- there's some communicative intelligence involved with the craft(s), that we've communicated with in a way that leads us to think they are harmless (despite radar jamming antics.) in a best case scenario, we've been given guarantees of safety as well as sufficient explanation and demonstration to consider that guarantee credible.
- we've seen sufficient examples of these in history to conclude that if harm was meant, it would have been dealt by now
- the crafts themselves have given indications of any game theoretic elements which would lead to harm. for example, perhaps they've communicated (perhaps indirectly through escalation and deescalation) what areas of engagement or human action will lead to escalation and which won't, and have done so consistently
i'm leaning towards a combination of the second and the third. there's no reason to believe these craft are new phenomena, but likely evaded sufficient detection to be accepted as real until the last several decades. if you assume the technology involved in these are far beyond our own, then it's also fair to assume that any capacity for harm from these has been ever-present and existential in scope since humanity first began. and yet, here we are. so it doesn't take a huge leap of logic to conclude that perhaps these are harmless, modulo any major disruptions in say the threat of humanity to itself or to other parts of the galaxy.
- there's some communicative intelligence involved with the craft(s), that we've communicated with in a way that leads us to think they are harmless (despite radar jamming antics.) in a best case scenario, we've been given guarantees of safety as well as sufficient explanation and demonstration to consider that guarantee credible.
- we've seen sufficient examples of these in history to conclude that if harm was meant, it would have been dealt by now
- the crafts themselves have given indications of any game theoretic elements which would lead to harm. for example, perhaps they've communicated (perhaps indirectly through escalation and deescalation) what areas of engagement or human action will lead to escalation and which won't, and have done so consistently
i'm leaning towards a combination of the second and the third. there's no reason to believe these craft are new phenomena, but likely evaded sufficient detection to be accepted as real until the last several decades. if you assume the technology involved in these are far beyond our own, then it's also fair to assume that any capacity for harm from these has been ever-present and existential in scope since humanity first began. and yet, here we are. so it doesn't take a huge leap of logic to conclude that perhaps these are harmless, modulo any major disruptions in say the threat of humanity to itself or to other parts of the galaxy.