It seems to me that the whole UFO business is a sort of modern high-tech mythology. That is not to say that there may be genuine Unidentified Flying Objects, however. Ball lightning is one such object; it has seldom been photographed, and some skeptics claim that it is really afterimages. Exotic test airplanes may also qualify as UFO's, but I won't consider them here. There may be other exotic-looking objects, but they'd be very seldom observed.
To me, the "flying saucer" shape is a sign that UFO's are essentially mythological; the term came from a misinterpretation of Kenneth Arnold's 1947 report of objects that skipped like saucers near some mountains. I call it mythological because I believe that to be an unlikely shape for an extraterrestrial spaceship (ETS). To travel through an atmosphere with a minimum of drag, an object ought to present a very small cross section; also, wings are usually much shorter front-to-back than their sideways extension. Thus, airplanes look like missiles with wings and control surfaces. In fact, I believe it reasonable to expect an ETS to look much like an Earthling airplane or missile.
Also, they have odd behavior for surveillance vehicles. Night lights on vehicles have an important purpose: advertising their presence so that others will not collide with them. So why travel with lights on if one does not want to be seen? Of course, they could be trying to tease us...
Also, most ETS occupants appear too humanlike -- where are those that look like carnivorous dinosaurs? Or like spidery robots? In fact, I'd consider the spidery-robot possibility the most likely one.
Their alleged taste for abductions, complete with strange medical experiments, seems to be to be nightmares experienced by the "subjects"; there is a distinct lack of physical evidence for those alleged abductions. I've experienced lots of strange dreams, though none of such abductions; however, others may experience dreams of abductions.
And there are those who claim to have contacted by benevolent Space Brothers and Sisters who care about humanity, but who are reluctant to appear to leaders or to intervene in force. A good analogy is with the confrontation between India and Pakistan; President Bush and Prime Minister Blair have sent diplomats to work out a solution to that crisis -- diplomats who have been sent to the leaders of those two nations and their immediate subordinates. And not to obscure peasants in the countrysides of those two countries.
Of course, some of the descriptions of these SB's and SS's is absolutely laughable, such as Truman Bethurum's description of one UFO pilot, a certain Aura Rhanes, as looking like an Earthwoman who is "tops in shapeliness and beauty".
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: lpetrich on 2002-01-27 02:23 ]</font>
