Society hasn’t looked back since the initial introduction of electric lighting in the nineteenth century. Homes and streets are illuminated at all hours of the day and night so that people may go about their business when they would otherwise be sleeping.
Aside from the apparent advantages to communities and the economy, there is a rising knowledge of artificial light’s harmful effects.
Light pollution is criticized for squandering energy, altering wildlife behavior, and even impacting mental health. However, one component has escaped the attention. That light, in particular, helps one to not only see but also to be seen. This may draw unwanted attention, and not only from moths.
Human curiosity and our developing understanding of the cosmos in which we live have inevitably led us to a question. Are there civilizations on worlds other than Earth? Scientists now believe that basic lifeforms such as bacteria might exist in many places throughout the cosmos.
What’s more speculative is the possibility that such extraterrestrial species has evolved technologically, potentially well beyond our capabilities.
This concept has captivated the public’s imagination, resulting in a plethora of science fiction literature and blockbuster films. Scientists, on the other hand, have given it significant consideration, considering how to locate and maybe contact these extraterrestrial species.
In 1974, radio astronomer Frank Drake used Arecibo, Puerto Rico’s most powerful radio transmitter, to send a message into space declaring human presence. We’ll be 45 light-years away from the message presently. Many stars and planets are closer to us than that, but they would not have been in Drake’s transmission route.
Aliens are sending out signals.
But, because scientists are eager, more effort has gone into scanning space for extraterrestrial civilizations’ signals.
The hunt for alien intelligence – frequently abbreviated to SETI – is growing increasingly important, well-informed, and well-resourced as more planets are identified orbiting other stars.
The Breakthrough Listen SETI project, which buys time at observatories to utilize their powerful telescopes to detect artificial signals from outer space, received a $100 million donation from billionaire entrepreneurs Yuri and Julia Milner in 2015.
Despite the vastness and emptiness of space, scientists have begun to speculate as to why humans have yet to hear from aliens. The Fermi Paradox, named after scientist Enrico Fermi, is a conundrum. One of the numerous answers presented for this dilemma takes us closer to Earth: aliens may be afraid of other aliens.
Is anyone paying attention?
While it may seem appealing, many scientists now think that sending signals into space without knowing who may intercept them is a bad idea. It can’t be undone after it’s been sent.
It cannot be deleted, unlike a social media post. It’s far safer to just listen. However, radio communication between humans, such as navigation, television broadcasts, and the internet, might be detected from space.
After all, uncaptured radio waves continue to go up and away from the Earth into outer space.
We may have been unintentionally witnessed by an amused, horrified, or “curious” species, who may elect to meet us to “shake hands,” or come to enslave, consume, or exterminate us as a precaution. After all, we are a predatory species ourselves.
Fortunately, Earth has gotten much quieter as a result of more focused signaling and the replacement of aerial transmission with fiber cables. We might be able to get away with our previous irresponsibility. However, a new light is shining.
At night, images of the Earth reflect human existence in a magnificent way. Cities and highways define continent outlines, while oil platforms dot the oceans and ships make lines across the water.
This artificial light, which has taken the place of earlier incandescent sources, is unnatural. The artificial origin of this “spectrum” should be obvious for technologically adept aliens to discern, from orange sodium or bluish mercury lights to white-light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
Earth’s space agencies may develop the technology to detect artificial light from planets orbiting other stars in the next decades. However, we may fail if aliens think the best course of action is to remain silent and in the dark.
We, on the other hand, may have already been seen, and they are on their way. This raises the question of whether or not we should dim our lights before it’s too late.
