The Aliens Beneath Our Feet

[DavidDvorkin]

(This is a speculative essay on my blog. I can't tell from the guidelines if that's appropriate here. I hope it's permissible.)

SETI looks outward. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence looks for signals from alien civilizations elsewhere in the universe. The odds are long and the cost is high, but the rewards for success will be great. That search must continue. However, I think we would profit from redirecting a small portion of SETI’s money and resources to a much closer and more accessible target: earthly dust. We should be looking down as well as up.

http://eyeblister.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-aliens-beneath-our-feet.html

[PatentlyDemocratic]

1. Interesting idea

If they were ubiquitous, wouldn’t they have shown up in some electron microscopy images by now though?

[DavidDvorkin]

2. I don't think so because

that would ruin my idea.

No, wait, that's not why.

First, it would depend on how ubiquitous they were. And second, I think that electron microscopy images are made of those things the researchers are looking for images of. My idea would require looking carefully at every speck in random samples of dust. It would have to be automated.