Yes or No question

[Poi]

Ah, we are kindred spirits.

I try on new stuff all the time because only in trying it on do I find the fallacies. Yep, it just leaves more questions when I eventually abandon a theory for another. No theory is sacred, but it makes for interesting exploration ... unless it's just dumb. That's a subjective analysis, however and sometimes I surprise myself with returning to the dumb stuff too, if only briefly. A thought triggers some question that makes it necessary until logic overrules. I'm not sure logic is always what it is cracked up to be, but it's a necessary evil.

 

[Rick Deckard]

No theory is sacred, but it makes for interesting exploration ...

I agree - I do despair when I see theories presented as fact. You must be prepared to discard a theory once it is shown to be 'unsafe' - I see too many people holding on to their 'pet' theories and never letting go...

 

[TClaeys]

I can't answer anything I don't know for sure.

Miah,

None of us know for sure. Come on give it a try. I'll tell you it feels a little weird saying that you fall on one side of the fence or the other, but it is all just your best guess. Join the group, its just an opinion.

Like I appealed to Schtick, you can change your opinion tomorrow. I won't hold you to it, I mean we are all pretty much anonymous anyways. I just had to ask this question because I have such a hard time answering it myself. I think many of us here are part of that excluded middle. Closer to the center of the fence then to one extreme.

Would you reconsider casting a vote? Either way thanks for your comments.

 

[Rick Deckard]

I try on new stuff all the time because only in trying it on do I find the fallacies. Yep, it just leaves more questions when I eventually abandon a theory for another.

I have a theory - an answer to a question will only lead to more questions. The more we learn the more we become aware of how little we know. The gap between what he have learnt and what we have yet to learn GROWS rather than SHRINKS over time.

An answer doesn't represent the end of a journey, it represents the beginning of several new journeys. We can carry on learning and improving our understanding, but paradoxically, the goal of 'total understanding' gets further away.

I guess the only logical way forward, is to stop asking questions and work with what we have. Welcome to religion.

Gosh, my head is spinning. I have to go and lie down now...

 

[mike]

The science of past performance Mr Deckard ?

that fact alone MUST tell us ?

i have this horrible realisation ive been preaching to the choir.........

Well, not really. I'm offering a possible argument that you could put forward - that's not the same as me stating that fact with 'certainty'.

I think I need to say this more about myself and why I use these forums:

I am not CERTAIN of anything. I participate here to throw around ideas and see what sticks. I'm not here to persuade anyone of anything or change anyone's mind about anything - I'm here to see if MY mind can be changed. I sometimes take a contrary stance to my own beliefs in order to test them. I often find myself questioning my own understanding. I often find myself defending ideas that I don't necessarily agree with or support, just to see how firm those ideas are. I think people sometimes misunderstand my approach and become either frustrated or confused when I appear to 'flip flop' from one side of an argument to another. The reality is that I don't have any answers; only questions.

if you were trying to express a "possible argument" perhaps the words
"that fact alone tends to suggest" would be better than the word must, which implys a fixed value not a flexable one.

i understand your motivations rest assured, and far from being frustrated by them, i find them invigorating.

the exchange of ideas often creates a synergy as the body of the argument grows and evolves, for me thats the value of the process

 

[Poi]

I guess the only logical way forward, is to stop asking questions and work with what we have. Welcome to religion.

Ew. Retch.

But yeah. My one an only great epiphany taught me that we know nothing in spite of what we think we know. So why are we born asking questions?

It's enough to make me crazy. Crazy can be good?

 

[Rick Deckard]

It's enough to make me crazy. Crazy can be good?

Dunno. What's 'crazy'? Holding a non-conformist view? Acting in a non-conformist way?

The crazy people think they're 'normal'. What's 'normal'?

And repeat and then rinse...

This 'yes' or 'no' thread is great, isn't it?

 

[Rick Deckard]

if you were trying to express a "possible argument" perhaps the words "that fact alone tends to suggest" would be better than the word must, which implys a fixed value not a flexable one.

