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Detection of pre-industrial societies on exoplanets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2020

Andrew Lockley Open the ORCID record for Andrew Lockley [Opens in a new window]  and
Daniele Visioni Open the ORCID record for Daniele Visioni [Opens in a new window]
Andrew Lockley*
Affiliation:
The Bartlett, UCL Faculty of the Built Environment, 22 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0QB, UK
Daniele Visioni
Affiliation:
Sibley School for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Andrew Lockley, E-mail: andrew.lockley@gmail.com
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Abstract

Approximately 22% of sun-like stars have Earth-like exoplanets. Advanced civilizations may exist on these, and significant effort has been expended on the theoretical analysis of planetary systems, and accompanying practical detection instruments.

The longevity of technological civilizations is unknown, as is the probability of less advanced societies becoming technological. Accordingly, searching for pre-industrial extra-terrestrial societies may be more productive.

Using the earth as a model, a consideration of possible detectible proxies suggests that observation of seasonal agriculture may be possible in the near future – particularly in ideal circumstances, for which quantitative analysis is provided. More speculatively, other detectible processes may include: species introduction; climate change; large urban fires and land-use or aquatic changes.

Primitive societies may be both aware that their activities may be observed from other planets, and may deliberately adjust these activities to aid or conceal detection.

Keywords

Exoplanetextra-terrestrial intelligencepre-industrialSETI

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Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 73 - 80
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Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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