Mick said...quote "l think if one takes a logical (in human terms) approach to the subject, why would aliens come to earth just to fly over outback Australia in the middle of the night or go to England and make circles in wheat fields?"
Mick being aliens their motivations may make no sense to us as I expect our motivations would make no sence to them. Making crop circles may fit into their breeding cycle for example and each year they come on a trek across space to a field in England or fields where

.... well thats enough for you to think about without going further

. But your post made me think of the possible differences in survival tactics, society, economies and least of all body shape of someone from another world and us. We cant manage the differences very well that exsist as differences between humans on this planet so trying to understand the workings of a mind far better developed than ours would not be easy

... what if they ate their young

for example

could we tolerate their exsistence in the Universe or would we sweare an oath to convert or destroy them

..If they visit they will be smart enough not to get involved with us and share their customs (presumably being able to observe the intollerances that exist in human society).. But no doubt they exsist somewhere and are alive as we speak, real "people" going about a "real" life someplace elsewhere... doing whatever they do in their worlds far off, as ignorant of us as we are of them. As to coming here well who would know if they did??? If they are smart enough to get here (build ships manage the medicne etc)(for whatever reason) they would not risk being noticed by the locals... unless they get slack and travel over areas of outback Australia which may well be shown on their charts as unihabited and they decided to give the cloaking device a rest unawares of the campers or stargazers below...no sound means very efficient energy consumption which supports the idea of a much further advanced race than us

.. mmm it all adds up

.. so the available evidence points to very clever aliens visiting us, presumabaly very small

..
Shawn to me the numbers and the age of the Universe (even if you need it to have a starting date which I doubt

) suggest sortta the opposite.. Given the much earlier development of galaxies than expected, given the indications that many processes acted faster rather than slower (planet formations etc) it stands to reason that there must be many many opportunities for life more advanced than us to exist earlier than us..why could not inteligent species have been out there for billions of years before us..so advanced they have eliminated death and obsolesence from their species and society... being further advanced who knows what they could do beyond what we can imagine.Live for long enough to understand the females in their race.live long enough to spend thousands of years travelling in space..maybe millions. maybe they were smart enough to eliminate the Y cromozone.. (ever heard anyone tell that we must lose the y to advance? mmm I like the y).. whatever and how many? the basis that the Universe is infinite or at least very big and the possible numbers of possible inteligent species could be very high
I think an interesting question to ponder (speculate upon without recourse to facts

).. is when did the first intelligent life appear in the Universe (or are we it?) and is that first species still alive, and how many species have preceeded us, how many more advanced than us out there now?? Then ask yourself "isnt building a battle star really a good idea?". Is there a galaxy (www) web that one day we get to join?
If the Universe is infinite (and it is) then everything is possible someplace sometime.. think about that next time you reject an idea.
AND if you actually met an alien would you come forward and mention it to anyone..I would not thats for sure

.
I have heard about those dark shapes, also light shapes and even better

and certainly when the stories are told I think most people believe they have seen something out of this world because there is no worldy explanation

..those situations present there is no question of that.
alex