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Implants are concrete and real for the individual who experiences them [I would testify to that personally]. However, they don't say "made on mars" on the side, they are not "extraterrestrial materials" and we do not have a technology matching it to make it even seem like technology to us. Hence they are dismissed as being anything more than "biological anomalies which those claiming alien abduction associate with their experience." To me this merely indicates that even in a field where there is almost no evidence, even when there IS evidence, it's dismissed for reasons which range from completely retarded to possibly simply lack of our own scientific advancement, so much for just wanting something measurable.
You have a big set of assumptions there, of which I see no evidence.
Such as:
a) They clearly ARE intelligent enough to hide the fact that they abduct people given there is no objective physical evidence for it. And, it may be that only a tiny percentage of the people actually abducted actually remember it (consciously, I'm ignoring the hypnotic angle here), and this may be for reasons which are actually beyond easy control, such as physiological variables in the individuals themselves. Even in our own technologies, we can give people drugs of all kinds and how they affect the people, and how they affect memory for example, varies greatly, even if they are "mostly" predictable.
b) By "seen" I don't know if you mean seen by the abductees (see point A) or seen in craft (see point C).
c) You are making what I consider the same wild-assumption many abductees do: that UFOs which crash (I have no idea how many of these occur since I assume at this point our and other militaries are good enough and fast enough to drag them underground incredibly fast) are directly related to "abduction experiences." EVEN IF abduction experiences describe people/creatures similar to what have allegedly been found on crashed craft, that doesn't mean it is the same technology involved. Even in our own models we are much better and more consistent with some technologies than others, especially where individual human biology/psychology are involved.
It did give us something. Not just in decades, but in Millennia. It gave us individual unrelated testimonial accounts even from otherwise believable people with rather clear correlations that are overlapping extended eras and a variety of cultures. The data it provides is sociological and empirical, not physical, but it is still data.
I don't see how anyone could read 'Alien Identities' by Thompson, about Vedic history (oral which became documented), and not see the startling if not overwhelmingly obvious correlations between modern day UFOlogy reports and ancient Vedic history. I am pretty sure that 4000+ years ago they were not influenced by Western science fiction, nor do I think most Western people are aware of let alone influenced by Vedic history.
I think if there is any burden of proof -- and I don't think there is one, but if there were -- it should be on the debunkers to explain why these empirical overlaps have occured around the world and throughout time if there is nothing to it.
That's like saying, why don't you want to be independently rich? Why settle for working for a living? I think most people settle for no physical evidence because they don't seem to have any choice in the matter. The only data appears to be sociological and empirical and of course things like implants; that data is not nearly as objective, logical and measurable as we would like, nor is it always even strongly indicative of -- let alone proof of -- any relationship to the flying Chevy NORAD was tracking.
I don't think people willing to "not mock and ridicule" others speaking of abduction experiences are simply not-wanting evidence or not critical thinkers at all. I think they are simply realistically observing what appear to be the facts: we have reportive data, we have some correlations in that, we do not have physical data, at least nothing provable as alien related; we merely have whatever data we have. It would be nice to have more, especially the physical and objective stuff.If that isn't enough, then why not walk away. You're right, if we don't have it after 65 years -- or millennia of these experiences as seems to be the reality of them -- chances are objective physical evidence is not going to leap out at us soon and it's certainly not going to come through a discussion forum.
So that brings it back to: what do skeptics get out of hanging about on threads maligning the accounts and the people reporting them? To me it seems like "evangelism" and even "crusade-ism" psychology, which I see as just as dysfunctional as anything that could be leveraged at abductees.
So he made a reasoned and well-written and accurate explanation related to science and you essentially say 'talk to the hand.' The tendency of people to dismiss the most reasoned arguments with a single scornful insult is an example of the scoffer, not skeptic, mentality.
Can you name any respectable institution that offers a degree program for this topic? What about a specialization within a degree? How about a class that takes it seriously. At the bare minimum can we name an academic professor doing research into this over the last 40 years besides John Mack?
It seems quite obvious to me why there wouldn't be any evidence. Nobody is researching it. Outside of the Condon report this topic has received close to zero exposure. If ETs are flying about snatching up people what evidence do you expect to find from a bunch of anecdotal stories? What evidence are you expecting if there are no scientific observations?
If we want to figure out what is going on then it needs to be thoroughly researched. Anecdotes are not evidence and the burden of unraveling the mystery lies with all of society. Without scientific research we are simply guessing at the cause of the "thousands" of events you suggested. We can't guess at the answer, even if it is simple. We must research it and it needs to be done rigorously.
But it is not taken seriously. We have not been open minded about it. It is ridiculed and examples like John Mack are a cautionary tale for those daring to study what is happening.
Ectoplasm8
Does it take someone with a degree to provide physical evidence of an abduction? Does it take someone highly skilled in photography to photograph an alien spacecraft closeup? ... He could provide the one piece of physical evidence that's tested and undeniabley from another world.
J Allen Hynek studied the phenomenon for years ... His conclusion was that the subject needed further study. Not really adding anything as far as an answer to what is going on. Stanton Friedman studies it now. Has he gotten us closer to an answer?
Having every scientist in the world studying the subject will do nothing to getting us closer to an answer.
