Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on Undiscriminating Skepticism - Less Wrong

97 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 14 March 2010 11:23PM

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Comment author: Jayson_Virissimo 15 March 2010 03:38:08AM 17 points [-]

I don't believe in UFOs.

To my own great embarrassment, I have experienced a "UFO sighting". It was in the late 1990s in Phoenix, Arizona. What I saw was 7 or 8 bright orbs in the shape of a triangle traveling very slowly over the Phoenix/Scottsdale area (which is why I thought it was a blimp at first). After about a minute and comparing it to a nearby mountain I decided that it couldn't possibly be a blimp. The length and width were way too large. Next, I thought that perhaps it was flares, but after watching it for about 10 more minutes was sure they they had either floated higher into the sky or stayed the same altitude and were still in the same configuration with respect to each other (an isosceles triangle).

Before my personal experience, I had assumed that the people on those ridiculous documentary shows on the Discovery Channel were simply fools or people suffering from a psychological illness. I wasn't the kind of person who believed in that stuff. The next day I started questioning if I even saw it (after all, I would probably has ridiculed someone who told me they saw such a thing the previous day). It must have been a mistake. A few months later, I rationalized it by telling myself that it had been a dream. This worked until my mother (who also saw it) reminded me about something that happened on that same day.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 16 March 2010 09:56:17AM *  11 points [-]

My father was once involved in an UFO sighting - he built the UFO, and did the sound effects too, when the other kids got close. Summer camp was involved.

Hope no one ever told those kids it was a flock of birds...

Comment author: Kevin 16 March 2010 10:38:52AM *  1 point [-]

This report [http://lesswrong.com/lw/1s4/open_thread_february_2010_part_2/1n29] makes it seem like UFO sightings of the kind Jayson experienced are relatively common.

And a memo reveals how former prime minister Winston Churchill expressed curiosity in "flying saucers" and requested a briefing from his ministers.

He was told in reply that following an intelligence study conducted in 1951, the "flying saucers" could be explained by "one or other" of four causes.

These were known astronomical or meteorological phenomena, mistaken identification of conventional aircraft, optical illusions and psychological delusions, or deliberate hoaxes.

The reports on objects previously known as UFOs would probably be more interesting.