Let’s cut right to the chase. If there are highly advanced technological civilizations on other planets, capable of sending spacecraft to Earth, there is nothing we can do about them. We cannot detect them if they wish to avoid detection. We cannot defend ourselves against them if they attack.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke
Given that the supposed alien invaders have not attacked, we are left with three possibilities:
1. There are no aliens.
2. There are aliens who would attack us, but they
are unable to attack, perhaps because they have not detected us.
3. There are aliens, but they do not wish to attack.
If #2 is correct, then it is only a matter of time before we are doomed, unless we can somehow develop technology as advanced as theirs, before they find us. This seems unlikely, since they would likely have already found us if they exist. Even if they do exist, there may be laws of physics which inherently make interplanetary attacks impossible. In any case, it seems that we have no immediate worries, unless somewhere, a warlike alien civilization is on the verge of developing the ability to attack us. In that unlikely case, we have no defense.
If #3 is correct, then we may be very fortunate indeed, but also, we are completely at their mercy. If the aliens are benevolent, or perhaps indifferent to our well-being, then we are very fortunate indeed. On the other hand, a wide-ranging variety of conditions might be possible, some of which might be unimaginable to us.
For example, they could have sinister motives which do not involve overtly attacking us. For example, they could be using us for experiments. Those experiments might involve the horror of individuals being dissected in their laboratories. On the other hand, those experiments could involve only passive observation, with little or no interference. There are too many possibilities to mention.
There is, however, one overriding factor which gets too little attention. If indeed, the aliens have technology which would seem to us magical, then the usual science-fiction motives for their attacking us disappear. Do they need our planet to live on? No, they could manufacture one to meet their exact needs. Do they need our water, or minerals, or other resources? No, they could manufacture them. Do they need to eat us for food? Ridiculous; they could synthesize their own food.
In short, “sufficiently advanced” aliens would have no need of us except to observe us to gain esoteric knowledge. Yes, perhaps some of that would involve the horror of abduction and vivisection, but they would need very few individuals to gain complete knowledge of our biophysical nature. By now, they have completed that phase long ago. Mostly, they would just observe us from afar, to study how our society works, much as we might observe creatures in nature.
The final word, however, is that there is no final word, precisely because they are aliens. Their ways of thinking, their motives and their methods, are likely unimaginable to us. It is possible, even hopeful, that they are benevolent, wishing us no harm, and perhaps even stepping in to help us now and then. Possible, yes, but not likely. At best, they might be utterly indifferent to us, as we might be to ants in a vacant lot. If they are warlike, they likely have no reason to attack us, but if they do, we would never know what hit us. Zap, it would all be over in an instant.
The UFO phenomenon, for these reasons, is probably best
explained by something that does not involve space aliens. What might that be? Most likely, it is something that we cannot
imagine.
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