot be verified by lack of proper experimental apparatus.

      No offense, but your post kind of comes of as a QBASIC programmer scoffing at the guy writing in C because YOU see no reason anyone would need to use malloc(), as the 'physics' already has a solution for that, and anything beyond your comprehension is, of course, irrelevant.

      I'm not making any fiat declarations about aliens, programming languages or physics, just that you DON'T KNOW what you DON'T KNOW. Neither do I, but I (for one) am accepting of that. I am however very unaccepting of the resemblance to Donald Rumsfeld in my first sentence of this paragraph, that's just wrong.

    32. Re:Space Madness! by huckamania · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To paraphrase Einstein, the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that we can comprehend it.

      Of course, he could be wrong about that. I think it is easy to prove that the universe has become more complex since the big bang (if you believe in it, that is). I also think that the universe is not finished becoming more complex. It may turn out that physics is trying to hit a moving target and that we may never have a Complete Theory of Everything, because Everything isn't finished yet.

      Something to think about...

    33. Re:Space Madness! by LaskoVortex · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think he just had a case of the senility.

      Probably. But the lack of evidence of aliens doesn't mean they don't exist. Notice that I said there is a lack of evidence of aliens. Read that again. Now again. Okay now you understand that I am not claiming any evidence of aliens nor that I have any experience with them. Think about that, hard. That's what I said. Now that I've said that, consider that if you were a highly sophisticated life form and could travel interstellar space, you might have a heightened sense of the maxim: don't fuck with the wildlife.

      --
      Just callin' it like I see it.
    34. Re:Space Madness! by Haeleth · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I hope that we're not alone. The idea that this is the only planet with sentient life anywhere in the Universe isn't just a waste of space. It chills me to the core to think that there's no Others out there.

      Right, but this is just religion, with aliens standing in for gods.

      Currently, the number of planets we know have ever sustained life is one. We can disprove the theory that Earth is unique by finding evidence of life on e.g. Mars, but that would just shift the goalposts -- we still wouldn't have any evidence from which to argue that life has ever existed outside our solar system, and we still wouldn't have any evidence from which to argue that sentient life has ever existed other than on Earth.

      Face it: we have no meaningful data at all on how widespread life is in the universe, and there is no realistic prospect that we will get it any time in the foreseeable future. What this means is that speculation on the existence of intelligent alien life can only be just that: speculation. You can make personal arguments about how unlikely you think it is that life is unique to Earth, and you can make emotive arguments about how silly you think it is to assume that humans are "special" or "unique", but the fact remains that we have no evidence either for or against this position.

    35. Re:Space Madness! by Wooky_linuxer · · Score: 5, Funny

      You mean you would believe Bush if he went on TV to say he was anally probed by aliens, which during the process told him there were WMD in Iraq?

      --
      Where is that guy who'd die defending what I had to say when I need him?
    36. Re:Space Madness! by strawberryutopia · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's only the teasers that we get to see on Earth. These are usually rich kids with nothing to do. They cruise around looking for level 5 planets and buzz them, meaning that they find some isolated spot with very few people around, then land right by some poor unsuspecting soul whom no one's going to believe and then strut up and down in front of him wearing silly antennas on their head and making beep beep noises.

      Advanced species know that Earth is mostly harmless, so they tend not to bother with it.

      --
      I'm a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar...
      -Lucy-
    37. Re:Space Madness! by vux984 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you have the technology to handle the incredibly, stupidly huge energies needed to travel between the stars, all the missiles on Earth don't mean a thing to you.

      I disagree. A modern supersonic F-22 Raptor Fighter Jet armed with missiles, bombs, 20mm rotary canon, etc is orders of magnitude beyond say, a 1000 year old trebuchet. The jet utterly dominates and controls every aspect of the engagement... its just absurd to contemplate such a 'battle'.

      Yet even so, if the pilot were to land the jet within range of the trebuchet to say hi to the locals, a barrage of 300lb rocks crashing into it is still going to break it.

      Point is: just because something is fantastically advanced technology doesn't automatically mean it can't be smashed by a big rock.

    38. Re:Space Madness! by Al+Al+Cool+J · · Score: 4, Insightful

      1. There's also the possibility that they are messing with us. I can see benefits to a first contact scenario in which you fake a crash and come off looking all helpless, and a lot less scary. If I can see the benefits, then so too might alien-thinking aliens. It amazes me how many intelligent rational people will implicitly assert that aliens don't exist unless they behave like humans would expect them too. ("aliens can't be real because if they were then they would surely be doing _____")

      2. There was a documentary done a while back that made a very good case for cattle mutiliation being a government black op to monitor radiation absorption levels in areas near where secret nuclear testing and uranium mining has been done. Apparently the tissue (lips, anus) which are most frequently removed from mutilated cattle are the ones that also provide good indication of radiation absorption.

      3. See my rant in point 1. Aliens look alien. Aliens think alien. You can't assess their likelihood of existing based on a priori assumptions about what you expect their behavior should be.

      4. That's a given

    39. Re:Space Madness! by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hmm... possible.

      Imagine we found some extrasolar planet where the females all look like little girls in school uniforms and the males like tentacle monsters... I bet Japan would be developing the FTL drive within a decade.

      Maybe it's similar for aliens.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    40. Re:Space Madness! by AmigaMMC · · Score: 3, Funny
      >doesn't mean the have the same notions of importance as we as human being do

      Yeah we do!

      >Perhaps aliens [...] have never heard of radio waves

      Yeah we have.

      Oops! I said too much!

    41. Re:Space Madness! by Grishnakh · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Currently, the number of planets we know have ever sustained life is one.

