Brian Cox - Alien Life & The Dark Forest Hypothesis

[@arron911]

It's wild to think that even if a signal was sent at the speed of light from an advanced civilisation a million light years a way, by the time we receive it, that same civilisation could have been extinct for hundreds of thousands of years.

[@nickterrett6613]

luckily Einstein produced a theory where time travel is possible..apparantly its much easier to go backwards rather than forwards but its very possible.

[@BrodyCanuck]

@@nickterrett6613 Sadly a theory doesn't mean reality until proven.

[@nickterrett6613]

@@BrodyCanuck so the theory of realitivity is bs aswell..its only a theory BECAUSE it cant be proven with todays tech..doesnt mean its some crazy idea..it actually fits like a glove within quantum physics.

[@BrodyCanuck]

@@nickterrett6613 But that tech would also be a theory since it would exist today if it could be made.

[@kaoskronostyche9939]

@@nickterrett6613 I think you are incorrect on that one. Einstein provided three ways to go faster forward in time but going back in time violates the First Law of Thermodynamics and the Second Law as well, I think. I saw a great documentary with Stephen Hawking in which they addressed going backward in time.

[@TacShooter]

Aliens: "Greetings! We send this message in an attitude of peacefulness." Us: "Your able to communicate in English?" Aliens: "You're"

[@davidmurphy8364]

😂😂😂😂👏👏

[@nurlindafsihotang49]

Ouch😂

[@John-y2o4f]

Now THAT'S funny! 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂

[@Andromedaxterr]

they speak Polish and latin, ( old Latin which is not spoken any more ) therefore their only option of language as a communication channel is Polski BTW, they are exactly 123 light years away and they know everything about us. There are approximately 40 civilizations out there just in the Milky Way

[@vaishnavnegi9640]

Bobr kurwa?😂​@@Andromedaxterr

[@chrishernandez8504]

The fact that we have looked at what is equivalent to a cup of water from the Pacific sea of space and some people throw up their hands like "well we looked in this cup of water of space and found no intelligent life so intelligent life isn't possible " is one of the most insane proposition in science

[@JoeBtfzplk]

As is considering all of the thousands of UAP sightings as the reports of fools or charlatans because interstellar distances are too great. We now know that the US military believes they are real, and has for decades. We also know they have had disinformation campaigns for decades. Science has a nasty habit of disproving previous theories. There is a reasonable chance that current theories also eventually will be proven to be wrong.

[@josephjohn4769]

Yea I saw that video too

[@Trevor-z7b]

Yeah it's an arrogant and stupid way of thinking

[@Unmaleable]

The problem with exploring the ocean is the extreme pressure deep under water. Not to mention there are areas underwater we can actually reach that have extreme heat due to the continuous release of magma.

[@thealexanderbond]

No dude, you've got it the wrong way around. When you have the slightest bit of evidence that there is life outside Earth, then you can talk. Until then, every single thing you say about alien life is wild speculation based on your own fantasies. 'But what if, what if, what if, maybe, maybe, maybe' is all I hear.

[@mrfishbulb7187]

Just because we haven't found them, doesn't mean they haven't found us.

[@kiddabiff]

There's a chance they've seen us from a distance and realised how self destructive we are and left us well alone!

[@brianruwoldt7422]

They found me.

[@brianruwoldt7422]

They found me.

[@Westrait]

We are either late to the party or early I'd like to think

[@Westrait]

@Ian I'd like to think they are waiting for us to evolve more when we reach a point t where we can control time and mass , that is quite a long time and the future is uncertain or we are the only living Intelligent beings ,It is quite rare to have polar and moon perfect alignment some planets spin mach 3 how would anything survive , also perfect aligment with planets that filter meteors and that's just one in million reasons why we might be the only ones

[@sagan1976]

The way the Dark Forest is presented in Lin Cixiu's books is amazing.

[@michelangelo3617]

some of the best sci fi of our time

[@SINISTERfromHELL]

Yeah, I'm 250 pages in the end of death. Absolutely love it.

