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[–] rwbj 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

Most of everything we know indicates life, and presumably intelligent life, is nothing special even if we have yet to observe it outside of our planet. Searching for dyson spheres has been formally hypothesized as a means of detecting advanced alien civilizations long before KIC 8462852. So it's not like these ideas and hypothesis are coming up after the fact, even though this particular star does have one unexpected quirk in the lack of detectable emitted infrared radiation. Add to this the fact that we've only relatively recently had the technology and consequently the data available to begin actively looking for dyson spheres and it's not quite as 'out there' as it might seem at first.

Really this wouldn't be a big deal if this was just new evidence of a previously hypothesized particle or something benign along those lines. The reason it seems so inconceivable and improbable is not because of the evidence, but because of the implications.

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[–] pm-me-your-pm 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

I agree, but I also don't think that "aliens" should be the first hypothesis proposed, unless there is overwhelming evidence to suggest it's the case. This isn't the fault of the scientists doing the research - it's the fault of the media. In the original article a few months ago, someone made an off-the-cuff remark like "Hey, it could be alien superstructures, for all we know", and the headlines were "SCIENTISTS CONFIRM ALIENS EXIST!!!!!". Not that drastic, but you get the idea. I just don't like the sensationalism.