Assuming Aliens are trying to detect "Earth" like planets

Assuming Aliens are trying to detect "Earth" like planets, what could we do to Earth or our Solar System to say YEP there is intelligent life over here?
Given our current technology is there anyway we can highlight our Solar System as having life?

a reply to: Xeven

Not if they're more than a couple of light years out. To get a transmission further than that distance requires a power source as enormous as the frikkin' Sun.

Why would we want to do that?

It could be the equivalent of an ape standing up above the grass to see if that lion is trying to find him. The lion sees him, and he is now lunch. It is not so far fetched as some might think. We cannot anticipate another intelligent civilizations reaction to finding us. If it is anything like the human race, when it encountered a new tribe or group of people in a far away land, it could be the start of many very bad days ahead.

IMO, passive surveillance is the best approach, until the intentions of the target are determined.

a reply to: Xeven

Obviously, if we know what to look for possible life around a sun, so would advanced aliens. Therefore, we need do nothing...unless we want to think them dumber or less endowed with science than ourselves.

You do know that electromagnetic waves (radio, radar, etc.) are also tell tale call signs going out into the ether?

a reply to: Xeven

Well given the potential for Predator civilization's to be a reality, species that view other sentient life in the universe as a threat to there own existence/dominance do we really want too.
Another point is that some lazy alien's may simply listen out for civilization's for another reason, we would be giving away the location of our world and also verifying that it can and does sustain some form of life and if they were into the colonization business that would make us a target for extinction or enslavement as well.
We also neatly mined all the harder to get to minerals in the upper layer of our crust so that also make's us a tempting financial target for an alien corporations strip and burn resource grab.

Any number of reason's we should just shut the hell up and hide.

But they are probably already here and now our best chance is for there to be too many other races aware of us for any one to risk the reaction of the others is they did so.

a reply to: Xeven

There are a couple of things with our given technology level that we could do:

1) RF transmissions from satellites in orbit about the Earth transmitting out into space (this avoids having to deal with the ionosphere).

2) Focused light beams (IE lasers) blinking on and off with say a prime number pattern from satellites in orbit around the Earth.

Of course both of these have the limitation of the speed of light. Meaning the years it takes for them to travel outwards to get to even the nearest stars. Just over 4 years for Alpha Centauri, 8 years for Sirius. 75 years for Vega, going on to hundreds to thousands of years for other star systems.



As others have said: might not be the smartest idea though. I know some people think it would be some kind of uplifting Close Encounters Of The Third Kind type of deal.

But it could easily be more like War Of The Worlds type of contact.

a reply to: Xeven

That's assuming they have a similar physiological make up to us, and evolved in a environment similar to ours. Potentially earth isn't habitable for them and they don't even look at it.

-- If the aliens lived within 100 Light Years of Earth (which is practically next door in galactic scales) them they could potentially be able to detect our radio waves -- although the signal would be very weak 100 LY out.

However, If they were much farther than that, then our civilization's radio waves have yet had the time to reach them.

Even if we send out a focus laser signal today, it would only be datable from one light year farther out every year. in 100 year, it will have traveled only about 0.1% of the way through the galaxy.



-- If the aliens lived, say 250 light years or so away (still pretty much in in our galactic neighborhood), then a spectrographic analysis of the light from our atmosphere might allow them to detect the industrial gases in our atmosphere our civilization has been producing since about the industrial revolution, which would be another sign to them that Earth has a civilization of some kind.

However, if they were much farther out than that, then the light from our atmosphere carrying the spectroscopic signature of industrial gasses has not yet had the time to reach them.



-- If the aliens lived, say 2000 light years or so away, which is still only about 2% of the way across the galaxy, then a spectrographic analysis of the light from our atmosphere might allow them to detect the burning of wood in our atmosphere that they might perceive as a sign to them that Earth has a some kind of intelligent life that has harnessed fire -- but would not necessarily be a technological civilization.

However, if they were much farther out than that, then the light from our atmosphere carrying the spectroscopic signature of campfires has not yet had the time to reach them.



-- if the aliens were 50,000 or more light years away, then a spectrographic analysis of Earth's atmosphere could tell them that there was probably animal and plant life of some kind on earth, because that spectra would show an abundance of elemental oxygen, which is at a ratio that probably does not occur naturally through non-life processes -- although they would have no way of knowing if the life was intelligent or not.

However, at that distance they would be too far for any spectrograph of the atmosphere or radio waves or whatever from Earth that would show a civilization, or even intelligent life at all.

a reply to: Krakatoa

What do we have that cannot be found in higher abundance elsewhere?

Life?

If it's life or something connected to it, then they've already found us. We can't fathom the "telescopes" they'd have if travelling the universe is a breeze.

