The search for spectroscopic biosignatures with the next-generation of
space telescopes could provide observational constraints on the
abundance of exoplanets with signs of life. An extension of this
spectroscopic characterization of exoplanets is the search for
observational evidence of technology, known as technosignatures.
Searching for technosignatures alongside biosignatures would provide
important knowledge about the future of our civilization. If planets
with technosignatures are abundant, then we can increase our confidence
that the hardest step in planetary evolution---the Great Filter---is
probably in our past. But if we find that life is commonplace while
technosignatures are absent, then this would increase the likelihood
that the Great Filter awaits to challenge us in the future.