[@michaelstevens9256]

Best sci di trilogy I’ve ever read. Mind still fully blown several years afterwards

[@ashleysmith1276]

Honestly I found the books really difficult to listen to, possibly because the names of characters are so different to what I am used to. I only got as far as the first 3rd of the 2nd book. Maybe I need to read them instead...

[@undomondo]

@@ashleysmith1276 it’s been hard for me to remember chinese names as well, however i was reading it, and got used to it. so you’re right! don’t let this get in the way, because this book is seminal

[@deis.w]

Given how long it can take for complex life to form, another possibility is that alien civilisations could be about as old as our own. In this case, we both only started looking out into space very recently. It's like placing 2 people on the opposite side of an empty earth for 2 minutes and asking them why they haven't found each other yet. Edit: I said it's one POSSIBILITY out of millions and billions of other possibilities.

[@ebilo6]

Not really , different conditions couldve made them get to intelligent life forms in half the time, that would put them 2 billions year before us. We fucked around as single cell for billions of years.

[@ItsDesm]

This right here. Many people don't contemplate the timing aspect and also how long signals take to travel all those light years. Even if there is life broadcasting out there at this moment, we might not receive their signals for hundreds or thousands of years

[@TheRusty]

@@ebilo6 What do you mean "fucked around"? Unicellular life is the dominant and most pervasive form of life in every ecosystem - including a great number of ecosystems that are ONLY microbial. It is clearly a hugely successful mode of life, and there's no reason to think that multicellular life is some sort of inevitability. Remember, there is no "forward march of progress" in biology. Biologically, you are simply a habitat for the 3 pounds of bacteria, yeasts, and protists that call you home.

[@UrbanRonin35]

@@ebilo6he said it was a possibility, not a guarantee. Can you read things more Thoroughly before responding maybe?

[@Timinem]

The milkyway is like 11billion years old (?) so you’d think there would be at least a few detectable civilizations.

[@jmlaw8888]

I personally look at it as seperately picking two people anywhere on earth throughout the history of human civilization and expect them to meet eachother - only ridiculously more difficult. What are the odds that they will be born within the right timeframe and distance and with the ability to actually meet? If there is life out there its likely died before us, will live after us or if actually alive now is so far away we will both be gone before we could ever make contact.

[@andrzejjaniak6849]

Well said. That's exactly my line of reasoning.

[@nocturnalrecluse1216]

You got it, my guy!! Aliens exist, but they also do not exist because we live in separate time planes. That's how vast space is.

[@nickterrett6613]

all above relevant if excluding time travel..which Einstein himself said is theoretically possible..only needs to be a civilization say 1000 years more advanced than us..reality is there are probably 1000's of civilizations potentially millions of years more advanced..time travel would be simplistic to such species.

[@malphadour]

Nailed it. Brian Cox has spoken at length about this and it is his favourite theory. There may be numerous other civilisations in the galaxy, but time is so vast, that it would be easy for one to exist for a million years and never see or hear another one. He relates Fermi to Drake and explains why this is a very likely conclusion.

[@drewwar9344]

Well let's apply that logic to us we are constantly searching for life elsewhere and multiple generations have been looking for alien life so if you apply that to your scenario the likelihood gets higher In your scenario we would be one person actively searching for the other and that other person would have Signs that they are the ones we are looking for

[@baronvonhoughton]

Vast distances, the limited speed of light, extremely specific stable conditions, and our own lack of ability to reach/message even nearby stars, all easily explain the Fermi paradox for me.

[@stalwartzero7001]

Speed of light is the boundary of or RAM

[@airfu3ion284]

But what about the speed of dark ^^

[@timcoleman8297]

THE Fermi paradox has been completely debunked. Its old hat. Just because we haven't figured out how to travel faster than the speed of light doesnt mean a civilisation a thousand years ahead of us hasn't. Thats so obvious. I just dont get why the likes of Cox cant grasp it. Get a grip man. You are so far behind the curve you should just be fired from the BBC.

