English

Are Alien Civilizations Technologically Advanced?

Popular Physics 2018-01-23 v1 Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Abstract

As we discover numerous habitable planets around other stars in the Milky Way galaxy, including the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, one cannot help but wonder why have we not detected evidence for an advanced alien civilization as of yet. The surfaces of other planets might show either relics of advanced civilizations that destroyed themselves by self-inflicted catastrophes or living civilizations that are technologically primitive. Such circumstances can only be revealed by visiting those planets and not by remote observations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1801.06180,
  title  = {Are Alien Civilizations Technologically Advanced?},
  author = {Abraham Loeb},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.06180},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

3 pages, published in Scientific American

R2 v1 2026-06-22T23:49:11.070Z