      So what? We're so primitive that I can count on two hands the total number of planets that we can actually see, and they're all orbiting the same star, one of billions in this galaxy (which is one of thousands of galaxies that we can currently see). Only in the past decade have we even been able to detect exosolar planets, and even then we can only detect them by their effects on their host stars, not by direct observation (so we can only detect the massive gas giants, not the small rocky planets more likely to have life like ours). Making any assumptions based on our observations of the universe is outright idiocy in my opinion, since we know so little.

      Face it: we have no meaningful data at all on how widespread life is in the universe, and there is no realistic prospect that we will get it any time in the foreseeable future. What this means is that speculation on the existence of intelligent alien life can only be just that: speculation.

      True, but the vastness of the universe indicates that it's extremely likely that other life exists out there. The idea that, out of probably quadrillions of planets out there, there is no other life but that on Earth, seems rather silly to me. Yes, it's just speculation, but given the choice between saying 1) it's likely we're the only planet with life, or 2) it's likely that we're NOT the only planet with life, choice #2 is the only one that makes any sense. It's possible #1 is true, but it's far less likely than #2.

      and you can make emotive arguments about how silly you think it is to assume that humans are "special" or "unique"

      There's no emotion involved here. It's pure numbers and probability. If there's 1E12 stars out there that we know of alone based on our primitive astronomy, and an unknown number of planets in the "habitable zone" around those stars, what are the chances that life never evolved on other worlds? Given that we've already shown experimentally how cell-like structures can spontaneously evolve given the right mixture of materials, pressure, and temperature (normally seen on planets in this habitable zone), it seems pretty obvious that the chances are extremely low that we're the only world to have any life. And that's just assuming that our hydrocarbon-based life is the only viable kind, instead of considering totally alien lifeforms which may evolve in totally different environments.

    42. Re:Space Madness! by jollyreaper · · Score: 3, Interesting

      But step back from that philosophical stuff, and imagine that why would there be another species similar humans? I think people think aliens, they think human with different features with similar concepts of life, death, morals, social "revealing" ( would they even understand what that is? ) rather then something so foreign, we couldn't even begin to understand it, nor its motivations, if it has those?

      Sci fi is fun because we graft human behavior on something different, and its fun for us to say ooh look they are just like us. But in the end it is just the human ego projection our emotions on something else.

      The other reason for this is because it is astonishingly hard to tell a good story with alien characters who have no common ground with humans. We tell human-centric stories with human aliens because we can connect on an emotional level, so that's where we get Spock caught between the human and Vulcan cultures, all that angst. It's still not even remotely plausible that alien humanoids would evolve to look like us and be like us right down to interbreeding but there ya go. The only real story you can tell with true aliens is just how frickin' alien they are. The Borg are fairly alien. We can't relate to them on a cultural or personal level, we can only relate to them as competing lifeforms, the only common points are a desire for food, shelter, and procreation, and we'd still disagree about the relative definitions of those things. And true aliens would be even more alien than the Borg.

      Supposing that we're talking about aliens coming to Earth, that excludes all the potential aliens who have no desire to go mucking about in the universe, we're talking aliens with some sort of curiosity, be it scientific, religious, or philosophical (or something else we cannot fathom) who want to go out and explore. Since they're paying attention to us, we're of interest on some level, but were we the point of the mission or just an interesting footnote? How do they perceive the world, how do they interpret it? One hypothetical alien I came up with was essentially a plant-like organism. It consisted of a mass of tendrils, like a mass of tentacles with no central body. These aliens constructed walking scaffolds so that they could move across the landscape. Their natural thought process is complex but moves at a far slower rate than ours so to them the world is a blur. Not normally a problem because they like taking their time to think things through. But in times of emergency, they need to react quickly, instinctively, so they grow an emergency brain that can react to danger. To their own perception, the world is spinning by and then suddenly they are somewhere else. They then review the memories of the emergency brain to see what has happened, the threat encountered and how their body reacted. These plants have the ability to finely control their own physiology and can actually adapt their genetic code on the fly. So while in terran species evolution takes place between generations, with these aliens there is no difference between generations. Genetic material is traded between individuals, new individuals can bud off at any time, and the only death comes from accident. Memories are encoded just like genetic material and can be traded so there is not quite a group mind but a universally shared experience. An individual could go off and have an adventure far away, come back with the unique experiences to share and everyone can now have the same memory of experiences as that individual.

      So right there is an example of an alien we can imagine that humans cannot talk with, only correspond through a written medium. And even at that, the alien grasp of reality is so different from ours, common points of experience and metaphor become troublesome. And even allowing for that level of communication is a huge reach when thinking about truly alien aliens.

      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    43. Re:Space Madness! by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Provided you're right, I guess the "Jesus experiment" was considered a failure, considering what we made out of the experience. Seriously, the atrocities you mention, a lot of them have been justified in the name of some religion. Forced conversions, religious prosecutions, crusades, I guess that's not what he had in mind.

      If anything, religion is one of the leading causes of war. I think if Jesus could see what we made out of his religion, he'd have stayed a carpenter and shut up. Well, I would have, put in his boots.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. Huh. by AltGrendel · · Score: 5, Funny

    "little people who look strange to us."

    Well, maybe we look strange to them, too. Ever think of that?

    --
    The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination

    - Douglas Adams

    1. Re:Huh. by ByOhTek · · Score: 5, Funny

      Look strange?

      Alien 1: They reproduce HOW?
      Alien 2: *repeats explanation*
      Alien 1: That's... Revolting!

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    2. Re:Huh. by Ngarrang · · Score: 5, Funny

      "little people who look strange to us."

      Well, maybe we look strange to them, too. Ever think of that?

      Hush, you ugly bag of mostly water.

