UFOs, or unidentified flying objects, have perplexed humanity throughout our history. In the modern era, we speculate that sightings of objects that are not weather or other natural phenomena are technology-based. If they are not classified, or other not publicly known technology then they are speculated to be of alien origin (from other civilizations not of the Earth). Most UFO sightings have been explained away, but a tiny percentage (perhaps 5%) have not. These sightings usually have highly credible persons who have been the witnesses: pilots, military officers and personnel, scientists, law enforcement officers and others respected in their fields. There exists in the public record many photographic stills and videos but none are of high quality. Other evidence, such as radiation readings from soil where craft are said to have landed, and impressions made from indentations from these crafts’ landing gear have also been obtained. Again, nothing definitive. If there exists irrefutable evidence, it is held closely by government and military authorities for a variety of possible reasons.
Simple mathematics says a resounding yes. The sheer number of stars and galaxies and galaxy clusters mean that there must be countless millions of planets capable of supporting life, and percentage of those capable of evolving advanced life. What we have found from human life on Earth is that a confluence of favorable events must take place for life to evolve for an extended period without an extinction event; for it to evolve in a so-called Goldilocks Zone (not too hot, not too cold); and in a certain gravity environment that allows for three-dimensional mobility and with particular functionality (the opposable thumb for example). So other life forms equal to our development level or beyond it are no doubt out there somewhere beyond the Earth.
If they do we must consider how they visit. Do they send holographic craft and/or various types of signals that allow them to traverse vast distances through telepresence? Do they send robotic craft? Do they come in person? The evidence seems to support the theory that, yes, they do visit. We don’t know if it’s one alien race that lives in a star system nearby or a variety of alien cultures in our galactic neighborhood, or some organizational body of various representatives. But, and this is important, they don’t seem to want to interact directly because they haven’t made a formal landing and a public communication.
If we found another planet with evidence of life, particularly intelligent life, and we managed to fund the exploration in a sustained way to study that life, we would likely send robotic probes and/or use telepresence to study that world. It’s cheaper and less dangerous. We would likely take precautions not to infect that world with Earth bacteria and viruses or other lifeforms or with lifeforms from the space between our worlds lest we bring dangerous lifeforms to them. We would likely determine whether this other advanced civilization poses any kind of threat to our world before we decided upon establishing any kind of formal contact or making entreaties to formal relations. It is logical to assume that this is the approach an alien civilization is taking toward the people of Earth.
First, they want to study our world and its various lifeforms, geology, etc. They want data – they want to know what they’re dealing with. At some point their political leadership structure (which may be skewed in favor of science or commerce) would make the cost-benefit analysis of whether it is worth revealing themselves and making any kind of outreach toward establishing formal relations. They could be part of a political structure that has rules about engaging alien civilizations and be forced to follow certain protocols. Or it is possible that the various ship designs UFO observers have consistently reported seeing represent different classes of vehicles from different cultures and a commercial private vessel may crash or reveal itself against protocols. Or it could be a Wild West situation where only the means and the will limit an alien civilization’s designs upon what it might like to exploit from the Earth.
Art going back millennia seem to suggest UFO-like forms in various human cultures’ artworks. Whether these are allegorical and suggestive of more mundane meaning or are representations of actual human observations before the modern era we can never know. In the modern era of cameras and scientific observation techniques we have no publicly-known direct evidence of UFOs or alien civilizations.
But there are patterns over time to the observations, and these patterns suggest aliens interested in the Earth are so far not hostile and seem much more interested in observation than any kind of interaction.
Nearly all credible reports of UFOs involve craft that are cigar-shaped, disc-shaped, spherical, triangular, or arrow-shaped. There seem to be vast size differentials: from tiny craft smaller than a human to vast discs seemingly miles across.
Again there is consistency to the credible reports. The craft seem to nearly always be completely silent or to emit a low humming noise. They seem to be able to move with speed and at angles that defy the known laws of physics. Any living creature inside such a craft performing such maneuvers would surely have their organs liquefied if there not some way to overcome the effects of gravity on such moving objects. Hence one can speculate that these are projections – holographic craft perhaps – and not actual craft. Or, that the craft are used by alien civilizations that can overcome through technology and science gravitational and momentum effects. Sometimes the craft have been observed with what look to be portals and/or lights arrayed along their sides and/or underneath. Triangular craft seem to always have lights on their underside while disc and cigar-shaped craft seem to glow in sections or all over as if from within. Nearly always the craft are reported to be composed entirely of light or of a metallic substance – usually a dull matte finish or shiny. Rarely are markings reported.
We would do it if we found an alien civilization with lesser technological abilities than we possess. We regularly scoop up lifeforms from our air, oceans, trees and all habitats for study and only sometimes do we treat them well. We freeze them, dissect them, breed them, and euthanize them. One of the funnier consistencies is the reports of cows being mutilated as being related to UFO sightings. Let’s just take this on its face. If it were true, it could be nothing more than aliens loving the taste of bovine colon similar to how some humans like shark-fin soup. Maybe a particular bacteria lives in the cow’s intestinal tract and aliens just love it. It could be that simple. If they are abducting humans they either want them to study, to eat, to recruit as agents, to establish relations with, or as playthings for their children for all we know. But if they’re doing it, they have a reason or several.
Only by accident or through a calculated choice, a choice which would be dependent upon the cost-benefit analysis they made as to what objectives they can achieve by doing so.
Again, what has our experience taught us? Invariably the more technologically advanced civilization exploits the people and resources of the lesser civilization and often disease is introduced by the superior invaders.
The simple answer is yes. Even one alien stepping foot on Earth is an invasion. Unless they observe strict anti-contamination protocols (a bio-suit for example), their mere presence as a physical person brings along all of the microscopic creatures which have colonized in and on their person. Even one of these creatures residing in/on the alien could be deadly dangerous to us. It could be that the Earth’s biosphere is constantly bombarded with alien lifeforms through meteor and micro-meteor impacts and has the ability to adapt and defend itself (some think tardigrades could be alien lifeforms) and an alien visit wouldn’t be such a threat after all. We won’t know until it happens. There is zero publicly available evidence that any alien civilization visiting Earth has any military attack planned. If they’re doing reconnaissance for such an attack, they are clearly in no hurry – maybe it costs too much.
Many of the credible UFO witnesses are from the military and almost to a person they believe that the various military establishments from various countries around the world know that they are outclassed in terms of technology and are fearful of this vulnerability and thus have an official “UFOs don’t exist” policy for public dissemination. Others believe that the public couldn’t handle the truth, but after decades of science fiction entertainment flooding the mainstream media this seems ridiculous. Most humans at this point expect that there are alien civilizations and if any are near enough to us we will eventually meet them. The main worry both for the military and the public is what do they want?
Most accounts from witnesses – and now we’re heading into territory where the credible witnesses drop off dramatically – they seem to be shorter than the average human, they seem to be thin, have grayish skin and very large eyes, tight mouths, and larger than human craniums. Their style of dress seems to be drab and plain. The uniformity of the reports would lead to a conclusion of one race of aliens and a military or organizational effort as they all seem to dress similarly.
The majority of reports from witnesses and “abductees” (those who claim aliens came and took them - usually for scary tests) aliens usually use a telepathic form of communication. No credible sources I know of have ever publicly stated they’ve been abducted by aliens so there is essentially no credible evidence available publicly as to how they communicate.
If they are not standard running lights and safety lights similar to what we use on our aircraft, then they probably serve some other function. They could be essential to propulsion, utilizing some unknown (to us) form of electromagnetic energy or perhaps gravitational energy. Since nearly all sightings involve some kind of light display, the lights must serve some useful function.
There are many videos, images and reported sightings of smaller craft – some which detach from larger craft and some that re-attach. It would seem logical that these are robotic data-gathering devices and/or weaponized systems for protection of the main craft.
Unidentified Submerged Objects are a lesser phenomena, but it makes sense that if aliens were studying our world – which is 70% covered by water – they would study the oceans as well.
Probably not. If they happen upon you because you are in a location where they are working, they may have no choice. But it is most likely that if and when formal relations are established, it will be the political leadership which is contacted either to sign a treaty or discuss terms of surrender … or which spices taste best on cooked humans.
IT'S ALL ONE BIG GOVERNMENT PSY-OP? Some believe that the UFO phenomena is really just the military way of providing cover for their latest experimental aircraft and that 99% of all UFO reports globally are just psy-op manipulation. A little too neat-and-tidy an explanation given the many credible expert witnesses over the decades.
Fire in the Sky is the best alien abduction movie out there that I know of (supposedly based upon a true story), and this is a fun scene where our hapless protagonist is not treated too well by some scientific types from another world
[update 10-1-10] The Vatican has announced in the last year or so that any alien civilization must also be created by "god" and the UN has made some noises about appointing an ambassador to liaise with aliens, and now these military officials have gone public with a formal statement that aliens have been monitoring and even disabling our nuclear weapons technology
[end update]
The History Channel aired a documentary called I Know What I Saw which consists of accounts of sightings by the most highly credible witnesses to date: pilots, military officials, politicians, and otherwise respected professionals.
UFOs, or unidentified flying objects, have perplexed humanity throughout our history. In the modern era, we speculate that sightings of objects that are not weather or other natural phenomena are technology-based. If they are not classified, or other not publicly known technology then they are speculated to be of alien origin (from other civilizations not of the Earth). Most UFO sightings have been explained away, but a tiny percentage (perhaps 5%) have not. These sightings usually have highly credible persons who have been the witnesses: pilots, military officers and personnel, 
scientists, law enforcement officers and others respected in their fields. There exists in the public record many photographic stills and videos but none are of high quality. Other evidence, such as radiation readings from soil where craft are said to have landed, and impressions made from indentations from these crafts’ landing gear have also been obtained. Again, nothing definitive. If there exists irrefutable evidence, it is held closely by government and military authorities for a variety of possible reasons.
