Threadjacking!

[JayzusB.Christ]

I got it   

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Would you like to take a  virtual tour of every iteration of the USS Enterprise?

Because you can take a  virtual tour of every iteration of the USS Enterprise!

[JayzusB.Christ]

I just remembered a documentary I watched pre-internet, about some stone fort in Scotland that was mysteriously melted by a temperature that 'would have needed more than all the wood in Scotland to generate' or some such tripe. Now with the interweb at my disposal, I find that it's been solved since I last thought about it.  You won't be amazed to discover that it wasn't advanced laser technology that has since been forgotten.

 https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/archaeologists-solve-ancient-mystery-melted-iron-age-fort-296899

[JohnW]

But seriously, I remember those vitrified forts from Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World.
I used to love all of that stuff and, oddly enough, I never resented it when rational explanations were put forward.
It always annoyed the pants off me when smug nutters ascribed any ancient technical achievement to aliens.

(Who built the pyramids? Egyptians.
How do I know? They were built in Egypt using local materials and available technology during a great flourishing of Egyptian civilization. That's how I know.)

But I always wanted the Loch Ness monster to be real.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Indeed. I have a mate who once fell down the ancient alien rabbithole, and it became the focal point of every. SINGLE. conversation. Happily he's climbed out of that pit since but man, I really hate the whole 'I don't know, so aliens' paradigm.

[JohnW]

I grew up near the airport, so unidentified lights in the sky were always presumed to be of terrestrial origin.
On the other hand, I can well understand how any unusual beastie can enforce a belief in fantastical monsters.

Otters and seals (or maybe one otter and one seal who keep pretty busy) can occasionally be seen in the river near where I live. Because the river stank to hell and gone with pollution when I was small, it was a big surprise to see something bigger than a mutant fish for the first time. It's amazing how big and Nessie-like an ordinary otter can appear when you've never seen such a thing before in that context.

[Dandontdare]

I remember the aforementioned Arthur C Clark saying something along the lines of "If you've seen as many UFOs as I have, you don't believe they're aliens. And if you've never seen one, then you're just not looking up."

[The Legendary Shark]

When I was a teenager I worked on a beetroot farm in the summer holidays with a bunch of rough blokes. One overcast afternoon, we spotted a bright white light in the sky. We stood staring at it, mesmerized, for ages. The boss, seeing us stood around not working, came steaming out of the office to tear some strips off us but also found his attention captured by this mysterious, stationary light.

For minutes we stood transfixed until, all at once, it became apparent that it was nothing more than a small aircraft flying directly towards us, slowly due to a strong headwind (which is probably also why we couldn't hear anything until it was almost on top of us). We all felt like proper Charlies, I can tell you.

[JayzusB.Christ]

For all my scorn of ancient aliens, I did see a UFO when I was about 18 - my mate spotted the classic cigar-shaped silver thing moving through the sky from the college canteen window and we were transfixed.

When I told other people in the class he played ignorant, the bastard, for fear of mockery, and pretended he didn't know what I was on about.  But I remember it clearly.

Was it aliens?  In response, I would with reasonable confidence say: was it bollocks. I don't know what it was.  Unidentified - the clue's in the name.  I've seen two other UFOs too but that was the most memorable.

[JohnW]

the classic cigar-shaped silver thing moving through the sky

And they said the Zeppelin menace had been defeated!

[Funt Solo]

We saw a UFO from our primary school playground one morning - but only for about three minutes. After that, it became an IFO. Or, a helicopter, as some would have it.

[JayzusB.Christ]

the classic cigar-shaped silver thing moving through the sky

And they said the Zeppelin menace had been defeated!

Didn't look like no zeppelin to me. Maybe it was a silver cigar?

[JohnW]

Maybe it was a silver cigar?

Well you know what they say:
If it looks like a huge silver cigar, and quacks like a huge silver cigar, and drifts through the air like a huge silver cigar...

[The Legendary Shark]

While I am firmly on the fence when it comes to aliens visiting our planet, I do find the whole subject fascinating. The current levels of hype from all sides (from the "lunatic fringe" to "official sources") concerning so-called disclosure does nothing to push me off the fence one way or the other but does still fascinate me.

The one claim that never made much sense to me was that actual proof of alien contact would cause widespread panic. I think that most people would be of the opinion that discovering we are not alone would be pretty cool. There might well be widespread street parties but, panic? I doubt it. Given my own world view, I think it would be more likely that the Powers That Shouldn't Be would panic the most if such contact was to occur. Imagine benevolent aliens giving us the blueprints for free energy devices, Star Trek like replicators or other such marvels - the only people panicking would be the CEOs of multinational corporations whose obscene profits and inhuman practices would no longer be needed. And what if the aliens said, "Wait - you guys still use money? Why?" Or, "Wait - you guys still think a small elite has the right to rule you? Why?" In this case, I for one would certainly be more in the street party group than the panicking group. How about you?

Of course, we've all been trained by Hollywood to expect aliens to be slavering monsters set on our destruction - usually starting with an array of famous landmarks being vapourized for no good reason - although there are a few notable exceptions. As I "learned" in a recent dream I had, any alien attack is more likely to be some global deep state false flag operation designed to usher in a worldwide authoritarian centralized control mechanism. But that's just me.

How would you react to actual proof of a wider extraterrestrial community? Do you think such a community would most likely be benevolent, hostile, or even disinterested? Genuinely interested in your thoughts.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

While I am firmly on the fence when it comes to ...