Great pics cassini. I know most of them, but there were some I've never seen before.

I would just point out a couple of points... first Project Winterhaven, which evolved from T Townsend Browns first demonstrations to the USAF, and was designed to produce a hypersonic fighter disk powered by MHD drives began in 1950.

Does anyone else notice an obvious evolution in these pics? They seem to get more "modern" as time increases?

Yes, they do seem to stay in style with human culture ("modernize"), but that does not necessarily mean that they aren't the real thing, as human art/design has been influenced, in turn by UFO sightings.

Am I saying that aliens are running art/design classes at the local U? No, but, as companies try to produce products that seem 'more modern', they rely on what the public believes is supposed to look modern as their design starting points. Right now, even for those who do not believe that UFOs are alien ships... and who do not really even care about the UFO issue... the idea of an "alien spaceship" is the standard for modernity. Thus, as the public thinks of smooth, metallic saucer-like lines as the ultimate in modernity, so to do companies try to make their products look like they came out of a flying saucer.

Basically, I'm saying that alien visitation to earth has probably influenced our aesthetic norms.

Look at it this way... before the first major saucer wave, 'modernity' meant straight lines, right angles, and bolts. Now, however, it translates into smoothness and seemlessness.

The basis for my thinking is a discussion I had with my dad when we went out looking for a car in 1989, at which time cars were first starting to take on the "euro" or smooth style you see nowadays (remember, cars from the 80s were as boxy, if not boxier, than those from the 70s and 60s). I specifically remember him commenting on how all the car companies were "trying to make cars look like flying saucers."

Just as cultures, throughout history, have mimicked each other, often on accident, we may very well be mimicking the aliens.

Jim
PS: I'd argue that some old photos show UFOs that seem modern by today's standards, even, as a sidenote.

well i think I`d have to disagree with the "more modern" over time statement. I think that what has happened is that over time camera quality has improved substantially and we are able to see more detail. The early photos I`ve seen are somewhat crude and in poor quality black and white. Remember photo technology has improved a great deal over the years.

It seems silly to talk about UFOS from renaissance paintings and then say they have modernised over time. The ones I see in paintings or described in literature look the same as the ones I see in photos today.

There may well be a greater diversity now.