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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2131 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 21, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Why does the bulk of the evidence of extraterrestrial life that people focus on recently seem to come from the government rather than from scientists? It seems that every time you listen to the latest news on the topic, the government is providing wild claims while mainstream scientists seem to accept or provide nearly nothing as evidence of ET life.

I usually like Ross Douthat but I recently watched his video with Diana Pasulka regarding UFOs and ETs. I am not predisposed to making accusations of government plants everywhere but the interview was so bizarre that it felt like she was just a plant to sow chaos and confusion in the space to me. I have always felt that the term "UAP" was suspicious as it is exactly the sort of SEO hashtag you would create if an entity wanted to track and analyze a certain specific narrative or conversation around a topic that already exists but within a specific context (like government-synthesized data.)

I have always had nightmares about UFOs and found aliens very scary. Have any of you ever seen a UFO or encountered an alien?

The best argument against them is that it would be pretty much impossible to hide. Small objects in orbit are easy to track, anything entering out solar system at relativistic speeds and then braking to land on Earth would be detected. The power of the radio-waves required to send signals back to the alien solar system would be detected.

Aliens being hidden from us would require multiple governments to collaborate and cover up aliens. If the information regarding aliens is under absolute lockdown the only information available is from governments.

If aliens were widespread in our solarsystem we would have detected something by now. A major civilization isn't going to be silent.

Wouldn't Aliens being here almost certainly assume faster than light travel?

No. The Milky Way is 13 billion years old, but only 100,000 light years across. A sufficiently advanced civilization would be able to colonize the galaxy using only sublight tech.

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