New finding about KIC 8462852
There is lots on noise/news recently about irregularities of KIC 8462852 star brightness variations. Before reviewing the news lets establish few facts that might shed light on the subject:1. KIC 8462852 is 1400 light years away
2. Kepler spacecraft records light intensity from small portion of universe, with about 1.5° field of view.
3. The radio signals from KIC 8462852 will be very weak after traveling 1400 Light years
To put the tiny field of view of Kepler spacecraft into perspective, lets assume that we are looking at beautiful picture of some natural wonder and the picture has 4592x3056 resolution. If our field of view was limited to 1.5° then we will see only portion of picture limited to 38x25 pixels. No matter how good is our vision, we have access only limited information packed in that tiny view. Lets just pause for a moment and just think about this fact. It is astonishing that we built such a telescope capable of discovering secrets of universe and to think about the precision required to operate such instrument. Kepler space telescope is wonderful instrument, but lets face it. We are looking through a keyhole at some portion of universe, 1400 light years away, and then coming up with this grandiose predictions of what we see mostly based on our imagination. And all this nonsense about Dyson swarm or ring? Dyson only came up with sphere and it was a terrible idea to begin with, since orbital mechanics will not clear such structure for and long period of time. Did you have enough of this information? Lets throw our own explanations into the mix that are equally valid given the facts at hand:
1. Could this be some binary star with long orbital period, and we are seeing brightness increased when they are at offset? We can clearly come up with two star configuration or celestial show that can account for this anomaly.
2. It is clearly result of pixie dust shadowing the star during regular celebrations
3. Something wrong with the pixel on the telescope and it gives us so much food for out imagination
Can we confirm that there is an alien civilization if we point our radio telescopes to the star? The short answer is no!
The field of view of radio telescope is about 120°. To get back at previous picture analogy when we look at it ( the picture has 4592x3056 resolution) with radio telescope, then we will see 3061X2037 wide picture. The question is that can we isolate one pixel from this view that represents the KIC 8462852? Well we can if this pixel was bright enough to overshadow all other pixels. But if this was the case then we would have detected the KIC 8462852 long before with radio telescopes.
String of Quasars
Recently I read a paragraph in New Scientist Article:
"A colossal string of quasars billions of light years across. A ring made out of hugely energetic bursts of radiation that spans 6 per cent of the visible universe. As our observations of the cosmos come into ever sharper focus, astronomers are beginning to identify structures bigger than any seen before. There’s only one problem: none of them should be there."
Another Article from ESO cites:
When astronomers look at the distribution of galaxies on scales of billions of light-years they find that they are not evenly distributed. They form a cosmic web of filaments and clumps around huge voids where galaxies are scarce. This intriguing and beautiful arrangement of material is known as large-scale structure.
This lighted up an Idea and realization. We are looking at the footprint of Antonyan's scale type 4 civilization and it is so large and mind boggling that we fail to recognize its significance. This is the case that we fail to see the forest behind the trees. We need to focus on the giant that left the footprint. When I look at this report I see the energy transfer network of civilization that is taking colonization to galactic levels. Availability of energy is must for crossing intergalactic expanse and that will allow type 4 civilization to spread bridging the galaxies.
So I am assuming that the string of quasars and ring of high energy radiation burst is energy source for intergalactic travel/colonization for type 4 civilization. Another conclusion from this assumption is that speed limit is universal in all known universe and traveling through worm holes is not used in type 4 civilization.
Failure of type 3/4 civilization at galactic scale
Another megastructure that was discovered 1988 is the Giant Void. In this case we are looking at civilization extinction level event and warning that even type 4 civilizations are not immune from extinction. Does this indicate that they were lucking humanness, computation power or social responsibility? We will never know. Could this be reminiscence of Type 3 civilization that grew too quickly? That would be more likely. One thing that we know for sure is that we do not look for intelligent life in Great Void, even if there are some left.How to communicate with Type 4 civilization
Simple answer is that you don't! They will learn of our existence when we get there and build our own intergalactic bridge. And even if we do it tomorrow, it will take billions of years before the light travels thought the universe, announcing our achievement. The long distance between us and the type 4 civilization is nothing to be unhappy about. We are lucky to have a distance from them, or otherwise we might be considered a nuisance or an item in their list that needs to be solved. We are the barbarians in that regard and know so little that might create something that is out of our control. Something big that can create a dent in the universe like Giant Void. Maybe our neighboring futuristic type 4 civilization knew the one that created the void and they find ample similarities with our civilization. maybe enough to intervene without questions?In any case maybe we should stop playing with stuff we don't have a clue about, like particle physics, and focus on our own colonization efforts instead? This is when we will have any chance of surviving premature encounter with type 4 civilization. Somethings are better observed from safe distance and that would be especially true for type 4 civilization. We are are lucky to have a chance to grow to type 4 level, lets hope we will use it.
Should we look for other civilizations?
Short answer is not! It will enlighten us and lay foundations for new philosophical reality but will have very little practical use. Encounter with Type 0, 1 and 2 civilization would be cute event with all the nostalgia associated with our own history and "good times". The Type 3 civilization would be our competitor and type 4 civilization could be the bully we hope to never see. If we are interested in finding about if we are alone in universe, than we should stop and look around. We are surrounded with intelligence that spread at galactic level and we are lucky to have our own isolated corner of universe to play with. Lets keep it quiet for now, so we have a chance to grow up.
Can we use their technology?
Sure why not, as long as we do it for good. We can analyse how to utilize quasars or energy ring of particles for intergalactic travel.For sure, but only when we reach type 4 level and not before. Currently we are struggling to get our own solar system colonization effort and cannot even think of intergalactic travel. So many things to do before that, so let stop here and go buck to our type 3 civilization building effort without worrying about type 4 intelligence.
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