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Why intelligent life could be hiding out there in the galaxy (and probably is) (science documentary).

Answering the question of are we alone has turned out to be a bit more difficult than was originally envisioned when SETI first began decades ago. At first it was a matter of looking for giant omni-directional beacons blasting out high energy messages, much like what we saw in the movie contact. But as we’ve gone through the process of searching, it’s becoming evident that such a scenario was in a way wishful thinking.

Alien: Covenant (first trailer).
Why intelligent life could be hiding out there in the galaxy (and probably is) (science documentary).

We have seen no such unambiguous beacons, and thinking on just why a civilisation would expend massive amounts of energy on a signal has changed. It’s very likely to be far more subtle than that, and that any intentional message would be beamed directly at us. But beacons aren’t the only game in town. Since the advent of SETI, other technosignatures beyond radio have been thought of.

Now we can look for laser emissions, industrial chemicals in the atmospheres of exoplanets, Dyson swarms, and a host of other signatures that would tell us if there are alien civilisations out there.

Where is intelligent life in the universe?

John is joined with Isaac Arthur to discuss the Fermi paradox, to try and answer where all of the intelligent life is in the universe, and look at what possible techno signatures are most likely. Dyson spheres and Dyson swarms, Von Neumann probes, and machine civilisations.

ColonelFrog

Colonel Frog is a long time science fiction and fantasy fan. He loves reading novels in the field, and he also enjoys watching movies (as well as reading lots of other genre books).

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