[user104658]

Originally Posted by DemolitionRed

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...ushpmg00000022

I was reading an article the other day supposedly claiming that the major world governments are all already aware of the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life but it's kept under wraps for fear of the civil unrest that might be caused by having a massive spanner suddenly thrown into people's belief systems. It was slightly conspiracy-theoryish but very interesting nonetheless and also, in my opinion, entirely feasible. Imagine the implications?

Basic extraterrestrial life has been all but proven, with micro-organism fossils being found inside meteorites that couldn't possibly have originated on earth. Obviously it's a far cry from sentient beings like humans or even more basic animal life forms, but in my opinion, if these building blocks are available in the "local" galaxy - close enough to have fossils reach earth - and in an abundance great enough for that to happen (Earth is a tiny target in a huge expanse of space, if a few life-proving meteorites have landed on earth then there are potentially billions of such meteorites floating around out there in the void) then for me it logically follows that somewhere out there, there simply MUST be other life forms as intelligent or even far more intelligent than humans.

I find it all really quite exciting. However, my somewhat depressing theory is that physical faster-than-light travel may well be completely impossible and that other sentient civilisations could therefore be permanently out of reach. I'd like to think that maybe though, one day when we understand more about space and time and the strange ways in which they interact, it might at least be possible to send messages back and forth between ourselves and others.

It would all feel a bit safer that way, too. We could share scientific discoveries, philosophies, jokes, awesome alien TV shows (they could watch EastEnders and it would be like science fiction!)... but with physical contact being impossible, we wouldn't have to worry about pesky thinks like interstellar invasions and space battles over resource asteroids.

Which is actually a shame because the latter sounds awesome.