1) A lot of unscientific tribal belief systems inherit the existence of a networked planet. Perhaps at one point there was a scientific understanding of this, sometime before 6,000 BC which seems to be our cutoff from older knowledge.
2) If there was alien life here, I could see many circumstances where they are intentionally ignoring humans or not prioritizing interaction with us. We wouldnt know and just assume theyd want to interact with us and that we would be able to detect and differentiate them, it seems more likely that populating and surveying underwater and subterranean earth would be more fruitful and more interesting.
