new to this forum

i'm one of the new moderators of this forum and i dont believe i have ever posted here. so i guess this would be my first post.

i remember when i was a kid and watching shows and specials about aliens and UFOs. i was fascinated by these things. i had books on them, i watched anything that dealt with aliens and UFOs. i also saw alien when it came out and certainly didnt help me sleep at night.

for the longest time i've been convinced there are aliens but as i've gotten older i've had time to think and really consider this subject.

i want to believe there is life beyond this planet. if there is life beyond this planet i have no idea how it would look like. i dont know if there is life beyond this planet or not. since we barely know anything about the universe there is no way we can absolutely say either way that life does or does not exist beyond our own planet. and after reading more than a few posts and threads with people scoffing and basically bashing and acting as if only THEY know if life does or does not exist i am a bit appalled by this forum to say the least.

now maybe aliens dont exist but this doesnt mean life doesnt exist or cant exist. but maybe aliens DO exist. it is entirely possible, they may not have been here or they may have. there has been lots of records through out our history that can support the idea aliens exist. with so many references to people from the skys from so many cultures it is hard to ignore or dismiss. with art from different periods and different cultures showing the same thing even prior to those cultures meeting makes it hard to dismiss or ignore the possibility of aliens.

now i certainly want to believe we are not alone in this universe. if there is life out there we have yet to find and because we havent doesnt mean it doesnt exist. now on the other hand i dont believe the government is in cahoots with the greys and all that conspiracy stuff. i dont trust my government at all and maybe they ARE hiding something but with all the findings from regular people whatever it is they are trying to hide isnt being hidden very well i must say. leaked documents, released unclassified documents (mostly blacked out). i think there is a pinch of truth here with a pound of exaggeration about the conspiracy to keep us in the dark. much like those who come into this forum and pretend to "know" that aleins dont exist those who come in here who "know" the government has something to hide is a bit hard to argue, if you feel soemthing is so then nothing anyone can say will change your mind. which leads me to wonder why epople even bother to engage in discussions if they have a closed mind.

personally i believe there is something out there. i find it hard to fathom that the only life in existance is on one solitary planet hurtling through space at hundreds of thousands of miles per minute. with so many things being destroyed and created in the universe over millions and billions of years i cant imagine that life wouldnt exist elsewhere. the odds are staggering the life wouldnt exist and that all life here is THAT special and so unique. we would literally be an anomoly, a fluke if you will. a spontaneous accident.

Personally, I'm not surprised at all to find people discussing the ET phenomena with no intention of ever changing their opinion on the subject. Considering the effects it could have on someone's view on life if ETs did or did not exist. We've discussed this before, but it really resembles discussions on religion. Well, actually it resembles discussions on politics too, for that matter. People are passionate about it and their life may be built on the very foundation that is their belief/opinion.

To keep an open mind is to accept the possibility that you may very well be totally wrong on a very important subject. For most, this is pretty difficult to do.

Btw - it's good to have you here, Prank Monkey .





[edit on 15-7-2004 by Durden]

thanks.

i'm hoping i can improve things by reminding people that what we are discussing is based on opinion, regardless of the "facts" we use to back up those opinions they are still just opinions.

we shouldnt be arguing over these things. its ok to disagree but lets not close our minds to new possibilities and ideas and convince ourselves of our own knowledge when its not knowledge, just opinion.

and it is like discussing politics or religion. as long as we remember that what we are giving others is just an opinion/theory and at leat try to stay objective we might actually learn something. and if nothing else we'd get along a little easier.

i dont want to argue, i want to learn and i cant take in information if i'm too busy spewing my own brand of BS. one doesnt listen when their mouth is open.

i certainly have no patience for bashing insulting childish behavior and mindless aruging. we're here to talk discuss debate and learn, you know, exchange ideas. the other way wasnt working so lets try something different now.

i look forward to seeing many a good thread in the future in this forum. lets raise our standards, not lower them to someone else's level.

Just look at a picture of space, just one frame shows countless stars and galaxies. It's almost overwhelming looking at the pictures trying to comprehend what these places are like and what�s there.

It's a no brainer for me that there are countless other planets that turned out like ours that have life. And that�s just thinking of life that works on planets like our own, I'm also pretty confident that there�s life out there that we couldn't even understand as life. The universe is such a marvel that it's hard to doubt anything.

Hey Prank Monkey,

I was going to start this reply with the sentence, "I would love to believe" but I don't think that is really the case here, for me at least. To believe or have faith.

I would like to have a faith in God, a belief that all will turn out ok in the end, that would be reassuring.

But I personally am not concerned here with an unproven belief, so the statement I should make is not one of I would love to believe, but rather that I would love to KNOW.

As far as extra terrestrial life is concerned. I am of the opinion that there is some form of life on other planets - I think that is a fairly logical assumption. I am not so sure however that there is intelligent life visiting us which people refer to when talking about UFO's etc.

I have heard people say that the reason for accounts of UFO's and aliens through history coming from the sky, is the same as heaven being 'high above', that the sun above gave light and so we looked up with awe. Suggesting that such things are non-existant and can be logically explained away.

I have also heard claims that people percieved hell or the underworld to be full of fire because of an unexplainable ancient knowlege of the earth's molten core. Suggesting that there are many secrets that mankind has yet to uncover even about our own existence.

So I sit with an open mind, I don't think that much more can be asked of a non-believer, also a touch of skepticism which surely must be a healthy thing. After all, how many stories have caused great waves of interest intitially only to be found intentional hoaxes or cases of mistaken identity.

I have heard it said "The abscence of evidence is not the evidence of abscence" in reference to this topic and while I may agree with this in general terms, it is stretched very far when suggested in support of specific incidents without which can only be regarded as mere here-say.

One thing I do know, when considering such things I have sat hoping that the truth will out before my time is up, of course though this truth can only be known if contact is made with such intelligent life.

This is a theory that can never be disproved, and I believe that as long as mankind exists without such contact the question will remain.

Jack

PS: I'm really not too keen on clowns, your avatar is truly disturbing.

ThePrankMonkey, i have seen you clown in a movie, but
i forgot the name of it. i only know that it was a very strange
movie. Whats the name? I like to see it again...

not keen on my avatar? take a number, you arent the only one!

and he is from house of 1000 corpses. captain spaulding rocks!