OrionWorks wrote: >>From Mr. Lawrence: > > ... > >> Here, let me make this more concrete: I have a perpetual motion >> machine in my basement. I can describe what it does, and how >> wonderfully it works. I'll explain to you how I've tied it into >> my house wiring, and how I no longer have to pay anything for my >> electricity. But, you are not allowed to see the machine -- I >> will not let you, even if you ask; even if you fly out here, you >> will not be allowed to see it! Will you believe me, though, that >> it really does exist? > > Can I get one installed in my basement...secretly? ;-) > >> By the same token, alien artifacts which have been described in detail >> but which we, the common folk who are not in the inner circle, are "not >> allowed to see" are not convincing of *anything*. > > I realize I risk sounding like an annoying broken record, but can we > agree on what constitutes an authentic alien artifact?
You don't sound like an annoying broken record. To be blunt, you sound silly, asking that. I don't think there's any disagreement at all over what would constitute an "authentic alien artifact" -- it would be a piece of litter left by an authentic alien, and an authentic alien is a non-earth creature. An *authentic* non-imaginary real-type actually existing non-earth creature who can potentially drive a flying saucer around and maybe crash it on the White House lawn. PLEASE don't start denying that words which have perfectly clear definitions can be defined! If *you* want to go off and use the word "alien" to mean something entirely different, go ahead, but please stick to the usual dictionary definition when attempting to hold conversations with others in which information will be successfully transferred through use of words: alien n 3: a form of life assumed to exist outside the Earth or its atmosphere [syn: extraterrestrial being] (from Wordnet -- there are a number of definitions of 'alien' but I don't think anyone here was intending the word to mean, e.g., "a foreigner".) The debate is over the question of whether there are any aliens within 2 lightyears of the Sun, and whether there have been any of them flying around dropping bits of random cruft on Earth any time in the last few decades. The debate is *NOT* over whether the cruft dropped by an alien should be called an "artifact" or not, nor over whether a creature from another planet driving around Earth in a flying machine should be called an "alien". > What makes it > "alien"? Elements are elements across the universe...presumably so. > > There is a story, an advertisement (I think it came from IBM) that > described how a 3rd world tribe found an appropriate use for one of > their expedition's laptops - a nutcracker. At least it proved the > artifact was constructed well. > > Regards > Steven Vincent Johnson > www.OrionWorks.com > www.zazzle.com/orionworks >
