Alien Civilizations Could Be Harvesting Energy by Bombing Black Holes

Theoretically, rotating black holes could provide a source of unlimited power for humanity. Practically, however, they’re out of reach, with the nearest black hole about 37 million years away with current technology.

But even if we can’t benefit from the enormous potential of black holes, alien civilizations may already be doing so. A new study published in Physical Review D, a journal covering particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology, suggests that the artificial extraction of rotational energy would show up in the form of massive plasma flares in a black hole’s accretion disk.

This, according to the study’s co-authors, could provide scientists with a new method in the ongoing search for alien life.