Posthuman Blues

Whitley Strieber speculates about alien contact:

Will aliens land? That's always a maybe, but since we understand them so little -- even what they are -- obviously, no prediction can be made because there is nothing to extrapolate from. Certainly, UFO activity is at a very high level right now, but that has happened before and, in the past, has not led to contact, which I would define as an event that ends speculation and denial. What form it might take I don't know, but judging from the failed attempt in the early fifties and the way events unfolded over Belgium, my guess would be that it would come in the form of incontrovertible sightings.

These would be followed by their disappearance from the skies, during which the visitors would evaluate the effectiveness of their performance.