3 ms·

Is it possible that an alien race has simply covered that galaxy with dyson spheres? That life is more common than we thought - or perhaps more rapidly advancin

Is it possible that an alien race has simply covered that galaxy with dyson spheres? That life is more common than we thought - or perhaps more rapidly advancing once intelligence is hit - and most galaxies are "dark" from their interference?

aab0 10y ago
No infrared. Already ruled out by earlier infrared surveys looking for Dyson spheres.
- drjesusphd 10y ago
  Those were only looking in our stellar neighborhood though, right? Would a galaxy of infrared "stars" be detectable?
  - wcoenen 10y ago
    It should be detectable, but the Ĝ Infrared Search[1] didn't find any in the WISE[2] data. Jason Wright talked about this and related topics in a SETI institute video[3]. [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.1134 https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.1134 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Explorer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Exp... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEDR-G2EDRM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEDR-G2EDRM
- bjelkeman-again 10y ago
  We often seem to assume we know "everything", and we often find out there is more to learn. It would be an interesting universe if we found dark matter to be ancient civilisations. Using up much of the mass and energy (even the infrared).
  - hinkley 10y ago
    Oh stop. This is such an unlikely avenue of inquiry that it just distracts from the conversation. If at some point we figure out that the laws of thermodynamics do not apply, that would be such a profound change in how we interact with the universe that speculation over how to best search the night sky for intelligent life would be the last thing on most people's minds for quite some time. We would quickly find ways to harness quantities of energy that would fry us to a literal crisp today due to conversion losses, and that would be such a breakthrough that rather than look for signs of life in nearby systems, we could just go there and look around.
- 3pt14159 10y ago
  Ruled out? From Wikipedia: Identifying one of the many infrared sources as a Dyson sphere would require improved techniques for discriminating between a Dyson sphere and natural sources. Fermilab discovered 17 potential "ambiguous" candidates, of which four have been named "amusing but still questionable". Other searches also resulted in several candidates, which are, however, unconfirmed.
  - yongjik 10y ago
    I think aab0 means that this particular galaxy is ruled out as a Dyson sphere, not the possibility of there being one somewhere in the universe. A Dyson sphere should still emit infrared, unless the aliens can subvert thermodynamics, at which point anything is possible.

aab0 10y ago

No infrared. Already ruled out by earlier infrared surveys looking for Dyson spheres.

drjesusphd 10y ago
Those were only looking in our stellar neighborhood though, right? Would a galaxy of infrared "stars" be detectable?
- wcoenen 10y ago
  It should be detectable, but the Ĝ Infrared Search[1] didn't find any in the WISE[2] data. Jason Wright talked about this and related topics in a SETI institute video[3]. [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.1134 https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.1134 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Explorer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Exp... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEDR-G2EDRM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEDR-G2EDRM
bjelkeman-again 10y ago
We often seem to assume we know "everything", and we often find out there is more to learn. It would be an interesting universe if we found dark matter to be ancient civilisations. Using up much of the mass and energy (even the infrared).
- hinkley 10y ago
  Oh stop. This is such an unlikely avenue of inquiry that it just distracts from the conversation. If at some point we figure out that the laws of thermodynamics do not apply, that would be such a profound change in how we interact with the universe that speculation over how to best search the night sky for intelligent life would be the last thing on most people's minds for quite some time. We would quickly find ways to harness quantities of energy that would fry us to a literal crisp today due to conversion losses, and that would be such a breakthrough that rather than look for signs of life in nearby systems, we could just go there and look around.
3pt14159 10y ago
Ruled out? From Wikipedia: Identifying one of the many infrared sources as a Dyson sphere would require improved techniques for discriminating between a Dyson sphere and natural sources. Fermilab discovered 17 potential "ambiguous" candidates, of which four have been named "amusing but still questionable". Other searches also resulted in several candidates, which are, however, unconfirmed.
- yongjik 10y ago
  I think aab0 means that this particular galaxy is ruled out as a Dyson sphere, not the possibility of there being one somewhere in the universe. A Dyson sphere should still emit infrared, unless the aliens can subvert thermodynamics, at which point anything is possible.