I grew interested in the search for extraterrestrial civilizations via radio-telescopes (then called CETI, now SETI).
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As the noisy sixties wore on, it became clear that the Solar System, interesting as it seemed, was not enough. We just had to plan for interstellar travel if we were ever to encounter really interesting planets with intelligent beings. Especially hard to find would be "dumb ones" (Carl Sagan's words) like us, who might not have an interest in microwave signaling. There would be smart ones too. Some of the early books on SETI spoke of a Kardashev Type-II civilization, which might have gotten control of the entire energy output of its star by wrapping it in a durable cocoon. That would be quite a feat, but still just solar power writ large. We might see these societies, or so it was suggested by Freeman Dyson, by observing their infrared emissions. A Kardashev Type-III civilization might command the energy output of an entire galaxy.
This was all postulated with a straight face, with hardly a thought about where the stupendous energies of Kardashev Type-III would come from. If it wasn't solar power, what could it be? That was left unanswered. It is amazing what stuff can be discussed in polite academic circles, providing it doesn't actually do anything or have any direct relevance to contemporary technologies. But bring in a civilization-changing jar of heavy water that creates excess heat, and all hell breaks loose.
Maybe the aliens were deep into hot fusion, or perhaps antimatter annihilation? Later came speculation about black holes and titanic energies that might be derived therefrom.
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Then there are the UFOs. Even the great Sagan had had a fling with them, as did I in the early 1970s; I even investigated a few cases as an avocation. Who wouldn't be curious about all these strange reports of aliens actually here, which surfaced from time-to-time. Sagan grew inclined to dismiss all UFO reports, although he did argue that past visitations might well have happened— that we should be vigilant for any archeological signs of visits in the safe, distant past. That seemed and still seems a paradox to me: believing that "others" well might have been here 200,000 years ago and left calling cards, but are unlikely to be here now. Hmmm.
It all boils down to what the physics known to the aliens might allow them to do. If you believe that physics is largely a closed book resting on secure pillars, you might well be inclined to dismiss as bunk the reported visits and gymnastics of alleged alien craft. But certain "safe" articles have begun to appear in even the mainstream literature that suggest that star travel by very unconventional means might not be all that difficult for ETI— and for us eventually. When we're collectively smart enough not to deny even carefully measured, well-reproduced excess energy and nuclear products from electrochemical experiments, then maybe we'll have passed the intelligence test for starflight done with new physics. Not until then.
Scientific American, January 2000 features the article, "Negative Energy, Wormholes and Warp Drive." The ordinarily conservative, cold fusion-denying Scientific American editors appear quite enthusiastic about this scheme of Lawrence H. Ford and Thomas A. Roman. This is how they promote the article: "Contrary to a popular misconception, Albert Einstein's theories do not strictly forbid either faster-than-light travel or time travel. In principle, by harnessing the elusive force of negative energy, one can shorten stellar distances by bending space time around would-be star trekkers."
Editor John Rennie calls this a "legitimate scientific perspective." Why "legitimate"? Why, of course, because the authors are using the "laws of physics," meaning the "laws" that Rennie believes are the law. The article is "safe" for Rennie, because he knows that we are unlikely to get ourselves a bunch of "negative energy" to create the star drive. Again, mainstream scientists' speculations based on accepted "laws" is fine for those of Mr. Rennie's mold. Just let there be any claim that someone on Earth— or smart aliens elsewhere— might have solved the problems of star travel or infinite energy in a more straightforward way, and the claimants are dispatched to the appropriate Gulag of the present Inquisition.
I have come to believe that if infinite energy based on new physics is really there for the taking, as I firmly believe it is, of course the aliens have it! And of course they could/would use it to come here. This says nothing about whether they are already here and what they are doing— entirely different questions. The people in SETI and the UFO communities should think about that.
