Could ‘Placing’ Aliens Help Us Detect Them? Study explores possibilities

Humanity is responsible for different changes in the Earth’s biosphere, but they have all happened almost ‘unintentionally’; after all, we didn’t try to cause climate change in the world, and even if we did, we did.

But this needs to change at some point; billionaire Elon Musk, for example, has already commented on his desire to make Mars habitable; well, We are changing the planet’s biosphere to make it a livable place for humans. The question remains: Could aliens do the same?

What is terraforming?

The terraforming process involves different steps, but the goal is to turn a planet, moon, or even a space station into a habitable place for life forms on Earth. This involves modifying the atmosphere, regulating the temperature, eliminating possible radiation from the location, among other steps. – Although it is a great plan, it is still almost impossible with current technology.

Just as we consider terraforming, other forms of intelligent life may do the same, according to a new study published in the scientific journal International Journal of Astrobiology. The point of the article is that altering the biosphere can cause a biosignature or technosignature, and if this is a fact, It may be possible to investigate these signatures in the search for aliens.

Research shows that it is almost inevitable that the biosphere will change during the technological maturation of a civilization; In the case of humanity, We can use geoengineering to control climate change and reduce the likelihood of a catastrophic natural future.

The next step will be to create collective intelligence using genetic engineering and thus give rise to the biotechnosphere. At this point, it is possible that civilization will begin to spread to other parts of space.

“Space exploration can expand biotechnospheres beyond planets and create cosmic ecosystems that encompass planets and other cosmic objects; biotechnospheres, spacecraft, and near-planetary, interplanetary, or interstellar space environments,” said study author Irina Romanovskaya, professor of Physics and Astronomy at the College of Houston in the United States.

alien terraforming

Any transformations of planetary environments and simple microbial life caused by such intelligence will produce detectable effects. In other words, biotechnological signatures. For example, Earth is experiencing various climate impacts that occurred after the beginning of the industrial age, but advanced intelligence can use geoengineering to keep the environment in a stable state; For this reason, Finding a long-term stable planet could point to the existence of intelligent life that could use technology to ‘end’ climate change.

Long-term biological signatures of complex and simple life and the detection of floating planets (FFPs) without stars like the Sun may also provide evidence of the existence of extraterrestrials.

The paper aims to question whether we can detect such signatures in other planetary systems. In fact, this is possible in the near future humanity could geoengineer Earth to end the problems of climate change. The question that remains is: Could an intelligent life form detect our presence based on these signatures?

“In mature planetary biotechnospheres, collective intelligence may include the intelligence of technologies, the intelligence of life forms, including genetically modified life forms, and potentially synthetic intelligence; all these types of intelligence act together to monitor and maintain planetary biospheres and biodiversity; to stabilize planetary environments.” and restoring them after extinction events; supporting space missions and the habitation of cosmic objects; assisting medical processes, industrial processes, mining, agriculture and food production.” explains Romanovskaya.

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