Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking. Login or Take a Tour!
This seems a worthwhile idea, but I don't think the logic holds. Light lost to space is a waste of energy. For that reason, I'd think that advanced civilizations might have lighting technologies that don't spill much into space.
Also it's likely that advanced civilizations don't need artificial light, or much of it. I don't think it will be more than 200 years before the dominant lifeforms on earth aren't biological. IMO non-biological beings will have far less interest in the physical environment. That is, outside of energy production, their universe will probably be more internally-focused. So, if you consider a 300-year window that we will be lighting up the earth at night, chances are that we won't catch anyone in that slice of history.