Our technology is getting better and better right now—as we build off of each new improvement in materials (including nanotechnology), computing power but more important amazing new software to take advantage of that computing power, as well as a much deeper understanding of the atmosphere, the oceans etc.
The “ridicule factor” scared off scientists for decades, but now we have enough heavy hitters working on it to make real progress.
In addition there are more and more scientists ready to throw out the old dogmas and let the data drive the science instead of old prejudices. That is the only way to get a handle on this topic.
We may not totally solve all of the mysteries of the subject, but we can get a good handle on a lot of them.
As the civilian sector begins to publish more and more information that will make it easier for the government to gradually end the “information embargo” that was justified for decades under the umbrella of “national security”.
A seventy year old flying disk in a top secret private contractor warehouse is no longer a national security threat.
If they have not reverse engineered it by now it is not going to happen any time soon—by any humans, regardless of nationality.
I get all that and I also believe that, after the Christ, we will be living something what we see on Star Trek.
However, I do not believe that we will be interacting with aliens just yet. It’s for our protection. How do you tell a God following alien and a deceiver, if both are saying almost the same thing?
We are not equipped to deal with the universe until after the Messiah, imo.