Next week in America congress is scheduled to participate in talks to supposedly end the stone wall of secrecy permeating the whole subject.
What do you think? Will anything positive come from these talks or will they continue to deny the existence of UFOs?
Now that the US Navy has officially released films of their jets encountering them I don’t see how they could continue to deny it but, then again, nothing would surprise me.
If there is one thing I am sure of, it’s that congress debating anything remotely connected to science is unlikely to yield anything interesting.
Isn’t that the truth @howard ? It’s sad to even think they might accomplish anything. Their track record proves that. Still… one can hope. Haha
This might best be left to an entirely different forum… 
Sorry if I posted about something about this. Hey I put it in the lounge. Haha
Maybe the aliens play bass guitar? Haha
Should it be moved to the “Bass” or “Gear” section then?
Seeing as congress probably has no clue what the Great Filter is or the Fermi Paradox I doubt they will produce anything worthwhile.
They just found a new chamber in the pyramids using muons. Why haven’t we found UFOs? I am almost a believer in the Great Filter, and Fermi makes too much sense. I am skeptical of what we see with our eyes. Light refraction does tricks, like that shot in Star Wars with the two suns going down? No special effects in that shot. A well know illusion in that part of the world.
I just learned something new by googling “Fermi paradox” Wombat. Thank you for pushing the boundaries of my mind.
Wow! And “muons” too! Very interesting!
What is the “great filter?”
The Great Filter is where the discussion is these days on extraterrestrial intelligence. Basically, life advances from one stage to the next by clearing hurdles. Each stage is called a filter. The first filter is the planet must capable of supporting life and be in the habitable zone. The second filter is life must arise from lifelessness. And so on.
It’s an answer to the Fermi Paradox.
My point on the muons is our ability to detect things is really really advanced. Especially something that gives off electromagnetic radiation or uses gravity. We have been looking for life using huge arrays. Why can’t we find something?
Thanks @Wombat-metal
That is really interesting. Your insights give me much to think about.
Great article on the great filter. I appreciate your insight.
There’s other factors inputting into the Fermi Paradox as well. The detection limits for even huge radio telescopes like Arecibo are not that big compared to space. Arecibo was by far the largest telescope and the most powerful radar transmitter on earth. If one Arecibo were beaming directly at another, the maximum detection limit would be around 750ly. There’s only a quarter million or so stars in that radius, which really amplifies the Great Filter. It’s pretty easy to see why no one has come knocking yet.
If you restrict to detecting omnidirectional television and radio, the limit is under 20ly. Only a couple hundred stars in that radii.
The ones we see are teasers:
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
As for space being big:
“Space […] is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space.”
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
We will probably get the stock government answer on this: “We cannot confirm or deny that UFOs exist.”
You’re probably right Jerry. I have a glimmer of hope because of the recent release of the videos from the Navy showcasing their pilots reacting to UFOs they encountered.
Well, important to remember that UFO just means they didn’t know what it was. It doesn’t imply aliens.
I mean, space is so big, your mom fits into it. ;p 
On a more serious note, technically every flying object you don’t know “enough” about is an UFO. It’s a bit of a nightmare from a philosophical or legal perspective: you can’t exclude understandable types of propulsion from the UFO definition, so the venn diagram of UFOs with aliens in them and simply unidentified (possibly terrestial) flying objects is, well overlapping.
The whole thing about “are we alone” in the universe, too - have you forgotten about your neighbours? Because life forms existing not exactly in your location are, well, out in the universe.
The funny thing for me is that one of my newest buddies is big into UFOs. How do I handle this? Do I challenge his beliefs? Do I tacitly agree if I don’t say “but the YouTube channels I like say it’s a myth that aliens exist?” Oh well…
Cheers,
Antonio
@Darryl There’s a great BBC podcast called The Infinite Monkey cage. Where Professor Brian Cox (particle Physicist) and Robin Ince (Comedian and the most well read man on radio) discuss a huge range of topics in science. Each week they have a panel of scientists within their specialized field to discuss the topic i.e Black holes, dinosaurs, Periodic table etc. It’s meant to be for the layman not fellow scientists to understand so it’s fairly easy listening.
I’ve been working my way through the back catalogue of nearly 200 episodes.
Last week I learned about ‘The Great Filter’ from the show.
