Aliens and Bases on Mars

Discussion
1

So, this well respected professor and former General and former government official has put his reputation on the line by making these claims. Maybe he’s got dementia, maybe he’s telling the truth…

But, couple things stand out to me… “Trump knows about it and was gonna blab but they talked him out of it.” I find that hard to believe. Trump does what Trump wants. The whole world knows he’s reckless, Why would Admirals/ CEOs of contractors/ Other Leaders tell him that info and not Bill Clinton or Obama or Jimmy Carter…

BUT
The pentagon did not issue a statement when asked for one, which means they didn’t deny it and how easy would it be just to comment with “Who believes this nonsense?” or “Why would we comment on bullshit?”

Also,
Concerning Aliens, the government can’t hide shit, If the Aliens existed and wanted to, they could announce their presence by landing on some busy freeway and saying “hi,” and the Government couldn’t do shit about it.

Anyway, NBC is running this story, so there’s that.

2

I don’t think aliens would want to make contact with us any more than we’d like to sit down and introduce ourselves to an anthill. I don’t think we’d understand them on any level – at all.

**** Spoilers for Stephen King’s "Under The Dome ****

In “Under the Dome,” a Maine town found itself inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by a forcefield one day. No one in, no one out. The town quickly turns on itself, and the result is 1000+ pages of delightful man-against-man mayhem. BUT: The “cause” of the disaster is a bunch of alien children farting around with what they consider to be a toy. The metaphor King makes is ants to humans… to these alien children, whose needs and impulses and emotions are so far removed from our own that to understand them is as likely as an ant understanding accounting.

So yeah. I suspect we have several more million years of evolving to do before we can even converse. Forget about “wanting” to…

3

I’ve heard Neil deGrasse Tyson make that analogy to the ant hill as well (Although I’m sure King does a much more entertaining job… and that story kinda sounds like a new take on Twilight Zone’s Monsters are Due on Maple Street).

I understand the analogy they’re trying to make, but I don’t think I agree with it. As far as we know, Ants don’t have language, they don’t have any kind of technical evolution, they can’t learn. They’re, for all intents and purposes, robots, mindless automatons.

Humanity, on the other hand, has language, we are able to progress and learn and create; we’ve cracked the atom. I just don’t think it’s an apt comparison. A far more sophisticated species should have no problem communicating with us. When it comes right down to it the only reason they are “better/Smarter” (For lack of better words) than us is because of their technology… How much different are they than us if they don’t have that technology? I kinda see it like a older sibling younger sibling. Older sibling is smarter than younger sibling just based on experience but that doesn’t mean older sibling and younger sibling can’t talk to each other. It doesn’t mean that both can’t teach each other something…

I’m aware of the “Older sibling want’s nothing to do with the younger sibling because the younger sibling is lame,” angle. and that’s a valid point, but that’s based on want not ability.

Another point for me is “Why just the US?” why would Aliens, if they visited Earth, settle for meeting just America, why not all or many of the governments?

Anyway, interesting topic.

Occasionally I wonder if stories like these, where somebody important appears to go all crazy about some topic, are even about the topics that they appear to be about… Meaning, this general guy is using the press as a way to deliver a message to another general in the us or the pentagon or just somebody important, and the press is used as a covert vehicle to deliver this message.

So all us laymans think this is an article about Aliens, but it really is is a coded message from that general to somebody important. So, aliens would mean peace and mars equals spy or something, and they write this story with the code words in the right order and all of us think it’s about aliens but its really something entirely different.

Best place to hide something is in plain sight. nothing is more in plain sight than the press.
:thinking: :man_shrugging:

4

I have yet to read the articles about this story, but my friends were talking about it yesterday. There was some talk about us having some treaty with them or something. It just made zero sense to me. I mean, if these other beings have anything resembling high intelligence then why would they think we actually respect the sanctity of contracts/ treaties?

