Pentagon Has ‘Off-World Vehicles Not Made on This Earth’(popularmechanics.com) |
Pentagon Has ‘Off-World Vehicles Not Made on This Earth’(popularmechanics.com) |
Don't get me wrong: I totally believe there is probably intelligent life "out there". And I hope they have traveled here and that we have found signs. But based on what we know (or think we know) about the laws of the physical world we live in, it doesn't seem likely that craft from other worlds have visited us.
Maybe if you consider that they might be unmanned probes it starts to become a little more plausible. But crewed ships, and especially ones that are meant for a round trip? Unless there are habitable planets a LOT closer than we think, or the aliens have made some amazing scientific/technical breakthroughs, it's hard to imagine. Maybe if the aliens are really long lived and tolerate boredom incredibly well... or have invented "suspended animation"?
If we can accept alien life that can travel at the speed of light, why can't we accept alien like that can live millions of years? Honestly, I feel like the latter is more palatable as a result of technological progress than the former.
I'm imagining a sci-fi novel where aliens have extended their own lives but not improved their memory, so after 5 million years they reach their destination doing nothing but singing and merriment on the way. Sadly, upon arrival they can't remember why they are there, where they are from, or anything else important. Maybe all over the ship they left notes to themselves a la "100 years of solitude" but sadly they can't remember how to read them.