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UFOs Identified

Entry 977, on 2009-03-30 at 20:31:22 (Rating 2, News)

Recently the British Department of Defence released its files on its investigation of UFO sightings. They took it very seriously but in the end the final result was inconclusive. That means that no one could definitely say that UFOs are visitors from outer space but they also couldn't say that they weren't.

That's not really surprising because, in many UFO cases, there is not enough evidence to reach a reasonable conclusion. Lack of evidence usually means the phenomenon doesn't exist but we can never be sure because its almost impossible to prove a negative.

Before I go any further I should clarify a few points. First, UFO stands for unidentified flying object. By this definition they certainly exist because there are flying objects which are unidentified. But many people think UFO means alien visitors and that is the definition I am discussing in this post. We also usually mean the alien visitors have visited Earth and they are responsible for the strange lights, alien probings, and other assorted phenomena.

I don't think aliens have ever visited the Earth but I do think other intelligent life exists in the universe. How do I know that they haven't visited us here? First, because if they had it would probably be more obvious; second, because the way life originates and evolves in the Universe means it might be still quite rare; and third, interstellar travel is just really hard.

So what are UFOs if they aren't visitors from outer space? They are astronomical objects, atmospheric effects, aircraft, and various other effects, sometimes viewed under unusual conditions. And they are things we just haven't identified yet. Its that simple.

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