Do you believe there's extraterrestrial life out there?

[Shevek]

One thing I'm pretty sure about is that if extraterrestrials do contact us, it won't be with a landing party like those of European explorers. They would make radio contact first.
We do seem to be getting treated similarly to the way we treat uncontacted tribes - study but don't interfere. There may be several different species coming here for different reasons, but all prohibited from formal contact. Some may be here for anthropology, and others to make entertainment out of our foolishness. There may be some here hoping to get salvage rights if they prevent a nuclear war. Others may be here to make sure we never leave our solar system until our movies are about interplanetary cooperation rather than Star Wars.
I strongly suspect that one thing they have in common is getting through their agricultural phases without letting economic inequality rule society before making it even more dangerous with technology.

 

[Cyber]

In the case of the Roswell crash, it was thought the ship was hit by lightning.

 

[Cyber]

One thing I'm pretty sure about is that if extraterrestrials do contact us, it won't be with a landing party like those of European explorers. They would make radio contact first.
We do seem to be getting treated similarly to the way we treat uncontacted tribes - study but don't interfere. There may be several different species coming here for different reasons, but all prohibited from formal contact. Some may be here for anthropology, and others to make entertainment out of our foolishness. There may be some here hoping to get salvage rights if they prevent a nuclear war. Others may be here to make sure we never leave our solar system until our movies are about interplanetary cooperation rather than Star Wars.
I strongly suspect that one thing they have in common is getting through their agricultural phases without letting economic inequality rule society before making it even more dangerous with technology.

I think we humans are still too primitive to bother making contact, otherwise it would have already happened.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I think we humans are still too primitive to bother making contact, otherwise it would have already happened.

At least in the broader sense...the mother ship landing and announcing their arrival in the modern world.

I still have a sense that there was an extraterrestrial presence in the ancient world that was documented across the globe. I have a sense they pushed humans forward in terms of religion and the sciences, even government...there's a timeline where there appears to be evidence of primitive human tribes living at the same time as significantly advanced cultures. It seems an easy answer to satisfy some of those archeological and paleological conundrums.

I think they've been observing for millennia.

As far as communication, from what I have learned recently, it would most likely be in the form of shared consciousness or what we call telepathy. Verbal and written language...interpreting dialect, for example, would be far too slow and cumbersome...low bandwidth. Telepathy is about expressing "meaning" and is a universal translator.

 

[Cyber]

At least in the broader sense...the mother ship landing and announcing their arrival in the modern world.

I still have a sense that there was an extraterrestrial presence in the ancient world that was documented across the globe. I have a sense they pushed humans forward in terms of religion and the sciences, even government...there's a timeline where there appears to be evidence of primitive human tribes living at the same time as significantly advanced cultures. It seems an easy answer to satisfy some of those archeological and paleological conundrums.

Animals in a nature/wildlife reserve can live in forest/jungle oblivious to the existence of their human caretakers. But once in a while a plane/drone might fly over taking pictures or scans. And in the middle of the night forest rangers might enter and randomly grab an animal tranquilising it take blood or tissue samples and sometimes collect semen or eggs. the animal wakes up from the effects of the tranquilizer with a hazy recollection of being abducted in the middle of the night. It goes on as if nothing happened.

I think this is plausible for the type of interaction we have with aliens.

 

[Cyber]

As far as communication, from what I have learned recently, it would most likely be in the form of shared consciousness or what we call telepathy. Verbal and written language...interpreting dialect, for example, would be far too slow and cumbersome...low bandwidth. Telepathy is about expressing "meaning" and is a universal translator.

Yes. testimonies from thousands of experiencers suggest telepathy is how aliens communicate. I watched a documentary on the Ariel school UFO incident in Zimbabwe Africa, Hearing multiple 5-10 yr olds say aliens communicated to them without speaking is not something you can coach children that age to fake, especially over an extended period of time with adults.