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submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

Aliens have not been discovered in South America after all. The doll-like figures, photos of which went viral online last year, are just that – dolls, according to scientists.

The controversial artifacts were seized by Peruvian customs agents in October and intended for "a Mexican citizen," the Associated Press reported.

Mexican journalist and self-described "UFOlogist" Jaime Maussan brought similar unidentified fraudulent objects in front of the Mexican congress last September, claiming that they had been recovered near Peru's ancient Nazca Lines and dated over 700 years old.

...

"They are not extraterrestrials, they are not intraterrestrials, they are not a new species, they are not hybrids, they are none of those things that this group of pseudo-scientists who for six years have been presenting with these elements," Estrada said.

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[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 months ago

An alien civilization sophisticated enough to travel to earth would be emitting radios waves for hundreds if not thousands of years prior. Earth is covered in a wide array of telescopes pointed at space and we haven't heard anything yet.

We probably wouldn't know the signals when we see them.

It assumes that alien civilizations would be broadcasting regular repeating signals at high power. In my lifetime we've moved from high power repetitious analog signals to much lower power digitally encrypted and compressed signals.

Encrypted and compressed signals look random to an observer who doesn't know the keys/algorithms. On top of that, we've moved from individual huge transmitters (e.g. TV stations) to a plethora of tiny transmitters (e.g. cell phones). In a single human lifetime.

If we don't scorch our civilization out of existence, we'll adopt even lower power communication systems: point to point lasers, CPU-intensive encoding systems, and probably even more exotic stuff. Our signals will disappear into the background noise of space.

We don't know what to look for.

we are no where near travelling outside our solar system never mind our galaxy

I'm in full agreement with this one.

[-] ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

We have higher and higher output signals. Your assuming the WiFi signals in homes now represent all the signals humans output, this isn't the case by far.

An encoded signal still appears as a manmade signal and not the result of a natural phenomenon.

Any alien civilization that travels between planets or solar systems would have multiple high gain networks.

Even if they used lasers, that would make detection easier. Lasers are not a natural phenomenon. If we observed one in nature that would be a new mechanism or evidence of alien life.

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

Your assuming the WiFi signals in homes now represent all the signals humans output, this isn't the case by far.

Not at all. We're still spewing out commercial radio, and TV. But we're slowly converting them from analog to digital, which uses much less power.

An encoded signal still appears as a manmade signal and not the result of a natural phenomenon.

Many of our digital signals are spread spectrum, hopping across a wider spectrum than analog. Distinguishing our own frequency hopping signals from noise is difficult, and an active area of research. If aliens use a similar technology, it seems unlikely that we would notice them.

Even if they used lasers, that would make detection easier. Lasers are not a natural phenomenon. If we observed one in nature that would be a new mechanism or evidence of alien life.

The sky is huge. It seems highly unlikely that we would happen to have a compatible detector pointed in the right direction at the right time. Even if we did, the signal would probably be compressed (meaning that its modulation would look like noise) and the lowest possible output, meaning it would probably blend into the background.

this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
138 points (95.4% liked)

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