Advanced alien civilizations could be communicating 'like fireflies' in plain sight, researchers suggest
Advanced alien civilizations may communicate via a series of flashing lights, similar to how fireflies do, a new paper hints. This would potentially make extraterrestrials much harder to spot if we continue to rely on our current observation techniques, the researchers argue.
However, while this thought experiment raises interesting questions about alien intelligence, it does not provide any evidence that these signals actually exist.
On Earth, fireflies communicate via a series of regularly repeating flashes caused by internal chemical reactions. These flashes are mainly used to find mates. But while these signals are simple, they do allow distinct firefly species to tell each other apart.
The researchers argue that similar flashing could be used as "here we are" signals by an alien civilization. And space is plentiful with repetitive bursts of light.
In the new paper, researchers analyzed the flashes of more than 150 pulsars — rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars that shoot out regular beams of electromagnetic radiation — as a proxy for what these signals may look like. And while they found no evidence of any artificial signals, they did note some similarities between the pulsars and firefly signals, and proposed ways of being able to detect future firefly-like flashes from other natural objects, like pulsars.
The study team argues that these signals could be more likely to evolve in long-lasting alien civilizations that progress past the need for widespread use of radio waves. A similar progression is already happening on Earth, where the use of communications satellites with more specific and concentrated radio signals is making our planet appear more "radio quiet" from afar, the researchers wrote.
And just because we may not naturally think to communicate in this way, it doesn't mean that other civilizations wouldn't, they added.
This is just one example of what non-human signals may look like, and the researchers encourage others to think outside of the anthropocentric box to come up with other ways that a non-human-like civilization could communicate.
https://www.livescience.com/space/extrat...rs-suggest
Advanced alien civilizations may communicate via a series of flashing lights, similar to how fireflies do, a new paper hints. This would potentially make extraterrestrials much harder to spot if we continue to rely on our current observation techniques, the researchers argue.
However, while this thought experiment raises interesting questions about alien intelligence, it does not provide any evidence that these signals actually exist.
On Earth, fireflies communicate via a series of regularly repeating flashes caused by internal chemical reactions. These flashes are mainly used to find mates. But while these signals are simple, they do allow distinct firefly species to tell each other apart.
The researchers argue that similar flashing could be used as "here we are" signals by an alien civilization. And space is plentiful with repetitive bursts of light.
In the new paper, researchers analyzed the flashes of more than 150 pulsars — rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars that shoot out regular beams of electromagnetic radiation — as a proxy for what these signals may look like. And while they found no evidence of any artificial signals, they did note some similarities between the pulsars and firefly signals, and proposed ways of being able to detect future firefly-like flashes from other natural objects, like pulsars.
The study team argues that these signals could be more likely to evolve in long-lasting alien civilizations that progress past the need for widespread use of radio waves. A similar progression is already happening on Earth, where the use of communications satellites with more specific and concentrated radio signals is making our planet appear more "radio quiet" from afar, the researchers wrote.
And just because we may not naturally think to communicate in this way, it doesn't mean that other civilizations wouldn't, they added.
This is just one example of what non-human signals may look like, and the researchers encourage others to think outside of the anthropocentric box to come up with other ways that a non-human-like civilization could communicate.
https://www.livescience.com/space/extrat...rs-suggest
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
(pester tibs via pm if you need invite) 
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