...UFOs exhibit “technologies that we don’t have [and] that we are not capable of defending against”
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Our level of technology would look like magic to someone just 500 years ago, and the rate of technological development is accelerating. Imagine an alien species with technology 100, 500, or 1000 years more advanced than our own. Their technology would appear as magic to us.
I find it amusing the U.S. government sees it as a threat. This is going to be one of those situations where all the power of the government can’t do a thing about the aliens, and the government hates the idea, indeed they can’t comprehend the idea, they are not in control.
We have to trust that if the aliens are here, and they’ve learned methods to traverse the cosmos, that they’ve also acquired wisdom in that time. If they’re here, and their intent was hostile, I suspect they could wipe us out in a blink of the eye. That they haven’t might indicate they’re just curious observers.
There's a vast range of possibilities between friendly and hostile.
They may want something from us that transcends what we would normally think of as "hostile" in a human way of thinking. Perhaps we can't even comprehend what they want or why (perhaps they want our souls in whole or part).
We can only imagine them in human terms of course, but perhaps they want something more than just to be friends or enemies or eat us for dinner or kill us.
I think they would look at us with little more curiosity or concern for our well-being than we look at an ant hill.
It's possible they're looking for a planet to terraform with zero disregard as to what happens to the planet's original inhabitants. It wouldn't be outright hostility. We're just such a lesser species, we wouldn't matter to them anymore than the anthill in your back yard matters to you.
If humanity survives, eventually we'd have to do the same thing.
“If they’re here, and their intent was hostile, I suspect they could wipe us out in a blink of the eye. That they haven’t might indicate they’re just curious observers.”
Those are two of many many possible alternatives of “their motives”—and btw most folks who are deep into this stuff believe there are multiple alien “races” with a variety of different motives.
A partial list:
—Kids playing at the “zoo”
—Folks on vacation having fun
—Seeking to improve the longevity or health of their race with human or animal DNA (anther variation, to adapt to this environment)
—Folks getting lost
—Seeking to influence human history to make us “more like them” or to fit their template of what we should be
Btw—none of these rule out them obliterating us when they just get tired of us....