Most stars are billions of years older than the sun. Alien civilizations likely have
a head start on us by billions of years. It takes only 1 million years to cross the galaxy
with a fission or fusion drive (speed of .1 C). If the aliens wanted to be here, they would be.

There is a Star Trek episode with a Doomsday Machine that roams the galaxy destroying
planets. The aliens could do this if they wanted and we wouldn't be able to stop it.
The Doomsday Machine would have wiped us out before we got to multicellular life.
Hence one of the few things that can be said for certain about aliens is that there is
no Doomsday Machine.

Movies about aliens often feature an alien ship that crashes on the Earth.
Bull. If the aliens can build a starship then they're not going to crash.

The colonial era was different. Europe was ahead of the rest of the world but
not yet badass enough to make ships that can't be sunk by a storm, and so
the natives were often treated to a crashed European ship on their beach.
The American Indians couldn't make copper or iron. Most of their metal came from storm-destroyed Japanese ships that crashed on the coast.

I flat out disbelieve all UFO sightings. We're not going to see anything unless the
aliens want us to see it. If the UFO sighting are real then it's because the aliens
are trolling us.

Enough with the damn obelisks. I'm not impressed unless the obelisk does something cool, such as

Be a stargate.
Have a proof of the Riemann hypothesis written on it.
Be capable of igniting Jupiter into a star.
Be a hyperadvanced gamestation.
Be hooked up to the galactic movie streaming network.
Have the answer to the question of the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.

People reflexively assume that colonialism is bad. Bull. A synergistic
relationship is possible.

Number of people that 1 km^2 of land can support:

American Indians (hunter gatherers) = 1
18th Century Europeans = 10 (Agriculture and livestock)
20th Century American farmers = 50 = (Mechanization, fertilizer, genetic engineering, pesticides)
Hydroponics = 200

European agriculture expanded the carrying capacity of the land. There was
plenty of land for everyone. A mutually good deal was possible.

Many native tribes joined America in wars against more hostile Indian
tribes. You don't hear about these tribes.

When the aliens come, I'm getting on board their ship and leaving this
provincial planet. I'm going to the Galactic Institute of Technology. I'm
waving a towel around.

My hypothesis is that the aliens are here, watching us, and that they have a
Prime Directive of non-interference. They don't need to interfere because
Wisconsinites are already doing a fine job converting starlight into dairy
products. There are Trader Joe's stores throughout the galaxy. Green Bay
Packers games are streamed on the Galactic network.

James Kirk: I prefer to think of it as the "Prime Suggestion".

The aliens won't interfere... unless the civilization is headed for
self destruction, in which case they will intervene and conquer the Earth.
I hypothesize that we are at that point, because were are now in an Orwellian
black hole and we're never going to get out. Trump was the last hope.

I have an official apocalypse prediction: The alien conquest of the Earth is imminent.

Astrobiology:

Textbook on astrobiology: [jaymaron.com]

The things that are likely to be the same with us and aliens are:

Oxygen atmosphere: Reacting sugar with oxygen yields much more energy than reacting sugar with
sulfur. Aerobes have a massive advantage over anaerobes. On Earth, multicellular life didn't
happen until the oxygen atmosphere happened. It's a guarantee that aliens breathe oxygen.

Food: The best molecules for storing energy are sugars and fats, and we can metabolize
most of them. Chances are we'll be able to eat each other's food.
Gallery of sugars and fats: [jaymaron.com]

Founding element: Earth life is carbon based. It turns out that carbon is the ONLY
molecule capable of forming stable chains. Alien life will be carbon based.

Things that could be different are:

Skeleton: Mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians are all "tetrapods".
Skull, spine, and 4 limbs. It works pretty well, but there may be alternatives.

Vision: Human vision sucks because we only have 3 colors, and many more are possible.
The mantis shrimp sees 12 colors, plus linear and circular polarization, and it has
6 eyes.

Lungs: Bird lungs are better than mammal lungs because the air moves 1-way. They can extract
more oxygen from the air than mammals.

Redundancy: Earth life has no backup systems. Klingons have 2 hearts.

If the atmosphere were thicker, human-powered flight would be possible with a wingsuit.
It's conceivable that there are large aliens out there that can fly.