Exploring the prospects of detecting extraterrestrial civilizations

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Exploring the prospects of detecting
extraterrestrial civilizations

• Nikolai Kardashev civilization classification-
  Evidence of alien visitation to Earth
• Including refinements by Sagan, C. 1973. The
  Cosmic Connection an Extraterrestrial
  Perspective.
• Tang, T. B., and Chang G. 1991. Quarterly J. of
  the R.A.S., 32, 189-191.

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Type I Civilizations

• We will use the system devised by Soviet
  astronomer Nikolai Kardashev.
• Type I civilizations use the entirety of their
  planetary resources limits (1016 -1017 W).
• Characteristics of a Type I civilization
• Understands advanced physics.
• Achieved space and nuclear technology.
• Initiation of spaceflight, interplanetary travel,
  settlement of space.
• Early attempts at interstellar communication.
• How to detect a Type I civilization
• Via spectral signatures in atmospheres.
• Via communication beacons, etc.?
• Humans are around Type 0.7, and will be Type I in
  100-200 years (Sagan 1973).

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Type II Civilizations

• Type II civilizations use the entirety of the
  power produced by their home star (1026 -1027 W).
• Characteristics of a Type II civilization
• Stellar system society, constructing space
  habitats.
• Construction of Dyson rings or Dyson spheres.
  (Isatellites, IIsingle structure).
• Societal lifetimes of 1000-100,000 years.
• Interstellar travel, seeking other civilizations.
• Sending remote probes, promoting panspermia,
  stellar arks.
• How to detect a Type II civilization
• A Dyson sphere would convert the visible energy
  production of the enclosed star into infrared
  (waste heat). While the star would be hidden at
  optical wavelengths, it would be easily
  detectable via infrared astronomy.

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Type III Civilizations

• Type III civilizations use the entirety of the
  power and resources of their galaxy (1037-1038
  W).
• We have entered the realms of pure, fantastic,
  speculation.
• Characteristics of a Type III civilization
• Galactic society.
• Societal lifetimes of 108-109 years, essentially
  immortal.
• Interstellar communications using exotic forms.
• Feats of astro-engineering.
• Such a civilization would probably require some
  kind of faster-than-light technology to keep from
  falling apart
• How to detect a Type III civilization
• Can we even imagine such an advanced
  civilization?
• Would we recognize the works of such a
  civilization?

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Likely sites for alien relics

• As (if) we explore our cosmos, we will no doubt
  keep our eyes open for signs of alien relics.
  Where should we look?
• If you visited our solar system before
  intelligent life had evolved, and you wanted to
  leave a message for future native explorers,
  where would you place it?
• A Moon beacon?
• Seeing that the Earth was a habitable world,
  would you leave marker for future humans on the
  Moon, perhaps slightly hidden but with clear
  markers?
• Relics at sites lacking erosion?
• Perhaps you would place it at locations like
  Callisto, which have little or no erosion.
• Gravitationally stable sites
• Lagrange points 4 5 are possible sites where
  such objects may be placed for the very long term.

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Indications of ancient alien visitations

• Do we have good evidence of ancient visitations?
  Just like the Martian meteoritesignificant
  claims require significant evidence.
• For example, it is possible that the periodic
  extinctions in our fossil record were due to past
  episodes of cosmic warfare, but we need evidence
  to support this. Until that evidence arrives, it
  makes sense to explain it by natural
  asteroidal-cometary impacts.
• Archeoastronomers, working with historians,
  anthropologists, and artists, have reviewed the
  prehistory and history of art, literature,
  science, and architecture looking for artifacts
  or indications of alien encounter.
• Examples of evidence would be inexplicable
  records of contact, especially if associated with
  rapid jumps in human technological ability.
• However, it is critical that the evidence is
  interpretednot only through the modern eyebut
  also through the lens of culture present at the
  time of the historical record.
• Let us review ancient civilizations to current
  timesbut we will start with an analysis of
  Christian art, as a cautionary tale.

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Indications of ancient alien visitations

• Orthodox Christianity, 11th to 14th
  centuryPaintings, frescos, etc., often show what
  might appear to be clear indications of alien
  visitations.
• Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, an 11th century
  Christian church in Georgia (Eastern Europe),
  includes a representation called Crucifixion,
  which contains obvious alien aircraft!
• The 14th century fresco in the Visoki Decani
  Monastery in Kosovo, similarly shows UFO visitors
  at the crucifixion!
• But art iconographers note that these symbols are
  merely Sun/Moon symbols, used as a symbolic
  language by artists to indicate the importance of
  the events portrayed.
• What may seem to be aliens, is merely the
  language of the artistry.
• See http//sprezzatura.it/Arte/Arte_UFO.htm

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Indications of ancient alien visitations

• Pyramids around the world, 2500 BCE-1000 AD
• Claims by European pseudo-historiansthat
  pyramids could not have been made by people with
  other skin colorssmacks strongly of racism and
  cultural imperialism!
• Pyramids have been created in Mesoamerica, Egypt,
  Greece, Nubia, Middle East, etc., all well within
  contemporary technologies and manpower.
• ExampleEgyptian pyramids
• They were created over 2600-1800 BCE.
• Studied chronologically, they show a slow but
  steady improvement in construction.
• The bent pyramid in the royal necropolis of
  Dashur (2600 BCE) shows a mid-construction change
  of 55 to 43!