[@MicroClases_Ciencia]

The extremely stable conditions is overstated by some researchers, but not by all. We have received apocalyptic meteorites several times in prehistoric histpry and, according to some theories about the great extinctions, direct hits of gamma rays, that erased the atmospheric layers for several years. But life has shown that is very plastic, where a few microorganisms can survive at the bottom of a sea, life comes back and re adapts. A paradox about life is that it requires unstable conditions to generate the primordial elements.

[@bensolo7217]

@@MicroClases_Ciencia very true. Then again, perhaps it's these unpredictable series of cataclysmic events that provided the most unlikely conditions being met to allow for us eventually. Maybe life is actually abundant in single cell form and the mutations that got primordial us out of the water is mind numbingly unlikely.

[@Redishprint]

The way we search for Aliens, not even knowing they are friendly, is absolutely terrifying..

[@bullveigh2526]

Our solar system doesn’t have anything that isn’t abundant elsewhere in the galaxy, so they wouldn’t need the resources. if they do exist and are far more advanced than us they would know exactly how to spot life in the galaxy and would already know that life is here. If they are on the same civilization scale as us then maybe its better to find them first ;) our first contacts throughout our history have gone well, No? :)

[@-o-8862]

@@bullveigh2526 so wrong, our sun is stable. our planet is livable with water and oxygen, maybe our planets in the milky way are good for harvesting certain materials think of any other species we live with, ants pigs cows. we disregard their needs for our own at anytime. they'd do the same.

[@tremors536]

We’re looking for the Vulcans but what happens when we find the Borg 🧐

[@FoulBundy]

we klingon and get data@@tremors536

[@sws212]

@@bullveigh2526 That assumes we understand what they need or even have the technology to determine that something we have is what they need or our planet / system is on the same scale of their resource consumption. The tech they have could require galaxy level adjustment. Even if we have no significant resource, they could eliminate us in order to prevent others from using us as slaves or we're seen as so far beneath them, some sadist sees humans as animals to play around with.

[@KennethEvans-uf7hc]

"it could be that we're the only island of meaning in an ocean of 400 billion suns." I love how scientists and science can be so effortlessly poetic and beautiful without trying.

[@John-y2o4f]

Scientists are allowed to dream too.

[@flix1179]

bro thats philosophy

[@John-y2o4f]

@@flix1179 but philosophy stands as the BASIS d ALL:: intellectual disciplines as PRESUPPOSITIONS

[@troubadour723]

To think how unique we might be in the galaxy and yet how self-destructive we are is extremely depressing.

[@kevinac4397]

If that is the explanation for our loneliness than yes, very depressing

[@Larrymh07]

Whether we evolved or created, our conundrum is we have acquired space age technology while still mired in our stone age morality towards each other.

[@landotucker]

We're tribalistic, selfish and short-sighted. I don't have a lot of hope for us as a species and I expect we'll make earth uninhabitable before we develop the technology to get off it in any significant numbers

[@AndyP1212u]

Let's hope the aliens give us a good Shake up, also hoping our leaders get a grip it's about we started acting as one species together on our one planet

[@meesterdinglefritz2064]

If we’re so self destructive, why are we still here?

[@hushingsilence]

I think it's pretty damn special to live in a universe on a planet at a time when Brian Cox is alive to share his knowledge and enthusiasm. 🥰

[@Poopdeck1015]

He's a brilliant scientist, but being unable to think away from conventional wisdom and theorem is a little concerning. There is another 9 billion years of the existence of the universe, and Cox fails to consider that non-terrestrial life may have formed within that time. They may not be dependent on the needs we have either.

[@JayBird-zc4kh]

He's not that brilliant

[@davidcross8028]

Lol.....!

