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Which is more likely? Some uneducated guy takes the garbage out and happens to see flying objects breaking the laws of physics? ?

Or that he misjudged the speeds and distances and was mistaken in thinking that he witnessed something supernatural? 

11 Answers

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  • Gary K
    Lv 7
    7 months ago

    Obviously it’s less likely the laws of physics are being broken. Our human pattern seeking brains are prone to try and make sense of things we see, and the less critical thinking of us are prone to superstition. This can apply to even highly educated people, too. 

    Critical Thinking needs to be a part of everyone’s education.

  • Anonymous
    7 months ago

    It is far more likely that he misjudged speeds and distances. Pilots can be mistaken too. It is impossible to judge size, distance and speed of things in the sky. Anyone with half a brain knows that. 

  • Anonymous
    7 months ago

    Is it the "act of taking out garbage" or "uneducated" that you are worried about? 

    If its "education", what exactly would a person have to be educated in that would allow them to properly identify a 90 degree angle turn by a high speed flying object? 

    What degree program prepares someone to properly identify an object go from high-speed to a hover on a dime, then just as fast back to high-speed? 

    Who would you expect to be a better observer: 

    1)  a college astrophysics professor who never leaves to lectern and spends his days at a computer theorizing, or

    2)  a gas-station attendant that is an avid hunter & amateur bird-watcher? 

    One is comfortable outdoors working with optical equipment, the other is a stranger  to the outside and unfamiliar with what is "normal" and what is "weird" for things flying by in the sky. 

    I see "familiarity" with things in the sky a better metric than "education".  Law enforcement, military veterans, pilots & aircrews would all be more reliable than a college professor; but even that is a generalization.  There are cops who rarely leave the station & military clerk-typists who rarely see the sky.  

  • ?
    Lv 5
    7 months ago

    It is quite obvious which is much more likely. Few people are educated about all the things that can be seen in the sky. Pilots can be wrong too. They lack the education of astronomers who never see anything that they cannot identify. Some top scientists have said,  "Interstellar travel is preposterous"! Blind believers claim that advanced technology can magically solve insoluble problems. They assume that future discoveries will open new possibilities, but new discoveries may shut doors, rather than open them. Interstellar travel was considered to be easy in the Newtonian Universe, but it is impossible in the later modified Einsteinian Universe. I notice that someone claims this question is an example of Straw Man Fallacy, but that is quite wrong. 

  • Anonymous
    7 months ago

    You convinced me. Uneducated people taking out the garbage aren't the best witnesses. Highly trained pilots are much better witnesses. 

  • Tom
    Lv 7
    7 months ago

    Well he DID see SOMETHING-----Just because "Alien spaceships don't exist" does not mean that, from time to time, there ARE NO objects in the sky that we can't identify.   That's the REAL point of UFO study.  WHAT was seen, not if they are "Aliens" or not.

    While "Space aliens" are intriguing, we must not let the prospect distract us from what we are doing.

  • 7 months ago

    This is a great example of why science requires hard physical evidence of a new discovery. An eyewitness report isn't enough, no matter how honest and reliable the witness is. Anybody can make mistakes. Evidence or observation must be checked and rechecked by many people. 

  • ?
    Lv 5
    7 months ago

    “Misjudged the speeds and distances” of what exactly?

    This question isn’t very clear.

  • 7 months ago

    p1: the probability that some uneducated guy misjudged the speeds and distances of a flying object

    p2: the probability that some well-educated guy, e.g., a Navy carrier pilot with expert knowledge of aeronautics and the instruments of his aircraft, misjudged the speeds and distances of a flying object

    p1 > p2

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpeSpA3e56A&t=70s

  • ?
    Lv 7
    7 months ago

    we know which is more likely .. the real question is do these things actually happen at all ...

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