Folks who think that there are alien spacecraft in our skies - Do you understand modern physics?

i wouldn't be able to write a paper on it... but i'd say i have a more then average understanding of it....

i don't really see how it would tie into alien space craft in the sky, tho....

could you explain a little bit?

"I understand special relativity as well as any layperson, and why it causes the idea of stellar travel to seem a mere pipe dream."

i take it he would be refering to whatever planet these aliens came from are thousands of light years away, and there's just no way a living being could live long enough to make such a journey?

still not really a problem, if they've mastered space flight, surely they have knowledge for cryogenic stasis as well....

although i still refuse to accept einstien's idea that matter moving close to or at the speed of light is impossible.

"1. Any alien civilization - looking out at 10,000 star systems - would see ours as it was thousands of years in the past - why would they choose to come here?

2. Even if they did decide to come here, it would take thousands of years (our frame and their home system frame) to get here. Perhaps in their vehicle, time would slow down to 100 years or so.

3. If they did that, why would they zip around and hide from all of us except a few of the strangest people for the last 50 years?"

1. ancient history aside, who says they're coming here for anything other then their own purposes, maybe collecting fuel/elements it needs to survive/power it's ship..... it's obvious they don't want to make contact [to modern civilization] or atleast the general population (who knows what goes on behind closed doors)

now about ancient history.... nearly every ancient culture tells how they were created/brought here by aliens, or how aliens came to them and gave them knowledge.... they've left countless artifacts and peices of art perfectly depicting non-human beings, even tho they had a sort of human appearance (mostly just the body structure, two legs to arms a head...) space craft, and tons of extra-terestrial ****...

i'm not saying that's true, but it's a little odd that all over the world between 6,000-3,000-ish bc aliens being here and interacting with people was considered common knowledge... some even worshiped the aliens....

although, unless you actually open your mind to the possibility, you'll never see any of this as relevant, you can explain it away all you want... but if you actually opened your eyes you'd atleast find it strange and intriguing and make you wonder 'what if'

I understand special relativity as well as any layperson, and the reasons why it causes the idea of stellar travel to seem a mere pipe dream.

However, I am firmly of the belief that just because we don't know a way around it doesn't mean that there is none. Newton was right as far as anyone had the ability to detect for over a hundred years. Einstein realized that Newton's laws only held true in cases where all observers are in the same inertial frame of reference, etc etc - and we've since proven this to be true. What about circumstances where special relativity doesn't apply? We haven't found any, but that doesn't equate to the inescapability of relativity.

Or, perhaps even if it is inescapable, the alien visitors are of a culture where family and personal attachments mean little to them, and they simply accept time dilation as a consequence of stellar exploration. One could visit a very large portion of space indeed if they are willing to leave their origin's timeframe behind.

And as far as energy sources go, once again, we only know what we know, and not everything that could be possible. A 50mph wind was able to blow down a suspension bridge, not through brute force, but by unlocking the potential energy stored in the structure itself, and causing that to tear the bridge apart. Certainly there might be analogous energy sources / ways to get around special relativistic effects when travelling to stars.

I accept relativity for what it is - the best we currently know. I also accept the fact that today's scientific laws are tomorrow's outdated misconceptions / steps in the right direction that fell short of the full truth.

So I completely believe that it is //possible// to travel to the stars (from the stars to Earth?). I simply do not buy into the UFO/Conspiracy Theory thought as it is too speculative and un-proven to be considered a liklihood.

Modern physics is just as speculative as the flat Earth theory. Technological advances do aid in understanding, but it is only a transitory truth. Throughout Man's history, our feeble understanding of Nature has undergone many revolutions and are we really that arrogant to believe we now understand all our limitations?

We are only truely limited by our imaginations. Imagine travelling back in time and giving Isaac Newton a pocket scientific calculator, or giving Galileo and DaVinci access to the Hubble. Would they say "Impossible!!!"?

The Star Trek communicators of yester year are todays reality in cell phones. Look at the strides Man has accomplished in just the last hundred years. It doesn't take much of a duck brain to imagine a civilization a hundred thousand or even a million years more advanced than us. Skeptics of the past stated that we could never break the sound barrier. Today's skeptics, with their "higher" understanding, say it's the light barrier.

