Or just maybe...

They have a device shaped like a pen that can replace any memories of an encounter, with what ever scenario they want to use. They would hold it up and flash it like an old time camera and then say what they wanted us to think.

"An even more advanced civilization might view the entire physical world as a horribly primitive place, having long ago conquered their own biology and uploaded their brains to a virtual reality, eternal-life paradise. Living in the physical world of biology, mortality, wants, and needs might seem to them the way we view primitive ocean species living in the frigid, dark sea."

The author briefly covers this as a possibility, but given how relatively close we are to having the computing capacity to mirror and download human consciousness, this seems like the likely answer. Perhaps every civilization that develops the capable of interstellar travel, etc. just chose virtual.

A fun short story by Isaac Asimov entitled "The Last Question" talks about this.

http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

It could tie into our eventual understanding of dark matter and dark energy. It's out there and there's apparently a galactic shit ton of it.

This is another interesting view.

I also like the multi-verse option. Like there's 1000's of versions of our universe and in one of them they figure out how to jump from universe to universe. It's an alien version of us and they really like sticking things in peoples butt's and blowing up cows. They're a bunch of multi-universe jokesters.

Ok, I called him last night and told him. He's a jerk too, thinks he knows everything! I told him he better be looking over his shoulder cause when I find him I'm kicking his ass.

It's just too damn far. One of the things that fascinates me about the universe is how long it would take to get to another galaxy. The nearest spiral galaxy is what...2.5 million light years away? Whenever I think about how far light could travel in 2.5 million years it blows my mind. If there are "aliens" that have been here or are here, I have to think it's some kind of interdimensional visitor and not some intergalactic visitor.

This is just too damn depressing. :(

Tell him he still owes me money from that incident in Savannah.

yeah it really is hard to comprehend that distance

It's easier when you put it linear compared to Chiefs superbowls

I loved his little pointy head. Phil did the whole board a huge disservice nuking him off the map.

How much ? when I find him I'll beat it outta him.

ROFL
Hawking would prob. use his awesome brain power to control a laser he built as an afternoon time killer- to blast a hole through both of your eyeballs before you could get close.

You need quantum computers to do the math. I posted about these new quantum computers in the science is cool thread if you want to look it up.

It's not that far off. Physics.org posted this just today about Google opening up access to their quantum computer.

http://phys.org/news/2014-05-google-...layground.html


Quantum Computing Playground can simulate quantum registers up to 22 qubits, run Grover's and Shor's algorithms, and has quantum gates built into the scripting language itself.

Lots of progress on single atom approach to quantum computers.
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/...ntum-computing

A quantum-information analogue of the transistor has been unveiled by two independent groups in Germany and the US. Both devices comprise a single atom that can switch the quantum state of a single photon. The results are a major step towards the development of practical quantum computers.\


Unlike conventional computers, which store bits of information in definite values of 0 or 1, quantum computers store information in qubits, which are a superposition of both values. When qubits are entangled, any change in one immediately affects the others. Qubits can therefore work in unison to solve certain complex problems much faster than their classical counterparts.



Qubits can be created from either light or matter, but many researchers believe that the practical quantum computers of the future will have to rely on interactions between both. Unfortunately, light tends only to interact with matter when the light is very intense and the matter is very dense. To make a single photon and a single atom interact is a challenge because the two are much more likely to pass straight through each other.