I dunno. I thought the prefix "Well, you could look at it this way..." might have suggested a 'possible argument' rather than a 'statement of fact', but now we've clarified the semantics of my post, we can move on...

I suppose the forum post editor needs one of those 'fuzz' indicators that some text analysis tools use...

 

[Experiencer7]

The world is not black and white. Nor is this issue.

 

[Tweeg]

Of course, there is also the possibility that the human race originated elsewhere...

That's one reason I can't give a yes or no on this.

 

[shagharbor]

Just look at one pic from the Hubble, and then believe.

 

[tommyb98201]

After reading about UFOs for a couple of decades now Im pretty convinced that something is going on. There are just too many witnesses, Pilots, Police, Military personel, ect. Some have witnessed craft a anywhere from football field size to a mile long. Now where do you suppose they came from? Either another planet, interdementional, or they have bases right here that we cannot know about.........OR, it all holograms and the government is going to use them as the next fear factor to up the Military industrial Complex......Not Likely

 

[Kieran]

Yes i believe there is extreme logical to the notion of beings or occupants of ufos to be from other worlds or dimensions.However it is all theory, All i no for certain is we have no clue what is out there in space and what it contains? , I and many others have had experiences of this phenomen on our planet only, so that is what i look at for my understanding of this phenomen.

So until these species are willing to show themselves to the mainstream public and reveal something, we will forever be debateing this phenomen, is that healthy, i sometimes question myself is it.

 

[Xylo]

Yes i believe there is extreme logical to the notion of beings or occupants of ufos to be from other worlds or dimensions.However it is all theory, All i no for certain is we have no clue what is out there in space and what it contains? , I and many others have had experiences of this phenomen on our planet only, so that is what i look at for my understanding of this phenomen.

So until these species are willing to show themselves to the mainstream public and reveal something, we will forever be debateing this phenomen, is that healthy, i sometimes question myself is it.

I think the quest for greater understanding is always healthy. The problem in this particular endeavor is, as the Paracast's theme states, "Separating signal from noise."

There's just so much noise out there that the signal, at times, seems weak and thin. And that is when the search becomes exasperating and seems pointless.

 

[Kieran]

I think the quest for greater understanding is always healthy. The problem in this particular endeavor is, as the Paracast's theme states, "Separating signal from noise."

There's just so much noise out there that the signal, at times, seems weak and thin. And that is when the search becomes exasperating and seems pointless.

I made that post in 2008 I wouldn't disagree in what you said, and You'd be right. Often there is more noise than signal.

 

[Hermes]

The poll question asked, "Has Earth been visited by intelligent beings that don't originate here?"

It's a good question, but I couldn't offer a simple "yes" or "no" answer to it because I think our situation is much more complicated than that. And far more interesting.

Certainly something very strange is going on -- so strange, in fact, that the simple process of trying to understand it soon begins to unfold a more impossible puzzle than even the original weirdness itself could have caused us to expect:

It makes us revisit many of our most common assumptions about who we are, why we're here, and what "here" really is for that matter.

 

[Ezechiel]

Yes until proven otherwise

If you look in from the outside (cosmic scale to local solar system), it immediately appears insane and infinitely pretentious to pretend otherwise. A potential of 14 billion years of evolutionary time prior the emergence of humans (and the creation of our own solar system 4 billion years ago) would almost certainly give at least one race the opportunity to evolve and exploit infinitely complex technology.

If you're looking out from inside a bubble without understanding the parameters that define our position in the cosmic timeline, you would naturally answer 'no until proven otherwise' and adopt a human-centrist attitude.

The observed demonstrations of capabilities of these so-called 'ufos' is totally consistent with the idea that time enables fantastic capabilities as consciousness and technologies become infinitely complex

 

[kcfraser]

YES

Keith (Today I've: played with a dollhouse, built Play-Doh burgers, and watched Scooby Doo. It would have been MUCH cooler if my daughter was here.)

 

[ondafritz]

Yes. I think that is as good a possibility as any. One thing is for sure.. something is going on.

 

[Trajanus]

Of course, there is also the possibility that the human race originated elsewhere...

I doubt it, as the fossil reord indicates we're indigenous.