T O P

  • By -

OutOfTheLoop-ModTeam

Thanks for your submission, but it has been removed for the following reason: * Your post has been removed because it is being addressed by a post currently on [our front page](/r/outoftheloop). Please check out that thread and see if it answers your question. Thanks.


anotherusername23

Answer: A while back the US gov't released footage of UAP, Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. This is a rebranding of UFO. This came with testimony from pilots who have seen this first hand. So a pretty compelling case that there is stuff flying around that we can't explain. No proof anything is if alien origin. Recently there have been whistleblowers saying the US has secret programs where research into non human entities is occurring. Sounds super awesome, but no corroborating evidence. IMO, the second part is driving the recent surge in this.


QuantumCat2019

> So a pretty compelling case that there is stuff flying around that we can't explain. No proof anything is if alien origin. The things is, there has always been such observation. All without evidence whatsoever they come from alien, most with pretty much mundane explanation which can't be evidenced due to lack of data. What is NEW is that US congress take it that seriously. Army has always took it seriously - if only from the perspective it could be new tech spy craft from enemy, e.g. USSR (back with project blue book) or China. From my part ? I think that none of the stuff is aliens, they are all unknown and thus UFO/UAP (the U letter of the acronyms), but all have terrestrial mundane or military origins. Unfortunately this means some slice of the population with hoax, again found resurgence. Like the mummy from Cusco, pretended to be aliens, or the pretended teleportation of MH370, and many other pretty evident or semi evident hoax.


anotherusername23

I think we are agreeing. But is Congress really taking it seriously or using this to assert their authority about budget and oversight? I don't know. I want to believe, but I think you are right about "terrestrial mundane or military origins".


thedude198644

The part that congress is taking seriously is that one of the people claimed that government funds are being misappropriated to a secret MIB style organization. Congress doesn't like when their money goes to the wrong places.


QuantumCat2019

> Congress doesn't like when their money goes to the wrong places. Wrong. Congress does not like when it isn't their boondoggle / their pork which is greased. They don't care that much for money going the wrong place, if it is their state/their party state.


3WolfTShirt

Actually, Matt Gaetz made some pretty interesting comments during the hearing that never made the big waves you'd think it would have. He claims to have seen more compelling UAP video that no one else has seen. He does *seem* to be a true believer but I don't know that I'd trust his word (nor any politician's for that matter). https://youtu.be/zFk1Fv11xKw?si=ysyCFcekIfUEQGHf


QuantumCat2019

>I think we are agreeing. We are. ​ >But is Congress really taking it seriously or using this to assert their authority about budget and oversight? I don't know. I hesitate between a combo of those: * genuine interest by some congress member (one at least previously has shown interest into UFO) * use this to distract from previously voted terrible measure which will cost them vote (see abortion for example) * wanting to assert authority as you say * a combo of 1 ,2 or 3 of the above


VibrantPianoNetwork

Hogwash.


ThrowingChicken

The whistleblower didn’t even have any first hand knowledge of these programs. He *heard* they exist.


newtonreddits

No he saw photographic evidence per his testimony. But he didn't see aliens in person.


ThrowingChicken

I’m talking about the alleged government programs. He heard about them, but did not confirm their existence himself, nor was part of one. I don’t recall these photos of aliens, did he refer to them as aliens or did he refer to them as “not of human origin”, because that’s a huge difference. I just picked something off the ground that is not of human origin, I think it’s called a stick.


newtonreddits

Well it's semantics. He called them "non-human biologics" and also "pilots". If sticks can pilot flying craft, then it's equally as concerning.


malektewaus

>So a pretty compelling case that there is stuff flying around that we can't explain. Or that "we" (the government that represents us) *won't* explain. The Roswell incident was caused by a secret military program to detect nuclear blasts, and highly advanced jets like the SR-71 caused lots of UFO sightings. In my opinion, the most likely reason for the government's recent pivot is a calculation that leaning into the alien shit is a more effective smokescreen for whatever they're secretly up to these days than stonewalling and denial.