As for the “whistle-blower”, honestly all I needed to hear to make an assessment was that he was 87 years old. I’ve seen dementia first hand with my grandmother in her last days, and also the residents in her facility. People’s realities totally change. They’re not trying to pull some con job or anything. They just get some wires crossed or some mental files shuffled and there isn’t really much you can do about it.

I think it gets more intense with people that do have really high level jobs where they’ve been taught to keep secrets and protect information and such. When certain mental processes breakdown for a highly intelligent, highly professional dude like this, I think actual memories get mixed up with sci-fi show and books and such and shit just goes off the rails.

And putting all the “he’s crazy” shit aside, I can break it down on a functional level because . . . . this guy isn’t working anymore. He doesn’t have access to this stuff anyway. Our governments have tons of classified shit, but they don’t just call up Old Man Herschel and tell him all the latest scoop. He’d need to point out ANOTHER whistleblower or two to give any credence to his claims.

I might revise any or all of this once I dig a little further into the story, but I doubt it.
87 year old man knows about the aliens . . . . this isn’t our first rodeo.

5

Certainly. Given the track record that the US has with keeping their word. Just ask a native American what our word is worth.

I get the point you’re making, and I basically made it too BUT old age doesn’t automatically mean dementia. This dude could have full control of his faculties… and I would think if he didn’t, a reporter would pick up on this and not print this article… But that doesn’t mean some unscrupulous reporter wouldn’t.

I think that’s probably pretty smart assessment.

I don’t know how far removed he is from his position… Is he recently retired? and even If not he could be working from information that was available to him when he was in that position. Also, I would guess the people that hold those types of jobs still have non retired friends that still hold those jobs and they talk shop even if the dude is retired… Although, I could be wrong about the last part, there could be some unspoken protocol that they don’t talk business, just as easily as there could be protocol for professional courtesy for those put in their time.

My grandmother was 99 and had dementia for the last 10 years of her life. Thankfully, I was shielded from nearly all of it. That’s terrible you had to see it, Gunnar.

6

If you like to read, do yourself a favor and grab “Under the Dome.” It’s amazing. It’s one of King’s most underrated books, it justifies its length by never getting boring, and it’s a thinly veiled allegory for the Bush/Cheney regime, as well.

7

I’m already a fan of Stephen King so I may do that.
It might be interesting to go back and view some attitudes during that era.

8

I’m gonna look into that King book too. I’ve never read any Stephen King and it’s been a long ass time since I’ve read anything that wasn’t an autobiography.

9

King’s great! I’ve read a bunch his books and I really like his style of writing. He pays a lot of attention to detail with his descriptions, but it’s not description for the sake of mindless writing - meaning he doesn’t spend 2 pages describing the wall paper for no other reason than just to do it… If he does go on at length about some details there’s a reason you need to know that much detail.
The last book of his I read was Desperation and it was great. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed with a King book … There were parts of Hearts in Atlantis I didn’t like (actually the whole vietnam part but I think that was already discussed in a thread back when) but yeah, Kings worth a read and i really don’t think you could go wrong with picking one of his books at random.

I actually was going to pick up the Long Walk based on Lowelly’s recommendation this past summer but I can’t tear myself away from the guitar to do anything else in my free time so that’s out. I’ve got three books stacked up since march I just haven’t got to. :frowning:

But I’ve just learned tonight tonight by the smashing pumpkins and half of Rage Against The Machine’s self titled album along with about 30 other full songs… So… there’s that. :neutral_face:

10

I was at Barnes and Noble with my wife today and asked where the Stephen King books were, as I didn’t see any in “Fiction”. Turns out there’s a separate “Horror” section. A bit of scanning and I found “Under The Dome”. It was facing forward, but when I dug back to grab it, the damned thing went about 4 inches deep, hahahaha. It was like a fucking phone book. Other than dictionaries, Bibles, and legal code books I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so hefty. I flipped to the back to confirm that, yes, indeed, it was OVER 1000 PAGES. I chickened out, and decided tonight was NOT the night I would try to read Stephen King.