      --
      Bearded Dragon
    3. Re:Huh. by Svippy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You know what is confusing me about these aliens? Why do they always contact governments when they come to Earth so they can cover it up?

      I can only applaud our governments, they are doing an excellent job. If they are capable of covering up moon hoaxes, 9/11 plans and aliens crash landing, I'd just wish they were able to do their job just as fine with, say, the war in Iraq?

      This is what always gets me about these people, they talk as if the government is a body of competent people. Last time I checked, they aren't! Private corporations could run most countries better.

      A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned.

      --
      Clicked pie.
    4. Re:Huh. by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think you would greatly enjoy "They're Made out of Meat" by Terry Bisson.

      http://www.setileague.org/articles/meat.htm

    5. Re:Huh. by Abreu · · Score: 4, Funny

      With apologies to Terry Bisson:

      -"They are made out of meat??"

      -"That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

      -"Yuck... Thats just disgusting"

      -"I am glad you finally believe me"

      -"So, what do you advise?"

      -"Officially, or unofficially?"

      -"Both"

      -"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe, without prejudice, fear or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing"

      -"I was hoping you would say that"

      -"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"

      -

      --
      No sig for the moment.
    6. Re:Huh. by sm62704 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I don't buy the "space alien" story for the simple reason that the "Area 51" aliens look too much like us. Bipedal, five fingers, five toes, two eyes, one two holed nose, one mouth. Look at the diversity of life on earth, with hooved animals, pipedaal animals with feathers, squids, six legged insects and eight legged spiders, no legged snakes. And all of these creatures presumably evolved from the first earthly protolife, as we've never seen life sponaneously appear since, nor have we been able to cause it to spontaneously appear.

      Plus, how would they have found us? Our radio waves are incredibly weak. Even nuclear blasts are weak on a cosmic scale, and nobody farther than fifty light years away could have detected them yet.

      If in fact they are aliens, they must be time aliens, not space aliens; a species that evolved from humans and travelled through time to do a bit of archaeology. Considering that humans have only been here a hundred thousand years (and look at how we have progressed since), imagine what our descendants ten million years in the future will be like? We will be less than chimpanses by comparison.

      I can believe time travel before I believe faster than light travel.

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    7. Re:Huh. by Intron · · Score: 4, Informative

      They were doing that, too.

      --
      Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
    8. Re:Huh. by Admiral+Ag · · Score: 5, Funny

      Of course they do. Aliens have a sense of humour. That is why they only ever contact/abduct drug abusers, lunatics or drunks staggering home at night from the pub.

      The common thread here is that they will only reveal themselves to people who the general population will never believe. That's why they have no problem revealing themselves to our governments.

      --
      "by that I mean people who don't sit on slashdot all day wondering why everyone else isn't building robots" DECS
    9. Re:Huh. by sentientbeing · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Did you know it had been turned into a short film?
      http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/made_meat/

      (The guys own site : )
      http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html

      --

      ------
      beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
    10. Re:Huh. by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We've found life in the freezing cold depths of the ocean where light doesn't penetrate. We've found life on the edges of volcanos. We've mixed together chemical soups and watched life erupt out of it.

      Obviously, life isn't a unique and special thing, but something that naturally erupts into existence all over the place. Therefore, there must be life all over the universe, and not just here on Earth.

      Which is, of course, consistent with major religions. 'God', aka 'The Universe', creates life 'in his image', aka 'of the universe'.

      The universe doesn't tend towards entropy. It tends towards life. We are walking, talking evidence of this fact.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    11. Re:Huh. by arkarumba · · Score: 4, Funny

      > Plus, how would they have found us? Our radio waves are incredibly weak. Even nuclear blasts are weak on a cosmic scale

      You are only considering this with respect to your technology. You'd be suprised at how far atomic entanglements travel in the sub-ether. Though it did take us a couple of years to get there after you began playing with such toys.

      > I don't buy the "space alien" story for the simple reason that the "Area 51" aliens look too much like us.

      You are almost right. Most of the galatic community would scare the bejeezus out of you. We were chosen as the closest match, to be the most palettable when contact was made with your authorities.

      However the hysteria at Roswell made it clear your general populous were not sophisticated enough to handle such a large and sudden paradigm shift. Don't worry, thats quite common. Its also common for populations to implode upon such revelations - so we tread carefully. It normally takes quite a while to lay the groundwork for a whole world to gracefully embrace such a significant revelation. We've been observing how you respond to an accelerating rate of technological and cultural change. We are judging the time is close when most of you will be acccepting of our revellation. This is part of the final stage of that process.

      Take care now.

    12. Re:Huh. by geekoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, they can't.
      If you actually research it, you would find that Government agencies are almost always on target.

      There are three things to remember.
      1)I corporation can fail at 99 project, and succeed at one. No one will talk about the failures, and they will hype the success. Where as with a government agency they can do 99 projects right, and miss one and that one gets hyped all through the media.

      2) Go to the library and look at the fiscal records, almost all projects are done on time and within budget.

      3) Government agencies have for more accountability then corporation.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    13. Re:Huh. by Tripster · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I can believe time travel before I believe faster than light travel.

      Time travel would basically require it anyway. Think of it this way, if you want to travel back in time on Earth you would need to travel to the location of Earth at the time you intend to visit, which isn't the same location Earth inhabits today since we're moving through the cosmos with the Sun which is moving along with the galaxy which is also moving. So to time travel you basically still have to overcome the whole "travel long distances through space" issue we currently have.

    14. Re:Huh. by sm62704 · · Score: 5, Informative

      We've found life in the freezing cold depths of the ocean where light doesn't penetrate. We've found life on the edges of volcanos.

      And all of it is related, and all evolved from the same source. When life began there was no oxygen on the planet.

