I do nto htink we wil find a faster than light speed way to travel in our lifetime.

The "Warp Drive" in Star Trek is an interesting work aroudn the problem, but if one can warp space to propel a ship, why not fold space to provide nearly instant point to point travel instead? I soubt the technologies would be all that much mroe complicted (both are way beyond our capabilities and will remain so for quite a bit longer.

I think perhps revel within the multiverse, and visitign earth in different universes is just as, if nto more, likely. The problem is once you tavel to a parallel universe is hwo to return to your universe of origin. Kind fo liek that qurky TV show "Quantum Leap".

What people don't seem to get is that when you travel at light-speed, time effectively stops for you. The only limitations are how fast you can go and how fast you can accelerate. In theory you can get to anywhere in the universe in next-to-no-time at all. The speed of light is merely the speed of causation, so if you went somewhere 10 light years away, you could not get any information back to where you started in less than 20 years. This is just basic physics.

I like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's (BBC Production, books) explanation: paraphrasing -- "teen agers borrow their parents ship, find an isolated area, land and walk about going 'bleep, bleep' in front a local or two". Bottom line -- what difference does it make? If we have been visited they prefer not to connect with us on a large scale (probably too primitive). If we haven't been visited it is of no value. Either way, conspiratorists will continue to fuel a fire that is purposeless.

Other than a short fascination with Chariots of the Gods no one has been here-no ET.

Anti aging cosmetics? Screw that, I want anti-aging magic pills. I don't want to cover it up, I want to do away with it.

It's only 4.3 light years to the nearest exoplanet (orbits Proxima Centuari, and may even be habitable, though it has a short orbital period and is probably tide-locked, but technically in the "goldilocks" zone).

By now it seems likely that all stars have planets, even if we haven't detected them all yet.

I think life is fairly common, complex life less so, sentience rare, advanced technological sentience rarer still. Absent evidence to the contrary, I buy the hypothesis that most civilizations develop the ability to change the environment and self-direct natural selection way earlier than they develop the maturity and discipline not to kill themselves with it.

Neil Degrassi has an interesting take on ets
As the planet moves through the galaxy over the past four billion years we have been hit by asteroids with et life embedded in them perhaps we are an et life form.

Highly Unlikely.

1. Vast Distances
2. Intergalactic Speed Limit (light Speed)
3. Life is exceedingly rare and short lived. Intelligent Life on the level of humans even more rare. Even if an intelligent life arises, it still must survive long enough to evolve and develop technologies to even dream of interplanetary travel.
4. Maybe at some point with the development of quantum computers we could bend space time (Create Worm Holes) and thereby travel to other regions of the universe more quickly. we have a couple billion years to figure it out before the Sun Explodes or Collapses so maybe.

I believe there are many species out there - some on our level, others more primitive, and still others much more advanced. For the more advanced species, I'd think they would have solved the relativity issues. Also, for every civilization out there that 'currently' exists (in single quotes since space and time are entertwined) there are probably a hundred more that were either extinguished by fate, or by their own ignorance.

Now, the big question - -will we ever find them? Have they (or will they) find us, in the vast expanse of the universe? Only time will tell .

It seems obvious to me that the first contact with another intelligent lifeform from universe will be first by finding telltale coherent signals (lasers, radio, microwave). If (this is so remote as a possibility) we actually come across something physical, it would be artificial like a probe that is very loud of signals which would be the only way we could detect it. We actually have done both ourselves although our probes are not very noisy.

There's no telling what's out in the vastness of space. Yeah, that tricky little law of pyshics involving the speed of light is a massive hurdle. But, theoretically not impossible. But of course that technology is waaaaaaay beyond our grasp.
But to assume whether an alien race even has the ability, we have to take into assumption of the age of their civilization.
So we can theorize all day long, but at the end of the day, we don't know.

Yeah, we've been sensing signals into space for a long time. But are we to assume that they would know what to do with it?
The same applies to SETI. We've been listening for signals for a long time as well and outside the "WOW!" signal, it hasn't been very fruitful.
Although the mission of SETI revolves around detecting repeating signals... Which again, who's to say an alien civilization is going to broadcast a repeating signal?

I don't know. There's so many variables to it.
My personal belief is that we have been visited and they realized just how ignorant our species is and decided to either leave us be...
And probe rednecks out in the middle of no where.

The univere is ever expanding and growing the mystery beyond is still a mystery the concept from nothing to nothing

I liked everything you said here. I don't think I have anything to add.

My thoughts are pretty close to yours.. And Star Trek loses me with the language non-bearer, everyone speaking ‘California English’

I suspect there will eventually be discovered a way to increase speed to just below that of light, but who’d go on a 50 year one-way mission..? Even to escape the likes of trump..

As far as having, or ever being visited, here again, it seems we place ourselves in too high esteem ...as if we’ve discovered anything a space traveling species would waste their time getting here to see. We’d be little more than a bad joke.

It is a big place out there (can't emphasize this enough). Even light traveling at the fastest speed allowed by mother nature, it would take as you have stated a mighty long time. Now, here is the kick, our fastest traveling technology its basically a crawling snail as compared to the speed of light. My guess is, there is more life somewhere but we will never get to them as they will never get to us. Whoever came up with this design was pure malicious and evil.