It is conceivable that humans could someday discover aliens. We scour the cosmos looking for their radio signals, and though we're not capable of interstellar space travel, it is remotely possible that we could find what we're looking for right here in our solar system.
If we were to ever come across an inhabitated alien planet, how would we go about contacting them ?
Senior SETI astronomer Seth Shostak believes that the most likely scenario would involve humans coming across an extraterrestrial race that is more primitive than we are and that the odds of encountering a civilization of an equal technological level to ours would be extremely remote.
Author Robert Freitas has claimed that in the 1950s the US military developed a seven stage plan to follow in the event of a contact situation. The steps included remote surveillance and data gathering as well as covert operations to determine military strength, this would then progress in to landings in secluded regions to collect specimens eventually including members of the alien race themselves - actions that seem to mirror those that have been reported by alleged alien abductees for decades.
Source Live Science
