One of the most common arguments I hear from people who don’t believe extraterrestrials have visited the earth is that it’s impossible for E.T.s to get here. They may accept the possibility that intelligent beings exist elsewhere in the universe, but those beings are just too freaking far from the earth to make the trip.
Well, based on what we humans currently know about physics and technology, that’s a reasonable argument.
But. . .what if an intelligent species on some distant planet got an earlier start than Homo sapiens did? Let’s say their planet is four billion years old, like ours is estimated to be. But instead of showing up 200,000 years ago like we did, they showed up a million years earlier than that. That would give them a 1,000,000 year head start on us. That’s a big head start, don't you think?
Look at the evolution of human technology in just the last 150 years. In 1878, there were no motor vehicles. Not one. No airplanes, no radio, no television. Could humans in 1878 have even imagined touch screen smart phones? Robotic surgery? The internet?
And what about technology in the next 150 years? We can reasonably predict what may come in the next 20 or 30 years but after that, it’s conjecture. And by the time you to get to 150, it’s pure science fiction.
So that’s 150 years. How about 1000 years?
Let’s keep going. Multiply 1000 by 10 and you get 10,000.
Multiply it again and you get 100,000.
Again, and now we’re finally at 1000,000 years. That’s where that other hypothetical species is right now. They invented cars, computers, and sex change operations 1,000,000 years ago.
What do you think they’ve been doing for the past 1,000,000 years? Twiddling their thumbs?