      We've mixed together chemical soups and watched life erupt out of it.

      If we have, this is the first I've heard of it. Have you any reputable links?

      Obviously, life isn't a unique and special thing, but something that naturally erupts into existence all over the place.

      Again, as far as we know it only started once on this planet, and although there may be or have been life on Mars or Europa we have never found proof of it. The only place we've ever found hints of life are right here.

      Therefore, there must be life all over the universe, and not just here on Earth.

      Your conclusion is based on a false premise, but despite that I think it highly unlikely that in the vast reaches of our galaxy, let alone the unimaginably huge number of planets in the universe, that we are alone. If life arose independantly here from non-life, it must have risen independantly elsewhere. But if it did, it is absurdly improbable that it would look anything like us.

      The universe doesn't tend towards entropy. It tends towards life. We are walking, talking evidence of this fact.

      Life is part of entropy.

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  3. Art Bell Guest Spot? by Homer's+Donuts · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will he be on Coast to Coast AM soon?

  4. old news by sohp · · Score: 5, Informative

    Dr. Mitchell has been saying this about aliens for many years now. He's always had a bit of a pseudo-scientific bent. During his Apollo 14 flight to the moon, he secretly conducted ESP experiments with friends back on Earth.

    1. Re:old news by Sen.NullProcPntr · · Score: 5, Funny

      During his Apollo 14 flight to the moon, he secretly conducted ESP experiments with friends back on Earth.

      And how did that go?

      Most likely no better than when the same experiments were conducted in the next room.

    2. Re:old news by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

      How can you not know that? He transmitted the results all over the world via ESP! Didn't you get them?

    3. Re:old news by BitHive · · Score: 5, Interesting
      It gets better--

      In The New York Times of June 22, 1971, he verified that rumor, and reported that his experiment had produced results "far exceeding anything expected" but in almost the same breath, he described those results as only "moderately significant."

      Mitchell told the Times that he had made arrangements that four persons stationed in different cities would attempt to determine through ESP the order of a home-made deck of standard Zener cards. These are the familiar symbol-cards (circle, plus mark, wavy lines, square, five-pointed star) that are used by parapsychologists. Astronaut Mitchell said that 51 out of 200 of the guesses made by the four subjects, were successful. Chance would call for 40 correct.

      In among all the enthusiastic statements made by Mitchell to the reporters, we discover that the experimental conditions through no fault of his had turned out to be less than ideal. He had intended to perform these experiments every day during the Apollo mission, but changes in the schedules meant that he could only work on four of those days, two on the way to the Moon, and two on the way back. But and this is very significant the psychics back on Earth, it turned out, since they were not aware of the schedule change, had written down their impressions of what Edgar Mitchell was thinking about, the40 minutes before he had begun! So, any apparent success in the experiments must be attributed to precognition, not to telepathy.

      From: http://www.randi.org/jr/05-31-2000.html

  5. Moonwalker by hansamurai · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've seen Moonwalker and I would definitely agree with this notion.

  6. He's got to be right by k_187 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If its as well covered up as he says it is, why did they let him talk? They're obviously allowing him to go public so he'll appear as a crackpot and give credibility to the opposing view.

    --
    11 was a racehorse
    12 was 12
    1111 Race
    12112
    1. Re:He's got to be right by rocketman768 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, it's sad to see a hero go senile...But, I'm sure he has proof like a fuzzy picture of a distant light in the air or something.

    2. Re:He's got to be right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      "...like a fuzzy picture of a distant light in the air or something."

      Nope, that would him having a stroke.

    3. Re:He's got to be right by Anonymous+Monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well oblivious they KNEW he would look like a crackpot so we would obviously not believe him. On the other hand they KNEW that we would think that we know they think he wants to look like a crackpot so we would obviously not believe NASA. However, we know that he has been on the moon, so he might have gone mad, so obviously we can not believe him. However knowing he has been on the moon means he was privy to a lot of highly classified information so we obviously can not believe NASA. However only a great fool believe in what has no proof so we can obviously not believe him. On the other hand NASA knows the slashdoters of the world are not great fools, and they were counting us not foolishly believing him, so we can obviously not believe them. INCONCEIVABLE!

      --
      We are the Borg...
    4. Re:He's got to be right by Poohsticks · · Score: 5, Funny

      Truly your intellect is dizzying.

      --
      "The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been wide
  7. Just wanting attention by InvisblePinkUnicorn · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's just mad that only Buzz gets any attention these days.

  8. Pics or it didn't happen by BPPG · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What was his source? He doesn't claim to have seen them himself, or anything according to TFA.

    --
    What's the value of information that you don't know?
  9. Strange to us.... by TypoNAM · · Score: 5, Funny

    'little people who look strange to us.'
    Tom Cruise and the scientologists?

    --
    This space is not for rent.
    1. Re:Strange to us.... by Floritard · · Score: 5, Funny

      Clearwater, Fl here. Tom Cruise is an anomoly. The scariest part about regular scientologists is that they look just like us!

  10. "During the three-day journey... by cosmocain · · Score: 5, Informative

    back to Earth aboard Apollo 14, Mitchell had an epiphany while looking down on the earth from space. "The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes ... The knowledge came to me directly," here

    Who would have thought that he'd go totally nuts one day.

    1. Re:"During the three-day journey... by sm62704 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I would imagine it would be pretty hard to walk on the moon and NOT have a religious experience.

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  11. cover-up by Lord+Ender · · Score: 3, Funny

    To cover-up this conspiracy, the government will soon inject him with a secret drug to give him dementia. Those diabolical bastards... who stole my teeth??

    --
    A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
  12. The requisit... by Deathdonut · · Score: 5, Funny

    little people who look strange to us.