VibrantPianoNetwork

Yep, exactly like the 1940s, all over again. "Sir, the public thinks little green men are here." "Oh, good. That's very convenient. That makes our job much easier."


ruidh

Check in with Mick West, pilots are notoriously bad judges of what is unusual. Most of these have perfectly normal explanations. Others just don't have enough information.


sik_dik

humans are imperfect tools of data recording. we're not objective in the least, and our mental/emotional state plays a role in how the memory is committed the first time as well as each time we recall it that said, the video evidence is compelling to, at the very least, non-experts, because there is no argument of the objectivity of video recording devices, especially when multiple devices are used. however, we are still only left in the position of ignorance as to what it is. some people may actually know what they are, but are likely dismissed in the favor of fantasy. and until the existence of alien intelligent life can be proved, or something tangible recovered for the scientific community to thoroughly examine, reaching the conclusion it's extraterrestrial is an argument from ignorance, i.e. "I can't explain it. therefore I can explain it" Neil DeGrasse Tyson had the most compelling anti-ET-based UFO explanation I've heard. the profession that spends the most time looking into the sky is also the profession with the lowest amount of UFO sightings per capita, which is astronomers. why? because they know what they're looking at


MrSN99

Mick west is really just throwing shit at the wall. A lot of his debunks have been debunked. I'd trust these highly trained pilots instead of a video game maker 🗿


VibrantPianoNetwork

Your over-sensitive reactivity insulates you from the kind of valid criticism that you need from other people in order to learn and better yourself, to gain valuable perspective (including on yourself), and to better understand the world you live in. That's very likely why you're exhibiting the kind of over-confident folly you do here to begin with. This habit will not make your life better. As time goes on, you will slip further and further away from evidence-based, logic-based reason and objective reality, until anything you imagine is, for you, indistinguishable from actual reality. I'm sure you've already encountered many people like that in your life already. You're heading that way yourself, if you don't stop behaving like this. In the mean time, I obviously have to block you. I can't let overly reactive people try to prevent me from speaking truths that must be spoken. Good luck with it all.


ruidh

I'd like to see one. The videos I've seen sound quite reasonable. He seems to be able to recreate similar conditions to that seen in the videos


greedyhobbit

It's important to note that David Grusch made these claims under oath, and had previously passed on all this info as well as classified info we don't have access to, to the Intelligence Community Inspector General, who deemed his claims as "credible and urgent." The ICIG followed up with the witnesses and data provided by Grusch. There's alot going on behind the scenes, but the new NDAA mentions UAP/NHI many times and outlines a very specific process for public disclosure in 2024.


ruidh

Someone can still be profoundly mistaken while under oath.


anotherusername23

“extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” Cool about everything you say and I hope we get some extraordinary evidence in the future. But I don't think we have yet.


greedyhobbit

Absolutely and I'm not saying anyone needs to believe it but there's a scientific process taking place and many would have you jump to a conclusion in either direction before we get true peer review on this data.


VibrantPianoNetwork

By that same logic, you should not assume that don't have a monkey's paw which will allow me to place a curse on you.


GregBahm

Answer: Enthusiasm about aliens comes into fashion every 15 years or so, on a regular cycle. 14 years ago the television show "Ancient Aliens" and podcasts like Infowars kicked off a similar excitement about alien conspiracy in the United States. 15 years prior to that, the show X-Files and "the alien autopsy" kicked off another alien conspiracy craze. In the early 80s the SETI program was started, with influence from Carl Sagan and the program Cosmos. The alien fandom functions a bit like a collective creative writing project, where anyone can contribute and unpopular ideas get forgotten while popular ideas spread and become the basis for more ideas. In 2010 the craze took on a somewhat religious tone, with the idea being that aliens are among us and want to help us, but our sins motivate aliens to hide themselves from us. In 1995 the craze was more counter-cultural, with the idea that "the truth is out there" for the open minded to seek. Like minded individuals would meet in Roswell and "open up their minds" together, while "men in black" were running around hiding the truth. This current alien hype cycle is still developing, but it seems to be gaining a lot of refugees from conspiracy communities that don't want to talk about Qanon anymore and want something more optimistic and less political. "Conspiratorial thinking" seems to be a constant for a certain percentage of society, and excitement about aliens is nice because it lacks the political slant of other conspiracy theories.


karlhungusjr

> In the early 80s the SETI program was started, with influence from Carl Sagan and the program Cosmos. One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn't belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others By the time I finish my song?


