Apollo 14 Moonwalker Claims Aliens Exist 1268
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.'"
Space Madness! (Score:5, Funny)
I think he just had a case of the space madness.
You coveteth my ice cream bar! (Score:5, 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?
Re:You coveteth my ice cream bar! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You coveteth my ice cream bar! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You coveteth my ice cream bar! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You coveteth my ice cream bar! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Funny)
And how many times have YOU been in space? This guy has BEEN there. He knows the facts on the ground.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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.
Re:Space Madness! (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?
finally a sane comment! (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:finally a sane comment! (Score:5, Interesting)
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).
Sounds like some might've crossed "that fine line", if you take Nephilim [wikipedia.org] as partial fact.
Yea, those damn kids with graffiti everywhere! Nazca lines [wikipedia.org]. Some literally seem to display "monkeys live here, don't bother."
All taken with a large grain of salt, ofcourse ;)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Space Madness! (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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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!
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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
Re:Space Madness! (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.
Re:Space Madness! (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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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...
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, for such an advanced species, they make very little sense.
Yep. It's almost like they're, you know, alien or something.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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.
Re:Space Madness! (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."
Some civ has to be the first... (Score:5, 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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Informative)
That was not supposed to be revealed. A nasty tentacle is on its way to claim your mortal husk.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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.
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Funny)
or Space Herpes
...which he got from Aliens. QED
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, 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 [uncyclopedia.org]
Re:Space Madness! (Score:5, Funny)
Huh. (Score:5, Funny)
Well, maybe we look strange to them, too. Ever think of that?
Re:Huh. (Score:5, Funny)
Look strange?
Alien 1: They reproduce HOW?
Alien 2: *repeats explanation*
Alien 1: That's... Revolting!
Re:Huh. (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.setileague.org/articles/meat.htm
Re:Huh. (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/made_meat/ [atom.com]
(The guys own site : )
http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html [terrybisson.com]
Re:Huh. (Score:5, Funny)
Well, maybe we look strange to them, too. Ever think of that?
Hush, you ugly bag of mostly water.
Re:Huh. (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.
Re:Huh. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Huh. (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.
Re:Huh. (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.
Re:Huh. (Score:5, 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?"
-
Re:Huh. (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.
Re:Huh. (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.
Art Bell Guest Spot? (Score:5, Funny)
Will he be on Coast to Coast AM soon?
old news (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.
Listen to the original (Score:5, Informative)
Re:old news (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.
Re:old news (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [randi.org]
and what is wrong with that? (Score:5, 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?)
Re:old news (Score:5, Funny)
How can you not know that? He transmitted the results all over the world via ESP! Didn't you get them?
Moonwalker (Score:5, Funny)
I've seen Moonwalker [imdb.com] and I would definitely agree with this notion.
He's got to be right (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:He's got to be right (Score:4, Funny)
Re:He's got to be right (Score:4, Funny)
Nope, that would him having a stroke.
Re:He's got to be right (Score:5, Funny)
Re:He's got to be right (Score:5, Funny)
Just wanting attention (Score:5, Funny)
Pics or it didn't happen (Score:5, Interesting)
Strange to us.... (Score:5, Funny)
'little people who look strange to us.'
Tom Cruise and the scientologists?
Re:Strange to us.... (Score:5, Funny)
"During the three-day journey... (Score:5, Informative)
Who would have thought that he'd go totally nuts one day.
cover-up (Score:4, 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??
The requisit... (Score:5, Funny)
little people who look strange to us.
I for one welcome our new Danny DeVito overlords.
I want to believe. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I want to believe. (Score:5, Funny)
Just to be clear, we're talking about space aliens, and not girls, right?
Re:I want to believe. (Score:5, Funny)
Documentary (Score:5, Funny)
In that case, I'll tell my wife that the new X-Files movie is a documentary.
Yes, There are aliens... (Score:5, Funny)
And they are out there right now...
Mowing my lawn and trimming my hedge
Crackpottery abounds (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.
Re:Crackpottery abounds (Score:5, Funny)
Why senile? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Conspiracy Theories (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Conspiracy Theories (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.
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.
Pffffft (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.
Back in the good old days (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.
Re:Back in the good old days (Score:5, Funny)
Please listen to this man! I'm not crazy! The robots are going to take over and kill us all! Skynet! SKYNET!!!
Re:Back in the good old days (Score:5, 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.
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
what to do? (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.
Perfect timing (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't have a problem with aliens but (Score:5, 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.
Not the only one (Score:5, Interesting)
Gordon Cooper (Mercury 9 & Gemini 5) has also made similar claims [wikipedia.org]. I seem to recall hearing such claims also made by other astronauts, as well as engineers etc..
smart people believe weird things too (Score:5, Insightful)
Coverup impossible due to incompetence (Score:5, 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.
Re:Dementia (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Or an insider with knowledge you lack (Score:5, 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.
Re:Eddie Izzard called it (Score:5, Funny)
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!
Re:Why Do You All Doubt So Much? (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.
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