Despite the textbook impression, our current knowledge of the universe represents only a small island in a vast ocean of ignorance. Scientific enterprise is about expanding the landmass of this island. On the other hand, it is fun to engage in the activity of acquiring knowledge; It would probably be very boring to know everything in advance.
It is quite possible that the first contact with extraterrestrial intelligent life would have occurred with a highly technologically advanced civilization. However, unlike our few centuries in scientific development as humanity, being exposed to the knowledge of an alien extraterrestrial civilization that has made scientific and technological breakthroughs for billions of years would indeed be a pretty shocking experience. The famous science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has the following to say on this subject:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
In other words, members of such a civilization would appear "like God" to us. Encountering a technology developed by extraterrestrial intelligence may seem like an imaginary interaction of ancient people with a modern smartphone. Ancient people will not see the smartphone as a communication device; They will interpret it as a brilliant stone with an interesting shape.
A similar situation may have occurred in response to the detection of an interstellar object entering our solar system for the first time; The object, named Oumuamua, showed six strange features but was interpreted by the majority of scientists as an alien rock. Because it would be relatively small, most equipment containing advanced alien technology would only be detectable when our light source was close enough to the Sun. We can look for these technological "switches" within the scope of our light source. But the further away most of these alien technologies are from our sight, the less likely they will be noticed.More fundamentally, one might wonder whether we can recognize advanced technologies from an alien civilization that have not yet been developed by us. After all, these technologies may have subtle, subtle purposes, such as emitting communication signals, a technology alien to us, as in the fiction of an ancient man to find a smartphone.
The most mysterious phenomenon we routinely encounter as we look around is the complexity of complex life. Some scientists are investigating whether life itself was seeded on Earth by an alien civilization. This interesting-sounding idea is known as "Guided Panspermia," or by its general name, Panspermia Theory. One can imagine a robotically advanced probe that disperses the seeds of life on microscopic scales into environments suitable for life in the galaxy, or instead an autonomous spacecraft with a highly sophisticated 3D printer that produces these seeds from the raw materials in that environment, according to a predetermined plan.
Without exception, the chirality, or universal left-handedness, of all life forms on Earth can be interpreted as resulting from a single Panspermia event of natural or artificial origin, such as the falling of a rock from outer space that harbors life to Earth. One day, when we succeed in producing synthetic life in a laboratory environment, our imagination of what aliens can do will also develop.
The number of targeted probes needed to artificially seed life in the habitable zone of a star system would be far less than the number of natural rocks serving the same purpose in random orbits. The advantage of 3D printing life from the raw materials available on the target planet is that natural DNA samples have a limited lifespan and can eventually decompose within a few million years, whereas artificial machines can manufacture them to last much longer.At present, our civilization is highly vulnerable to destruction by external threats such as an asteroid impact, as well as self-inflicted threats to the existence of humanity and other living things, such as nuclear weapons, climate change and artificial intelligence. While the world may seem like a comfortable home for us at the moment, it would be wise not to keep all of our eggs in one basket for the future of our species. We must go into space and seed places beyond Earth with life as we know it. Thus, we can reduce the risk of the complete extinction of life on Earth and ensure its longevity.
If we find evidence of extra-Earth life in the future and everything is the same or very similar to life on Earth, or if extraterrestrial life is unusually clustered in space, we realize that life in the galaxy has a common ancestor and that artificially originated Oriented Panspermia is involved. we can.
If life was artificially inseminated on Earth, one might wonder whether the life-planting civilization controlled the outcome. Maybe the fact that we haven't heard from them indicates they're disappointed. The experiment may have failed, or we may have been too slow for them to reach a conclusion. This may not come as a surprise, given that we sometimes act irresponsibly.
Maybe we would have done better if we had known someone was looking over our shoulders. Using the best telescopes and similar technologies we have, it's not too late to find out if they're out there.