Skeptic Project

OK I used to be seriously into this subject as a kid and growing up through my adolescant years. I studied this particular topic more than any other topic so far, in fact I have possibly read and watched every 'important' book and documentary UFOlogists would claim to be necessary to understand the topic.

Essentially what I learnt was that on the whole this subject is comprised of a few different kinds of people.

There are the researchers who on the most part are all hobbysists and interested people who have taken their research to a professional level where they make money talking about it, these people are generally not experts in any scientific field at all. They are typically dependant upon external scientists to the field to validate any claims they make and have no skillsets other than interviewing and compiling data into public presentations and books. They tend to be hardcore believers with little critical thinking abilities, and are easily duped into committing themselves to a story with little persuasion.

Then you have the so called experts of the field who tend to be more rational about the topic and would likely state there is something unusual about a specific matter, but never would they categorically put their credibility or professional position on the line by 100% advocation. These people are what might be called fence sitters, they want to believe in the subject and would love it to be true but out of common sense would prefer to sit back and observe and debate the topic. These people tend to be of a professional background and or technical and scientific background and stand to lose out on their income and reputation if they commit to logical fallacies.

Then you have the complete skeptics who would deny that any of the stories and subject are possible. These tend to be from all walks of life and not only governmental bodies, in fact a lot more of these people are either people who have no experience and are simply not going to entertain the possibility, or have some technical expertise or experience in an area that would give them a level of certainty on the subject.

When you look into the subject of UFOlogy you have to ascertain exactly who it is you are talking to, because while the subject is extremely interesting there are so many kooks and CT types in the first subset of people that it gets crazy trying to actually find an example that may be worth looking at with a scientific mind.

The main problem with UFOlogy is that on the whole there is an anti government movement and philosophy that is rife throught the whole field, there is a tendency to attribute all failure of the UFO topic to be proven real to a government cover up. This is pretty much the norm when it comes to believers and researchers in the field, they all tend to have some or a lot of CT claims in their presentations and books. It is for this reason that you will never truly get serious research into the topic because on the most part scientists just do not want to affiliate with kooks, cranks and paranoid schizos.

So rightly so the field has a stigma that is much like that of the Conspiracy world, and it is not because the subject is taboo or unwarranted of discussion, rather it is because the majority of it is actually nonsense made up by Conspiratorial thinkers and poor researchers.

This leads to the whole cult mentality we are all interested in, the sad thing is that the new age movement and eastern religious woo mentality is in symbiosis with the topic too. This is as much a problem as the Conspiritorial mindset because this brings the whole element of pseudoscience being taken and proclaimed as if scientific fact. This is another reason why real investigators and scientists shy away from the topic. This element of the subject is where it gets religious and cultlike, because you have the whole emotional woo element attached and peoples needs and beliefs are pandered to and stroked. This leads to things like heavens gate cult, scientology, desteni,and the people on louis therouxs weird weekends UFO episode: http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/ufos/12gdemk7v</p>

To investigate this subject will require you immerse yourself into truly bizarre belief systems, probably some of the most farfetched beliefs that there are on Earth, as well as highly conspiratorial claims, anti government mentalities, and religious pseudoscientific claims filled with new age woo and enlightenment shit.

Good luck

Dont forget the people who think that UFOs are interdimensional beings who are helping the government in a depopulation plan as seen in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NdPWWseJBc&feature=related

The Unexplained - UFO Cults

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkAID_Kez9w

Studies show that almost 20 percent of Americans believe in UFOs. And, as the much publicized Heaven's Gate incident pointed out, some of these people will go to extreme lengths in the name of their belief. UFO CULTS AND GROUPS traces the history of Heaven's Gate and compares it to another UFO group, the Unarius Academy, looking for insight into this growing phenomenon. Why do people join these groups, and why do some abandon all logic and reason in doing so? Interviews with former and current members of the groups offer a first-person view of what they are like, and point out the vast differences among them. Some are truly cults, which indoctrinate members and force them to embrace new beliefs and behaviors, while others are simply people joined together by a common interest. From the tragedy of Heaven's Gate to the remarkable number of people who belong to UFO groups of all descriptions, this is a thought-provoking look at a ""fringe"" belief that may not be as far from the mainstream as most think.

or Mengele Childhood Mutant spies.

I find the UFO community I listen to on occasion to be very hilarious. It's interesting though because not all believe tinfoil hats work but others do. This UFO community has talked about reptilians but rarely associate David Ickes theories on it which makes me believe that David Icke's theory's on reptilians may have originated from UFO groups (more than likely but I don't know off hand).

UFO's which stands for unidentified flying object can in itself be perfectly legit topic to study. The problem with UFO groups is that you get the oddballs who claim that he or she was anal probed by Aliens, or that their impregnated with a hybrid alien child. These odd balls end up getting more media exposure, believed by gullible people, than the true skeptics that use the scientific method to arrive at their answers.

I have a hard time believing that UFO's are anything but terrestrial in origin. I don't discount that people believe they've seen something, but it most likely has a rational earthly explanation. I based this off of Drake's equation which, depending on the value of the parameters used, the galaxy is either teeming with technologically advanced life (able to send and receive radio transmissions) or exactly 1(us). The trouble is there is no way to accurately peg the parameters all we know is the lower bounds.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation</p>

And it is most probable that the upper bounds are not nearly as "teeming" as Drake's best case scenario would lay out as evidenced by the Fermi-Hart paradox. The infamous "Where are they?"

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox</p>

Several theories abound as to why this is. One is the Great Filter. That some constraint exists that make technological civilizations short-lived by default. Either by destroying themselves by weapons of war or simply outgrowing their energy source and suffering a subsequent population crash.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter</p>

I would tend to say why send ships at all? It is far more efficient to send out self-replicating satellites to explore and categorize a galaxy then to visit them directly using space craft. We are talking about aliens that have mastered at the very least intragalactic space travel so self replication technology should be within their grasp. Thus it is unlikely that first contact would involve live aliens and spaceships further supporting a terrestrial explanation for UFO's