Do you believe in extra terrestrials?

[Ron]

This should generate some interesting responses.

My new found interest in ET stems from reading some of the books by authors mentioned in an article referenced by Bassist25 in this post.
http://rockpage.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2333 Man, I dig having a Barnes & Noble near by.

Aliens are a topic that I've flip-flopped over for most of my life, but when it boils down to it, I'm more of a believer than a skeptic. The biggest influence I've had in the 'pro' category is a friend of mine who now lives in San Fran. He believes in it all... whole heartedly. Incedently he's a multi-millionaire from an invention he and a friend patented that can weigh and find stress points in bridges using sonar. Maybe he had a little ET help?
Let's hear your view.

[bassist_25]

Leo: I saw a UFO once. It was awesome, man. It told me to have a "Good Year".

Hyde: Leo, this wouldn't happen to have been at a football game, was it?

Leo: Yeah, man!!! And the strange thing was I was the only one freakin' out about it. "Good Year"; man, it was a terrible year.

Sorry, just had to reference one of my favorite Tommy Chong moments from That 70's Show.

I'm really not informed enough to postulate on whether aliens exist or not; but the idea of another intelligent being existing is not far-fetched. I've had a few crazy experiences in my life. (albeit none were ET related, or at least as far as I know. ) Really, I think a lot of myths/theories/speculations on things aren't that far-fetched if you really sit and think about them. (Don't get me started on my theory about Adam and Eve being a metaphor for the lost island of Atlantis) I don't consider myself a "Skeptic" on most things. I rather look at things from an objectional point of view with no opinions either way. A skeptic says, "Prove it to me and I'll believe you"; I say, "That's an interesting idea, let's see if it can be proven and then we'll form opinions/theories/hypothesises/maxims".

[grimmbass]

Bassist 25....dude, you always start the most interesting posts....we gotta have a beer together sometime!

RE: UFOs, Aliens, and the like.....so many possibilities exist. A skeptic will say "prove it to me" yet will go to the church of his choice and not question a multitude of things he's never seen, felt, or heard. There are literally millions of elements of reality which we simply cannot experience with our limited senses. One of the theories on the whole "alien" phenominon is that there are other levels of reality existing in the same physical space where we reside, but that these alternative realms are slightly out of time with our own. In essence, physical reality is assembled from constantly moving atoms with miniscule amounts of space between them. One being or object could exist in the same place as another, provided they were out of sync....but that's only one theory.

There are a number of fairly credible and well researched authors out there...granted, some of them come across as crack-pots, but they are well-researched crack pots. David Icke (http://www.davidicke.com/) has theories on everything from the "reptilian agenda" to 9/11 to Atlantis. If nothing else, his work is exhaustively researched and interesting. Whitley Strieber's Communion series of books are compelling....even if you read them as fiction rather than fact, a few sleepless nights are almost guaranteed. Kenneth Randal (a former Air Force Colonel) has a dry, but well written account of the government cover-up of the UFO Phenominon called Conspiracy of Silence. Missing Time, the movie about Betty and Barney Hill (played by James Earl Jones), is the first televised account of an abduction scenario....it is truly chilling.

There are a number of well-documented government forays into alternative science, including psychic positioning (funded by the CIA through several government contractors from the 1970s-1980s), mind control (CIA MK-Ultra program), and worldwide radio transmission (HAARP Project). Bottom line: I don't know if there are little green men running around, but thousands of people have seen SOMETHING. The accounts are too bizarre AND consistent to suggest otherwise.

Sorry for the length on this post....thanks again Bassist_25 for the cool post!

Kent

[FatVin]

UFO's?

Well I when I was in the air force, I used to look at radar all the time and I can tell that Objects that Fly go Unidentified all the time, happens every day.

Any good Astronomy student will tell that mathematically speaking, life off of the earth (extra terrestrial) is a pretty much a certainty. it's a .9 probability ratio.

Does tha mean that extra terrestrial beings are kidnapping 8-year olds from suburban Colorado and giving them anal probes?

I don't really know the answer to that one but, I kinda doubt it.

[bassist_25]

A beer would be great. Well, actually a Bacardi would be better. I love the Bacardi. And margaritas; Trace use to make me margaritas at practice.

