I have always believed there are planetary civilizations that are billions of years old, some, - older than the earth. There are tangible remnants of ancient civilizations surviving today that suggest epoch when such knowledge of extraterrestrials was common. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans had their pantheon of gods who dwelt in realms beyond the skies. East Indian Vedas also speak of interplanetary travel in space craft they called vimana, not to mention the vilixi, of Atlantis. Considering the vastness of time and space in the universe, who is to say the very gods humans have embraced, whose interactions became our religions, - were not highly evolved members of some primordial, extremely advanced civilization(s). Looking past many shallow attempts in the entertainment media, contemporary science fiction and fantasy genre, One has moments of realization there may be some deeper underlying truth to them.
The famous H.P.Lovecraft exploited this literary concept in his many works of the; "Old Ones" in his 1930s classics, "The Call of Cthulhu" and "Mountains of Madness" and of another writer; John Leahy's "Amundsen's Tent." It is my sincerest desire to humbly follow in the august and eloquent traditions of these creatively brilliant writers.
Even the most diehard skeptics are beginning to realize every star is similar to our sun and has planets. Recently, astronomers have observed these solar systems are very much like our own, and to date, hundreds of planets have been identified. With more powerful telescopes, countless more will be found - trust me.
Van M Lake