[@jonsegerros]

for real. hes a hack@@JayBird-zc4kh

[@SauronTheDarkLordOfMordor]

​@JayBird-zc4khyou sound like a loooser

[@ANJIN-p4q]

Brian is so enthusiastic and over the top happy when it comes to these things

[@thebodybagman577]

I wonder how happy he is knowing sooner or later we're all going to come across this...? kzbin.info/aero/PLnrEt2fIdZ0aBgPuVF0C_T559YR20eDTc&si=NcgTAojzEe0odakc kzbin.info/aero/PLHPYLgNK6VlihAkcPT2nPhhUC2Dc4rkJD&si=1NPt2q_UBS5nfZKn

[@John-y2o4f]

Maybe he's just out of this world?

[@realsatoshihashimoto]

"There are 2 possibilities. Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. And either possibility is equally terrifying." - Arthur C. Clarke

[@Madtil]

I think if we are alone it actualy isnt that scary. If humanity doesnt destroy itself and we have millions of years time we could become the gods of this universe and create other life ourselvs.

[@Robodude_0528]

If we’re here then something else is here too. There’s just no two ways about it. I like to presume that what ever else is out there is more strange than we could imagine.

[@hzhang1228]

we could be the bad guys in those alien invasion movies, maybe we will be what aliens fear.

[@realsatoshihashimoto]

@@Robodude_0528 It would be a terrible waste of space if we were the only intelligent, conscious beings in this vast universe, that's for sure. I agree there's sure to be something else out there, but perhaps separated from us so far in space & time that for all practical purposes we may as well be alone...

[@Blakkrazor69]

Humans are not alone just insufferably dim and violent making the idea of approaching such a species difficult at best. They are a disjointed species incapable of cooperation without the threat of violence...completely incompatible for Cosmic Society.

[@dennishrmn1]

I don't think there's anyway possible that we are alone. The size of the universe is inconceivable, in the amount of planets orbiting suns seems almost endless.

[@iamdihan]

We might be not alone but distances to other planets and galaxies are so vast we may never make contact. Also we are extremly fortunate to have developed as intelligent life forms, the Dinosaurs were around for nearly 10 times as long and never needed to get to space or make a single transmission. Maybe most of these habitable planets are animal like creatures.

[@HNCTECH]

Yet, we don't have any evidence for any other life. We can conclude that there are no other life beside us, untill proven otherwise.

[@Malitubee]

@@HNCTECH Pretty sure that’s what the alien on Planet Zebulon is saying about us

[@mambaASI]

@@iamdihan most of these habitable planets are probably hosting simple life. Some are probably hosting complex multicellular life that has for whatever reason failed to develop into intelligent life. And then we have the 1%, which probably currently hosts or has hosted intelligent life which has since become multiplanetary or even multisolar. And that 1% is a pretty big number, potentially 200 million

[@Ludvigvanamadeus]

does intelligent life exist somewhere out there in the universe? Given its size, almost certainly - but if the nearest civilization exists in a galaxy, say, 10 billion lightyears from us, we have zero chances of ever even finding it or coming into contact with it.

[@robpegler6545]

If we're the only civilization in the universe, that either makes us incredibly important or incredibly insignificant, depending on how you look at it.

[@sandrafaith]

And both are equally scary.

[@sangyedorje]

Good point

[@TheBanana93]

Scary? Its liberating lol@@sandrafaith

[@Patricknab]

agreed even aliens doesnt look beautiful like us it's mean god create us very special and unique

[@alelirivarola1197]

Important to who? What is our contribution to the cosmos as a civilization? I think if we are alone, we are insignificant, period.

[@Anfield_the_place_to_be]

After seeing (and reading) 3 body problem, my feed is full of theese videos,,, and i love it👽

[@Jansen33]

Planets evolve so much over millions of years. The distance between us and other planets plus the multitudes of variables evolving those planets make contact and space travel so incredibly difficult.

[@bigboicreme]

Big distances. Holy crap I just thought about how big the milky way is 🫥🫥

[@jackwilson5542]

It may be simple, humans on this Earth just don't have the technology yet. A type 2 or higher civilization may have instant communication network, so looking for radio waves could be like cavemen looking for smoke signals from aliens.

