Yes or No question

[TClaeys]

Time for a general consensus. We have heard the stories, listened endlessly to the bobbleheads, watched pure hoaxes arise in our culture, made our own conclusions. Now I ask the question.

Has Earth been visited by intelligent beings that don't originate here?

It's difficult to word the question so it doesn't just encompass ETH. This could be ultra-dimensional, ETH, but I suppose not crypto's unless they voyaged here long ago and have rooted down somewhere.

You have the right to be wrong and to change your view but at this point what do you think?

The only acceptable answers are YES or NO. Panspermia doesn't count as a YES, I think that is a different topic altogether.

[Rick Deckard]

I see no 'barriers' that would prevent that possibility - so I say, in all probability, yes.

Perhaps the question should be "Have any advanced non-human intelligences visited or inhabited the Earth in it's long history"?

[fitzbew88]

Originally Posted by TClaeys

Has Earth been visited by intelligent beings that don't originate here?

Yes (with a *personal* 90% confidence level)

/not 100%
//something is messing with us
///I'm skeptical about crypto-terrestrial, but open-minded
////not sure we will ever know with certainty

[Rick Deckard]

Originally Posted by TClaeys

Has Earth been visited by intelligent beings that don't originate here?

Of course, there is also the possibility that the human race originated elsewhere...

[Ankhes]

I am not an expert in this subject by any means but am very interested and wanting to learn more. But from what I am aware of so far from this show, some books, and various documentaries (which I know are biased one way or the other) if I am pressed for an answer I would say "no." To me this is the more likely answer. I am definately open to the possibility that we have been visited, whether by extra-terrestrials or crypto-terrestrials but the jury is still out for me.

I am aware I am in the minority here. But I am definately open to being wrong!

[Rick Deckard]

Originally Posted by Ankhes

I am aware I am in the minority here. But I am definately open to being wrong!

That's exactly the attitude to have - I don't mind being proven wrong, I see it as an opportunity to 'grow'.

[mike]

Yes. i think so

[JAS]

I don't need the "Roswell Incident" to be proven authentic to know that an intelligence from beyond our realm is interacting with this world. Firsthand experiences throughout my life, let alone the testimony of so many others, tell me that this is so.

I'm hesitant to classify the beings as "aliens" because I'm not sure from where they originate. Perhaps they were here before we humans.

Sometimes I wonder whether humanity is merely a science fair experiment that is being conducted by a higher intelligence -- or if the essential purpose of human life is to be a transmission system of DNA from one generation to the next, like a fire brigade passes buckets of water, for the ultimate benefit of another intelligence.

The subject of extraterrestrials and UFOs is a huge metaphysical challenge to comprehend. I continually try to make sense of it all and search for explanations.

[Ankhes]

This is such a difficult subject for me to take a stance on, even if only for the moment. I will likely change my views with the more knowledge that I gain but chose "no" for now. For now the very idea of cryptos, alien visitors, and grand conspiracies are akin to fairies in the bottom of my garden - they seem very fanciful. I'm not saying they are not possible, but for my present view just not very likely. But heck...sometimes I think they are quite possible and likely. I truly am on the fence for the moment. But that is what I appreciate by being skeptical. Not "skeptical" as in the common usage where people use the word when they really mean "cynic," but skeptical in that I am happy to change my mind as credible evidence emerges. To me that is what a being skeptical is all about.

And as Rick Deckard says, it gives a great opportunity to grow. I enjoy that. And that is one reason I enjoy the Paracast so much. I can hear different sides to the issue and not only get the die-hard cynics and the die-hard believers. This is a much better way to get closer to the truth, I think.

[Rick Deckard]

Originally Posted by Ankhes

This is such a difficult subject for me to take a stance on, even if only for the moment. I will likely change my views with the more knowledge that I gain but chose "no" for now. For now the very idea of cryptos, alien visitors, and grand conspiracies are akin to fairies in the bottom of my garden - they seem very fanciful. I'm not saying they are not possible, but for my present view just not very likely. But heck...sometimes I think they are quite possible and likely. I truly am on the fence for the moment. But that is what I appreciate by being skeptical. Not "skeptical" as in the common usage where people use the word when they really mean "cynic," but skeptical in that I am happy to change my mind as credible evidence emerges. To me that is what a being skeptical is all about.

About 12 months ago, I posted my views on 'the middle ground' and true-skeptics versus fanatical/psuedo-skeptics.

I try not to have a 'polar' opinion on anything - for me, that is the only position a true skeptic can take. It sounds like a cliché, but I really do believe that you cannot be 100% sure of anything.

So, I maintain a 'shades of grey' approach on everything.

I'm about 90% convinced that other intelligences exist and therefore see no reason why they wouldn't arrive here at some point. I'm about 95% sure that there is no God in the biblical sense while at the same time being about 60% sure that something god-like in nature may connect us all.

It's a difficult stance to maintain when the majority of people (outside of these forums at least) seem to have made up their minds (or had it made up for them) about every important issue. Media, Governments (through the scientific and educational institutions), peers and family are all shaping our personal perceptions of reality. Some beliefs are arrived at, some are taught and some are handed down.

I think that the more people that realise this, the easier the transition from one paradigm to another will be - i.e. Full Disclosure.