Overview
- Astrophysicist Robin Corbet of UMBC and NASA Goddard argues many extraterrestrial civilizations may be only slightly more advanced than humanity, limiting their detectability.
- His paper predicts no long‑duration high‑power beacons and no large‑scale galactic colonisation by robotic probes under such modest technological ceilings.
- The rationale centers on practical constraints, with beacons or probes demanding vast energy and reply times stretching millions to billions of years, reducing incentives to operate them.
- Corbet says detection remains possible through low‑level leakage radiation, though any discovery would likely yield few immediate technological benefits for us.
- Experts offer mixed responses and the study is not yet peer reviewed, with Michael Garrett cautioning against projecting apathy and others citing alternatives, including claims of UAP evidence and separate research suggesting technological civilizations are rare and distant.