About the tin hat brigades.

I don't think they should be ridiculed for believing that there may be intelligent life on other planets. There are possibly trillions of planets. It is quite probable that some have intelligent life.

I don't think that they should be ridiculed for thinking that intelligent life may have the ability to come here. There may be natural laws beyond Einstein's that we have not begun to explore. Its probable that on some of those planets the technology is so advanced that we would be mere termites building our mud mounds in comparison.

I don't think that they should be ridiculed for thinking that such beings would have an interest in our insignificant planet and come here to look around. We study lower forms of life, right down to bacterial and viruses why not they?

I think it gets a little questionable when they link that these alien intelligences are beaming signals into their brains. But who are we to question the techniques of a society so much more advanced.

No what the tin had brigades should be ridiculed for, if they believe in these super-technological beings, is in thinking that the tinfoil would protect them.