I usually don't buy into alot of the government conspiracy theories. (Like the one, that the government orchestrated 9/11 to fuel patriotism so we could go to Iraq. C'mon, who comes up with this stuff?) But there are things that the government does that we don't know about. I knew about some of the mind control stuff. Espcially about how LSD was orginally used by the CIA as a truth serum. Another well documented program done by the government that a lot of people don't know about is Eugenics. Hitler tried cleansing the human race with concentration camps; other people (and some very respected people, I might add i.e. Rockafeller,) tried doing it with science. Of course, Eugenics started with the Nazis but it existed after WWII and found it's way to America. That's one of the reasons I'm quite nervous about cloning programs, and gene munipulation. On one hand, it would be a great thing (saving lives, detecting birth defects, ect.) but on the other hand, all it would take is another guy who thinks the Aryanians are the superior race and that would be it.

As far as church, I don't want to get too theological on the board. I've struggled with faith off and on during my life. I've went between believer and agnostic so many times it's not even funny. But I've had a few "experiences", we'll just say, (they're a little too personal to get into on the forum) that anchored my faith. I had a certain belief/philosophy that didn't seem to fit any of the major faiths. I valued finding the truth rather than simply knowing the truth. One day I discovered that there is indeed a word that describes my theological beliefs; it's called "Unitarian Universalism". It's more of a philosophy rather than a religion because UUs span all faiths from Christainity to Buddhism, to Islam to Pagan beliefs.

I know one thing though, I've experienced Deja Vu many times. It's very surreal. I'm not talking about driving down a road and then driving down the same road the next week. I'm talking about a certain feeling I get, at a certain time, at a certain place. Like I've been there before but I don't have a lucid memory of it. I'm fascinated with the mind so much that it's almost obsessive. (I'm currently waiting to see if I get accepted into university to be a psych major.) I find myself watching a movie and I'm constantly making associations with Jungian archetypes. I try to figure out people's Myers-Briggs type just by conversations with them. I had typed out a long tangent in the "Undestand Your Instrument" thread about how I've been frustrated with myself when it came time to solo during a song, but I've played amazing stuff in my dreams. There's been times I've played something on bass or guitar in my dream and the next day I've walked over to the instrument and played it verbatim. Even with the correct fingering!!! I read somewhere that one of the guitarist of Lynyrd Sknyrds gets solo ideas in his dreams. I know I have these melodic ideas resting in my sub-conscious and I want to bring them into my consciousness so I can transfer them from my head to my instrument.

Well, I better get going. I have things to do today and a show tonight. So talk to you all later.

[Colton]

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

#366: Normally I'm not one to believe in little green men from Mars. But one night, as I was driving home from a party, I caught something in my headlights I still can't explain. It had weird, catlike eyes and only stood about a foot tall. It was covered with grayish fur, and walked on all fours, like a cat. It had a tail, which if I had to describe in terms of something here on Earth was, in a way, like a cat's. Also, it was carrying a ray gun in its mouth. It was either a ray gun or a mouse.

[bassist_25]

Does tha mean that extra terrestrial beings are kidnapping 8-year olds from suburban Colorado and giving them anal probes?

I don't really know the answer to that one but, I kinda doubt it.

I always thought it was 30 year old rednecks from rural Alabama.

Sorry, no offense to any southern people. I just couldn't resist the quip.

[JayBird]

I'll make this short and sweet...I saw one, I'll go to my grave believing that myself along with three other friends saw something not from this earth. It was about 13 years ago, we were picking corn to go corning late at night(amusement for those in the sticks!), there was some weird eclispe solar something that night. the sky was reddish in color and the moon's beams reflected...anyway my science teacher at the time explained what was happening with the atmosphere. So now I'm 28 and I can see the image like it was yesterday. That hovering light that you see in all the other eye witness videos. Then within milliseconds it took off at a speed unknown to man. The four of us looked at each other as to say..."Did we just see that, did you just see that, WTF?" We tried rationalizing what it could be...a car's headlights on some road in the distance...hmmm...no roads around...a radio tower with warning lights blinking...hmmm...no towers in the whole town. Here's my conclusion...UFO, UFO, UFO. Oh yeah, we ran out of that corn field like four dogs with their tails tucked between their legs.

