as for aliens i imagine that they are here, but probably not in flying saucers or whatever.  they may be meddling with our civilization.  why not?  we can talk about power issues and time it takes to get to places, but technology makes the impossible possible.  for instance, the time it takes to get to another star can be daunting considering the laws of physics as we know it.  however, communication could take place on a quantum scale between identities at instantaneous speed throughout the universe.  so an agent can be planted anywhere in the universe and communicate with a sending agent at it's home territory in real time.  seemingly faster than light, yet the entanglement of the particles will make this a reality.
i find it obvious that we, as all things, are information, and will be readily reproduced, pretty damned soon too.  and civilization even 100 years ahead of ours should have the capacity to do pretty much whatever we're talking about here.

what will we think about what they know?  some of us will undoubtably agree with anything they say.  some will dislike everything they say.  but they'll probably be just as dumb and lost as we are.

go that way really fast.
if something gets in your way
turn