Where Are All the Dyson Spheres? A Contemplation on the Lack of Evidence for Advanced Technology in the Universe

By David Villa

As we contemplate the cosmos and our place in it one question crops up again and again, and has done for centuries: are we alone? So far there is no definitive evidence for an answer one way or the other, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence ... or is it?
This short essay takes an unconventional approach to this question, while acknowledging that the final answer is still out of reach.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Villa
• Release date: May 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463784143

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Where Are All The Dyson Spheres?

A contemplation on the lack of evidence for advanced technology in the universe

by David Villa

Copyright 2018 David Villa

Smashwords Edition.

Part 1 - The Dyson Dilemma

Why do we not see any Dyson spheres?

A Dyson sphere is an artifact - any kind of artifact - that encloses a star for the purpose of capturing, storing and/or utilising the maximum possible - or maximum desirable - energy output from that star. It could take the form of a solid spherical shell with the star at the centre, but more likely it will be a swarm of small radiation collectors, deflectors or converters in multiple stable orbits around the star. The key word here is artifact. Dyson spheres are built by intelligent creatures with intention and purpose. Dyson spheres will not form naturally by any simple process that does not include intelligence. While it is possible that a star might, by simple natural means, come to be surrounded by obscuring material, the chances that such material would utilise the blocked radiant energy with any degree of efficiency whatsoever is exceedingly remote. So the existence and detection of a Dyson sphere will represent a definitive answer to the age old question of whether we share our universe with anyone else.

The question as posed is a very specific version of what has become known as the Fermi paradox, or more generally the Fermi question (note 1): of the billions upon billions upon billions of stars that we have the capacity to examine, stars that could harbour a civilisation equal or superior to our own for technological advancement, not only within our own galaxy but in all the galaxies across the observable universe, we see not the slightest sign that such a civilisation exists around any of them. In particular we do not see any Dyson spheres. Not even one.

Why not?

Put this way there is no paradox - it is a simple question which may admit many simple answers, answers that can be sorted by degree of plausibility. The question becomes a paradox only when none of the answers meet an acceptable level of plausibility. At this point in the discussion, that remains to be determined.

Possible answers can be divided, very broadly, into three classes:

1: There are no Dyson spheres because there is no-one capable of building them;

2: There is someone capable of building Dyson spheres, but they choose not to;

3: There is someone capable of building Dyson spheres, and they have built Dyson spheres, but we are unable to detect them;

(note 2)

Considering these in reverse:-

There is someone capable of building Dyson spheres, and they have indeed built them, but we are unable to detect them:

Perhaps we don't know what to look for, or we are not looking hard enough. Or maybe Dyson spheres are inherently difficult to detect. They are, after all, supposed to absorb the light from the star they surround and should therefore appear black-on-black, should they not?

In fact a Dyson sphere will produce some amount of radiation, and that radiation would be both detectable and distinguishable from more mundane natural phenomena using instruments we have in our possession now. The reason for this comes down to thermodynamics. While the perfect Dyson sphere would capture all of the energy from a star, thereby emitting nothing that would signal its presence, it turns out that this level of perfection is not possible to attain - not even in principle (note 3). There is an absolute limit to the efficiency with which any process of utilising energy can operate. The very best case will necessitate the emission of waste heat in parts of the spectrum that should easily be picked up by our current methods of observation at interstellar and even intergalactic distances. And any move away from the best case would render those emissions even more detectable. Moreover these emissions