[bbitmaster]

Assuming this is real, I would ask what could it possibly be. The whole popular culture "x-files" narrative doesn't make sense to me. If these are craft which are manned with some beings, why would they be leisurely flying around earth's atmosphere unless they have some destination. Why haven't we found the source or destination?

Perhaps it's actually Von-Neumann probes, or unmanned craft collecting data and observing. I would find this much more likely, but even still, why would they need to keep traveling on earth?

Personally, I keep an open mind about everything, regarding what is possible. I just imagine some civilization thousands or millions of years ahead of us could do things that would seem like magic. It certainly seems plausible in terms of the fermi paradox that we would be being visited. It's just incredibly odd that it would happen this way, and I have very basic questions as to the nature of what this phenomenon even is.

[taejavu]

Maybe they’re from here. Maybe they’re stuck here. Maybe they’ve been guiding humanity since the murky dawn of our prehistory. Maybe we are their genetically engineered creation. Maybe they have a vested interest in us not making our beautiful blue marble uninhabitable. Maybe they are tending to this planet like a gardener would his garden, and for that reason they’d prefer us not to annihilate each other.

[ramblenode]

If a civilization is so advanced as to appear magical then why do you expect we would be able to comprehend what they are doing? By assumption we are already ignorant.

[jonah]

My dad's theory is they they see us as some sort of exotic animal park, take a drive(fly) through safari - keep your appendages inside the vehicle at all times - take some photos and have some tales to tell when you get back home. ;)

[JoeAltmaier]

Perhaps it's optical phenomenon of aircraft many miles away, refracting through the atmosphere.

[BSEdlMMldESB]

maybe not everything out there moves according to ideas like "a destination"?

you're tacitly assuming that they ought to have an origin and a goal