From “City Lights Could Reveal E.T. Civilization” (ScienceDaily, Nov. 3, 2011), we learn:
In the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, astronomers have hunted for radio signals and ultra-short laser pulses. In a new paper, Avi Loeb (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and Edwin Turner (Princeton University) suggest a new technique for finding aliens: look for their city lights. “Looking for alien cities would be a long shot, but wouldn’t require extra resources. And if we succeed, it would change our perception of our place in the universe,” said Loeb.
Yes! Just think! Someone else to blame for electricity waste, as in “THEY is worse than Us.”
As with other SETI methods, they rely on the assumption that aliens would use Earth-like technologies. This is reasonable because any intelligent life that evolved in the light from its nearest star is likely to have artificial illumination that switches on during the hours of darkness.
Unless, of course, eyes never evolved on that planet …
In that context, see this story by H. G.Wells, about a sighted man who thought he could rule over a society in which everyone else was blind. It didn’t work out because the society was adapted to sightlessness and people assumed he was delusional when he claimed to “see” stuff – just like Madame Baloney claims to “see” the future.
Hey look, it’s Saturday morning, folks. Serious science news later.
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