Do you believe...in 'out of this world'?

This morning, I read an article in either Parade or USA Today Weekend that asked the question: Do you believe in UFO's?

I'm an avid listener of Coast to Coast AM, because the entire show is predicated on free speech, presenting guests with unique perspectives and positions and allowing -no, expecting- the listener to decide for themselves if there's any merit to what is said. I get up at three most mornings, so I get to hear to the last hour of the show as I get ready for work. As long as the show has been around, Unidentified Flying Objects have been a staple discussion topic. Art Bell reports that he saw something bizarre one night years ago, and after that, his curiosity has literally gotten him 'hooked' on the subject, which is why his talk show wasn't about politics or sports.

A lot of people believe a lot of different things. I smile whenever I hear the words 'believe in'. What does that mean, really? Is it a question of faith that's being acknowledged? Like, I 'believe in' Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, or I 'believe in' honesty, integrety, and good will towards others? Hmmmm....

And, no, the first half of that previous sentence was just an example, not me professing my beliefs! I do have values, though! Honesty, integrety, and good will towards your fellow beings are good things, aren't they?

Does believeing in something make it real, or not? Do you believe in ghosts? My boss can be very difficult to locate when I need him; he's quite the phantom. Does that count? Do you believe in things that go 'bump' in the night. I sure do. I grew up in a household with a lot of people and more than a few pets. Things very much go 'bump' in the night, including a certain flower pot a cat we once had knocked from a shelf above where I was 'camping out' on the living room floor in a sleeping bag one night years ago. It literally felt like something had exploded in my face, and I was spitting potting soil out for several minutes after that. For the past ten years, I've lived in a house adjacent to the Union Pacific's railyard. Take it from me, things really do go 'bump' in the night! I hear a lot of other interesting noises back there at odd hours, too...

If you've never given any real thougt to it, most serious thinkers doubt we're alone in the universe. Numerically, the odds are very much against it. The odds are also very much against making contact with them, regardless of whether they're the guests, or we are.

For physical interstellar travel, using technology we may possibly live long enough to see, a basic requirement is a huge vessel and a lot of occupants. It literally needs to be a self sustaining microcosm, because those who depart will never live to see their eventual destinations. Distant decendants many generations removed from Earth will be the discoverers. At the speed of light, one hundred eighty six thousand miles per second, reaching the center of the Milky Way - our own galaxy- would take something on the order of twenty six thousand years. We're a long way from the speed of light, friends! The time it would take to reach another galaxy may well take more time than humankind has even been around so far. I'm pretty certain any other beings out there would have to overcome the same difficulties we'll have to in order to reach the stars.

More realistically, from logical deduction, some type of metaphysical travel will have to be found first. No one has any real idea how this could happen, but remember, once upon a time it was thought impossible to ever travel faster than the speed of sound, but it was done in 1947 and regularly ever since. In fact, I know someone who was there when Chuck Yeager made that first supersonic flight. She was also there when Scott Crossfield was the first person to reach twice the speed of sound five years later. So, who knows what the future holds? It may someday be possible that a way to explore elsewhere without physically leaving earth is found. It could perhaps be a parallel universe type of phenomenon. Most anything is possible, right?

This is somewhat remeniscent of time travel, which I personally think might explain a great many UFO's people claim to have seen, if, in fact, they saw what they thought they saw. Physical barriers would make interstellar travel extremely challenging, especially for a small craft, although smaller shuttle/scout craft launched from a much larger mother ship could be used to make short side trips. Think about this: if you had a time machine, what would you do with it? Wouldn't you want watch certain things happen, maybe to see what dinosaurs really looked like, or to see how the Egyptians built the pyramids? You bet!

I certainly can't dismiss that our descendants from tens of thousands of years beyond today might occasionally show up to observe us 'ancients'. Note that these things seldom if ever land, and any reported contact is very, very elusive. They're awfully shy, aren't they? If I was a time traveller, I sure would be. Any contact could change history, and if you're 'from the future', that could be a very bad thing for you and everyone you know! Best if you keep your distance...

A lot of people who report seeing so-called extra terrestrials give the now classic 'gray' description. What do you suppose people may look like when we've all interbred to the point that we've become one huge homogonous race sharing one skin color and similar features? Tens of thousands of years out, a medium tan with a hint of gray isn't out of the question, is it? The alleged 'grays' could be our great, great, great, great, great (ad nauseum) grandchildren.

Despite where the supposed visitors are from, they've got a good reason for not making a personal appearance. They'd be right to be scared of what they could catch from us. Wasn't 1972 the end of smallpox vaccinations because the disease had been erradicated after it couldn't infect enough human hosts to sustain itself? If time travel was acheived this week, going back a few hundred years to visit early America could be fatal if the chosen travelers didn't have an innoculation before setting foot on the ground, which as discussed earlier, would be a bad idea anyway. Remember, smallpox ravaged the Native American tribes; they hadn't built any immunity to this European affliction contracted from the settlers.

Another thing most of us never think about is how the earth changes. The land changes, buildings and cities are built and destroyed, animals come and go. If you had a time machine, if you went back any substantial number of years, would you materialize underground, or several (or more) feet above ground? What guarantee do you have that a tree wasn't where you're about to appear, or that an animal was standing there? Going forward could be especially perious. Hope there's not a General brand steel building in your future! I can't imagine co-occupying the same space, at the same time, with a structure is anyone's idea of fun. The safest bet would be airbore, perhaps at the outer reaches of the atmosphere. It can be reasonably conjectured that not much else would be there when you are! Once the 'leap' has been made, further navigation wouldn't be any big deal. Advanced technology would make it easy to keep out of sight as much as possible and still have a shot at seeing something interesting through passive distant surveillance.

Do I believe in UFO's? Absolutely! I'm the oldest of five children, and with four younger siblings, it seems something was always airborne in the house. Half the time, I couldn't figure out just what it was that was thrown at me. My bigger concern was to dodge or duck; identifying the flying object was a lesser priority.

Tim Gordon


To my anonymous commentor: Thank you for the question! I wish I knew who you were...

If you've been reading my posts, I'm sure you've noticed I'm a bit reluctant to just drop names outright and that I really encourage people who read what I share to do their own research so they can develop positions that are their own. To that end, I strongly recommend anyone who wants to know who this individual is that was at Muroc (now Edwards AFB) in 1947 and 1953 click on the following links. All three sites offer a good overview, although I'll attest to the fact that you learn far more when you sit across the table from her...she LOVES to visit! A truly great American individual she is...and has probably more energy at age 83 than I ever did.

http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/feik.htm

http://careersinaviation.org/page.cfm?pid=76

http://www.ncase.info./NCASE-2006/presenters.htm

Happy hunting, the TiGor