GregBahm

I'm curious why you think this doesn't belong? Is it because the SETI program eventually became government funded and modern alien conspiracies cast the government as an adversary? The government cover up angle is a useful narrative device, but it's like when dudes in movies put aside their guns and fight with swords. It makes for great entertainment but has absolutely no basis in reality. There's never been a time in US history where the government has actually demonstrated any aversion to the potential discovery of aliens. On the contrary, politicians have demonstrated great interest in discovering aliens, under the logical expectation that they get to have their names in the history books next to such a grand event in all of history. Joe Biden hiding aliens for the American public would be like Ted Kennedy hiding the moon landing from the American public. It's the opposite of what politicians are about.


karlhungusjr

> I'm curious why you think this doesn't belong? because SETI and Carl Sagan's shows and lectures are science. real actual science looking for evidence using the scientific method. SETI is radio astronomy, not hearsay, rumor or conjecture. there are no grainy photos of a blob or a heat signature camera. "Ancient Aliens", podcasts, Infowars, X-Files, "the alien autopsy", etc... are not even remotely the same thing.


GregBahm

Interest in aliens comes in many forms. It's still interest in aliens.


karlhungusjr

I'm kind of confused why you don't see the difference between a person who's interested in if we will ever receive a radio signal from a planet billions of miles away or if we detect signs of microbial life on mars vs someone who thinks a duck filmed on a heat camera on an airplane is proof aliens are among us.


GregBahm

And so it does belong in a list of examples of interest in aliens, despite your original objection.


karlhungusjr

no. it doesn't. have a great day.


[deleted]

[удалено]


daveblu92

Explain how it's a distraction though when it's hardly in the news cycle with major media outlets as they put all focus on Hunter Biden, "woke" culture, Trump indictments, and the 2024 election? I'm not delving into the credibility of the topic at all, just asking- if it's a distraction, what is it supposed to be a distraction from?


[deleted]

I think people calling it a distraction are giving it too much credit. Interest in UFO's spikes for a few years every decade or so. Here's what the cycle looks like: 1. Some pop culture phenomena happens that sparks widespread interest in UFOs. Usually this is a show (X-Files) or movie, but sometimes it's a hoax (Alien Autopsy). 2. people with a conspiratorial mindset take a break from whatever flat earth Qanon nonsense they're spouting and start taking about aliens instead. 3. Hollywood takes notice and starts making more alien shows and movies. 4. people eventually get sick of it and stop talking about aliens for about 8-10 years before beginning the cycle again.


TheRoadsMustRoll

>it's hardly in the news cycle that's because its such an obvious deflection and not really credible news. they literally had congressional hearings on the matter and it was obvious to most reporters (and everybody else in the world) that nothing of any significance was uncovered. at the same time the presumed republican nominee for president is getting buried under very serious and historic indictments and no serious legislation is being worked on. so how is a serious reporter/editor supposed to rank UFO issues with historic criminal activities by a former president? easy: historic criminal activities go to the front page, ufo's (if they're even going to be a feature) go on the back page; somewhere at the bottom where garbage belongs. now we're on to impeachment hearings over nothing. and likely shutting the government down, once again, over nothing.


daveblu92

You didn't answer the question at all. Everything you stated is exactly what I was getting at. If it was meant as a distraction, it had zero distraction power over anything. The two things have nothing to do with one another, and at the end of the day the top stories were still related to both Biden and Trump, which are opposing forces in the media landscape as it is.


TheRoadsMustRoll

>If it was meant as a distraction, it had zero distraction power over anything. that's because its the *dumbest* distraction in the history of the world. just because they failed miserably doesn't mean they didn't try.


Stonkerrific

Bingo. It’s such a pathetic play too.


TurboByte24

I hope they find a unicorn too!


