re: #7 Dr Lizardo

Since we’ve yet to find a way to travel faster than the speed of light that doesn’t violate either the laws of the universe or depend upon exotic forms of matter and energy that are equally as implausible, traveling across the gulf of space means travel times measured in centuries or longer. So anything that arrives in Earth orbit in some hypothetical future is likely to be robotic in nature and sent out for a more mundane purpose than “Make contact with the highly evolved hairless apes and welcome them to the galactic neighborhood party.”

Odds are they’re likely roaming the cosmos in search of something. Best case scenario is that whatever it’s looking for isn’t here, in which case it takes a snapshot and then buggers off. Worse case scenario is it’s after something that we’re standing atop of, in which case we’re vermin in need of extermination, or it’s actively hostile and we’re bugs to be squashed.