Everything else is in abundance, if you can travel the vastness of space then you can use it's vast resources.

Humans fight over resources for survival, if we could mine Mars and the asteroid belt we'd be set for a few 1000 years, add Venus and the outer solar system then we could see a trillion humans existing at once.

Honestly, fighting the pond scum for resources is a waste of time when there's an ocean of resources that won't fight back.

Now if they'd come for ours souls... That's a different matter.

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: Krakatoa

What do we have that cannot be found in higher abundance elsewhere?

Life?

If it's life or something connected to it, then they've already found us. We can't fathom the "telescopes" they'd have if travelling the universe is a breeze.

Everything else is in abundance, if you can travel the vastness of space then you can use it's vast resources.

Humans fight over resources for survival, if we could mine Mars and the asteroid belt we'd be set for a few 1000 years, add Venus and the outer solar system then we could see a trillion humans existing at once.

Honestly, fighting the pond scum for resources is a waste of time when there's an ocean of resources that won't fight back.

Now if they'd come for ours souls... That's a different matter.

And, which is it then?

Without knowing definitively, the risk is real that it could be a bad reason. So, do we risk the entire population of the Earth on the chance that it is benevolent? IMO, I think the downside risk is too high, with no real upside other than knowledge.

a reply to: Xeven

What usually catches attention?

Abnormalities.

Earth is already a pretty weird place but we could probably make it weirder, if their levels of detection are near ours it could be possible to make our star temporary dissappear.

It might be mathematically possible to have solar "blinds" in space that accurately block out the sun for distant solar systems, it would be a slow way of doing things but eventually you might get some kind of ping back.

Everything else appears to be energy intensive, radical or relatively shortrange.

a reply to: Krakatoa

Good point. People say that there are benevolent alien species that wish to help us but I'm weary of that idea; how could we know that these super-intelligent aliens aren't putting up a nice-guy front then take our resources or set up a base here

We've been broadcasting TV and Radio signals for several decades now. I wonder what's the furthest star system that could have heard them by now?

a reply to: Krakatoa

That's not much of a choice then.

A. Bury your head and hope they can't see you.

B. Bury your head and hope they'll never find you.

Eventually it'll end up with a bitter ending. We won't last forever on earth.

Interestingly enough, YouTuber Isaac Arthur (his channel is about science and futurism) just put this video out earlier today, talking about alien civilizations hiding or us hiding from them. It's just over 30 minutes long, but it does address some of what the OP is talking about: what signs give away that someone else is out there:

a reply to: Xeven

I said this last week. They are "out there" looking at our blue speck in space and wondering..."I wonder if theres life on that planet? Sometimes we pick up far distant radio signals of something called "the Simpsons"? And something called "Batman" and "the Flintstones"!

And it looks like theres these shiny ufos flying around with windows and lights all around them! Sometimes they even look like they are orbiting it! (planes and satellites)!

Im guessing its exactly as us...thinking about them...and each wondering if the other really exists!

Makes ya think, huh!!!???

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: Krakatoa

That's not much of a choice then.

A. Bury your head and hope they can't see you.

B. Bury your head and hope they'll never find you.

Eventually it'll end up with a bitter ending. We won't last forever on earth.

Until we determine their intentions, caution is life. If we detect life out there, then we need to assess the risks involved prior to contact. It's really just simple Risk Management Strategy. Once that is done.......

- Good intentions, we reach out.
- Bad intentions, we stay low.

First.
We haven't explored our own solar system enough to figure out if there is life on other planets/moons here.

Second.
We give off a lot of radiation in radio waves for someone to check out the anomaly. |

Third.
You are assuming there is an alien species.

Fourth.
You are assuming there is an alien species, with similar technology?

Base answer, it's a crap shoot. There is no way to predict how another life form may think there is life on this planet.

originally posted by: eriktheawful
Interestingly enough, YouTuber Isaac Arthur (his channel is about science and futurism) just put this video out earlier today, talking about alien civilizations hiding or us hiding from them. It's just over 30 minutes long, but it does address some of what the OP is talking about: what signs give away that someone else is out there:

I am a huge fan of Isaac Arthur, his fermi paradox series got me hooked. Semi mathematic/ semi dummy talk turns out to be a nice combination..
Need closed captions due to his speech impediment though, but that doesnt spoil the fun of learning new things..

On the subject tho;
Why do we asume that they developped their tech in the same manner we did? They might very well be a civilization with space faring capabilities but without telescopes.. just saying

a reply to: eriktheawful

I enjoyed that video and the reasoning in it, kind of make's my point totally redundant but worth having my own opinion changed to watch that very well thought out argument.