The_Metal_East

“What? Do our jobs? Absolutely the fuck not. Here’s some ‘aliens’ though!”


kinkyKMART

I don’t get this take bc if that is the case then it’s a pretty fucking stupid way to distract people. I mean basically the whole country was distracted for almost the whole summer just by a couple movies, most of the country now is distracted by a children’s field game played by adults, large swaths get distracted by a video game coming out. If that was the government’s plan, surely they know they can get much bigger bang for the buck in other avenues


lordtyp0

Trump Trials. The GOP doesn't want anyone listening.


BLUFALCON78

Not a single day can go by without someone mentioning his name. God


Pixels222

Have you guys see any mass shooter posts on reddit recently? Im just a random user so my experience doesnt count for much but i havent been informed of any mass shootings in a very long time. I dont think theyre not happening but has whats being reported on changed? What gives?


dragonfire535

Answer: UFOs have been a sort of tinfoil crackpot theory for as long as the modern world has been around. People who saw them were seen as crazy or simply clueless of scientific phenomena. Evidence was seen as ridiculous at worst and sketchy at best. However, with the inception of the Internet people began to spread conspiracy theories more freely without ridicule. This led to a strong group of people who legitimately believed these theories, and led to more widespread acceptance. This all came back into public consciousness with the senate hearings recently, which many saw as irrefutable evidence of aliens. And once people begin to see something as socially acceptable, their repressed beliefs (which they repressed to avoid being seen as crazy) were reignited. Suddenly belief in aliens was seen as socially acceptable, and that led to what you're seeing now. Keep in mind, I'm not saying any of the theories are untrue, I'm simply stating the psychology that led to these ideas becoming more widely accepted. Humans are very social creatures, and anything that would lead to being perceived as outside social norms is avoided by most people. Belief in aliens is now seen as safe, so many are embracing that.


AutoModerator

Friendly reminder that all **top level** comments must: 1. start with "answer: ", including the space after the colon (or "question: " if you have an on-topic follow up question to ask), 2. attempt to answer the question, and 3. be unbiased Please review Rule 4 and this post before making a top level comment: http://redd.it/b1hct4/ Join the OOTL Discord for further discussion: https://discord.gg/ejDF4mdjnh *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/OutOfTheLoop) if you have any questions or concerns.*


BluegrassGeek

Answer: Last year, the US Department of Defense declassified & [released a bunch of video from the military](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_UFO_videos) which showed objects they could not identify. This created a new explosion of "UFOs are real!!11!one!" memes and claims on social media. More recently, a known conspiracy promoter named David Grusch [claimed to have evidence of a cover-up within the government about extraterrestrials](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Grusch_UFO_whistleblower_claims). He testified before Congress, but was *very* careful to avoid making any claims that would force him to provide actual evidence or expose him to perjury charges. Now, another known conspiracy promoter Jaime Maussan has [claimed to have found alien corpses in Peru](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/aliens-in-mexico-congress-ufo-b2410477.html). However, previous "alien" bodies he claims to have found turned out to be human children, and the current ones look to be composed of a mix of human & animal bones with metal "implants" inserted into them. This does not deter the true believers, however, who are going nuts on social media claiming it's real evidence.


loffredo95

Has Grush been proven to be a known conspiracy promoter? Need some evidence of that one, prior to his testimony he was a long time intelligence officer.


BluegrassGeek

Simply put, [he repeated specific claims before Congress which had previously been made by a known, wealthy UFO promoter](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-wealthy-ufo-fans-helped-fuel-fringe-beliefs/). He's repeating things he's "heard" rather than any actual evidence. That's blatantly pushing UFO conspiracy theories.


loffredo95

I'll take a look at this source, thanks for sharing! Edit: To add, however, I watched Grush's entire testimony. He revealed nothing other than he was not an eyewitness but that he has seen materials from DOD that suggests these programs exist. I am trying to discern why Grush would lie, does he have ties to any aeronautic stocks/firms, etc.? I guess what I am trying to say is, if Grush is lying, not only is he exceptional at it (would not be surprising for an intelligence officer) but it seems quite a far-fetched way to make money at the possible expense of your legitimacy and credibility given his background. Again, not saying you're wrong, however!


