Is a nearby advanced alien civilization out there waiting to pounce on Earth? Unlikely, says new study

A recent study suggests that advanced alien civilizations may not be lurking nearby, waiting to invade Earth. Led by Chris Doughty, a professor of ecoinformatics at Northern Arizona University, the research proposes that the level of technological advancement on exoplanets in our stellar neighborhood is likely related to plant energy, not just the age of the planet.

While Earth is relatively young compared to some of its stellar neighbors, which are several billion years older, life on exoplanets with less favorable conditions for photosynthesis likely evolved more slowly over billions of years. This means that most Earth-like planets near us are likely to be at the microbial stage of evolution, leaving little chance for advanced civilizations to exist nearby.

The study, published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, focuses on the role of cumulative plant energy in the evolutionary development of life on potentially habitable exoplanets. The authors suggest that younger, warmer, and wetter exoplanets may have more evolutionary development than older, colder, and drier ones. They used climate simulations and maps of temperature, light, and precipitation to estimate the plant growth and evolutionary rates on 30 nearby exoplanets.

Only two planets, GJ 1061c and K2-3d, showed potential for life that had potentially evolved ahead of Earth's. The remaining planets are estimated to be at the microbial stage of evolution, similar to Earth's microbial life. The study emphasizes that the presence of an advanced extraterrestrial civilization in Earth's stellar neighborhood is unlikely, as the ecosystems shaping intelligent life on exoplanets would be more like deserts or temperate ecosystems, much like those on Earth.