I was being sarcastic in my agreement with macgyver.

Hi.
I agree that there are UFO’s, BUT….it’s just Unidentified Flying Objects, things like advanced military aircraft etc. that we don’t know about. When the first stealth airplane was seen publicly, it sure looked like an UFO!
I watched a program on NatGeo where they discussed UFO’s. The lead guy from SETI made an interesting comment regarding the Roswell incident: He found it astonishing that aliens would safely travel light years to arrive here and then crash their advanced flying machine on our little planet!
Also, people are notoriously bad eye-witnesses so we need real proof regarding this “phenomena”.

Anecdotes and eyewitness accounts are useless. People lie, misremember, embellish and are often mistaken. Our perception of the world is not always accurate, our senses are fallible and our prior beliefs can and do influence and distort what we see and hear and experience.

Grainy photos and videos of distant lights and objects are equally useless and prove nothing. Even a high-quality photo or video of a strange machine or aircraft in the sky must be authenticated by a reputable and independent source and even if it isn’t fake, it must be proven that the object isn’t of terrestrial origin, that it isn’t classified military technology or whatever. For that one would need complete access to every piece of classified information of every military complex in the world or direct and unlimited access to the aircraft so that a thorough examination may be done.

A photo or a video, even if authentic and of high quality, doesn’t prove anything. Much more is needed.

P.S.
What reason is there to believe that aliens, if they exist, are technologically advanced and have the resources and desire to visit our planet?

Right, our memeory does not work like a mechanical recording, which you can play back over and over and it stays essentially the same.  Remembering is subject to potential modification by the influences that occur each time one remembers a particular event.

One problem with ufology is a lack of standards.  For example some people say 95% of UFO reports can be explained but obviously the percentage depends on what you consider a UFO report.  MUFON’s website gets at least 20 reports every day, but most of them are junk.

TimB - 12 June 2013 08:39 AM

Right, our memeory does not work like a mechanical recording, which you can play back over and over and it stays essentially the same.  Remembering is subject to potential modification by the influences that occur each time one remembers a particular event.

Exactly, we may not always remember things accurately. Some memories may not even be real. Lots of alleged alien abductees undergo hypnosis to retrieve “blocked” memories of their abduction, when in fact they’re basically fabricating memories or mistaking something they saw on TV or read about or whatever for an actual memory of something that happened to them.

ufo-buff - 12 June 2013 10:14 AM

One problem with ufology is a lack of standards.  For example some people say 95% of UFO reports can be explained but obviously the percentage depends on what you consider a UFO report.  MUFON’s website gets at least 20 reports every day, but most of them are junk.

No standards at all, no reasonable criteria for what should count as evidence, any random blurry photo will do.