Aliens from "outer space".......do you believe?

[MisterTinkles]

There really should be another choice along the lines of they exist but there's no evidence they've come here.

Let's pursue the concept logically for a moment. We only started sending out any real evidence of civilisation into space during the last century. If there is intelligent life out there and it is sufficiently advanced to pick up and analyze electromagnetic communications, they may just now be learning of our existence, or they may decades or centuries or millennia away from figuring out that we're here. That's depending on where they're at in the vast universe, whether they're actually looking for evidence of other life "out there", whether they have a sufficient level of technology to differentiate our communications from the rest of the electromagnetic "noise" occurring randomly throughout the universe, and whether they're actually paying enough attention to get the gist. In other words, the stars would all have to align so to speak for anyone else to have figured out that we exist at all.

Assuming the unlikely event that our early broadcasts have been picked up, there is clearly no scientific evidence that faster than light travel would ever be possible. It's quite possible there is something we have yet to discover about spacetime that makes it possible, but if there is then we haven't any evidence of it. Wormholes do exist, but they are subatomic in nature and so fleeting that in practice nothing could really pass through them. So for the time being let's just assume there is no "warp drive" or equivalent in existence anywhere in the universe. Therefore, in the event that an alien race figured out we were here during the last century, triangulated our position, and decided to pay us a visit, we can expect them to arrive no sooner than sometime in the next few decades and quite likely more like centuries from now.

Also, while I'm pretty sure "they" are out there somewhere we can't assume that "they" are any more technologically advanced than us. "They" may be in the early bronze age, engulfed in feudalism, bickering over religion and superstition, or just starting to enter an industrial age. We can somewhat assume that this part of our galaxy is the same age, so the societies closest to us probably had a similar timeframe to evolve into intelligent life and develop advanced civilization. They may be just taking their first tentative steps into exploring the universe just as we are. If a much more advanced civilization exists it is likely to be found in a much older star system in a much older galaxy, which would therefore be pretty damn far away from us.

Also, if "they" have a similar technological level to us, and have decoded our transmissions enough to figure out we're here, they may not have the capability or the resolve to get here. They may or may not even be able to decide whether it would be smart to let us know where they are. I assume governments would exist elsewhere, and based on that I would assume they have just as hard of a time making any real decisions. So "they" might still be dickering for a few more decades about just what should be done with the revelation that people exist on a little planet orbiting this star.

"They" may even consider the fact that life exists elsewhere to be old news, make a little note of us, and just kind of never develop enough interest to contact us. What made us so special anyway?

What about all those cave drawings and Egyptian symbols that supposedly depict beings from space?

What about those ancient man-made land/rock formations in South America that are giant shapes and symbols that can only be seen from a up in the sky?

Who is to say WE are the only planet in the universe without space travel capability?