Why So Many UFO “Models”?
Here’s one for the aliens-from-other-planets believers: In the history of the UFO subject, I am at pains to find any two photographed, video-ed, or witnessed craft (or whatever they are) that are identical. Even if there are a few, among the thousands of UFOs over the past 60 years or more I defy anyone to find an exact match, especially if the sightings are separated by time or location. John Keel noted this fact long ago in Operation Trojan Horse. One site cataloging the myriad types can be found here.
We hate making assumptions here on Ufomystic, but one would think that standardization would be in order to make things easier, especially if these things are coming from many light years away to take a look at us. Perhaps the craft don’t need to stop for repairs and exchange saucer parts like Southwest Airlines does on their one-model fleet. Another speculation is that our non-humans may not need to standardize, and craft are built for specialization down to the most exacting degree. Not all UFOs are shaped like flying saucers or cigars–some are decidedly non-aerodynamic.
What might be more likely, given the wide range of things sighted and (sometimes) recorded is that the witness is a participant in the temporary reality of a sighting, and this affects what he or she sees. Sighted objects are as individual as the people reporting them. There have been cases where witnesses give widely differing accounts of the same weird things flying overhead. Perhaps our expectations even change what comes through a camera lens.
A telling factor in this is the “standardization” of UFO occupants since the late 1970s. No longer do we hear about beer-can shaped robots, humanoids in spacesuits, or hairy dwarves. Actually, these reports may be out there, but the researchers (especially of the American sort) are most likely blocking out the stories that don’t conform to the big-headed, bug-eyed variety. Literalists and ETH-believers may counter that this is because all those other alien races lost interest or were pushed aside by the “grays” long ago.
This interpretation stretches credulity in an already incredible realm. It is filled with assumptions about things that we ultimately made up by us. Self-referential reasoning will likely get us nowhere in the study of UFOs, and it has been going on for so long that most of us don’t even notice. We assume that aliens are visiting from other planets with little evidence that this is the case.
We may be changing the phenomenon by our very expectations, and closing off possible breakthroughs with our tunnel-vision. Ufologists from other countries are pushed aside if they don’t conform their theories to this cultural juggernaut. We can ill-afford to ignore our own prejudices in a subject as mercurical and ephemeral as UFOs. They are after all, “unidentified.”
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Sep 07 2007 
September 7th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Some of those “Models” look very naughty indeed
September 7th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
UV,
Yes, especially C-2. Didn’t notice that when I put up the image.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I would suggest a new niche market… but I’m sure it’s already been cornered!
September 7th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Greg:
By the way does anyone know who drew these pics. A few of them appear to match some of Billy Meirs photos. I realize many question his photos after those american guys rebuilt models from his photos. Those are the photo’s with strings attached, somewhere I have their video where they sent his photos and the ones with the fake ufo models in to be checked for heat signitures. His passed; but, not the fake ones. As Ive read some where all his photos are considered fake now because of the string issue. There is about seven that Ive seen photos of plus one or two look like ones Ive heard from people that have seen the orb type. Sorry no proof guys.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
A very valid argument, one that has sadly been hidden “under the carpet” by many ofilogists since it canbe used by die-hard skeptics about the falsehood of the phenomenon.
I think you might be on the right track. But for the sake of argument we shouldn’t also assume that, if these beings were in fact from other planet, that they also necessarily conform to the use of product-line manufacturing. Perhaps building a space craft for them would be like building a house for us: nobody has the EXACT same house as his neighbour, it’s more a work of craft than of engineering.
But of course this is a mere speculation exercise on my part.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Greg,
Here’s an off topic question. I just finished you’re book Project Beta. Would it be true to say that the whole underground UFO bases-reptilian thing got started with the disinformation operation against Paul Bennewitz? Would it therefore be true that this whole reptilitan deal with the US Govt was spawned by the disinformation campaign conducted against Bennewitz?
September 7th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
dave,
I don’t know who drew the pictures. They were stolen from another site, which probably lifted them from a book.
As for Meier, I never took him seriously. The pictures were just too good to be true, and his films were just ridiculous.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
red pill,
Re: your comments about alien craft construction–I dealt with that in the second paragraph. We basically said the same thing.
