Do you believe?

[nosfarartu]

yes because now adays we are to techinically advanced in a way sounds better i my head but how did we get this technology if we used to live in sand houses or wat ever there was a man who had a theory that we are aliens ourselves and we inhabbited this planet the same way people used to send prisoners to australia but aliens set theere prisoners here in a way it does make sense

[Mini]

Yes I do! Since we humans exist, there should be other life forms too!
WE ARE A TYPE OF ALIENS AFTER ALL

[TheAsterisk!]

Alright, I've had enough.
This will be directed at no one specific, but at all those who believe the greys will come for them one day.
Be prepared to think academically if you read further. No pointin' an' gigglin', no comments of "Eww, gross!" and no posts saying how my interpretation deals with immoral, criminal, and, likely, abhorrent events. I will remain intellectual in my thinking (as best I can) and my language will be compliant with FCC standards; reading my words will merely require the same maturity as a health/sex-ed class in the U.S. Some content may be a bit too mature for some of you, though, so, please use your discretion liberally. I am entirely serious when I post this explanation, so don't get the idea that I'm trying to upset people or act maliciously.

Sigmund Freud would've had so much fun dissecting the contemporary description of an alien abduction (as in the U.S.-since I know the most about that one), especially since he though everything had to do with either one's mother or sex.
1) Strangely humanoid creatures with indistinct faces and oversized, black eyes are the typical ET's.
2) Persons are supposedly abducted from their bedrooms or their cars most times. Light often shines/appears prior to the ETs' entry.
3) Persons claim to be immobile or paralyzed as the greys approach and explore them.
4) Bizarre experiments are performed, usually involving "probes," sexual functions, hybrid offspring, or a combination of these.
5) All this happens at night after suddenly awakening in most accounts.
6) Abductees are returned to their beds/cars and do not remember the incident (at least not until hypnosis is involved later on).

Ignoring the (now classic) explanations of fear of the dark and silence at night, sleep paralysis, garden-variety lunatics, societally inspired dreams, the problems that plague hypnotherapy, and the enormous improbability of ETs ever even making their way to Earth, I can very easily interpret the account above to be hazy memories of a sexual incident, possibly something illegal (or not-it could be either). Such poor and altered memory could be due to drugs or mental/emotional trauma associated with the event/act.
The numbers below correspond to the numbers above.
1)
a) THe ETs, in all likelyhood, should not appear as humanoid as they do. If they have evolved in an environment entirely unique from the Earth's, they should bear almost no resemblance to humans or any life forms found on Earth. The only reasons for them to appear humanoid AT ALL are psychological. Popular society (movies, books, etc.) and scenarios in which the ETs represent real humans are the likeliest reasons
b) The indistinct faces and pupil-only eyes may be remembered into fact out of a desire or need to forget who these ETs represent(ed).
2) Bedrooms and cars (at least in the U.S.) are strongly associated with sex. A light shining/apearing could be a cloudy memory of aregular, electrical light being turned on as another enters the car/bedroom.
4)
a) This could be a memory of sexual molestation or some similar act, altered because of associated emotional trauma. The prevalence of sexually related acts during abduction descriptions, along with "probes" being inserted into various orifices, seems (to me) to imply that (a) sexual act(s) took place. This could relate to supposed hybrid fetuses as well.
b) An alternate explanation for the claims of ETs impregnating (and aborting the fetuses of) abductees could have to do with a reluctance to admit to (what, in some places, is viewed as) immoral acts and/or behaviors, similar to the origins of the expression, "Son of a gun."
3) (Yes, I know, the numbers are out of order.) Molestation/rape victims, especially children, often remember feeling helpless or powerless to stop the incident, as with the ET abduction accounts.
5) Corresponding to the time of many (but not all)sexual aggression, the ETs strike at night.
6) Persons not remembering a sexual attack may actually not remember it (if the mind refuses to let itself think of the incident due to emotional trauma) or may want to avoid conciously bringing up the thought for fear of more pain resulting or having to explain the ordeal (a feeling of guilt is sometimes involved). In the U.S., a socially exceptable way of dealing with the incident would be to alter the description (whether unconciously or voluntarily) to that of an ET abduction. The return to bed/car could be seen as a representation of a return to regularly anticipated events.
Why nobody else has said this before, I don't know, but, to me, at least, this scenario seems quite possible and much more probable than the greys showing up at 2am to check out some humans' innards.

There, all the tense stuff is done.
A slightly amusing way to explain contemporary accounts of ETs' distinctly humanoid appearance without saying they don't exist at all (at least not in such a form) is to wonder whether they are humans from the future.
This is another idea I rarely see proposed.

[MysticEntity]

Aliens?....nah...otherworlders? yes

[Storm Strife]

Aliens?....nah...otherworlders? yes

Pardon me, but aren't they the same?

[MissChelly]

I believe there's aliens. Like many others have said in this thread, it'd be awfully arrogant to think we're the only lifeform of alllll the universe. Also, who's to say they need oxygen? To compare them to ourselves is overlooking and assuming a lot. Heck, who's even to say they'd be interested in our planet?

I do agree however with TheAsterick!. There was this book I read dealing heavily with that, in fact. Even about hypnosis and how not everything said under it is true, even certain wording in the questioning of someone under hypnosis can change their answer. Hypnosis is rather controversial on whether it tends to work or not- so I wouldn't hold it as proof if someone said under such hypnosis that they came in contact with an alien.
Like said, I do believe there's aliens somewhere out there- however, I wouldn't be surprised if vast majority of people's "contact" with them was ficticious in some form. Whether by the mind's own trickery after dealing with traumatic events or even just for the sake of wanting attention.

[Grod]

Of course not. The "belief" in aliens is simply wishful thinking.

The chances of the processes that make up the building blocks of life are one in a billion.

[bug]

I believe in them. I don't think that they look like us or that they have made contact with us, but I do believe that somewhere out there, there is probably a chance that something alive exists. What I'm most interested in is just how smart those unearthly being are.

[MysticEntity]

Pardon me, but aren't they the same?

Well, you mean aliens as in creatures from other planets right?..What I meant was people from another world, not planets.

[TheAsterisk!]

Well, you mean aliens as in creatures from other planets right?..What I meant was people from another world, not planets.

Merriam-Webster: MysticEntity! I thought you knew better!
Well, I guess it's not entirely your fault; I have been away for a while...
You do know what this means, though, don't you? You and I will be seeing a lot more of each other for the next few days.
TA: GO WEBSTER!
The Oxford College Dictionary: Hey, we're pals too, right? (suddenly looks sad)
TA: (points) HAHA!

[Golden State Warrior]

I definitely believe in other life forms. I don't have any scientifical proof or anything like that. It's just the possibility is too high. There are millions and millions and millions of stars out there. I mean, there's gotta be a one planet that can sustain life.

I look at the possibility of other life forms the same way as I would look at the possibility of sinking at least one shot from downtown, if I made one trillion billion kazillion attempts.

[TheAsterisk!]

You forgot "quadrillion," the most neglected of the comically large numbers.

[Golden State Warrior]

You forgot "quadrillion," the most neglected of the comically large numbers.

Mah bad. I knew I left something out.

[TheAsterisk!]

'S'alright.
By the way, I know there was talk a while back about making "zillion" a real number; did it ever actually happen?

[StabWound]

The universe is huge, It'd be crazy to think there is no other life out there.