Ancient Alien Probes and the Breakthrough Starshot Proposal

The Breakthrough Starshot  proposal from Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner got me to think about ancient alien probes again. Their proposal adds a twist to my earlier thoughts.

I've listed the ancient alien probe blog posts I did earlier at the bottom of this post.

Hawking, Milner and their collaborators have proposed a plan to send probes to visit nearby star systems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot  

Their proposal is to build a multitude of centimetre sized probes with meter sized light sails, which would be accelerated to 20% the speed of light by huge lasers. This would allow them to reach the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, in about 20 years.

One of the research goals is to develop the technology to build useful probes that are a thin wafer about 1 or 2 centimetres in size. While this is a big challenge, they point out that smart phones already have similar capabilities and the bsic components are almost that small.

When I've thought of alien probes in the past, I've always envisioned them as similar to the monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey". It's my favourite movie, so that influenced my thoughts. I assumed the probe would be of a similar size, something on the order of 3 to 4 metres.

The Starshot proposal made me realize that alien probes could well be no more than a few centimetres tall. A probe that small wouldn't look very impressive, unless you are an ant.

It is quite realistic to search for a 4 metre tall probe. Large parts of the Moon and Mars have already been photographed in sufficient detail to spot something that large. However, a search for a 4 centimetre tall probe is far beyond what we are currently capable of.

A failure to find an alien probe with our current technology would not prove that there are no alien probes in the solar system.

Some other posts on Ancient Alien Probes:

"Felix" and The Ancient Astronauts

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/felix-and-the-ancient-astronauts/

If There Really Were Ancient Astronauts, What Kind of Evidence Would We Find?

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/if-there-really-were-ancient-astronauts-what-kind-of-evidence-would-we-find/

Why Would Ancient Astronauts Visit Earth?

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/why-would-ancient-astronauts-visit-earth/

Do Ancient Alien Probes Watch Earth?

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/do-ancient-alien-probes-watch-earth/

A Brief Thought About the Fermi Paradox

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/a-brief-thought-about-the-fermi-paradox/

Ancient Alien Visitations: Show Me the Garbage

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/ancient-alien-visitations-show-me-the-garbage/

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Ancient Alien Visitations: Show Me the Garbage

In an earlier post I asked myself what might convince me that aliens had visited Earth in ancient times. I think I have an answer to that now.

Back in May 2015, I wrote a post about what evidence we'd find if aliens had visited Earth in ancient times.

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/if-there-really-were-ancient-astronauts-what-kind-of-evidence-would-we-find/ In that post I asked what kind of evidence would convince me that aliens had visited Earth.

Much of the evidence presented to support the ancient alien visitation hypothesis, is also used to support the advanced prehistoric civilization hypothesis. My discussion below would therefore also apply to that hypothesis.

Am I a Denier or a Sceptic?

So far, none of the evidence presented by advocates of the ancient alien visitation hypothesis has convinced me that there was any truth to the hypothesis.  The difference between a denier and a sceptic is that a sceptic can say what kind of evidence would cause them to change their mind. When I wrote the last post, I couldn't think of what might convince me, but I have thought about it several times since then.

Evidence: Show Me the Garbage

Recently I read an article on the Internet that reminded me that archaeologists find the study of  people's garbage dumps very useful in their research. What struck me was that the evidence proposed to support the ancient alien visitation hypotheses is by and large stone constructions. These can be explained in other ways.

If aliens had visited Earth and spent some considerable time here, surely they would have left some kind of garbage. If there had been a large scale presence of aliens in ancient times, we would find garbage that reflected a more advanced level of technology almost everywhere. These large accumulations of garbage would leave little doubt that aliens had visited. This kind of discovery of garbage would convince me of the reality of alien visitations.

For example, in recent times, modern humans have created vast amounts of garbage. You can find plastic garbage just about everywhere. It will take centuries for these plastics to biodegrade, and even then, they would leave evidence that could be detected thousands of years in the future.

I don't think any of the advocates of alien visitation have explicitly looked for garbage. There have been several finds that might be classed as garbage, but none that convince me.

Counter Argument: The Aliens Were Neat Freaks

If we do not find any ancient alien garbage, does that prove they didn't visit? You could argue that the reason we don't find garbage is that they were very advanced and did not create any garbage. Maybe they picked up everything before they left.

I think this is a possible explanation. Certainly many people today want to reduce the amount of garbage we produce. A more advanced society could have successfully reduced the volume of their garbage to the point that it is undetectable.

That isn't my concern here though. I did not set out to convince others that alien's did not visit. I wanted to find an example of the kind of evidence that would convince me that I was wrong about ancient alien visitation. Large volumes of alien garbage found in many parts of the world would be that kind of evidence.

Other related blog posts:

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/a-brief-thought-about-the-fermi-paradox/

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/why-would-ancient-astronauts-visit-earth/

http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/do-ancient-alien-probes-watch-earth/

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

If There Really Were Ancient Astronauts, What Kind of Evidence Would We Find?

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Now that I have finished my movie "Summer's Too Short" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk4tVFfgSP4, it is time to embark on a new project.

For many years I had an interest in the ancient astronaut hypothesis. Unfortunately, I have not found the kind of credible discussion that I want to see. I will try to start on that path myself and see where it takes me.

When I first heard of the ancient astronaut hypothesis, over 40 years ago, I was immediately fascinated. At first I was firmly convinced. But as I dug into the "evidence", it just dissipated in a puff a smoke. Nevertheless, I was still fascinated with the idea, albeit, disappointed there didn't appear to be any real evidence.

I think it is plausible that aliens visited Earth in the past. I  looked for people who have done a serious investigation, but only found vague comments about some speculation by Carl Sagan. That left me unsatisfied.

If there really were ancient astronauts, what kind of evidence would we find?

I have not seen any evidence that would convince me that the ancient astronaut hypothesis is valid. Old stone monuments can be easily explained by the skills people in the past could draw on. I am also uncomfortable with the implied racism inherent in some of the evidence.

I need to decide what kind of evidence would convince me. This is not a simple question.

Before we can speculate, we need to explore some other questions.

Where are they from and what is the level of their technology?

This could be two questions, but I think they need to be linked. The further away they come from, the higher their level of technology would be need to be. The more advanced their technology is, the harder it would be for us to recognize it. Their level of technology would affect how many of them there were and if they sent robot probes instead of living beings.

Why did they come here?

If they came here for scientific study, the evidence would be much different than if they came for colonization. Would Earth have been their primary goal, or might it be a way point on their route to their final goal.

Were they successful?

This is related to why they came. If they accomplished what they came here for, the evidence would be different than if they had failed. Between full success and abject failure there is a wide range of out comes.

When did they come?

Aliens who visited Earth billions of years ago would be much harder to detect than aliens who visited after human civilization arose. A closely related question would be how long did they stay. Did they ever leave?

How did they interact with humans?

If aliens visited openly, then evidence could be found in the cultural materials of ancient societies. If they visited clandestinely, we would need to look elsewhere. They might have engaged directly with humans or may have simply ignored them.

I suspect that there are many more questions that could be asked. For now though, I will cogitate on these as fodder for future blog posts.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog