Could you tell us, succinctly, how you distinguish between "UFO," "alien," and "ETI," as you understand and use the terms?
I seem to remember supplying you with an answer to this not so long ago... nevertheless I suppose a clarification will be of benefit.
We have the sighted object categorisation of:
1) Known (ie; natural, prosaic or "mundane")
2) Insufficient Information (ie; no categorisation possible)
3) Unknown (ie; UFO)
Then the speculative but unproven hypotheses for the “Unknown” category might look like:
1) Mundane (natural, prosaic)
1) ET
2) Interdimensional
3) Indigenous "aliens"
3) Jungian consciousness
5) Conscious energy forms
4) add as you think of one...
NOTE: The difference between “alien” and “ET” (or ETI) is that ET can be seen to be merely a subset of the category possible “aliens”. That is, “alien” does not
necessarily mean ET.
I define “alien” as something that operates outside the boundaries of what we take to be the limits of the natural world. If we take our knowledge of natural world (the mundane or prosaic) and we observe that UFOs (for example) defy gravity, or defy the normal laws of powered flight, or otherwise defy or break the normal laws of physics, chemistry, etc., then, by my definition, they become “alien” (but as noted above, this does not
necessarily mean ET).
Of course I have an
opinion about where the UFO evidence points (vis. ETI) – but I cannot state categorically that ETI IS the cause of UFO activity. Cases where “alien” beings are observed (eg; the Lonnie Zamora and Father Gill cases and abduction cases like Travis Walton) might
seem to indicate ETI, but that is merely an assumption. We simply don’t have enough knowledge about what is really occurring in these cases to come to any categorical conclusions about ET. Of course this is precisely why I believe that a greater (more focused and concerted) research effort should be undertaken than has been forthcoming to date.