We have no good reason to believe that aliens have ever contacted Earth. Sure, there are conspiracy theories and some rather strange reports about harm to cattle, but nothing credible. Physicist Enrico Fermi found this odd. His formulation of the puzzle, proposed in the 1950s and now known as "the Fermi Paradox", is still key to the search for extraterrestrial life (SETI) and messaging by sending signals into space (METI).
Personally I think it’s probably just that our environment is rare.
You probably need a jupiter, a moon, a specific amount of tectonic activity and so on.
And afaik evolution can settle like it did with the dinosaurs, where nothing much new happens. Like you need a specific pattern of extinction events in order for it to arrive at intelligence.
And further, why establish contact with humans? I’d just observe them and store as much data as possible. For example to be able to bring back extinct animals, and even culture and languages. And then just let them deal with their challenges in order to mature.
Personally I think it’s probably just that our environment is rare.
You probably need a jupiter, a moon, a specific amount of tectonic activity and so on.
And afaik evolution can settle like it did with the dinosaurs, where nothing much new happens. Like you need a specific pattern of extinction events in order for it to arrive at intelligence.
And further, why establish contact with humans? I’d just observe them and store as much data as possible. For example to be able to bring back extinct animals, and even culture and languages. And then just let them deal with their challenges in order to mature.