    I for one welcome our new Danny DeVito overlords.

  13. I want to believe. by rfernand79 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seriously, I do.

    1. Re:I want to believe. by xstonedogx · · Score: 4, Funny

      Just to be clear, we're talking about space aliens, and not girls, right?

    2. Re:I want to believe. by thrillseeker · · Score: 4, Funny

      there's a difference ... ?

  14. Documentary by wile_e_wonka · · Score: 5, Funny

    In that case, I'll tell my wife that the new X-Files movie is a documentary.

  15. Listen to the original by Bananatree3 · · Score: 4, Informative
  16. You coveteth my ice cream bar! by spun · · Score: 4, Funny

    You can't take it from me now! I've had this ice-cream bar since I was a CHILD! People...always trying to take it from me! Why won't they LEAVE ME ALOOOOOONNNNE?

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    1. Re:You coveteth my ice cream bar! by eaeolian · · Score: 5, Funny

      BACK OFF, Man! Don't force me to use this!

    2. Re:You coveteth my ice cream bar! by QRDeNameland · · Score: 5, Funny

      If the guy brought back a few missing left socks from the mission, he'd be more credible.

      --
      Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
    3. Re:You coveteth my ice cream bar! by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

      The aliens use them for fuel.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    4. Re:You coveteth my ice cream bar! by Myrddin+Wyllt · · Score: 5, Funny

      Odd socks don't go 'missing', they crawl into dark wardrobes and, after a short larval stage, emerge as fully-formed wire coat-hangers.

      --
      [ ]Half Empty [ ]Half Full [x]Twice as big as it needs to be
  17. Yes, There are aliens... by Bullfish · · Score: 5, Funny

    And they are out there right now...

    Mowing my lawn and trimming my hedge

  18. Crackpottery abounds by snarfies · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tom Cruise worships L. Ron Hubbard.
    Jim Carey think vaccinations give you autism.

    Just because you're famous doesn't mean you can't be a total crackpot. Its too bad this time its somebody more science-related.

    1. Re:Crackpottery abounds by Floritard · · Score: 4, Funny

      Somehow I think the psych evaluations for astronauts are somewhat more stringent than those for Hollywood actors. At least that's what movies about astronauts have taught me.

  19. Why senile? by Narpak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why does it seem so many assume that this is something he have started believing now at this late age; and that is it connected to dementia?

    Edgar Mitchell have been involved with fringe science for a long time, and have made statements proclamation his belief in UFOs for a long time. It is his belief; if he seen something to make him believe this I do not know. But to say that this is simply old age and senility is unkind and inaccurate.

  20. Conspiracy Theories by aaronfaby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I find it impossible to believe that the government is capable of keeping conspiracies secret. They couldn't keep 5 guys breaking into the DNC office a secret (Watergate), but somehow they can orchestrate an elaborate conspiracy involving thousands of people over the course of 6 decades and not a single shred of credible evidence has been leaked. I'm sorry but deathbed confessions don't count.

    1. Re:Conspiracy Theories by debrain · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I find it impossible to believe that the government is capable of keeping conspiracies secret. They couldn't keep 5 guys breaking into the DNC office a secret (Watergate), but somehow they can orchestrate an elaborate conspiracy involving thousands of people over the course of 6 decades and not a single shred of credible evidence has been leaked. I'm sorry but deathbed confessions don't count.

      The voice of evil itself speaks of its means to such ends:

      "The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for the vast masses of a nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad. The primitive simplicity of their minds renders them a more easy prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies, but would be ashamed to tell big lies."
          - Hitler

      To wit, your argument - the lack of evidence - mirrors what was said about the Nazi death camps prior to the end of World War 2. People denied it, vehemently and utterly, until not just evidence but overwhelming evidence contradicted them. Even today, people deny that millions were killed in the holocaust.

      People believe what they want to believe, and people don't want to believe things that threaten their assumptions about the world.

      I recognize your argument, and it's a valid one, but I, for one, believe alien visitors could be concealed by governments.

  21. Pffffft by Born2bwire · · Score: 4, Funny

    How can anyone seriously believe this guy? First he claims that we've walked on the moon and now he's saying that aliens exist.

  22. Back in the good old days by farbles · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Back in the good old days people who leaked a big conspiracy disappeared. Ever since the first Kennedy assassination, the Powers That Be have discovered that the best way to deal with leaks is to just have more and more leaks and bury the truth in a million similar sounding lies.

    Suppose Mitchell's right and there really is a big alien contact conspiracy that's being covered up? We've all seen so many photos of streetlights coming from crazy/misguided people that the best policy from the conspiracy's point of view would be to let him yammer on and throw out a lot of phony alien contact crap. They don't have to discredit him, we'd all do that for them.

    All they need to do is keep him from getting at any legit relics storage so he can't go public with an alien tricorder or something that people can verify as ET in origin and the world will just think he's a loon.

    That's the trouble with real earth-shaking truth, it sounds almost indistinguishable from lunacy. You gotta wonder if there is a percentage of our locked-away crazies who are telling us the truth and we're just too thick to see it.

    1. Re:Back in the good old days by RabidMoose · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's the trouble with real earth-shaking truth, it sounds almost indistinguishable from lunacy. You gotta wonder if there is a percentage of our locked-away crazies who are telling us the truth and we're just too thick to see it.

      Please listen to this man! I'm not crazy! The robots are going to take over and kill us all! Skynet! SKYNET!!!

    2. Re:Back in the good old days by Dragoness+Eclectic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The crazies are the ones whose judgment is enough impaired that they make the mistake of talking about it.