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Indications of ancient alien visitations

• Aliens in Egypt, 2500 BCE Images of alien
  greys have been found on hieroglyphs.
• These creepy images are, in fact, nothing more
  mysterious than potted plants!
• Temple of Seti I, 1300 BCE
• Conventionally explained as overlain hieroglyphs,
  exposed as the plaster has fallen away.

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Indications of ancient alien visitations

• Alien instructor-being in Babylonia, 300 BCE
• Berossos was an ancient historian of Babylonia
  who wrote of Oannes, a fishlike humanoid, that
  rose from the Persian Gulf and taught technology
  to humanity
• This beinggave them an insight into letters and
  sciences, and arts of every kind. He taught them
  to construct cities, to found temples, to compile
  laws, and explained to them the principles of
  geometrical knowledge.
• Pre-Columbian gold artifacts

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Indications of ancient alien visitations

• Mexico, Central America, 680 AD
• Ancient images of astronauts are easily
  interpreted by anthropologists for example
  depictions on the tomb of the Mayan ruler, Pakal
  the Great (603-683 AD).

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Indications of current alien visitations

• UFOs Unidentified Flying Objects
• 24 June 1947
• UFOs seen by private pilot Kenneth Arnold in
  Washington state.
• 8 July 1947
• Saucer parts found in Roswell, NM. Subsequently
  revealed to be debris from secret US military
  program Mogul.
• 19 September 1961
• Betty Barney Hill abducted in New Hampshire.
• 10 February 1964
• The Bellero Shield aired on The Outer Limits,
  showing an alien with large oval eyes. Two weeks
  later, under hypnosis, Barney Hill related
  memories of aliens with large oval eyes.

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Indications of current alien visitations

• 1972
• J. Allen Hynek developed Close Encounter
  classification.
• 1978
• Mysterious crop circles start appearing in
  England. After 13 years, Doug Bower and Dave
  Chorley admit to starting the crop circle craze.
  Crop circle artists start web sites and
  societies.
• 1995
• Alien autopsy videos released later revealed as
  fake.

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Indications of current alien visitations

• Very few forms of life on our planet are bipedal
  humanoids. The diversity of life forms is far
  richer.

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Indications of current alien visitations

• UFOlogists believe in an wacked taxonomy of
  Greys, Reptilians, Nordics, and Men in
  Black.Notice how all these aliens are bipedal
  humanoids??

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Can UFOs be science?

• Discovery science? Yes
• Hypothesis driven science? No
• It is important to be open-minded, yet to apply
  basic scientific principles, cautiously, just as
  if we were investigating laws of physics, or
  cures for cancer.
• The quality of most UFO work makes life difficult
  for anyone actually studying the topic.

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Appendix if you really hunger for more

• Easter Island, Chile, 1700 AD
• This Polynesian island is renowned for its many
  enormous, enigmatic statues.
• Q How could they be erected without trees and
  ropes?
• A When the moai were carved and erected, trees
  were present. However, the trees were
  subsequently harvested to depletion.
• Ropes also existed, of course, but claiming
  they didnt makes it all seem more mysterious!
  Easter Island is often cited as a textbook case
  of the perils of an unsustainable lifestyle,
  invasive species, and disease introduction.

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Indications of ancient alien visitations

• Nacza, Peru, 200 BC-300 ADThe drawings on the
  plains of Nazca, Peru are remarkable and there
  are several theories about their function
  ceremonial, astronomical, pointing towards water
  holes, etc. The patterns can easily be created
  using rock and rope technology.
• While tourist-theoreticians like to invoke
  aliens, or the help of visiting aliens (who must
  lack any kind of navigation?), anthropologists
  tell us this is a simplistic (and insulting)
  characterization of a once-sophisticated culture.
  
• Note they even created a complex system of
  underground aquaducts (puquios) with access
  points (respirados).
• This was an advanced civilization.

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Indications of ancient alien visitations

• Mali, West Africa, currentThe bright star,
  Sirius, has an exceedingly tiny and faint
  companion (Sirus B), which was only observed for
  the first time in 1862. Sirius B is absolutely
  impossible to detect without sophisticated
  telescopic equipment.
• Despite all this, the Dogon people of Mali, West
  Africa, know that Sirius is a double system (the
  sorghum star and digitaria star), meaning big
  and small because of seed sizes, and a 60 year
  orbit.
• Is this knowledge of Sirius B coincidence, due to
  aliens, or cultural contamination? (In 1893 an
  entourage of French astronomers on an eclipse
  expedition visited Mali and stayed with the Dogon
  people.)
• Note European author Jonathan Swift wrote in
  Gullivers Travels (1726) that Mars had two
  moons, with 10 and 22 hour orbital periods.
  Phobos and Deimos, discovered in 1877, have
  orbital periods of 8 and 30 hours.

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Indications of ancient alien visitations

• Did the major religions result from interactions
  with extraterrestrials?
• Ezekiel (prophet in Christianity, Judaism,
  Islam), ca. 500 BCE
• The Book of Ezekiel
• 14-9
• I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the
  northan immense cloud with flashing lightning
  and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of
  the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the
  fire was what looked like four living creatures.
  In appearance their form was that of a man, but
  each of them had four faces and four wings. Their
  legs were straight their feet were like those of
  a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze.
• 115-19
• As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a
  wheel on the ground beside each creature with its
  four faces. This was the appearance and structure
  of the wheels They sparkled like chrysolite, and
  all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made
  like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved,
  they would go in any one of the four directions
  the creatures faced the wheels did not turn
  about as the creatures went. Their rims were high
  and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes
  all around. When the living creatures moved, the
  wheels beside them moved and when the living
  creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also
  rose.