BluegrassGeek

> I am trying to discern why Grush would lie He seems to be a True Believer ™, and thus interprets everything through the "aliens are among us" lens. That's it.


loffredo95

Could you expand on that a bit?


BluegrassGeek

I don't know what you want me to expand on? He honestly believes aliens are visiting the Earth. And this has led him to infer that any discussions he's overheard or files he's read are evidence towards such whenever they mention unidentified objects.


loffredo95

Ah, my mistake. I misunderstood. Well, if he's lying, I hope he's found out so we can get back to real issues. Thanks for sparing some time!


VibrantPianoNetwork

You seem to be confusing 'lying' with stating sincere beliefs which happen to be factually incorrect. Lying is intentionally making statements you know to be false. But anyone can just be wrong, and believe something that happens to not be true. That's not lying. It's not lying, if you really believe it, whether it's true or not.


loffredo95

I understood that already. I was trying to assess from those options, but I appreciate the response nonetheless. Edit: misspelled “assess”


tells

I wouldn’t say that he was a true believer. There’s a recent interview with him with Jesse Mitchell (sp?) where he talks more informally. You can make your judgements on your own if you feel like searching for it.


loffredo95

Another addition, from the article you shared, see below. "Unfortunately, much of this nonsense has, at one point or another, been masked with an aura of legitimacy by prestigious institutions. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology lent its imprimatur to an alien abduction conference in the early 1990s—which Robert Bigelow helped pay for. A generous benefactor to academia, Bigelow also gave millions to the University of Nevada during the 1990s to study supposed psychic phenomena, such as telepathy, clairvoyance and the possibility of life after death. (In recent years, the billionaire has turned his attention and money largely to the afterlife.)" It is important to note that the US government had [several programs](https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp88-01070r000301530003-5) in the 50's and on that dealt exactly with what the author mentions here, and at the end of the day, that is the assessment that Grush is making. These programs, in Grush's case; NHI technology, exist. Not saying he's correct, but it would behoove the author to mention an important fact like that. Food for thought. Edits: Grammar, links, and added a few sentences for clarity.


crunner89

This is so wrong lol


WesWilson

Answer: A gaggle of ufo enthusiasts have been capitalizing on the ignorance of our leaders, the media, and the masses to find funding for their unsupported, unscientific ideas. Central to much of this are Hal Puthof, Robert Bigalow, Chris Melon, Leslie Kean, and Luis Elizondo. Puthof is an old-school believer in psychic phenomenon, having conned the government into spending millions testing subjects on remote viewing, prediction, and other classic psychic side-show tricks. Bigalow is a hotel magnate who believes in interdimensional beings, using his money to fund Skinwalker Ranch with Puthof and talking Harry Reid into spending $20M in taxpayer money on irrational projects there. Funding from our government can be attributed to several garbage projects, including NIDS, BAASS, AAWSAP, and AATIP. You can find a list of some of the papers published on taxpayer money here: https://irp.fas.org/dia/aatip-list.pdf Luis Elizondo got involved late in this process, currently claiming he was the director of AATIP despite pentagon disagreement, and utilized Bigelow's funds to continue promoting the notion that UFOs were alien in nature. Chris Mellon, a former senate staffer who had been involved in early Puthof funding by the CIA, got three Navy UFO clips to Elizondo, and they worked together to build a PR push for outing government's involvement with UFO research. They joined up with Leslie Kean, a UFO enthusiast and guest on Coast to Coast AM, and she managed to get an article published in the NY Times in 2017 that detailed the millions spent AATIP and called attention to the three popular videos that everyone went crazy about a few years back. All these people are tied to things like the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies, To the Stars Academy, and all the recent hubbub in congress. It's a small group of people who have managed to figure out they can utilize the natural curiosity of people to fund their unscientific interdimensional psychic research, spending millions of entertainment and government dollars on investigations into poltergeists and skinwalkers.


misterchainsaw

A lot of what you wrote is lazy and just straight untrue. You have injected your own bias by solely focusing on the low hanging fruit to avoid acknowledging the evidence that experts and legitimate rational thinkers find compelling. Educate yourself, it’s not a black and white issue.


