Albert Einstein did what he called "thought experiments" that resulted in his Theory of Relativity. I have just finished editing the 8th draft of a sci-fi novel, my own Einsteinian thought experiment. Every one of the sci-fi novels I've read paints alien invaders as bloodthirsty and technologically superior. I don't buy that. In fact, they're probably rank amateurs compared to us. Dante's inscription on the gates of Hell may well be the toe tag on our little piece of galactic real estate: "Abandon all hope, those who enter."
Et tu, Vladimir.