1. Real life is weirder than any fiction imaginable, particularly since none of us can agree on what real life, truth, or existence entails -- nor do we know how many things happen to or for us the way it does.
If there are aliens among us, or marrying with us, or controlling us, how would that change anything but our assumptions and perceptions? And what "useful" could be done with that information?
At this point no one could agree that there's anything to be done about it, not that there would be any point in doing whatever that is.
Aliens among us, much less their classification (which isn't news, BillJ) seemed much weirder and threatening when more of the human race was tolerable and tolerant. But with freedoms falling away around the world, especially in the US, we now have more important interests.
It only makes sense there are other life forms in the universe. Why are earth inhabitants so damn self-important that they thing life as they recognize it is the only type of life?
We are surrounded every day by things we cannot see. If we could see radio waves, we'd be going through life in a wild array of colors.
As Doc says, ultimately it's folklore, even if it's real. And again, these days, proof means nothing if you don't want to believe it. Headlines and people's responses to them prove it every day.
A short read: Philip Wylie, The Answer, www.amazon.com
Read "alien" for "angel."
In this ingenious and unforgettable twentieth-century parable, a world on the brink of war is thrown into chaos when angels fall from heaven
Major General Marcus Scott is a seasoned veteran of combat, a loyal American, and a skeptic in a volatile world. But amid the aftermath of a nuclear weapons test in the South Pacific, everything Scott believes--and refuses to believe--will be turned upside down.
In a pool of clear water lies a single casualty of the blast, a beautiful winged being certainly not of this earth. And when a second celestial creature is discovered following a Russian H-bomb test, the military establishments of two major powers are thrown into chaos. Sworn enemies, each pledged to the other's destruction, they must now deal with the unthinkable and the impossible: that the Cold War has transcended the boundaries of the world, reaching into heaven to bring down angels.
A provocative tale as beguiling as it is disturbing, Philip Wylie's The Answer is a captivating fantasy of the nuclear age. Set at the height of the United States-Soviet arms race, it is a page-turning thriller that taps into the anxieties and paranoia of a bygone era, offering a heartfelt plea for peaceful coexistence while decrying the suicidal insanity of war.
@#21 ... I don't know what you will do with yourselves if a deal actually gets worked out with Iran and we have peace in the middle east. ...
Will the possible peace be better or worse than the one that Pres Trump tore up?
Will the Strait of Hormuz be fully reopened? (notice I said "reopened," because the Strait of Hormuz had been fully open before Pres Trump's Iran war.)