(09-26-2024, 08:20 PM)Maxmars Wrote: I've never been one to accept the notion of "mass panic." Although I don't deny that mass panic can be engineered... "because 'appearances' are everything," I've been often told.
This revelation may or may not be within anyone's control to manifest... why does it seem that it is, in fact, being 'managed?'
I have never been skeptical of this topic... but I have great reservations about how information is being moved between those allegedly "in the know" and the rest of the world.
One thing that strikes me is the fact that part of this story is about "players" in the subject-matter field... that's is almost never a good sign...
I’m unsure on the mass panic thing.
Some would flip out but some data suggests at least 50% of people believe in UFOs if not more. Note I say “believe” as the actual number of people who have seen something strange is unknown - said differently, very few people report their sightings. I didn’t report mine.
We live in a society that is more technologically advanced than most people alive 70 year ago could have even imagined. If you’re over 90, you live in a world of effectively magic. But, we’re used to tech. “Anti-gravity” doesn’t seem that far fetched - we’re reaching the next step on our evolution.
But, I suppose a lot of “big stuff” hasn’t changed. Houses aren’t all that different, a 737 isn’t a lot different for a passenger than it was 40 years ago, flight times haven’t gone down materially, etc. Transportation is a laggard but I suppose it has to be given how many problems the ability to travel very long distances in very short periods of time would case - but that’s an aside.
That’s all to say that I suspect the majority of the population wouldn’t be shocked by “aliens” they’d be concerned about the unknown and ponder if they pose a threat. It’s kind of the same emotion you’d have in any scenario where the outcome or situation is unknown and one of those outcomes may be a material threat of physical harm. That’s the “panic” they refer to.
In all the societal conditioning, we got ET, MIB, Resident Alien, etc. as examples of “good” aliens. Star Trek showed us a future that involved many species and hybrid-species as an alliance bound by a belief system. I’m a life-long Trekkie, but, Star Wars and the “Alien” series won out. The masses are expecting that or “Independence Day” and that at least in part feeds the fear of the unknown or “panic” factor significantly.
One thing that would make people “feel better” is if they believe we have very advanced weaponry that would give us a “chance” at beating them.
Say, “anti-gravity” craft, fusion weapons, laser-based weapons, space-based weapons, space-based military aircraft and defense stations. If we had all of that and people knew it was there the fear factor would melt a whole bunch IMO. They’d believe we can defend ourselves, it’s less of a threat and the people may be on “red alert” but probably more with active defense in mind - not the fear of the unknown.
An aside - Isn’t it kind of negligent of us as a species to have not created space-based defense systems? We have 8bn souls down here and nothing up there of consequence if publicly available information is accurate. Given how many worlds exist, how much we can see with JW, even if we haven’t engaged other life it would be pretty silly to say it’s impossible - and with our tech we can scale much better what the probabilities of life are in various places - shouldn’t we say “you know? Maybe we should stop fighting each other for a bit and realize if “they” show up and we’re not ready we’re all screwed - let’s focus on planetary defense so our species can thrive and survive and worry about earthly land grabs later”. As I type that out, it seems pretty reasonable just based on open-source information.
Alas, we’d get some sort of “panic” but many would probably be fine.
I’d be excited. Whether it’s a peaceful meeting of species or something that looks like a violent alien movie - I’m game. We would get to experience the single most important event in the history of our species and even if you didn’t make it, you got to see it. You got to see the thing that’s bigger than most all the things. And it wouldn’t matter how much money you have, what your job title is, what street you live on, what car you drive, what school you went to - none of that would be a qualifier to experiencing it. That’s worth the risk and I sincerely hope whoever makes contact is a lot more like Picard than not.
(09-26-2024, 09:03 PM)Maxmars Wrote: I confess, I don't follow the personality lore in this subject. There's too much drama and attention given to it...
But the continuous references to who said what, and how they didn't say from where, or who, is a hallmark of 'industry ignorance.'
Whether that ignorance is about UFOs generally, is one thing, but when it's about "people" it's an entirely different matter.
I wish I could help, but I can't "name names" because I care about the topic, not the celebrities.
(I feel bad for the folks at Syfy... you nailed it! 
)
I don’t do the personality cult either.
If you approach this subject not as an entertainer only those who are truly researchers will “follow” or “know” you. Even then, they get turned into “the ufo guy” and then “believers” flock. It’s all a bunch of BS from the “personalities”.
What seems to happen is they start out as serious researchers or connected people and then devolve into “buy my app”. I suspect it’s because there’s not many people with the coin to not monetize what they do.
Regardless, I can be spared the personalities.