      Sane people see a lot of weird stuff over a lifetime, but we keep our mouths shut because (a) we want to be able to keep a job and pay the bills, and (b) no one wants to hear you talk about the weird stuff except the crazies. See, other sane people either (a) never saw the weird stuff, so they think you are crazy, or (b) they have, and they know better than to talk about it in public, so they think you're one of the crazies for talking about it. Either way, they back away quickly and you find that no one sane wants to talk to you.

      The first rule about the Weird Stuff is we don't talk about the Weird Stuff.

      --
      ---dragoness
  23. Why would E.T. visit our backwards little planet? by mmell · · Score: 4, Funny
    Unless they had the interstellar equivalent of a flat tire, why would they stop here? Certainly not to learn anything from us - about us, perhaps; but any race capable of overcoming the obstacle that is interstellar space would hardly be interested in our coal/oil/uranium fired technologies. Not to learn from our social development (unless it's from morbid curiosity, to see why we haven't wiped ourselves out yet). No, if E.T. ever shows up, it'll be like when the US fleet showed up at all those little islands in the Pacific - and we'll do little better than the Polynesians did in that encounter. I therefore consider it our patriotic duty if any extraterrestials are found here on earth to kill them and eat them. This will not only serve to discourage them from messing with us but could alleviate starvation in certain third-world countries, and might very well prove to be tasty!

    Count on something less like Star Drek, Nth Contact and more like ID4, except for the part at the end where we survived (I doubt they would be running Windows on the mothership). I just don't see their presence staying secret for long.

    As for Doctor Mitchell, I recommend adjusting the dosage on his meds.

  24. Re:Dementia by robertjw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not to mention, I've met many people that believe weird things without being able to blame dementia/alzheimers/any diagnosed mental illness.

  25. what to do? by mattwarden · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am so conflicted. In order to believe this support for one of my favorite conspiracy theories, I have to accept that this guy is credible. In order to accept he is credible, I have to ignore one of my other favorite conspiracy theories about the moon landing. Maybe this situation is presented to me as a test to see whether my brain is harvestable.

  26. Re:Eddie Izzard called it by jeffmeden · · Score: 4, Funny
    I think you meant:

    But he had a sense of humor so he should have used it, 'cause there was that lunar module there - a fixed camera, just fixed, not panning left or right, just stationary. So he could've been there saying, "Hi, people on the Moon. As you can see, the Sea of Tranquility here, there's the mountains in the distance, there's the Earth! There, you're looking back up at yourselves there. Over to my right, I can see a fucking monster! There's a monster behind me! ( screaming ) Oh no, help! Get off my leg!" Buzz Aldrin in a monster outfit ( growling ) Neil doing a close-up with... "He's got me, Houston. The monster's got me! He wants cash! He's got my hand up behind my back. I think he knows jiu-jitsu! He wants cash for the release of my life. Send a million... - two million dollars, leave it in a bag by the Sea of Tranquility. I don't know, the North Shore! What the fucking 'ell...?" Oh, it would have worked, wouldn't it?

    Thank god for the preview button!

  27. There has been something going on... by Daswolfen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... with NASA for years. There has been lots written about it. Some, like the secret Egyptian ritualistic cult is bunk. A lot, like the amount of images that NASA has edited or deliberately taken at lower resolutions than the equipment was designed for or at really poor angles.

    And if you read though the Apollo transcripts, there are some really bizarre comments that only make sense if you take them in the setting of discovering alien ruins or debris on the moon.

    And if you look at the history of the UFOs and alleged government cover-ups, you see that the few that have broken their silence on the matter have effectively been death bed confessions. Others that have done so have just disappeared (i.e. Bob Lazar).

    What I find strange, if there is no real cover-up of UFOs, then why has the government spent so much time and effort trying to sweep it under the rug, so to speak. There are documents out there, that have been released through the FOIA process that show how much time and effort has gone into it and how high it goes (I have seen documents from Eisenhower, Truman, and Kennedy on the subject). If there are truly no such thing as UFO's, then why address the issue at all?

    --
    Don't rush me, Sonny. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.
  28. Astronaut != Scientist by areReady · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Keep in mind that Apollo astronauts weren't selected because they were good scientists. They were chosen because they were good pilots.

  29. Little people who look strange to us... by advocate_one · · Score: 3, Funny

    well, finally this explains G.W. Bush... and Tom Cruise

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  30. Secrecy is overrated by jdevivre · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How do all these aliens actually pull off the secrecy... amidst all these people that LUST for its exposure?

    Don't tell me that "Take me to your leader." actually works!!!

  31. Perfect timing by bberens · · Score: 4, Funny

    This story comes up just as the new X-Files movie comes out. Coincidence? I think not.

    --
    Check out my lame java blog at www.javachopshop.com
  32. Extraordinary claims... by jcr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    require extraordinary proof. Regrettably, there is none.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  33. Would there really be panic in the streats? by the_arrow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One of the most common reasons for not revealing the existence of aliens, is because the top leaders of the world are afraid that the population of earth will panic. I don't think that is the case, I think most people would say something like "yes, I knew there really were aliens". The only ones I think would panic is the religious nut-jobs, although you would think that the would be used to have their view of the world shattered at least once every hundred year or so.

    --
    / The Arrow
    "How lovely you are. So lovely in my straightjacket..." - Nny
  34. I don't have a problem with aliens but by pembo13 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems far more likely to me that the government is covering up things they themselves do than the actions of aliens. Furthermore, why would an intelligent species meet with what I consider to be generally the most violent portion of supposedly civilized society, find reason to return, but not take stuff from us.

    Unless all they want are our bees and ozone.

    --
    "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
  35. Anything to do with the new X-files movie? by atari2600 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hmmm and the new movie is coming out soon - actually tomorrow. Coincidence? I think not. Trustno1.

