I guess its possible that a life form from another planets is thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years more advanced that humans have achieved. I’d also guess that any alien species that can survive the stuff we are dealing with (eradication from nuclear war, eradication from destruction of our own environment, eradication from over-population / under-production of food, eradication from AI, etc.) has got to be brighter than we are. And if they are so intelligent and so advanced then it is possible that they have mastered all sorts of things that go beyond our ken.
But then the big question would be why would they bother visiting earth and its clearly not so advanced, self-destructing, not so intelligent human race? It seems more likely that they would notice earth from afar, shrug and think “here’s yet another planet of hapless beings that won’t amount to much, nothing to learn or gain here”.
There’s a theory that they aren’t aliens at all, it’s humans from the future, the race is dying out and are coming back to try and save themselves, hence the abductions and probing….
We always assume that life elsewhere in the universe will be far superior to us.
Chances are, if there is life elsewhere in the universe it will be either even more basic than we anticipated, or nothing whatsoever how we thought alien life might look like.
Even if life was so far advanced than here on earth, they would only be using the same components that make up our own world to create the means of transportation. I can be almost sure that flying saucers and other sci fi looking craft would not cover the distances involved.
And if they came here from the future they would already be among us.
Imagine living a hundred years ago and convincing people that we could get any information we desired in a moments notice from a little device we could hold in our hand, there may be life on other planets that is nothing more than microbial, but there may be life that has thousands of years to evolve technologies far greater than we can understand, perhaps they can travel through wormholes, or bend space, something we cannot get our heads around, just like someone from a hundred years ago trying to understand the internet…
When you are getting old, Pre Historic is the best approach, not the future 
If they are intelligent enough to come here,they would be intelligent enough to know it would be best to avoid the place.
I can’t imagine we are alone in such a vast cosmos…but other humans …I doubt that.
I remember seeing an interview with Brian Cox and he said replicating how humans evolved would be impossible…we are the result of many evolutionary mistakes.
I think comparing the wonders of a smartphone and the internet with the technology of travelling hundreds of light years across space in an instant is stretching the imagination a bit Primus…
And wasn’t the universe probably created by lots of ‘Big Bangs’ similar to ours. There are lots of Suns out there, mind boggling distances away, and all created at different times. So some life has come and gone, and some have just got started. We always say that due to the size of the universe that there must be life somewhere…But you have to consider all of the different timelines. That’s going to narrow it down quite a bit…
Look! There goes another exploding solar system… 
Yes that’s true foxy, but, there must also be life existing at the same time as ours,
Not necessarily Primus…‘Time’ covers a very long period indeed…
How could they not exist? We have an infinite galaxy. Surely we aren’t arrogant enough to think we are the only living being alive in the entire galaxy?
Good post. There’s more we don’t know than we do.
This can’t be the only planet in the Universe with life.
Why shouldn’t beings more technologically advanced than us be visiting here?
I’m not disagreeing with the possibility than other life exists. But I did not think the galaxy was infinite. In fact it is quite well mapped and the number of stars within it reasonably and finitely counted.
I’m not even sure that the universe is infinite. At least the visible universe is known to be 46 billion light years in all directions. Ok, that is a mind blowing distance and arguably as good as infinite. And the universe appears to contain more galaxies as there are stars in our own galaxy. And these are hundreds of billions type of numbers for both you could argue that’s as near as infinite as you can get.
I think the galaxy itself is beyond our understanding. How could we possibly understand it. We are nothing in comparison.
Given all the downsides, folks still, and are happy to create new folks, that’s faith or lust for you.
Fancy bringing new life into a shit place, work that one out 
That’s my take on it too, especially considering our Sun is a relative newcomer compared with others that are dying or have already died. It’s the suns that are the incubators for life. I’m waiting for Dara O’Briain’s new TV prog on The Moon.
WONDERS OF THE MOON With Dara Ó Briain Premieres 1 August on CHANNEL 5 - Memorable TV
Arrogance doesn’t come into it Chelsea. As we have discussed earlier, nobody (including me) disputes that life may exist elsewhere in the universe, the timeline would have to be similar to ours for comparable, or advanced life to exist. Because all solar systems are developed at different times, some life might be just beginning, and some life coming to and end…Just like some people seem to believe is happening to us here on earth.
If the human race here on earth did come to an end, all the progress, technology, scientific discovery etc would come to an end, and the few humans left behind (if there was enough to recolonise) would have to start from scratch. building a world of advanced communities and societies is like building a house of cards. Sooner or later it will collapse.
Lets look at this from a different perspective…What if us humans wanted to build a spaceship capable of searching the universe for better living conditions, assuming that this planet was unable to support human life in the future.
The distances and time would be vast, and may take several generations to arrive at the [promised land] The spaceship would have to be larger than most people could imagine. It would need gravity, because a humans muscles would deteriorate without it. This has been proved by scientists working in the International Space Station, they can only manage about six months at a time.
It would need fields of growing sustainable crops, and pasture to graze animals. It would need to be enclosed inside an atmosphere to prevent powerful UV, radiation and magnetic disturbances penetrating it. And to encourage condensation to form and fall as rain, to be used as drinking water with the surplus running off the high ground forming rivers of fresh water.
So in short, an eco self sustaining environment that would be favourable to the human species over the many generations that would be necessary to complete it’s travels.
And finally…this space ship would need energy to make it all work. This is where the sun comes in…A perpetual explosion producing heat and a gravitational pull that will keep the whole solar system together as it makes it’s way around the universe…
And who built this amazing space ship…Why, the creator of course, or God as we like to think of him…And where is this mighty space ship…Why! It’s here, you have been living on it for the last umpteen million years…
I just answered the question Foxy. I don’t believe the question had anything to do with humans finding another planet to live on and of course arrogance comes into play. Anyone who thinks they have any reliable answers about how our galaxy really works , is arrogant.