Ah, see you successfully started the appropriate discussion forum about the UFO phenomena. So, the "vested interest" I was talking about. Well, as simplistic as it is, I guess the best way to get interested in UFO's is to see them. 3 in one night was my first time... there have been others. Now, by no means do I automatically assume that there are aliens piloting these crafts. I found no personal evidence of that. I simply know that the objects I saw were not obviously man made, and that they moved in ways that I've never even seen in sci-fi movies. The most common question asked me when I tell the tale is "are you sure it wasn't a satellite". The best answer I can give is to witness a 747 flying through the sky and comparing THAT to a satellite. We can go on about that in the future if need be (and I hope eventually that will be the case with others as well), but there is something else I would like to discuss.
I have read your argument as to the possible nature of the existence and contact with an alien race. Within the argument you stated that an advanced species, capable of space travel, would clearly not be a violent species. But you gave you real reason why that would be the case. The most obvious difficulty with discussing the nature of an alien species is the fact that their planet, history and understanding of the universe could also be utterly alien. There may be no similarities whatsoever. So the best we can hope to do is try to explain them in terms of our own species, which also might be a large step backwards to truly understanding them. On that note, one thing is certain about our species... war has driven us further on a technilogical level. The advent of better "flying machines" and weapons has been the soul result of our arms race, not our desire for exploration. So my question is this. Isn't it possible that an alien race has developed the technology to travel space/time and arrive at our planet BECAUSE they are so good at war?