Drones are a thing.

Back then they were one prop balloons with a candle inside.

I’d love to see that hover, like.

Minkymu wrote:

I think the problem with these craft being piloted by humanoid type beings is some of the manoeuvres they pull off, sudden direction changes at right angles, massive acceleration and deceleration etc, is the humanoid body is just not built for the g forces involved.

Have you seen Shabby playing Forza?

Facewon wrote:

I loose track of the various theories. But from what I've read, which is not exhaustive, the overall feeling is that it's natural and the lab leak concept can't be ruled out, but is unlikely. https://twitter.com/C_Kavanagh/status/1393381074651078658?s=19 https://twitter.com/C_Kavanagh/status/1394822454229422080?s=19

That second Tweet opens with:

Not to be outdone by his brother’s hyperbole, Eric gets in on the game. These guys are absolute masters of manufacturing controversies and reinterpreting history to vindicate themselves...

 

This is how these stupid dividing lines are drawn. And yes, according to expert testimony, it could still be a bioweapon. An anthropogenic root of Covid is not disputed, so there's no need for the guy to be rude.

GooberTheHat wrote:

The role the USSR played in promoting false narratives around HIV and AIDS is pretty well documented. https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2017/jun/14/russian-fake-news-is-not-new-soviet-aids-propaganda-cost-countless-lives

The HIV thing is similar, but it's a dispute that's gone on for much longer. The stakes are still very high, of course. The favoured 'counter-cultural' theory was debunked by the Royal Society in the early 2000's.  

The basic outline for the theory is very interesting. 

The basic idea of the SIV virus mutating, and crossing species, is preserved. 
The controversial part of the theory is how the SIV virus was introduced to human hosts. 

Some British ex UN official, Edward Hooper, who spent most of his life on UN missions investigating the AIDS pandemic in Africa, looked into historical patterns of vaccination test programs across Africa (mostly Polio), and examined the correlation between early suspected cases of the disease, and the logistical details of the vaccination experiments. The correlation was so convincing, that a Royal Society workshop was convened to examine it. 

To date, the evidence for rejection of the theory (and I'll admit, I'm skimming a bit here), was a denial over the specific use of chimpanzees in the development of a vaccine. This was disproven by independent tests of the only surviving samples of development artefacts, which suggested monkeys were used, but not chimpanzees. 

The other reason was a claim about the exact class of SIV virus suspected as the source of the disease, which is something I'm not going to try and dispute, because I'm not a biologist. 

As a layman though, one thing official literature does say, is that for a disease like HIV to emerge, it would need a situation where it can be transferred rapidly between hosts to develop. And well, a hasty, experimental vaccination program, in a country with very little official medical oversight, would be the perfect situation for that to happen.  

Certainly more convincing than 'green monkeys', 'bestiality' or 'bushmeat'. 

Even if we all just flat out accept the rejection of the theory, Hooper's research raised so many deep and interesting questions about experimental medical research and it's potential reach, that it makes for one of the very best studies one can find, about how thin the line between the truth and a conspiracy theory can be. 

Bear in mind, at first, a number of highly influential scientists supported Hooper's research*.  

It was why the Royal Society mobilised in the first place. So now the idea is generally seen as a conspiracy theory. Though interestingly, a Stanford and Kings College professor very recently made a deep reference to the theory in an interesting paper that suggests the research can provide the basis of a framework for tracing emergent diseases, and determining their causes (which is highly relevant now, obvs). It's actually a bit snarky in a way, because it turns into an indictment of the Royal Society workshop. It should really just concentrate on the merits of the theory. 

This is Professor Lochlann Jain's paper:  https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/maq.12587 

Will be interesting to see how far she gets, but I don't hold out much hope.

*I also think John LeCarre once made a reference to abhorrent medical practices in colonial Africa, in a footnote to The Constant Gardener. Sure, he writes fiction, but he did occupy a very special place, culturally.

LivDiv wrote:

Doing the good work!

Minkymu wrote:

I think the problem with these craft being piloted by humanoid type beings is some of the manoeuvres they pull off, sudden direction changes at right angles, massive acceleration and deceleration etc, is the humanoid body is just not built for the g forces involved.

If the US have had these gravity defying craft since the late 1940’s they wouldn’t have needed to develop the extremely expensive and TOP SECRET Blackbird or Stealth aircraft would they? WTF are NASA et all (still) using rockets for if the government has this tech? Ah, it’s because it’s so hush-hush, they can only use it to check out their own military ships, missile bases, fighter jets and commercial airliners. Makes perfect sense, Minky.

Oh, what’s the latest line, something about every time there’s a spooky vector, all the separate but interlinked electro optical sensors are faulty/misinterpreted? They seem pick up the friendlies just fine.

Is there a heat map for UFO sightings?

LivDiv wrote:

Hahahaha exactly what I was going to do!

Yossarian wrote:

bad_hair_day wrote:

Minkymu wrote:

I think the problem with these craft being piloted by humanoid type beings is some of the manoeuvres they pull off, sudden direction changes at right angles, massive acceleration and deceleration etc, is the humanoid body is just not built for the g forces involved.

If the US have had these gravity defying craft since the late 1940’s they wouldn’t have needed to develop the extremely expensive and TOP SECRET Blackbird or Stealth aircraft would they? WTF are NASA et all (still) using rockets for if the government has this tech? Ah, it’s because it’s so hush-hush, they can only use it to check out their own military ships, missile bases, fighter jets and commercial airliners. Makes perfect sense, Minky.

Entirely possible that this tech comes with its own drawbacks eg range, ease of use, ease of manufacture, access to necessary fuel source, etc.

Diluted Dante wrote:

Tech for flying around on Earth is not necessarily going to be useful for launching into orbit or beyond.

Hair, look at the veichles we use to move around the planet, and the ones we use to get off it.

djchump wrote:

How many years do you think you could keep tabs on this ufo stuff, hoping for proof, until eventually you realise that nothings really progressed since the ufo stuff in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s because, quite simply, there’s nothing there to prove?

Proving the existence of UFOs seems fairly moot at this point. When there's videos of them and the US government is saying we can't identify these flying objects.

No you a pee!

Where do I sign?