RE: Life in these star-systems could have spotted Earth
The video in that article doesn't seem to be embeddable on Steem, but here is a video embed from a related article that they linked to (Smile, wave: Some exoplanets may be able to see us, too):
And here is the paper in Nature, but it's behind a paywall.
Personally, this is the part that really caught my attention:
The Breakthrough Starshot initiative is an ambitious project underway that is looking to launch a nano-sized spacecraft toward the closest exoplanet detected around Proxima Centauri—4.2 light-years from us—and fully characterize that world.
I wonder how long it will take to make the trip and also how far they are from launching. Unfortunately, I didn't find those answers in the article.
On the other hand, the next paragraph is sort of a double-edged sword.
"One might imagine that worlds beyond Earth that have already detected us, are making the same plans for our planet and solar system," said Faherty. "This catalog is an intriguing thought experiment for which one of our neighbors might be able to find us."
Me too! That's why I included it in the Steem Link. I usually go for the first two paragraphs, but when I got to the end, I was like "WOW", this is interesting!
I have to revert back to what I have already said about Michio Kaku's theories, and ask not how long it would take, but rather if they are already here, or if they have already sent out AI robotics to comb the galaxy.
After ~14 billion years in the universe, you'd think that some civilizations might have had time to develop far past where we are with ~4 billion years on Earth. When you take all that extra time into account, it's probably not totally implausible that another civilization could at least have sent probes.
It's completely plausible. And any truly reasonable person would, at the very least, not dismiss a hypothesis like that. It is the most rational line of logic that even a child could comprehend. And when you factor in pieces of historical evidence, whether written, portrayed in art or physical archeological remains, you can't help but remain even more open to the theory.