[RobTheDrummer]

No, I think it's sick that anyone would think of extra testicles...lol

[esa]

So, right after I got done watching that Mel Gibson "Signs" alien movie, I left my boyfriends' place and went back to my residence in Johnstown (man.. I miss my little house. ::sniffles:: )) anywho.. He called to make sure I made it home okay and here I am, whiggin' out because there are aliens in my roof. Swear to God, aliens in my roof. So he's there the next night and while we are waiting for our other three friends to get there for movie, pizza, and beer fest...we hear it. Scratch...scratch...thu-tha-thunk...skitter.
"Ah... Aliens!" (in my best beefcakey cartmen southpark voice).
"Esa, those are not aliens. That...that's.. a chipmunk."
"Ah...Alien chipmunks!!!" Hee hee. Yes, I have a terrible fear of anal probings (of the alien kind) and I couldn't sleep sound for days after watching "Fire in the Skies". Don't even get me started on (old school..not the remake. through that one I giggled) "The Blob" (I swear I slept with someone till I was twelve and still cannot sleep with any closet door open). Pathetic, yes...but being honest.

All joking aside, I saw one roughly nine or ten years ago. I used to sleep outside on the deck when it got really warm. I could name most of the constellations and had a pretty good idea of what ones were planets and what ones were stars. I saw a really bright and orange-ish red lighted thing. Almost triangular, but lumpier (if there's such a thing?). It wasn't there a minute ago..to my knowledge. After a little bit, it zigged right, paused a few seconds, zigged left and streak-poof. Like "Back to the Future" delorioum disappearing down the road tire marks. I honestly thought it was a plane at first. Then I realize the lights are normally always red and blue...and planes don't disappear that quick with out some sort of sound or cloud streak behind them. I don't know much about government testing on new aircraft design for back then...but I doubt they'd be doing it over a town like mine. Who knows? It could have been a plane. I don't think it was. The Galaxies are just to big to only have life on one teenie tiny planet. Regaurdless of the whole "Adam and Eve" story. Don't get me wrong, born and raised Catholic and had many a fight with my h.s. religion teacher...I just think there's too much out there to be the only planet with human or subhuman (you remember.. those ex-boyfriends/girlfriends that you'd like to forget ever existed) life on it.

That's my thoughts. Sorry it was so long. Live long and conquer (sic), nanu, nanu.

[Ron]

Years ago I was with a group of friends at an outdoor party. Just after the sun went down, somebody noticed a group of lights above the horizon.

Since we were in a desolate part of central PA, we could tell that the UFO was not making any noise. As it moved closer, it went from looking like a group of small ships to one BIG ship. Most of us just stood there like deer in the headlights, while a few where freakin' out. Mainly because of the lack of noise.

Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night. The next day I found out that there were thousands of sightings of the same object(s) in the north east. It turns out that a Russian satellite had come out of orbit and we witnessed it burning up on re-entry. Pretty cool, but scary as hell at the time.

[FatVin]

Bassist 25, It usually is but I thought Cartman would be funnier;

It is an interesting topic to ponder. There are thousands of Galaxies, that we know about but even if we stick to the Milky Way alone. There are so many stars that if only one in a million of them have planets, there would be so many that ....

if only one in a million of THEM were planets in the temperate Zone, there would be so many that ....

if only one in a million of these planets had liquid water, there would be so many that ....

if only one in a million of them had any kind of life at all, there would be so many planets that....

if only one in a million of them had intelligent life, there would be so many
planets that .......

if only one in a million of them had some kind of advanced technology

There should be millions of planets with intelligent extra terrestrial life with advanced technology out there somewhere.

So what do we do? We beam them America's funniest home videos every week.....

I think that theyr'e out there but they're hidin from us.

[Punkinhead]

I think I do believe in them but, I think I know alot about our government too...that says to me alot of the UFO sightings are usually government tests of different things that we don't know what's really happening but, there is evidence it seems to be of ET....

