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Originally Posted by zen_tom
Texan, how much credit should I give us or the aliens? They are either so technologically advanced to be able to pop themselves into or out of existance in the blink of an eye (without anyone noticing), but they are not yet advanced enough to be able to make simple artifacts/trade goods etc using replication devices and have an interest in what we do on our parochial little planet. Doesn't sound likely to me.
I do accept the potential for scientific curiosity getting these godlike creatures to come and have a cursory glance at what we're up to, but if they really are that advanced, we are going to be of very little interest to them.
So we need an alien race that's capable of faster-than-light travel, yet not quite advanced enough for the journey to be a complete waste of time. It's just a very very unlikely proposition - and, as the title of this thread suggests, if it were remotely likely it should have happened by now.
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Like I said, I don't buy the whole idea of trade. I agree that if they could move like that, they can make their own goods. But why wouldn't they be interested in our planet and its people? Don't we constantly observe people we believe to be more primitive than us here on earth? If we find life on, say, Europa that's bacterial or invertebrate, wouldn't we study it intensely just to see how and why it works? Just because they would be incredibly advanced wouldn't mean that they are omniscient or omnipotent, though they would probably seem it. I'm not saying that we're the most interesting thing in the universe. Far from it, I'm sure. But the fact that we are here and alive and sentient is amazing by itself and worth some notice.