The SETI program has been scanning the stars for evidence of radio transmission to be intercepted by eager ears looking for evidence of life elsewhere in the universe, but there is a recent concept that has been making the rounds in scientific circles suggesting that an alien race would not be using radios at all, and that their vast technology would be far in advance of our own. But this seems problematic as an alien race would surely look back on its own history and, if it mirrored our own in any way, it would understand that the interest in the cosmic community would quickly come before the discovery of superior communications systems after the radio. So wouldn’t they use an inferior medium if they were interested in communicating with technologically inferior races?
It would follow then that if no such radio communication has been picked up there are three possibilities. The first is the accepted possibility held at SETI that if an alien race exists and is transmitting radio signals as a means of communication either to one another or to us, then it simply has not been discovered yet because of the vastness of space between stars (and the vastness of time proportionally). This is the current model that allows the satellites to continue to scan the skies without interruption. The second possibility is that there is no technologically advanced life in the universe, or at least as far as life on Earth is concerned there is not (although even this theory can logically still exist with a belief that alien life may exist in the vastness of other galaxies and that it is simply beyond our technological earshot.) The third possibility being proposed is that life does exist, and it is simply using a medium of communication that we are not able to understand because it is using a technology that is beyond our grasp. But if the third possibility is true, then is it possible an alien race is aware of this and is purposefully holding itself to a high standard that it will not communicate with a species that has not yet reached technological maturity to intercept its communications?
It’s always easiest to draw real life scientific ideas to equivalent science fiction scenarios, so for the purpose of this idea we can use the discovery of faster than light technology in the Star Trek universe being a precursor to human interaction with the vastly populated galaxy of aliens operating around Earth. If there is a technological cutoff before interaction between the galactic community and Earth, what better means of judging the technological efficacy of a species than its ability to communicate? If these entities are communicating with one another using a form of quantum entanglement device (which is one proposed way of communicating faster than light) then if the communications even can be intercepted, then doing so would ensure an alien race would take notice and therefore consider the human race as either a potential foe or (more hopefully) a potential ally.