A 1990 experiment to test whether we could discern life on Earth remotely
I never thought about this but now...<p>Hmm.. satellites? A planet with 'advanced civilization' would have satellites or other objects orbiting. Also devices that fly - so some radar can pick a plane in the sky? its Transponders? Scan the sea for large floating objects?<p>On the dark side one should be able to observe lights, and the same locations during the day should have cities (and not i.e. forest fires or volcanoes)?<p>On the light side one would be able to 'zoom in'/scan the surface and see structures or other shapes that would imply some manipulation of the surroundings on large scale.<p>How about antennas picking up multiple signals (radio, tv, etc.?)<p>For the case that it's pre-cities/pre-industry, good luck... Good luck zooming in and spotting 10 'planet-lings' (from Earthlings) with their planet-goats crossing a valley.<p>Having played A LOT of Starcontrol II though I can imagine that sending small crafts to the surface would help verify suspicions.