After seeing the headlines, once again, for strange lights above Phoenix, I quickly looked at the pictures. Once again there was some really poor pictures of some "lights" that to me didn't look all that spectacular. I started to think things through and barring an actual encounter I cannot think of any evidence that will convince me that "alien" UFOs are a reality. What sort of evidence would it take to convince, namely for the skeptics, that these supposed, "unexplainable" phenomena are authentic?

Regards,
Caleb

authentic evidence would include more than just photos, since photos could be evidence of great trickery and not of ufo's.

as for ufo's i would imagine the only convincing evidence would be an alien or the ufo itself.

There are so many human technologies I ignore... Seeing a saucer fly wouldn't convince me it's ET.

And there are so many terrestrial forms of life I ignore... But if I saw an exotic-looking form of life using some technology in a manner that looks purposely done, I would consider it to be ET. Or if this form of life was more capable than a dog or a dolphin of interacting with humans.

Humans know so many ways to fool other humans... The first criterion for me would be to observe directly by myself.

i wonder why astronomers do not see/report many ufo's ...

wait that is an assumption, does any one know if there is a trend in the education of the people making ufo sighting reports ?

i spend approx, on average, say 1-2 hours a day ( including night) looking at the sky, and i aint seen anything unidentified ... yet

Edit: I misspoke and now I have to come up with something, so here:

I've seen things I couldn't identify at first, but nothing too strange. Ball lightning, and Venus, but that's about it.

Now wasn't that a good save?

My number one foolproof rule is that any "sighting" which includes some sort of external illumination (i.e... lights) is categorically NOT an extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Why would a vehicle with vastly advanced technology which would enable interstellar travel have any need of lights? We have plenty of technological flying machines that can and do navigate in the darkest possible conditions. Are we really so naive as to consider that ET can't find it's way around our joint without lights?

If it is dark and you see lights in the sky ... it is most assuredly terrestrial. ANY assertion otherwise is completely STOOPID.

That said ... to convince me, some sort of verifiable continuing contact with someone of higher standing than Billy Bob will have to occur. Pictures and/or video evidence will not do it.

What would it take to convince me?

The space ship would have to land in my back yard for one. Even if I were to walk up to a mysterious object in the middle of a field, I would be looking around for the hidden cameras suspiciously. So I would have to see it fly, land, and creatures would have to come out and shake my hand. Now these creatures would also have to have a form that would be impossible for humans to have. Pencil thin necks and insect legs or something. If it resembled human enough to BE a human in a costume, IT IS. If it is the type of a creature that could only be CG'd in a movie, then mayyyyybeeeeeeee. So it would have to be even freakier than Gollum, since he was partially a human and partially CG.

Also, they would have absolutely NO desire to stick any probes up my arse. If they tried to do that, I would know THEY ARE THE GOVERNMENT.

And they would have to have higher intelligence than I have. If I am smarter than they are, then they must be Physorg crankster posters.........

I think to convince me it would take someone of repute to offer compelling evidence. Say, a series of photography and special effects experts attesting to the authenticity of a clear photograph of an alien ship. Or an annoucement from SETI that a certain gaussian has been determined definatively to be extraterrestrial in origin.
I would also accept a personal encounter with aliens, of course.