> “If I came to you and said, ‘There are these things that can fly over our country with impunity, defying the laws of physics, and within moments could deploy a nuclear device at will’ — that would be a matter of national security.”
What is it about the military mindset that absolutely must see everything not 101% under their control as something potentially hostile? If these really are craft from other systems, then it's pretty clear that they have exceedingly superior flight capabilities. So, for me at least, the logical extension to that thought is: "if they're here for a fight, they'll win." Considering that they are harrassing military installations rather than the general populace (ie, they buzz pilots and military bases, but not cities), isn't it congruent that they're trying to send a message rather than inflict interstellar war? (If that's what they are)
In the quoted statement, only one of those statements--"defying the laws of physics"--is perhaps beyond the purview of the military. We don't allow aircraft to willy-nilly cross borders, and neither does any other country in the world. (Border crossing is obviously permitted, but there are procedures and rules to follow. International incidents can arise when they aren't.) Also, using the example of deploying a nuclear device may be cliche, but what about a conventional weapon? Should there be any less concern about an unregulated aircraft capable of dropping explosive ordinance?
At a fundamental level, any military is tasked with guarding the land its sovereign occupies. You can't blame them for being careful because there's always the small, remote chance that an adversarial, human government could inflict harm if the military isn't looking. But that's precisely it: no one knows where these craft come from. Based on the hard information available to us the public, it's equally possible that the craft came from another galaxy, Mars, Russia, or Canada. We just don't know, and we can't just sit back and watch because there may be a legitimate threat.
Because what you quoted, "if they're here for a fight, they'll win.", isn't the mindset of any military worth its salt. The military mindset has to be "where are their weaknesses, so we can beat them if we have to."
Does no one think it bizarre that with other star systems having billions of years head start and a completely parallel evolution of both biology and technology that the resulting flying objects reflect technology that appears to be a leap forward over our current technology of perhaps 1000 years max (and that's assuming we hit many roadblocks/plateaus between now and then)?
While our current understanding of the laws of physics precludes the possibility of time travel, it seems far more likely that our understanding of that limit is wrong and these unidentified craft truly represent future technology of our own species than that life exists elsewhere in the universe, but is only marginally more advanced than us, but somehow able to have traveled from light-years away to interact with us (another physics bending issue seemingly glossed over).
To be clear, I'm not saying this phenomenon IS DEFINITELY time travel from humanity's future in action, simply that such a possibility poses far more likely a scenario than aliens, which heretofore has been the go-to explanation the public has been enamored with.
>What is it about the military mindset that absolutely must see everything not 101% under their control as something potentially hostile?
I think it's perfectly possible all the know is that they exist, and they're not human-made, and don't want to acknowledge something that counters the narrative of the all powerful, all knowing government.
But I'm also wondering if they could just be some other country's black project.
> “If I came to you and said, ‘There are these things that can fly over our country with impunity, defying the laws of physics, and within moments could deploy a nuclear device at will’ — that would be a matter of national security.”
What is it about the military mindset that absolutely must see everything not 101% under their control as something potentially hostile? If these really are craft from other systems, then it's pretty clear that they have exceedingly superior flight capabilities. So, for me at least, the logical extension to that thought is: "if they're here for a fight, they'll win." Considering that they are harrassing military installations rather than the general populace (ie, they buzz pilots and military bases, but not cities), isn't it congruent that they're trying to send a message rather than inflict interstellar war? (If that's what they are)