There is no doubt that history has countless examples of amazing achievements and vast leeps in technology. Humans have accomplished everything they/we have ever imagined/dreamed, and then some. If man can think of it, he can do it; almost without exception and often in stones so huge it defies logic or reason; or in mind altering epiphanies that change all life/history on Earth; examples exist at every level and in all fields of interest.
Space travel...been there done that; gone to another planet(oid), check; split the atom..map the human genome...we've banged and clicked that shit big time. We've been there and done all that and so much more. In my life time, call waiting was high tech phone service and Pong ruled the gaming world, until Space Invaders showed up. Now I have a bluetooth communicator device as good as anything on Star Trek, with GPS and doctor.com instant access anywhere. Our Viking probe will reach interstellar space any day now and I can visit the Louvre in high definition without ever smelling the stench of Paris?
What we haven't figured out yet, even though it's the second thing humans tried to master after fire, is how to travel across time. The numbers involved are so enormous that formulas break down if you try to include the entire human experience, never mind a single man's lifetime, into the math. Any intelligent being traveling from any place outside our solar system has to overcome time. (period) In the history of the planet, if it blinked for a second it would miss man's existence entirely. In effect, you simply cannot get here from there because you don't have enough time/timing; and it won't be where it was supposed to be when you left anyway, if it even still exists.
How do you adjust your trajectory accross that many zeros and still compensate for random happenstances?
