As I ask in my title, would we really know if we were surrounded by a more advanced galactic society? For good reason astronomers attribute astronomical phenomena to "natural" causes, but I also think we are sometimes like ants crawling across a desk with a computer on it: We and the ants have no real clue what we are witnessing.

As for the article itself, I found the author's approach a bit refreshing. He was doing some healthy speculation and was being honest about where he got his inspiration and ideas from, wild as they seem. Plenty of scientists got their start from science fiction. So long as it isn't taken as reality, there is nothing wrong with that.

We really aren't that far removed from our ancestors who attributed so many things to the gods. Can you say intelligent design?