Extend that too:
a) An alien civilization has overcome the massive problems of interstellar travel and is able to visit in a manner that doesn't create a second sun in the sky
Seriously people underestimate the ludicrous energies involved in near-c travel. Even with engines off at those speeds the interstellar dust undergoing nuclear fusion off your hull will give you away
Extend that too:
a) An alien civilization has overcome the massive problems of interstellar travel and is able to visit in a manner that doesn't create a second sun in the sky
b) then crash
Machines would be more likely than anything biological in any case. Not implying this is what we have here, just a general observation. It's weird people believe space travel requires pilots.
> Machines would be more likely than anything biological in any case.
Counterpoint: biology is a machine in itself.
Our machines of metal and microchips are incredibly primitive compared to where they'll be in 100, 500, 1000, 10K+ years from now - and when a machine has the ability to to self-replicate, have autonomy, and to protect itself from microscopic threats, then it sure looks a lot like life-as-we-know it.
Having just finished Iain Banks excellent The Algebraist, this is immediately what came to mind: we have no idea what timescales aliens would operate on.
Idk what’s so special about the speed of light/causality, in an alien universe it may not even be relevant. When talking about alien intelligence and technology literally everything is on the table.
I'm not sure we will ever know if this is the only universe. However it seems highly unlikely that aliens could travel from another universe and, even if they could, bring their own laws on physics with them.
Seriously people underestimate the ludicrous energies involved in near-c travel. Even with engines off at those speeds the interstellar dust undergoing nuclear fusion off your hull will give you away