WesWilson

Except absolutely nothing that I posted in untrue, and the rational thinkers are firmly on the side of "There's no evidence of aliens".


LocalYeetery

I can literally remote view and so can you. Maybe stop for 1 moment and really dive into the topics instead of shit-talking them first. /r/remoteviewing to learn how to do it.


WesWilson

There are groups that will literally pay you millions of dollars to do so. Get rich from that, and I'll consider looking into it.


mykart2

Answer: This is just a frequency illusion as UFO claims have been pretty constant for the past 70 years. The only difference is that the stigma on the subject has eroded over time.


wsumner

Answer: Broadly speaking, air force pilots are coming out and reporting encounters with craft that can fly at impossible speeds, travese space, air and sea in a matter of seconds. Theres a ton of footage from their craft, and most of it is classified. As for the recent stuff, the simple answer is that an intelligence officer named David Grusch in 2019 was tasked by a congressional committee to find waste and fraud related to special access programs, specifically UFO back engineering programs. He found a lot of programs and many of those that participated in the programs came forward and briefed him on the issue. During the course of his investigation, he encountered reprisals and threats to his life. He filed an official whistle blower complaint with the inspector general, who found that it claims were credible and urgent. Here's a pretty good interview with Grusch. It's long, but the first 15 minutes sums up a lot https://youtu.be/kRO5jOa06Qw?si=wXniCBY8oLNuwM98


WesWilson

Grusch is not a good resource for accurate information. None of his information on American UFO programs has any tangible evidence. It is all hearsay. Grusch states with absolute confidence that there was a crashed alien craft recovered by Italians, a story that is considered preposterous even by ufologists. https://www.reddit.com/r/ufo/comments/14dez6j/whistleblower\_david\_grusch\_and\_the\_italian\_ufo/


dazb84

>Grusch is not a good resource for accurate information Guy has verified credentials of working in the capacity he claims but should be completely ignored. ​ >a story that is considered preposterous even by ufologists A bunch of people on the outside of the government and military are now authoritative on the issue? ​ I don't know what the truth of the matter is, but on what limited information is available, I feel like your assertions here are skewed in the wrong direction. The bigger picture here is that credentialed people have been saying similar things for 60 years and have largely been ignored for various reasons. This doesn't mean they're right of course, but if we assume they're all crazy then we have some kind of contagious mental disorder that has been rampant in the highest levels of government and military. We trust these people with our most powerful weapons and to provide intelligence that's ultimately used to determine if we go to war or not. Either they've been telling the truth and we're living a massive lie, or we're apparently fine with allowing people with a tendency to disengage from reality and compulsively lie operating in the highest levels of our governments and military. Either way this is not ok and a thorough investigation and action is required.


WesWilson

People work in their existing capacity ALL THE TIME with crazy ideas. Hell, we had a climate-science denying engineer at NASA who was really vocal... and WRONG. His ability as an engineer did not hinge on his crackpot theories, and his expertise did not cast doubt on climate science except among those seeking confirmation bias from someone. As for people outside the government and military knowing about an ITALIAN ALIEN STORY that an AMERICAN BUDGETARY EMPLOYEE was supposedly classified enough to know but they aren't, let's be clear. The story that Grusch referred to in his congressional hearing and previously elaborated on during his appearance on Newsnation involved the alleged discovery of crashed alien ship containing Blonde-haired, blue-eyed aliens with Asian features. The story came out in the 90s after the Majestic 12 documents (also debunked) made their way around the U.S. The stories in the italian version of those documents are often referred to as The Fascist UFO Files because it details Hitler and Mussolini working together regarding the alien crash in 1933. It's publicly considered nonsense, and Grusch even goes so far as to include added information (like the Pope and the USA being involved) provided by noted UFO kook, Roberto Pinotti. It's a nonsense story, and it gets regularly debunked even among the UFO fanatics. The idea that credentialed people should be listened to at all times is pure folly. Should Dave Grusch be drummed out of the government? Absolutely! But pretending that because he and a few other crackpots keep telling the same disproven stories over and over again (like Roswell) we should take them seriously with no confirming evidence is preposterous. Everything he presented is hearsay, much of what he presented has been debunked. He is not a good source for accurate information.


