More ways to solve the Fermi Paradox

Wilczek also floats another idea - what if an alien civilization created a greenhouse effect to raise the temperature of a planet? For example, if extraterrestrials were currently researching Earth, they would likely notice the increased levels of carbon dioxide that are heating up our atmosphere. Similarly, we can looks for such signs around the exoplanets.

An advanced civilization might also be heating up planets to raise their temperatures to uncover resources and make them more habitable. Unfreezing water might be one great reason to turn up the thermostat.

The original article is gated at WSJ, but this is a decent simple summary.

For more ways to think about how to discover aliens, read my earlier post A list of solutions to the Fermi Paradox.