Things that make you go hmmmm

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nunya

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Message 1071134 - Posted: 27 Jan 2011, 14:38:49 UTC

Hi all,
this is my first post..though ive been running seti@home on and off since the begining..

I was browsing through some news groups yesterday and found an article on asiaone news that says SETI has detected something out beyond pluto...
Specifically three ships one almost 150 miles across.
Along with this they say that Obama is going to be talking about it in the next month and other countries will be comming out in the next three months. The reason they say they are going to release the info is that these ships will be able to be seen once they reach Mars orbit...
Now the punch line that makes it really seem untrue...they are going to arrive at earth orbit when???
December 2012 lol
hmmmmm

good day
fizz
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Message 1071145 - Posted: 27 Jan 2011, 15:35:34 UTC - in response to Message 1071134.  

The entire thing sounds made up to me. Some rational questions to ask:

Why did "SETI" find it?
Why hasn't NASA found it?
Why hasn't the European Space Agency found it?
If this is true, why aren't any of the above agencies talking about it?

Surely the answers point to conspiracy theory answers. First, you set up the reader's expectation that someone official is going to announce it. This usually starts with the President of the United States since, despite our current foreign relations, we're still considered the Number One Superpower and the leader of the Free World. Other nations would naturally follow in this announcement.

Then, once the expected announcement date has passed, the cover up stories begin. The "governments" don't want "us" to know. "They" don't think "we" could handle it. "They're" hiding something from "us" and we deserve to know.

These stories are usually started by people who believe, through inaccurate data, drawn to incorrect conclusions, that aliens beings have already been here and that they are returning for whatever reason.

The belief is so strong that it resembles religious affilitations. No amount of actual data will dissaude them from what they perceive is the "truth". The belief stems from one of two thought processes: 1) They are coming to enslave us or kill us. The fear factor of an unknown race possibly being far more powerful than us that we would have little recourse. 2) They are benevolent beings that are going to come to "save" us. Our race's savior. They will show us the secrets to the universe and magically make the impossible possible.

Healthy doses of skepticism are required when approaching theories that are so profound that it may change everything. Data should always be analyzed and verified by other sources, preferrably ones that have an advanced education in the appropriate areas of expertise.

Of course, the entire posting could also be someone's form of a bad joke, preying on other people's strong beliefs in this stuff.

I personally will believe it when more credible sources than a newgroups or asian news agency that may be some tabloid reports on it.
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Michael Watson

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Message 1071155 - Posted: 27 Jan 2011, 16:08:10 UTC

Nunya; You were right to suspect the veracity of this story. Asiaone news got the story from The Korea Herald, which got it from the Russian source, Pravda. Pravda was once a regular government-run newspaper in the Soviet Union, but since then has become an independent tabloid, on a par with The Weekly World News, in the United States. It can not be trusted to stick to the facts. The most charitable view is that it is intended to entertain and amuse, rather than to misinform. Several details in the story discredit it. First- the planets/spaceships were supposed to have been discovered by the HAARP system in Alaska. This is a system of radio transmitters intended to study Earth's upper atmosphere by sending radio waves into it, and analyzing their effects on the atmosphere. The relatively low frequency radio waves it uses do not effectively penetrate the atmosphere and reach space, so can scarcely have detected objects beyond Pluto. Second- There has never been any indication that any SETI project receives data from HAARP, or could have any use for such data. The radio telescopes that provide SETI data are very different sorts of devices from the HAARP array. Third- The claim that these objects will arrive at Earth during December, 2012 is an obvious reference to the fact that certain versions of the old Mayan calendar appear to reach the end of one long cycle and begin another at that time. This has been misunderstood and sensationalized into a prediction of disaster of some sort. Even the surviving Mayans themselves do not believe in this interpretation, so its not clear why anyone else should either. Michael
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Message 1071819 - Posted: 29 Jan 2011, 3:33:17 UTC

This was discussed in another thread.

The person who worked for SETI.. does not seem to exist at any of the SETI organizations. None of which is even titled "SETI". A similar name was found to have had conversation with someone (sounds like something along the line of Dude, wouldn't it be cool if) that inspired SETI@home. They have no connection to the project.

I would find it more credible if Billy-Bob was fixin the still and saw it with binoculars.

I.. am running out of ways to say "Hogwash".
Janice
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Message boards : Science (non-SETI) : Things that make you go hmmmm


 
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