Alien Hunting: New Technologies That Could Help Us Find Another Civilization

[Article déjà publié le 15 juillet 2024]

Cinema and series often tell us about extraterrestrial lives that come into contact with humans. And even though this rarely goes well, we have long been looking for proof or a clue that we are not alone in the Universe.

To help us, since the aliens, if they exist anywhere, have not yet arrived here, we therefore rely on ever more advanced technology.

These technologies that could help us discover aliens

It is within the framework of the project Breakthrough Listenthe largest program in the search for extraterrestrial life according to The Guardian that the hunt for aliens should take an incredible turn.

Indeed, according to comments reported by astronomer Steve Croft by the British daily, we are on the verge of finally having the technology necessary to find aliens.

“There are incredible technologies that are in development, like the construction of huge telescopes in Chile, Africa and Australia, like advances in AI. They [ndr, ces technologies] will transform the way we search for alien civilizations.”

Among the technologies that Steve Croft talks about, we can notably cite the Square Kilometer Array in South Africa, which will become the most powerful radio telescope in the world, and the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile. The latter is equipped with the largest camera in the world which compiles images of the visible Universe every three nights.

These gigantic and very powerful installations will begin to scour the entire Universe in search of a direct or indirect sign of the presence of an advanced civilization, thus proving that we are not alone.

A change in the way we search for extraterrestrials

“Until today, we have been limited to searching for signals deliberately sent by extraterrestrials to announce their existence. New technologies will be so sensitive that, for the first time, we will be able to detect unintentional and undeliberate transmissions […]” explains Steve Croft at Guardian.

Because yes, generally speaking, we believe that if we had wanted to declare our presence to the entire Universe, any other extraterrestrial civilization would wish to do the same. In fact, scientists were mainly looking for voluntary signals from possible civilizations, like messages that would be sent to the entire Universe.

But without a response and without the start of a conversation on their part, we were able to set up technologies capable of detecting an extraterrestrial presence which would not have sent a message.

To support this new method, The Guardian quotes the words of Adam Frank, an astrophysicist at the University of Rochester in New York and author of the book The Little Book of Aliens : “By searching for signatures of the daily activities of an extraterrestrial society – a technosignature – we are building entirely new tools to find intelligent life capable of building a civilization.”

Among the technosignatures that have been listed as “proof” of the establishment of an extraterrestrial civilization on another planet, the Guardian cites artificial light or atmospheric pollution in particular.

Some theories about aliens

Ever since we were able to ask ourselves the question of whether we are alone or not, we have never stopped trying to find our extraterrestrial counterparts. In vain. The Universe is vast and we are only at the beginning of our research concerning them.

While waiting to have proof of their existence or not, here are two theories that could help you wait:

• Schrödinger's Cat Experiment: Until we prove the existence or absence of all life in the Universe, except our own, we could be in two states at the same time. At the same time, we are alone, and at the same time we are not. Only tangible proof will allow us to really know.
• The Dark Forest: explained in the eponymous novel by Liu Cixin and which will be the subject of season 2 of Three-body problemthis theory highlights a terrifying fact. Indeed, there would be a whole bunch of extraterrestrial civilizations around us. However, each being aware of its weaknesses, it does not want to indicate to the others that it is present to avoid being destroyed if the message is received by a hostile extraterrestrial civilization. For our part, on Earth, we are currently telling the entire Universe where we are and who we are.

Finally, it is important to point out certain limits to this search for extraterrestrial life. Our form of life seems to be unique in the Universe. Despite this, we are committed to trying to find forms of life similar to ours that would use technologies and concepts that have been imagined by humans. It is therefore enough that the aliens have no characteristics in common with us, both physically and technologically, and not the same imagination as us and we could miss them. As proof, most of the aliens depicted in cinema have humanoid or insect forms. In other words, life forms that are only found on Earth.

Source : The Guardian