Quote Originally Posted by Times Roman View Post
True.

There is also another line of reasoning that goes something like this....

If all the aliens want are resources, then why would they not exploit their own solar system first, and then that of the next star over? Assuming Einstein is right and nothing can exceed the speed of light, then why would an alien race travel however many light years (assume equivalent to light speed, then if 1,000 light years away, then the fastest they can get here is 1,000 years) just to exploit our resources?

This all assumes home planet = current location. Given a specie that is nomadic in nature and travels from one system to another, then they could be close by, and that would be a game changer to the above scenario.
There's a theory that the aliens who have visited Earth use an advanced propulsion system that manipulates distances by 'folding' space in half, thus greatly reducing the distance from A to B. Bob Lazar (although discredited) had a similar 'experience'. He claimed that aliens use a type of fuel in their spacecraft's called Element 115 and at the time - in 1989 - he was laughed at. It was only recently (2006 or so) that scientists managed to create this matter, although in small quantities. Interesting ideas.