Lao

if this thread was us all having a daydream about what kinda cool alien technology we would like to see an alien race share with us, i would be daydreaming with you. there is absolutely no shame in being fascinated by space, or future techs. The problem is what you have chosen to attach your interest to, these awful tether videos that have been debunked 1000 times. The problem with the space programs is it is disapointing when compared to sci-fi, star trek has man zipping through the universe solving problems and banging hot alien chicks(every damn episode in ST:TOS), but in real life scientist get excited about finding ice water on mars. for me the technology that would most interest me would be FTL travel. covering vast distances is the biggest problem facing any spacefaring race wanting to make contact with other life forms or finding other worlds to colonize.I have always harboured an idea that there is a direction of travel that we dont understand, to us it would seem as though we were folding space between us and our destination. its not up/down, left/right, forward/back, distance/time, it is simply a direction between two points that would offer almost instataneous travel, what i understand of entanglement theory has supported this idea. because we have height width and depth it is easy for us to percieve these dimensions of travel, i theorize that we have no mass or energy in my theoretical dimension and as a result we are unaware of its existance. and as such its increadibly difficult to describe! this might also lead to transporter technology, much safer than being dis-assembled at a molecular level, an alien race that could solve heisenberg's uncertainty principle and actually make manipulations at the sub atomic level would be very interesting to me. i would like to submit my application for xeno-diplomat at the earliest convienience, to whom should i speak? after a few years of active duty, i would probably then move on to proffessor of xeno studies. i like the sound of that.

thats fair enough, however, i dont agree with you that what you are seeing on these videos are probes or alien technology of some description.

i fail to see the relevence sock puppet accounts have to either of the ongoing discussions here, religion dogma or the possibility of alien life. my account on manxforums is my only one and is also not annoymous. i have been honest about my identity here because i only joined to add news about my mixed martial arts team in the sports section, and to give advice on the threads that start "im thinking of joining a martial arts class, any suggestions...." i have however stayed on the manxforums because i enjoy the chatter and debate, and as such realise i the powerful tool that internet annonimity can be. there is no assumed heirachy, if you post an opinon or theory on a forum, it better stand up to scrutiny, it is like a social peer review. there are many times i have felt like opening a second account, so that i can tell someone just how full of shit i think they are, fortunately someone else always seems to do it for me so i have yet to bother. i share your belief manxman2 that there is alien life out there, i also believe that it is plausable that some alien life has made contact with life on planets other than their own, but i dont believe it has happened here yet and i dont find the evidence you have presented to be anything more than a drowning man clutching at straws.

did you see how long it took him to answer that one question. i cannot express my deep gratitude to that man for the tremendous efforts he goes to to share his knowledge with us, it would be much easier and no one would think the less of him if he avoided the exhausting effort these seminars must be for him. perhaps sharing this video was a step towards appreciation.

He's skeptical about skeptics? im skeptical of his skepticism of skeptics. i really cant believe that this discussion is ongoing. obviously my last post (which i injected with a lot of physics sarcasm) didnt hit the mark. so here is a much more credible authority on life elsewhere in the universe and the question of "have we been visited?" you can skip to about 3:40 for the relavant portion of the video but shame on you if you do. thread won.

Never ending fuel supplies and faster than light travel? Did i accidentally click the wrong link? No this is definately creationism/intelligent design, perhaps i have just stumbled onto a derail of epic proportions. im guessing that we must be discussing an episode of star trek, better warm up the heisenberg compensators when dealing with those priveliged frames of reference, and dont concern yourself with causality, simply posit that FTL travel causes space to fold together thus avoiding the need to explain why no time travel occured! and never ending fuel supplies? not before i finish my own perpetual motion engine, im so close any day now i will smash the second law of thermodynamics and the law of consevation of energy and bury them in the shallow grave they deserve for having plagued mankind for so long! you may consider the above to be sarcasm, but in truth it was a lot better than just sitting here facepalming myself repeatedly at some of what i have just read. i will never get those minutes of my life back.

we are never going to settle this sand vs stars debate ourselves, perhaps we should ask god? (sarcasm) actually come to think of it, in norse mythology wasn't a minor god's punishment for an infraction, that he had to count every grain of sand on the earth? but to keep the thread at least somewhat on topic, does the intelligent design movement have propaganda an answer for why the universe is so vast, if its only purpose is to house one planet which can sustain life?

all of that space, all that mass of creation, just to house the planet earth? creationists actually believe that a 'god' made all of this empty space for the purpose of this one planet. what a waste!

Did you watch the Hawking interview on TED yet Chinahand? i watched it today, it was inspiring, not to mention at time very funny. He injected humor into the subject at just the right points, spoke so a layman could understand and touch points of great interest. after that the interviewer asked him a question which took him seven minutes to respond to. it is amazing and humbling that despite how difficult it must be for him, he still takes the time and expends the massive amount of energy that communication take out of him, so that other might benefit from his knowledge.

and it was greatly appreciated! Saw DavidC yesterday (he doesn't post often) then saw Wazo at class and took the mick out of him for resurrecting long dead threads, but no sign of John Faragher at class! (but he let me know before hand) never make that target weight if you keep missing training to go to stuffy meetings! (hope you didn't eat too many chocolate biscuits)

Bumped into ariel at the phone shop in the high street. wouldn't have know her had she not recognised me from the 'gis a look' thread in which i posted a pic. went in there with a mate who needed a new phone, but she almost convinced me to get an iphone! Always was a sucker for a pretty face

Nothing that organised, just a sub group of one of the churches on the Island who were interested in that sort of thing and bought some videos.

that skewed views of science video was excellent! Last year i met with some people on the Island who as a group were in the early stages of accepting the creationist viewpont. Im not sure why i was invited, perhaps to be converted (they didn't know me well) or to pressure test this new belief structure, whatever the case i was exposed to aggressive creationist theory for the first time. We watched videos and then had discussion, and as i didn't have the precise knowledge needed to refute the claims made i simply listened to the 'evidence'. The following week i was invited back but was much better prepared, with the aid of two friends (1 entymologist the other a mathematical physicist) i had done much research and could handle the thrust and parry of their arguments and standard counter arguments. both my friends had drilled me not only on the specifics of creationism vs evolution but both also instilled upon me the importance of the basics of scientific method, evidence based theory, double blind test etc. needless to say i was not invited back a third time, but i learnt a valuable lesson about the scientific method and when the time comes for me to pass it on to someone else i shall show them the above mentioned video. i dont think i could put it any better. the last i heard the group is still having its meetings, but it now has a rival group, also creationist but different in some way or other.