this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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A former military intelligence officer-turned-whistleblower told House lawmakers that Congress is being kept in the dark about unidentified anomalous phenomena.

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[–] be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (11 children)

If evidence is declassified supporting this it seems we owe a lot of apologies to a lot of people who were written off as kooks.

No, not really. Aliens existing, even aliens having crashed on Earth, would not mean that all the conspiracy bullshit that people came up with is real. This is a really stupid take and makes you sound like those people in /r/conspiracy.

You seem intent on interpreting the quoted bit in the worst possible way. At a minimum proof of a crash or interaction, even if it was one time, even if it was 10000 years ago, would be enough to stop having to hear someone think they were the first person to bring up the Fermi Paradox every time the topic is discussed.

You can't even theorize lightly about scenarios where there might have been extraterrestrial interaction with Earth in most contexts without being pretty much branded a kook.

It would fundamentally change quite a lot I think, even if the immediate impact would be negligible.

[–] DarkThoughts@kbin.social 0 points 2 years ago (8 children)

What a bunch of bollocks. As a general space nerd I've discussed this topic plenty of times with people without issues. The only times this is an issue is when someone brings up his wild conspiracy garbage. You simply aren't branded as "kook" for talking about aliens, plenty of literal scientists did so, including very respected ones.

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (7 children)

What a bunch of bollocks. As a general space nerd I've discussed this topic plenty of times with people without issues. The only times this is an issue is when someone brings up his wild conspiracy garbage. You simply aren't branded as "kook" for talking about aliens, plenty of literal scientists did so, including very respected ones.

Avi Loeb is a high-profile example of this not holding true.

One of the topics they discussed during the hearings is the stigma and potential repercussions of reporting sightings, merely accounts of seeing a thing they can't explain, not inventing or citing, "wild conspiracy garbage." The fact that these were congressional hearings by people who can legally know things we don't, and they still thought it was of intertest to the public despite the stigma, security issues, and potential blowback, should mean something.

As a general space nerd you might benefit from entertaining the idea these accounts have veracity without accepting them as true.

[–] QHC@kbin.social 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

As a general space nerd you might benefit from entertaining the idea these accounts have veracity without accepting them as true.

Why should I spend any of my time or energy on an unproven claim? Should I also entertain the idea that an invisible pink teapot is orbiting earth until it's proven false? What if there is someone with "credibility" claiming they have (classified) photos of the teapot, is it worth considering then?

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Why should I spend any of my time or energy on an unproven claim?

Probably for the same reason we dedicate energy and time to world matters of import. It's interesting, it's potentially very important, and even if we personally may not have a hand in the verification or outcome, this matter ultimately affects us all. It could literally change the way all humans think about intelligent life and the possibilities for humanity in the future.

Should I also entertain the idea that an invisible pink teapot is orbiting earth until it's proven false?

Your Russel's teapot is pink? Neat.

What if there is someone with "credibility" claiming they have (classified) photos of the teapot, is it worth considering then?

Yes! I mean the analogy is rather breaking down here because the implications of a pink teapot in orbit around the earth today would probably point to someone launching it into orbit, and not something as consequential as the verification of non-human intelligent life, but yeah, we should investigate credible claims of things that matter in general.

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