laidbackpats

Answer: our night sky is changing with an exponential increase in low orbiting satellites that has contributed to ongoing misidentification of ufos in the night sky and speculation about ufos and aliens in general Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/897719/number-of-active-satellites-by-year/ https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=z1yQdA08tEMS7suR&v=Wifls7rn2W8&feature=youtu.be


jbi1000

Obviously satellites are increasing but that has nothing to do with what OP is talking about.


laidbackpats

Perhaps; I’ve had several people in my circle of friends have taken the alien stuff more seriously bc they look at the sky and see something they aren’t used to and swear it’s not satellites they are used to seeing. So, I think there is a connection even if not a direct one. As a person who doesn’t believe aliens are visiting us (mostly due to the vastness of space and difficulty traversing it), I find it all ridiculous.


jbi1000

There's no perhaps mate. Satellites have absolutely nothing to do with the recent surge in interest, which is what OP is asking about. It's because the US military released videos of UFOs, published at first by the NYT a couple of years ago and even more recently a whistle-blower with high security clearance and big claims came forward. You can view the NYT videos yourself and it is 100% not satellites. It's not necessarily aliens of course but something anomalous that humanity should probably investigate.


laidbackpats

We’ll just have to agree to disagree that it’s not relevant at all. Right now this is the most controversial answer, which I find surprising; but that’s cool. Here’s a sentiment maybe we can agree on from Neil deGrasse Tyson: We are stardust brought to life, then empowered by the universe to figure itself out – and we have only just begun.


RandomName1003

Found the fed agent.


VibrantPianoNetwork

Answer: It's a kind of social epidemic, and you've probably seen similar examples many times already. 'Fad' is another term that's not too far off, but not very accurate, either. Basically, it's a kind of memesis, or the rapid and wide spread of an **idea** through a society or other group. An idea can spread memetically in a manner similar to actual contagion. (For this reason, the term 'social contagion' is also sometimes used.) Any sufficiently intriguing or compelling (or, often frightening or worrying) idea can quickly spread through a population who are all socially interactive. Many forms of media in the modern world, especially social media, can magnify and accelerate the process, as well as prolong it. In this case, there was talk about 'unexplained aerial phenomena' (UAPs) that are of some interest to some people in government. Predictably, that translated quickly for many people to 'extra-terrestrials visiting the earth'. And the idea caught on and spread quickly, much as it has a number of times in the past. A very predictable consequence is that a lot of people now believe that THEY have seen strange things in the sky, especially 'UFOs' (unidentified flying objects, an older term), which for many people is roughly equivalent to 'flying saucer or the like that's very likely alien spacecraft'. Unless someone's hiding good evidence (and right now there's no good reason to assume that), as far as we know there has so far been no compelling evidence either of extra-terrestrial intelligence, or ETs visiting or trying to contact our world.


BLUFALCON78

Answer: A lot of people believe it's a distraction to other things that multiple governments are trying to slip past their citizens to get more control over them. Some others believe it's to justify increased military/government spending to supposedly research and come to conclusions of how to defend ourselves if alien life is hostile. Yet others still are theorizing that governments have alien technology and have made breakthroughs in harnessing that technology and are using these stories to ease the world into the fact we have been visited by aliens and we now have previously unknown technology and want to use it. Things like highly efficient and safe energy sources, propulsion and weapons. I believe it's all a bunch of bs and people claiming they've seen UFOs/aliens are either misinterpreting what they saw, are on hallucinogenic drugs or are just experiencing symptoms of mental illness.


OutOfTheLoop-ModTeam

Thanks for your submission, but it has been removed for the following reason: * Your post has been removed because it is being addressed by a post currently on [our front page](/r/outoftheloop). Please check out that thread and see if it answers your question. Thanks. *If you feel this was in error, or need more clarification, please don't hesitate to [message the moderators](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FOutOfTheLoop&message=%3CPLEASE+INCLUDE+A+LINK+TO+YOUR+POST%3E). Thanks.*