>Even if you decide that you think general relativity is wrong, if a society had antigravity, we would expect to see many more signs of their technological advancement.

Maybe they got the technology, and subsequently used it to leave Earth alone, eh? And maybe it was the relatives they left behind that used that as a motivation for creative/artistic expression, in the dark, back here on Earth?

I mean, this is really the point of these art-forms; open to interpretation. And frankly the notion that one ideal over the other should prevail is, perhaps, a bit ignorant?

> Maybe they got the technology, and subsequently used it to leave Earth alone, eh?

And maybe there's an invisible dragon in my garage. This is not rational thought.

> I mean, this is really the point of these art-forms

My mistake, I thought we were discussing likely possibilities for external reality. If this is just a fantasy game, carry on.

The point is, we don't know everything there is to know about propulsion. "Anti-gravity" is just a useless phrase, sure, but .. maybe its more of a "gravity-bending" technology, who knows.

That's really the point I think, is being made. We don't know everything there is to know about how the universe works. Just because ancient cultures might have left us clues to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves, doesn't mean we should not indeed check ourselves.

I mean, I'm all for the idea that we discover this kind of technology buried under an old village somewhere. Sounds kind of fun to me - you know, like .. electricity might've sounded fun and exotic at some point ..

> maybe its more of a "gravity-bending" technology, who knows.

We already have gravity bending technology: it's called mass. Gravity is caused by concentrations of energy, which have to be extremely large to generate significant gravity.

How much do you know about general relativity? Are you sure that dreaming about this kind of stuff isn't just a way to avoid learning about what we already know? If we suddenly found something buried under an old village, would you want to learn about that, or do you just want to be able to use it without understanding it?

I would want the people who understand these things to have an open mind about learning more, from such a discovery, were it to happen - and then I'd like everyone to have access to the technology so we can, like, vacation on Phobos and whatnot.

Seriously though, your point is correct. But, obviously, if there were space-faring UFO's capable of impossible speeds, then there'd have to be something behind it all that we are missing. Maybe we'll get some clues one day.