Ectoplasm8
Has he gotten us closer to an answer? No. As I said above, scientific study isn't where this subject will be resolved. It will more than likely be resolved by an average uneducated(relative to this subject) citizen who comes forward with something undeniably not from this world.
Implants may be concrete and real to the people that experience them, but, what about to the general public?
Here we have Dr. Leir saying these objects are implanted by alien beings.
He follows and believes these abduction stories brought to him and removes these "implants".
We have a physician that discovers aliens have implanted objects into humans. That would seem like something that the rest of the medical community would want to know.
Why hide it and save it for his books or his audience at one of the UFO lectures he gives?
Because it will be easily accepted by the believers? Why wouldn't he share this overwhelming evidence of alien visitation with his colleagues?
Through a scientific journal for example?
Because it won't be so easily accepted and he'll have to provide actual verifiable real evidence that will stand up to scrutiny?
Many believers don't need much convincing and are an easy target for spreading these type of stories.
There's seems to be this belief that non-believers think: "Believers are gullible idiots". [...] Believe it or not, I'm not one of those people that think that.
a- You have a memory of being abducted and what was done.
How is that hiding the fact that you were abducted?
For the sake of needing physical evidence, that explanation works great. But it doesn't show much intelligence otherwise. People say hours go by in what seems to be 15 minutes.
Silence was what I noticed first. It was a long, long silence. Eternal silence. A silence that seemed like it had gone on (and on) for eons. I was comfortable. White surrounded me. I knew that I had been there for years, or maybe millennia, or as if time had ceased to have meaning and it was all the same. [...] I went to the door to our room which was open and I went out, passing the man, whom I absolutely loathed. I just hated him. I remembered having tried to wake him up for years. He never spoke, he never awoke. I had been scared and lonely and desperate and he wouldn't wake up. I cried, I beat up on him, nothing helped. I had begged him to talk with me, to make love with me, to fight with me, anything... but he wouldn't wake up. I had run out of tears for my solitude, and I despised him completely as a result.
Apparently, "they" can somehow erase a reference for time. Not for what they did though?
Betty and Barney Hill said it took 3 more hours to get home than usual. In those 3 hours, no one saw their car on the street in the area they said they were abducted? Too late? Nothing came by in 3 hours?
c- There's been a connection between UFO's and aliens for many years.
Travis Walton for example said something similar. He's then inside this UFO and sees the stereotypical grey alien. He will see a star map as well. Same with Betty and Barney Hill. I'm not making a "wild assumption", this is what abductees actually say. Would you say both Travis Walton and Betty/Barney Hill were lying? You would have to if you're stating there's no correlation between aliens and UFO's.
It did give us something. Not just in decades, but in Millennia. It gave us individual unrelated testimonial accounts even from otherwise believable people with rather clear correlations that are overlapping extended eras and a variety of cultures. The data it provides is sociological and empirical, not physical, but it is still data.
If that's all you need.. more power to you. I need something a little different and more than that when discussing an alien civilization visiting Earth.
More than assuming religious stories or ancient gods are connected to UFOs or alien beings. [...] I won't even comment on Veric and the 'golden flying chariots' type of stories as I'm sure you know where I would stand on that.
I think if there is any burden of proof -- and I don't think there is one, but if there were -- it should be on the debunkers to explain why these empirical overlaps have occured around the world and throughout time if there is nothing to it.
Why should the burden of proof fall unto the debunkers/skeptics/non-believers? It's the responsibility of the person(s) making the extraordinary claim
It's a backward methodology in regards to this field.
You may have proven to yourself that theres enough "evidence" to show aliens are here. That doesn't mean anyone outside of your bubble believes the same.
You and g2v12 seem to travel on the same parallel path. Both have abduction experiences, both study and share the abduction phenomenon.
they don't seem to have any choice in the matter. The only data appears to be sociological and empirical and of course things like implants; that data is not nearly as objective, logical and measurable as we would like, nor is it always even strongly indicative of -- let alone proof of -- any relationship to the flying Chevy NORAD was tracking.
Key word is "settle". I can't just settle for less than when it comes to this topic.
Again, you're taking on the defensive while I've said nothing personally about anyone's abduction story.
It's the belief in other abduction stories I question. Are you giving the benefit of the doubt that other stories are truthful because of your own experience?
Do you have a barometer as to what's acceptable and what's not? Let's face facts, everyone has been lied to in one way or another throughout life. When it comes to these stories, how do you discern the truth from lies? Do you leave the possibility open for anything goes, within reason?
RedCairo
For people who have had these experiences, who would like to understand them for reasons far more important to them personally I suspect, it's pretty demoralizing. It doesn't require skeptics or pseudo-skeptics to see that there is no physical evidence and no explanation (beyond hypothesized technology) for it. Yeah... no kidding, even the people reporting this stuff can see that. How embarrassing and how exasperating.
g2v12Have you ever actually studied this subject for the data or are you just a debunker pretending to be an experiencer?
by Red Cairo
For people who have had these experiences...how exasperating.
by RedCairo
It is the responsibility of an entire culture if it's anyone's, since the people reporting the experiences are neither objective researchers of data, nor scientists for building hypothesis based on that data and controlled studies based on that hypothesis.