Psychologists at the University of Cadiz in Spain have come to the conclusion that humanity cannot recognize signals from alien civilizations, since the latter can use communication on unknown physical principles. Scientists have also criticized the SETI researchers because they focus only on finding radio signals. The article of scientists was published in the journal Acta Astronautica.
Experts believe that humanity cannot detect extraterrestrial intelligence due to the analogue of inattention blindness. This psychological phenomenon consists in the inability to see an object that has come into the field of view, due to the presence of other objects on which the person's attention is concentrated. According to the authors of the article, instead of looking for other possible communication channels, the scientists involved in the SETI project are concentrating on registering alien radio signals.
To prove their point, psychologists conducted a cognitive test with 137 volunteers, which consisted of several parts. The first was a test for cognitive reflection, which consists in assessing a person's ability to correctly solve a problem, a quick intuitive answer to which is incorrect. After that, the participants were given aerial photographs of artificial and natural objects. In one of the pictures was inserted a reduced image of a man in a gorilla suit (a hint of the famous experiment with the invisible gorilla).
It turned out that those who were prone to impulsive behavior and was in a hurry to give the wrong answer more often noticed the gorilla in the pictures. At the same time, people with an analytical mindset are more prone to inattention blindness. Such results, according to psychologists, indicate that scientists may not notice other evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations.
In addition, psychologists criticized the Kardashev scale, which is used to assess the technological development of a hypothetical civilization based on the amount of energy it consumes. So, civilizations of the first type use all available resources on their home planet, the second type - the energy of a star, and the third type - the entire galaxy. Scientists propose an alternative scale based on the ability to change environmental conditions.
In their opinion, humanity is in a transitional stage from the first to the second type. It remains dependent on the natural conditions of the Earth, is vulnerable to global catastrophes and is influenced by biological evolution. At the same time, people are relatively close to becoming space colonists and using the achievements of genetic engineering and nuclear physics, and civilizations of the third type are super-developed and are able to manipulate space-time, dark matter and dark energy. Thus, the search for radio signals makes it possible to find only the first type of civilization.