Why we might be alone in the Universe

[Anomalocaris]

What astronomers look for is a construct called a Dyson Swarm. It is basically a shitload of artificial objects such as rotating habitats which surround a star. There would be an unmistakable infrared signature from such an object. We should see them if they are there.

I've never been convinced by the argument that technological civilizations will inevitably build these and I'm definitely not convinced that a civilization would eventually do this with every system in the galaxy. It's based on the animal instinct to multiply, something I believe all life-forms would lose when they inevitably augment themselves with technology.

It was not a dyson swarm they were specifically looking for.   They were simply fishing.  If kardeshev scale has any merit, then successful miles stones in technological and civilization advancements would be marked by exponential increase in energy use.  Thermodynamics would say as matter of fundamentals principle exponential increase in energy use necessarily lead to exponential increase in energy wasted that must somehow be dissipated or civilization would cook in its own waste energy.   They were hoping the  waste energy would be dissipated in the EM form they can see.

But all this is too theoretical for the likes of CNN, so some concrete scenario must be contrived to let the less theoretically minded to visualize how different levels of energy use on the kardeshev scale can be realized, and how waste heat from such use would be dissipated. Hence the dyson swarm became involved.