  36. Re:Why Do You All Doubt So Much? by networkzombie · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Uh, no. It would be truly remarkable that alien life would have master traveling at the speed of light to get here. Otherwise it would take a journey of hundreds or thousands of years. What's next? Are you going to tell me that maybe these aliens have a life span of twenty thousand years and they just read a book on the way here? I don't think so. Alien life is more then plausible, it is all but assured. Space travel to far away solar systems is very, very unlikely.

  37. Re:Or an insider with knowledge you lack by dedazo · · Score: 4, Informative

    OK, so you believe him? You believe there are aliens. Right?

    I'd be happy to join you if you provide proof of that. Incontrovertible proof. In the era of pervasive digital imaging, someone must have that, somewhere. Surely? Maybe it's just a coincidence that the number of "quality" UFO sightings dropped dramatically after the 70s. Yeah. So let's see it. Because otherwise you're asking me to have faith. And quite frankly, at that point the "ufologist" starts to sound suspiciously like a Jehova's Witness.

    I'm ready to believe the truth is out there. Just show me proof.

    --
    Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
  38. Re:Or an insider with knowledge you lack by maynard · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That's not true. Many astronauts claim to have witnessed UFOs either in space or while flying military aircraft. Some examples: Gordon Cooper; Donald Slayton; Robert White; Joseph Walker; and both Gemini astronauts James Lovell and Frank Borman witnessed an object while in orbit together.

    Perhaps they're all wrong. Or conspiracy theorists. Or just plain nuts. But if they're all nuts, then they shouldn't be called "flight-ready" now should they?

  39. Not the only one by 4D6963 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Gordon Cooper (Mercury 9 & Gemini 5) has also made similar claims. I seem to recall hearing such claims also made by other astronauts, as well as engineers etc..

    --
    You just got troll'd!
  40. smart people believe weird things too by xPsi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As Michael Shermer has observed, "smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons." A humble reminder that you can have a degree in aeronautical engineering, a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics, and also walk on the fucking moon, and still have totally pseudoscientific, non-evidence-based views about the world just because you personally want them to be true.

    --
    i\hbar\dot{\psi}=\hat{H}\psi
  41. Re:Why Do You All Doubt So Much? by AdamTrace · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You sound so... sincere.

    The reason that logical, rational people dismiss alien contact is there simply isn't any evidence that is bulletproof.

    It's FAR, FAR more likely that people:

    1) play hoaxes on the public
    2) misremember or misinterpret natural events
    3) hallucinate due to drugs/alcohol or mental illness
    4) lie for attention

    You're right, though, to a certain degree. As we accumulate more and more anecdotal evidence, we SHOULD keep our eyes and ears open. But we must also remember that we're very fallible creatures, so we shouldn't accept any evidence unless it is truly convincing.

    So far, no truly convincing evidence has been found.

    Adman

  42. and what is wrong with that? by bussdriver · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Creativity in science is RARE; furthermore, science is loaded with stories about great discoveries by people who were ridiculed for testing theories (often thoughtlessly) dismissed by others.

    It is unscientific to criticize a scientist for personally performing their own experiments and not simply trusting the prevailing opinion (especially in a weak area like ESP which has elements of psychology; therefore, it tests the boundaries of science itself which is best suited for rigid subjects.)

    A bad scientist is only one who can not properly do experiments or falsifies results. Possibly one could argue that it is bad practice to apply science to subjects where its effectiveness is minimal to non-existent (surely, you'd agree existing religions are one of the worse places for its application?)

  43. Re:Why Do You All Doubt So Much? by level4 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I couldn't agree more. These people stating with such certainty that there is no such thing as extraterrestrial life are nuts. My view is that people who seriously believe we are alone in the universe just don't understand the numbers.

    You "unbelievers" do know how many stars there are in the universe, don't you? It's around 10^21. Do you have any comprehension at all of what kind of a number that is?

    The chance of us, out of the countless trillions of star systems in the universe and over billions of years, somehow being the only place to develop any form of intelligent life is so remote I can't take it seriously. Of course other systems have intelligent life. It's as statistically certain as the sun coming up tomorrow. Probably a few orders of magnitude more so.

    People talk about fools who "believe" in aliens but they're believers in a much more unlikely scenario, IMO. I don't know why this insistence that we're "alone" is so common - some relic of Christian "we are god's favourites" or something, maybe.

    We haven't even made it to the nearest star, FFS. Who knows what is out there. We certainly don't and anyone who claims to - or claims to know what is NOT out there - is talking out their ass.

    Not that I give this astronaut much credence, of course. Why would an advanced alien species bother with earth? Believing that they do without any solid evidence to back it up is just another kind of "humans are important" wishful thinking, IMO.

    --
    Let my new 7-digit UID be a lesson to all - write down your passwords.
  44. Re:Space Madness! Camouflage? by clone53421 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Also, a relative of mine told me that around 1969 or 70 or so at night she and a friend were on the porch talking. A light source came down, low/tree-top, over the street, quietly. It was NOT like any aircraft or hobby toys of the time. It seemed to be observing them, or just hanging around, then it abruptly left.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning perhaps?

    --
    Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  45. Not big news. by katakomb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As others have noted, plenty of astronauts have views that don't seem consistent with their backgrounds. For example, Jim Irwin's (Apollo 15, 8th human on the Moon) post-NASA life was focused in large part on trying to find Noah's Ark. The fact is: 1) smart people aren't immune to having views inconsistent with basic logic or common sense; and 2) many astronauts are not trained as scientists.

