So that oft-quoted “travelled to the stars” remark was not first person, not recorded, was based on an interview with an engineer “who heard it”. LOL
I have read a ton of stuff on the UFOs, aliens etc and changed my mind on this stuff several times over the years.
My current thinking—ignore anything that has government or government contractors involved—it is disinformation to cover secret weapons development.
The classic case of that:
https://www.amazon.com/Project-Beta-Bennewitz-National-Security-ebook/dp/B000FCK0KI
But—there is a there there if you know where to look. I am of the Terence McKenna school that the UFOs/”aliens” do have an agenda, and it is to disupt/foil/undermine/mindf&^% science and existing institutions. Therefore to use government to look at it is like utilizing fish to study bicycles.
For a crash course of the McKenna perspective:
https://psychedelicsalon.com/podcast-261-the-definitive-ufo-tape/
You may be tempted to dismiss Terence as a crank.
Don’t do it—he was one of the most brilliant and creative minds that Homo Sapiens has produced to date—far ahead of his time.
Your mention of Ben Rich brings to mind something I heard many years ago. There is a government agency/agencies that use the very real Invention Secrecy Act of 1951 (Pub.L. 82–256, 66 Stat. 3, enacted February 1, 1952, codified at 35 U.S.C. ch. 17) to seize ownership of patents and devices that the government wants to keep for itself.
The purported agency has had a possible name attributed to it: Bureau of Technology Control.
Seems entirely plausible to me that the UFO technology that has been documented in recent years is being employed by an American agency. Why? Because if it were not then the DoD would be crapping themselves responding to the threat.
Instead they’ve long mocked and ridiculed anyone mentioning this technology. Which is an effective way to silence people (Saul Alinsky).
So yes, I would not be surprised to find out that Star Trek levels of technology exist because, well, some Star Trek levels of technology DO exist. In fact, some of our technology in use today far exceeds anything Star Trek imagined.
Fascinating, thanks for sharing and for the link.