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Image Credit: Composite created from Unsplash
Last week, we reported a new study that claimed the only way for advanced civilizations to survive in the distant future (about 100 billion years) would be to collect stars and harvest their energy using devices. similar to Dyson Spheres. The reasoning behind this was that, over time, the force of black energy on the expanding universe would increase the distance between galaxies and neighboring stars, effectively strangling extraterrestrial civilizations and leaving them only the resources contained in their galaxy. It turns out that there is another option, however: migration.
Dr. Avi Loeb, a Harvard astrophysicist who was one of the authors of the previous study, has written several articles on the long-term survival of civilizations, and points out that any advanced society (qu & # 39; whether human or alien) would turn to stars as the only source of fuel large enough to support them. Fortunately for us, much of the matter of the universe is grouped into clusters of massive galaxies, which contain huge amounts of stars. In an email sent to Universe Today, Loeb notes:
"… I point out that Mother Nature was kind to us because she spontaneously spawned the same huge tank of fuel that we would have aspired to collect by artificial means. Primal Density Primal Density Disturbances have led to the gravitational collapse of regions as vast as tens of millions of light-years, assembling all matter into clusters of galaxies each containing the equivalent of a thousand galaxies of the Milky Way .
If a civilization can not bring them the stars, then the next logical option would be to go where the stars are. Because these galaxies are so dense with matter, their gravity allows them to withstand the expansion of the universe, making them potential fuel oases. In "Finding fuel for our cosmic future", a blog published today American scientist, Loeb writes that "Once settled in a cluster, one civilization could jump from one star to another and reap their energy output like a butterfly hovering over flowers in a hunt for their nectar. . "
Even more exciting, however, is the fact that extraterrestrial civilizations can follow the same reasoning and end up moving towards these groups. Loeb explained to Universe today:
"If shifting civilizations transmit powerful signals, then we may be able to see evidence of their migration to clusters of galaxies." In addition, we expected a greater concentration of advanced civilization in clusters than the number of galaxies. who settle there could establish more prosperous communities, by analogy with civilizations near rivers or lakes on Earth. "
If human civilization lasts long enough to migrate to a group of rich galaxies and start exploiting the power of stars, the next question will be what will happen when we run out of energy. For Isaac Asimov, it was "the last question".
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