The Roswell Incident: Would an Advanced Alien Civilization Really Crash on Earth?
The Galactic Driver's License Exam: Would an Advanced Alien Civilization Really Crash at Roswell? Imagine an alien driving instructor handing out the final examination. "Congratulations, Zorg. You've successfully mastered faster-than-light navigation, quantum gravity manipulation, multidimensional spacetime geometry, and precision interstellar navigation." "Excellent!" "Just remember one thing before you leave..." "Don't hit the tiny blue planet inhabited by a civilization that has only primitive radar technology." Five minutes later... "...I crashed in New Mexico." The joke is funny because it immediately exposes one of the biggest logical questions surrounding the Roswell Incident. If a civilization has developed technology capable of crossing light-years—or perhaps even thousands or millions of light-years—of interstellar space, should we really expect it to fail during the easiest part of the journey? Interstellar trav...