[pxprocks]

Ok...Way to go Ron this is an awesome topic...Being the huge X-Files and Sci-Fi fan that I am I have to throw in my 2 cents on this. I do believe there is life out there. I am by far not the most religious person out there I don't know what to believe on that front, although I do know the exact moment I "lost my faith" I was 13 yrs old we were studying dinosaurs in school and at that point I was a regular church goer with my mom and grandmother. So the following sunday when we went to church and I ask our preacher and family friend, If the bible was started at the begining of time why doesn't it mention dinosaurs? He quoted Genesis. Now we all know dinosaurs were here and pre date humans and all other animals. So at that point I quit going to church. The reason for the church stuff is this, Most people who truly believe in the bible as it stands have a hard time believing in aliens. It would go against their faith in god. I have personally seen things in the sky i cannot explain. Aliens, maybe I don't know. But what I do know is I personally cannot say it wasn't. I do believe in the existance of life on other planets. As big as the universe is it would take a pretty limited thought to believe we are alone in the universe. There are many references to this fact throughout all of human history! So whether aliens truly are from another planet or just a different plane of reality or even maybe the human race in the future(wrap your head around that). Anything is possible! The human race as far as our minds and thoughts have come we still only use a very small part of our brains. So come on people we all know the egyptians had some help with the pyramids! So with that I am going to stop cause I could go all day on this topic....lol

[tonefight]

Yes this is definatly a very interesting topic and very interesting to see other musicians views. It is also definalty true to a point that life elsewhere will question religious views as well. I guess to keep it simple I too struggle with what I was brought up to believe verses scientific facts and theorys that seem to make a whole lot more sense.

Too many Questions not enough answers

[RobTheDrummer]

Aliens: Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Virgil Donati. They are all kinda wierd and excel at their chosen instrument like they have some sort of "foreign power" who knows. What do you think? Possible?

[bassist_25]

So the following sunday when we went to church and I ask our preacher and family friend, If the bible was started at the begining of time why doesn't it mention dinosaurs?

I forget exactly what passage it is, but I believe somewhere in Job it mentions dinosaurs. I think it's meant more metaphorically then literally, but it is interesting that dinosaurs do get mentioned in the bible.

even maybe the human race in the future(wrap your head around that).

Interesting! I never thought of that. If you get into Einsteins Theory of Relativity that could be very possible. Many people believe that wormholes exist in space. I don' t know much about astro-physics though, so I'm not really qualified to talk about it. When I start thinking about time travel, my head begins to hurt. It would be interesting to see how the far the human race would be evoled in a million years.

[Ron]

It would be interesting to see how the far the human race would be evolved in a million years.

I don't think that the human race will ever make it that long. My guess is that a mass extinction will happen first. Life itself will undoubtedly survive, but humans are fragile... dependant on warmth, fresh water, and oxygen, and susceptable to disease. I hope I'm wrong, but who knows? Mother Earth has very effective ways of removing her parasites.

[pxprocks]

hey bassist_25 if you can narrow that down to a little more specific part that would be cool. There are other questions i asked also that were not answered but the dinosaur one is the one that stuck out...So Ya like that us in the future thought huh...lol....alot of people don't think of that one....see 50 yrs from now there could be a nuclear war and most of the race dies out...then what is left evolves into the little grey skinned suckers ya see in the movies...then a few hundred years later they go back in time to run tests on us in present time to keep the race alive in their time..abductions...hmmmmm.....lol....i got tons of theories man....have fun and catch ya on the reply....

[esa]

I still go by the reasoning of this. If there is hardly any intelegent life on *this* planet, then....there's got to be another one out there that's worse off than we are. ::grins::

Okay okay.. so someone has to keep this a little light from time to time. We're draggin Genesis into this and that's one heavy topic...

Were Unicorns ever mentioned biblically? I know that's slightly going off topic.. but.. you know. Musicians minds tend to wonder.. and mine..well.. it wanders....

[pxprocks]

But esa how many people do ya hear of that get abducted and anally probed by unicorns?....that was me being funny....lol....yeah the genesis reference was a little heavy but to a point it was relevant to the topic....when ya start talking about things of this nature it sometimes boils down to science versus religion versus fantasy...well not even so much "versus" but more of a conflict of interest....but im out be back to check on this later....

[Danette]

Why am I not suprised? It figures Donnie would think of anal probes performed by unicorns. I am now scarred for life after that mental picture.

[songsmith]

Whaddaya think that single horn is FOR?----->JMS

[waydowneast]

i see it as demon traffic