gut;541538 wrote:The most likely scenario is some "being" is out there that would shatter our conception of what defines life. But seeing as how expectations/assumptions are constantly evolving regarding life in extreme environments just here on earth, I think it's likely that there is life not very far from Earth, within a few solar systems away and quite possibly even in our own solar system.
Now, as far as being visited, that's a tough one. Some of the extreme speculation with ancient cultures is pretty compelling. They'd have to be capable of faster-than-light travel, which I don't rule out no matter how much smarter Einstein is than I am. But then it stands to reason what they'd probably be sending are unmanned probes. On the other hand, we experiment/study on plants and animals and it stands to reason a culture that advanced would do the same, but again look where we are and if we advance to the point of FTL travel, we'd have fully capable & automated research tech, too. Eventually one of these crafts would crash...Maybe.
That said, let's think about our early exploration efforts - probes floating around, stuff left on the moon and other stuff continuing on to space. So I tend to think we'd have found some form of these early probes if aliens had identified us and visited. But possibly not.
Life out there? Yes. Visited by aliens? No.
I tend to believe we have not been visited by Aliens. We tend to say, "how could we not notice some beings flying around our planet?" I often think of Hunters compared to non-human animals. Being much more technologically advanced than say, Deer, we've come to find ways to study, hunt and kill Deer without them ever noticing us. I suppose it's true that the same could be said about an alien race in comparison to us. Nonetheless, although I leave the door open, I don't think we've been visited by Aliens.