1 Like
11

HAHAHAHA.
I would suggest The Talisman or Desperation as your first King novel those 2 are my favorites from him and you don’t need a wheel barrow to haul them around.
LOL
I would recommend Talisman as my favorite King book of all of them that I’ve read. (It’s written a collab with Peter Straub but it reads like a King book)

12

I’m here to tell you that those 1000 pages fly right by. The book is literally impossible to put down.

13

Desperation was incredible. That he could produce 700+ pages that describe the events of a single night without belaboring the point is the work of a true craftsman.

I liked (SPOILERS) the fact that God in Desperation is a not-so-vaguely-Christian God. King isn’t very religious, and a lot of the time he resorts to spirituality over religion (the power of the white to conquer evil, etc.). But in Desperation, he didn’t fuck around with that stuff. It’s a work about Catholicism, but it doesn’t pander or preach to the audience.

“The Stand” was very Biblical, too. He calls it “a work of dark Christianity,” which is a perfect description for it.

“The Talisman” was great. Wolf! Did you read the sequel, “Black House”?

1 Like
14

Thanks. Maybe I’ll sack up and go for it.
On the plus side, I doubt I’ll misplace/lose this one the way I do so many other books I start, haha.

15

I’ve tried… It doesn’t really hold my attention. I’ve tried to read it at least three different times and my mind wanders and I’m just bored by it. I think I’ve gotten to the part where he’s found the house obscured by overgrown foliage… If I remember correctly… it’s probably been at least 10 years since I’ve last tried.

16

It’s definitely a far cry from “The Talisman.” I’ve read Peter Straub and his hands are aaaaall over “Black House” – he’s a great writer but definitely an acquired taste. And finally, if you haven’t read (or been reading) The Dark Tower series, about 45% of Black House won’t make much sense.

17

Well, there ya go. I only read gunslinger out of the dark tower series. I dont remember much from other than loving the area with all the trees next to the river. His description of that area was so peaceful and bright. Very vivid

18

Bahaha I saw that. Goes to show that you can’t keep everything a secret forever. Some Russian politician echoed the same shit some years ago. Eventually all those deep dark secrets the govt is hiding will leak either by an insider or by public pressure.

I think it may also have a lot to do with Elon and NASAs Artemis project and the inevitable human space colonization. Believe it or not we’re witnessing the birth of a new age, between AI and space exploration taking off humanity is gonna take a massive leap in the next few decades

I think they figure we’re about to venture out into space on a more permanent basis and we’re gonna start seeing some unexplainable, otherworldly shit out there might as well leak bits of truth bit by bit so it doesn’t smack us like a ton of bricks when we’re cruising around in space running into aliens.

19

You believe him? I don’t think I do. I keep going back to Carl Sagan’s mantra: “extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.” the only “Proof” this guy has going for him is his ex position in the government… but why would that make him privy to our secrets?

I definitely agree with this.

20

I like long books and I love Stephen King. The Stand is phenomenal and relevant…considering the crisis we are in now which is 1/1000th of what happens in The Stand (99% of people wiped out by a flu-like virus similar to Covid). There is a mini series of The Stand on CBS now and I’m enjoying it. But the book is a lot better.

Personally i think reading is so important and a lost art. Shout out to King’s Dark Tower series as well. I am currently reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Best opening line of any novel, ever.

As far as aliens go, I don’t understand the skepticism. They might realize humans are a hot mess, but they would probably at least play by our rules in engaging with us out of respect because they would be more advanced and not warlike beings.

As for Trump keeping quiet, I find that believable as well, because it’s not something that would clearly benefit him one way or another, so there’s no motive. Once he’s out of office if he were to write a tell-all or something, or if there was some use to him revealing the aliens, I’m sure it will come out.

Either way I’m excited for the alien thing to come to light one way or another,. I like that Trump isn’t a corporate puppet like Biden. You’d be more likely to hear the truth from Trump in this regard.