  46. Demon haunted world by b0b0tiken · · Score: 4, Informative

    Someone on slashdot recommended a good book which debunks these myths and tries to explain why people believe them. It also argues why science is important in our society and the risks of having people making decisions without truly understanding the issues at hand. Unfortunately, there are people in politics for example believing in UFOs, satanism, intelligent design, etc etc. There is nothing more healthy for a society than a good dose of skepticism. The book is called "The Demon-haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan.

  47. Some civ has to be the first... by parabyte · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Although improbable, there has to be a first civilization in our galaxy, and maybe we are the most advanced life form in our galaxy so far. Regarding the age of the universe, it is possible, because the matter of the solar system had to go through 2 or 3 supernovae before having enough high period elements, and it took the universe about 5 billion years alone to create us since our planet was created, which is more than a third of the age of the universe.

    This leaves us with a number of possibilities:

    - we are the first
    - intelligent life is very rare or very fragile and volatile in our universe
    - the guy is right and they are already here and among us (maybe they are criminals hiding on a primitive planet)
    - interstellar distances are simply to big to be overcome, or no one wants to pay for the energy
    - evil alien predators are already on their way to blow us out of the sky before we become serious competitors
    - we live in a zoo and are just being watched
    - everything is just a big illusion, and our reality is only virtual

    p.

    --
    Without order, nothing can exist. Without chaos, nothing can be created.
  48. ET Life by hackus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Oh really now.

    Does anyone here find this all that surprising?

    The odds are other life does exist, get over it.

    Not only that, I bet they are better than we are, absolutely laugh at our television broadcasts of our "top" scientists BY DECREE, telling us that the distances between blah blah blah and that is totally impossible to cross such distances....blah blah blah....

    Really lets put this in perspective.

    In less than 120 years, we went from Orville and Co, to the moon.

    Our basic understanding of the very structure of the universe and the forces and materials of things go together is infantile at best.

    I mean, we have no concept of what gravity is, although we know enough to describe it and how it acts on objects.

    We have no clue about the various types of materials the universe is made out of or their properties. I mean dark energy, matter etc have practically just been discovered for example.

    Now take a sentient being other than humans, and instead of 150 years to figure out how to travel in space, give them say an extra million years. Even, dare I say a BILLION years of time.

    Point is, you no longer have just ET's, you have gods with a small g walking around up there.

    If we can do this rate of advance in just 150 years, imagine what ET's could have done with a billion years.

    What is possible would be pretty much fantasy to us.

    If there are ET's and Earth is not a rare occurrence, they must be all over the place.

    I bet we are just the ants in their backyards. :-)

    -Hack

    PS: I hope there is something better than humans out there. We suck.

    --
    Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
  49. Um... X Files Viral... by barfy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Odd story... Is there a movie coming out that is sort of based on the story...

    VIRAL!

  50. finally a sane comment! by whopub · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're absolutely right. It works the other way around too. If I saw a really hot female alien I'd want to probe her every hole too. And sci-fi is full of really hot alien chicks! If we get something like Spielberg's ET though, that's a different story. There's no hole there worth probing. But hey, his flat head and small height would probably make him perfect to hold the TV remote. No probing required.

    1. Re:finally a sane comment! by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Nah,I think if they are out there that in all likelihood they are tourists. Which would also explain the not bothering to hide bit,as you want the animals to get closer to the vehicle for your paying customers so they can get a good look. And I imagine some little green pitchman is sitting in the front going "LOOK,look at the crazy monkeys! Look as they fight and kill each other for fluids that come out of the ground! Look as they poison themselves with their primitive machines and factories! For those that pay an extra 40 flurb we will actually catch a male and female monkey and you can poke at them! Get a close look at the strange creatures! Tell all your friends you got to poke a monkey!"

      And why would they bother hiding anyway? Would WE hide from a race that was stone knives and bearskins while we have F18s and nuclear powered aircraft carriers? While I'm sure some of our scientists would scream about contaminating the environment of a primitive peoples,most would be "Look at them! They are so silly looking! Can we get a souvenir?" Because when compared to any race that could travel across the universe at FTL speeds we would be the stone knives and bearskins. But as always this is my 02c,YMMV

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    2. Re:finally a sane comment! by __aaqvdr516 · · Score: 3, Informative

      And why would they bother hiding anyway? Would WE hide from a race that was stone knives and bearskins while we have F18s and nuclear powered aircraft carriers?

      The result of contact with an alien race could be devastating to our economics and, depending on the information they might share, potential disaster for religion as well.

      Another possibility is that they could be studying the evolution of our culture.

      For every good reason I can think of for them to reveal their presence (if they're here) there's just as good of a reason for them to remain hidden.

    3. Re:finally a sane comment! by ZeroExistenZ · · Score: 4, Interesting

      you'd see local infrastructure long before any serious tourism and surveys long before investments in local infrastructure... We're just monkeys so they don't feel the need to hide, wouldn't you expect them to have built a nice resort for their tourists?

      Well, you have the ancient towns "visited by gods" or even run by them if you can believe certain archeologists (like Inca and Aztec golden cities).

      Surely there would be at least one of them to ignore the "do not feed the animals/do not knock on the glass" signs

      Sounds like some might've crossed "that fine line", if you take Nephilim as partial fact.

      since when are tourists the modest kind?

      Yea, those damn kids with graffiti everywhere! Nazca lines. Some literally seem to display "monkeys live here, don't bother."

      All taken with a large grain of salt, ofcourse ;)

      --
      I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
  51. Coverup impossible due to incompetence by wikinerd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A coverup? A massive worldwide coverup? C'mon. Is there anyone really believing that governments are capable of it? Do you remember stories about Word documents with metadata that revealed more than intented? Governments aren't capable of covering much simpler things, let alone UFOs.