As for skeptics using the non-conforming ufotypes as ammo against the phenomenon: These people, along with many ufologists are so far behind the times as to be almost irrelevant.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:13 am
One answer that no one in UFOlogy wants to hear is that therefore all but one or two of the UFO descriptions are false. The real challenge for UFOlogists then is how to tell the difference between the confabulations, hoaxes, lies, illusions, and delusions. So far no UFOlogist has been able to meet the challenge therefore that is why they do not want to consider this answer.
September 8th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
I’m going to play Devil’s(ETH)advocate here. If the ET’s have mastered space travel, they probably also mastered nanotechnology or perhaps even more advanced technologies like creating an intelligent living ship which can convert sub-atomic particles into anything it needs. We’ve always assumed the little grey guys were the intelligent ones when in fact the intelligent ones might be the ufo’s themselves. The greys may be artificial beings used as sensors for the ship to relate to us at a level that suitable for our level of communication. We talk to our machines but they may be trying to talk to us as well and we just can’t understand them because they’re too primitive. The same may be true with the UFO’s as we are communicating at a level too primitive for them to understand and reply to.
September 8th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Hi crgintx, that’s an interesting proposal, I have read how some people thing these little gray fellows (If they really do exist and are not some form or social meme or disinfo campaign) are not the real “perpetrators” of all those abductions, but some form of humanoid robot; or that the greys humanoid form is just some kind of “vessel” for an intelligence that exists in another realm or dimension to interact with us in our reality.
I have read in other places how some people consider the UFOs as “living” entities, but that really gets us in a very tricky subject: what is life anyway?
But the idea the the occupants of these crafts or vessels are mere extensions of the vessel itself is sure thought provoking…
Then again, It kind of reminds me of how the alien in “Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy” first thought our AUTOMOBILES were the dominant species in our planet!
September 9th, 2007 at 9:03 am
One of the requirements for sentient life as determined by those who actually study such things, is the hand with the opposable thumb. That is how humans were able to create tools and operate machinery and so on.
UFOs have no hands or thumbs.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:56 am
misteranderson,
Yes, I think that the whole reptilian/ underground UFO bases thing was cooked up by the AFOSI et al. That was one of the main premises of my book. I think that the stories were elaborated on by “government informants” to track where the stories went.
September 9th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Hi Sage.
An opposable thumb has been a great help for us to develop a technological civilization; but it may not be the rule in other parts of the Universe. Back in the beginning of the last century sci-fi writer H.G. Wells portrayed his martians as cephalopoid creatures with tentacles that could rasp and manipulate all kinds of objects. As a matter of fact real octopuses can manipulate rocks and shells when looking for food, they are extremely intelligent beings.
But I know, UFOs don’t have tentacles either. But consider what some TRANSHUMANISTS are proposing, that when our machines become better than our physical bodies, we should “download” our consciousness to them, in order to become immortal. We might become living machines capable of exploring the universe without the limmitations of the flesh, which is to frail to endure the rigours of space on itself anyway. Once again, this is all highly speculative, but fun to consider nonetheless
September 9th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
red pill junkie:
You are correct, it does not necessarily specify a hand with an opposable thumb, it is just the appendage most often cited as an example because it is a shorthand for “appendages for grasping and manipulating tools”. But that is not the real point, the real point is that UFOs have no appendages for appendages for grasping and manipulating tools. UFOs are quadriplegics.
September 9th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
UFOs are now supposed to pick up things as well as fly through the air? Me, I’m satisfied with unbelievable aerial maneuvers and occasional simple landings.
September 10th, 2007 at 2:26 am
We send little rovers to Mars, does that makes quadriplegics? While I believe genuine unexplainable aerial phenomena sightings are rare and many are secret gov’t aircraft, some of the more spectacular sightings seem to behave like dolphins playing with ships out in the ocean. Especially the ones that have been reported to play with high performance military aircraft. Just another wild thought thrown out there.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
I have seen a few matches among pictures. First, the ‘hat’ shape seems quite common, as is the plain silver disc.
There’s a famous UFO pic that appears to show a craft with a large black antenna on top. I saw another photo from France that was nearly identical.
September 11th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Greg,
What has always caught my attention are the reports of unidentified “craft” splitting into multiple craft, morphing shape, rejoining each other, etc. Such antics have been seen visually and at least seemingly equivalent behaviors have appeared on radar as well.
It makes one wonder; do they take their form as a consequence of the expectations (conscious or unconscious) of the observer(s)? Or do they genuinely shape shift as a result of environmental conditions?
For instance, the sphere is the most stable solid form of which we in 3D space are aware. But if these things don’t come from 3D space, or at least if they travel “outside” 3D space in some fashion, what would the most stable (or aerodynamic) shape be in that “other” space? Might they not shift shape to accomodate the space they find themselves in?
Also, I have heard that some studies have been performed using the classic saucer shape to see how aerodynamic it really is, and without some sort of stabilizer (i.e., flaps, a tail, etc.,) the saucer shape is very difficult to control. But that presupposes that these unknown craft are using lift in the same way our conventional aircraft use it. If lift is not a part of their equation; if they rely on some totally different mechanism, all bets are off. Maybe they could pick any shape they wanted because of the mechanism by which they “fly”. So it could be stricltly a matter of aesthetic preference.
Personally, I’ve always liked the shape of the alien craft in the original “Alien” (with Sigourney Weaver) movie. Actually, come to think of it, I really preferred Sigourney Weaver’s shape more.
~R~
September 11th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
“UFOs are now supposed to pick up things as well as fly through the air? Me, I’m satisfied with unbelievable aerial maneuvers and occasional simple landings”
The subject was could UFOs be intelligent creatures, so without the ability to “pick up things”, intelligence cannot develop to the degree of humans. Look at dolphins.
September 11th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
uth,
What you say is true, but there are very few examples other than that.
John Keel relates hundreds of reports of airplanes seen during UFO flaps which are either aerodymanically wrong, perform maneuvers that no airplane should or could, or exhibit brilliantly lit cabins which would ruin any pilot’s night vision. What are we to make of these sightings? I would submit that it is more fodder for the “we see what we expect” argument. Either that, of the Ufonauts want us to see them in that form. Perhaps it’s some combination of these things.
Why didn’t people see many flying discs before 1947? Sightings seemed to conform to the current ideas of structured objects which might be able to fly.
September 11th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Sage,
Anthropocentric thinking is partly to blame for the stalemate in which ufology finds itself.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Raven,
I think that they might shift to conform to what we expect, at least some of the time.
Yes, I always liked alien spaceships from movies that look nothing like what we would think–but then again, what else would you expect from H.R> Giger?
September 12th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
“John Keel relates hundreds of reports of airplanes seen during UFO flaps…What are we to make of these sightings?
That possibly ninety out of one hundred reports are based on lies or hoaxes?
“Anthropocentric thinking is partly to blame for the stalemate in which ufology finds itself”
In evolution there are laws that apply to all living things, not just humans. Laws like “form fits function” or “only the fittest survive”. So it would not be presumptuous or inaccurate or illogical for make believe sci-fi programs to
depict the ETs as humanoid variations because of parallel evolution
converging on the same solution/form for the same (sentient) function.
September 12th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Sage,
Anthropocentric thinking also affects how we think about things, not just ourselves. Maybe I should say Earth-centric as well.
Why didn’t you say “100 out of 100?” Your statement leaves 10% as possible valuable data.
You left out misperceptions. Maybe that’s the missing 10%.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Greg,
“Anthropocentric thinking also affects how we think about things…”
That does not make sense. Anthropocentric thinking is a philosophy of humans, not a property of humans. It is a narrow-minded way of thinking but it also happens to inadvertently have gotten some things right.
“Why didn’t you say ‘100 out of 100?’”
Because I believe a very few (less than 1%) unexplained reports of UFOs may have some truth to them.
September 17th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Sage,
What I wrote makes perfect sense, unless one feels the need to literalize what is said in order to make some sort of pyrrhic debate point. I do not often think or write in absolutes.
Yes, anthropocentric thinking has gotten many things “right.” No philosophy or method has an answer for everything. I’m glad you say that it is often narrow. My point is that it may need to be given a rest in order to advance the study of UFOs and many other anomalies.
Also, I believe that we were discussing Keel’s reports of anomalous private airplane sightings, not all UFO reports. You shouldn’t change what you’re discussing midstream to make it appear that I am ignoring or misrepresenting your comments.