It really doesn't hurt to imagine and dream and to keep smiling.

I understand exactly what you are trying to say & have you ever thought that the whole UFO phenomenon is really a deliberate "diversion" that was created to hide what is really going on here on Earth ? This is my theory anyway & if we want to see real "aliens" I say we should start looking in our own backyard Earth. By this I am talking about our society which we all assume as being made up of average human beings, but is this really the case & could the so-called "aliens" be walking around & communicating with us on a daily basis ? Like I said, we should start & have a good look around here on Earth before we venture elsewhere as the answers we are seeking could be just next door !

The difficulty for Aliens 2 reach Earth is enormous. Firstly there is no planet capable of sustaining life in this Solar System. The nearest other Solar System is 4 light years away which is the distance light travels over 4 years. Light travels about 300,000 km/s. You can't exceed this speed and to get anywhere close 2 it u need an enormous amount of energy - something our current technology certainly can't obtain.

Given this difficulty and the lack of proof there has been alien visitors, 1 would have 2 b skeptical about alien "sightings".

Of course they are just man made vehicles from earth. Many are too small to go very far with simple logistical concerns: storage space mainly. They do have antigravity and other technologies, but they are vehicles for the coming 4th Reich known as the New World Order and population manipulation. They will have some very large craft to even play as 'mother ship'.

It seems to be pretty common among these folks that they don't really have the kind of perspective you are talking about. I think a major factor in their thinking and one which is a cornerstone of their belief system, is the notion that anything is possible. It has become vogue for scientists to be quite self-deprecating in this regard. Experts of the past have so frequently been embarrassed by placing limitations on the future of science and technology. In addition, I don't think you are going to find too mant physicists who will claim that we might have reached the wall -- that we are darned close to knowing the universe now to a degree which makes further theory trivial. This notion is outright heresy!

Those who are unaware of some of the real limitations of the universe believe that any technology is possible and interstellar space flight is as easy for some as it was shown to be in Star Wars or Star Trek. They consider it unreasonable to suggest technological restraints. After all, we have been wrong so many times in the past.

IOW, I disagree with Smilin' Bob, who does tend to represent the majority on this. I do not believe our understanding of the universe is primitive any more.

Bob, what I'm saying is that I don't believe we have been visited and interstellar travel is daunting, if not virtually impossible, for any technology. My comment about what we know has little to do with what we can do. I make a serious distinction between science and technology, here. I'm saying I think we understand enough about the laws and limitations of the universe, to make extremely pessimistic assessments of the probability of alien life being here.

I don't think there is evidence either way to prove aliens are in our skies. You can identify all the spacecraft you want and say its humans or aliens but until we have a body...then there is no way to prove it.

I think special relativity will become an important part of science in the far future but as of right now it is loosely understood and largely theory. I think the acquisition of answers on special relativity is largely prohibited by our current technology and will be until we can see farther or travel farther in to the universe. Maybe some of those questions will be answered with the LHC...only time will tell. Hope this helps.

You really ought to return to your meeting of The Flat Earth Society where everyone's thought processes are just like your's.Just because you in your scientific arrogance cannot figure out how star travel works doesn't mean it isn't possible.Volumes of books could be filled with what science once thought to be true and is now known to be false.Having seen with my own eyes UFOs on more than one occasion and watched their maneuvers across the sky,I can tell you that not only is it absolutely chilling to observe them but these craft break your rules of physics into little pieces.You know not of what you speak.

I have a pretty good understanding of basic physics.

If we are being visited, the visitors must know something that we don't.

So... yes, I think it is possible that we are being visited, but the method that "they" are using is as far beyond us as we are beyond the Neanderthal who has yet to create fire!

With that in mind, our relatively primitive knowledge of the universe is not important when deciding whether or not it is possible.

IMHO.

Update: For Brant - Ah come on :). We've been to the moon. Compared to a civilization who are capable of interstellar travel, we are "technological children".