[@therantingboy]

Can't it just be that space is massive and there's aliens as advanced as us or more advanced but they haven't left their galaxy or visited us? Why is that so hard to imagine?

[@qwizdom3873]

You’re right, it is not hard to imagine. In fact it’s primitive. Do you stop at your every first version of an idea?

[@danielm5161]

@d We'd have to line up with another intelligent civilization in space and time though. It's a narrow window.

[@tomwilko7841]

​@d there's plenty of (conspiracy) theories that our current civilization and it's entire history is far from the first one on our planet, I don't subscribe to these ideas, I have a friend who lives for this stuff, for some reason circa13,000bc is hugely important to these guys...i don't know I rarely look at his recommendations😅, but I've seen enough to say I can honestly believe that if the worst was to happen to us, there are many ways in which all trace of our existence could be evaporated in many different ways...so it's not definite that vanquished/failed civilisations leave megastructures, or any structures for that matter, behind when they die, when you think about the huge timeframes involved it becomes easier to believe...hell we may not be the first human civilisation on earth and we'll never know

[@procta2343]

@@danielm5161 yeah its about distance, say we confirm there is another planet like ours in the neighbouring system. We would have to set up some sort of relay, signal booster station, every few points. So it would line up with them at some point. Even then we would still get a delay.

[@dennyworthington6641]

I recently read the book "Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe" by Ward and Brownlee. The authors contend that simple, single-cell life, such as bacteria, is likely quit common in the universe, but more complex multi-cellular life may be exceedingly rare and so-called "intelligent life" (whatever that means) would be rarer still. Excellent, thought-provoking book for those interested in the subject. Spoiler alert: Don't hold your breath waiting for that signal from outer space.

[@EFCDKZ]

The dark forest theory is funny to me. I can just imagine other civilisations wondering why we want to be found so much and are just shaking their heads at us knowing we’re gonna get extinguished 😂

[@exerciseforidiots2296]

“Look at those dumb shits…”😂😂😂

[@wearywanderer1912]

Maybe this behavior causes the impression we're confident therefore superior (even though we're not) so they'll never try to mess with us. 🤣

[@octoslut]

@@wearywanderer1912 lol no true at all, they can easily look at your technological level and see how far behind(inferior) we are.

[@__Tazzzo]

@@octoslut Technological levels could be a shitty way to judge a civilization. We have advanced pretty well in just the last 100 years. In my view we have devolved 1,000 years culturally because of it.

[@yashshrivastava3748]

The civilizations who seek others does not have a seed of hiding. These civilizations, if found by other advanced civilizations(which is very difficult task as the universe is unfathomably big) , are considered to be extremely primitive as they have not yet discovered Dark Forest. Therefore, it’s very straightforward to eliminate them.

[@gabriellecunningham7196]

The absolutely mind-blowing concepts presented so succinctly for mere mortals like me by Dr. Brian Cox and Co. are so very much appreciated. Cheers from Melbourne 🇦🇺

[@novacula]

We're all mortals here Gabrielle.

[@leofromfive2seven131]

Yeah same here. Have just recently discovered Brian and am a big fan 👍 Cheers from Jupiter

[@davidktd]

After reading The 3 Body Problem I subscribe wholeheartedly to the Dark Forest hypothesis. I do believe that we’ve been “visited” by ET’s but that they hold a similar outlook to us. We should, however, be extremely careful about how we advertise ourselves in the universe

[@jamesn0va]

I approve of your love for fiction but it's silly to suggest the hypothesis has any real merit. Given the resources we would investigate every oxygen rich atmosphere we could. The notion of the dark forest only works when one can hide all there influance form the universe and that's simply impossible.

[@davidktd]

@@jamesn0va no, not necessarily. It doesn’t go hand in hand that oxygen rich planets have life. That is not something we have to keep hidden. We should, however, be careful in transmissions that narrow down our locations.

[@spencerhopkinson9874]

@@davidktd too late.

