re: Other modes of contact
I would call them gifted insight. Da Vinci certainly thought of things ahead of their time, but had he truly been able to peer into the future, I would assume his devices would look like things from our time and run on computers and electricity, none of which I ever recall seeing among his works.
I know I'm no fun, but I'm going to wait for more than just the word of someone that they are in mental contact with aliens.