[@Wis_Dom]

The terrifying part of about being a rare unique accident that sparked complex life out of 400 billion planets is that... we can't get along.

[@BobbyHickey]

Most constantly miss what makes Earth so special. Diversity of life.

[@Jafmanz]

Look at all nature on earth! it is simply a fight for survival! Humans however like all life does to a certain extent 'get along' very nicely indeed! in fact humanity 'gets along' better than most which is one of the reason we have surpassed the limitations of our biospheres imperatives. Our 'getting along' is what has accelerated our development... (among other things) It's not terrifying at all but empowering and magnificent!

[@Jafmanz]

@@Wis_Dom How is my comment prideful? How to my comment mean I express a very high opinion of my self? Pride comes before the fall? THE fall? The book of proverbs really states quite clearly that wisdom and modesty are to be preferred over pride and wealth.... preferred... there is no arrogance or overconfidence in my post. I urge you before you begin engaging in complex topics about life to first study the English language.... Is English your first language?

[@Aegmog]

How do you know life is unique to Earth without checking the other 400 billion planets? We haven't checked 0.0001% yet, and still haven't even explored our oceans 😅 This is similar as saying Earth is at the centre of the universe.

[@Aegmog]

​@@Jafmanz human civilization has been, for millennia, at constant war with each other separated by small periods of peace.

[@AsifAAli]

I'm an alien, and I approve this message.

[@wilhelmw3455]

And me too !!!

[@fanatamon]

You Politicians should stay out of this.

[@AsifAAli]

@@fanatamon My dear sweet child, that's what we do, it's what we live for. 😏

[@drjojo5551]

Ok Al Eean!!!! First of all…..this is our planet…our home!!! This is not some galactical NUDIST COLONY!!!!! Get some clothes on!!!!

[@AsifAAli]

@@drjojo5551 You don't say the same on those other tube sites though... you rather have them with their clothes off, so why pretending to be all holy here? And, your planet? Hehehehehehee... you were cultivated here, just like humans were cultivated on Mars. You're a mere crop waiting to be harvested. Muahahahahaa... 😈😈

[@DrewBoivie]

What about the "space is crazy-stupid big" hypothesis? In the observable universe there are estimated to be about 2,000,000,000,000 planets. Within 100 light years (about how far our signals have reached) there are only about 2000 of those planets. The rest of the universe couldn't even have heard from us yet...much less received our signals and made the trip here. People who think we should have seen aliens by now don't understand the magnitude of space.

[@fozzy20]

Always reminds me of what Arthur C Clarke said in relation to life beyond Earth. There are 1 of 2 things definately true in the univserse and they are both equally as terrifying. We're either alone in the universe or we are not.

[@chili_phil]

That was a pearl of a statement! Love it

[@timcoleman8297]

We are not and they are busy monitoring us. FACT.

[@reesetwist2290]

Fire quote

[@cfrandre8319]

@@reesetwist2290 Remember it.

[@Mike-tv9rk]

I just paraphrased that above. Its looking more and more likely! And it also means that Donald trump was the supreme leader of the universe at one point. We have no plan except to consume our entire planet ! Welcome to Conservative/republican politics. Eat, drink, vacation, Luxury drive. Check out with money and a dead planet legacy. Good job rich folk., and excellent work. Nice pyramid pension scheme for y’all. Wankers

[@markcarey67]

The Dark Forest hypothesis was invented by Liu Cixin one of the best science fiction writers in the history of humanity

[@ZombieMutt]

No it isn't. He borrowed it and applied it to his works. It originates with David Brin.

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

@@ZombieMutt David Brin took that idea from me

[@kevone-eo6pq]

@@Dave_of_Mordor and you stole the idea from me you treacherous swine.

[@JoseAlvarado-nl4pi]

I remember reading a comment that describes that the universe is like a boiling pot of water. The bubbles in the boiling pot are civilizations popping in and out of existence and that’s why we can’t find anything. And I agree with that. I think that civilizations just die out before having the means to travel between stars

[@globextradingsystemsllc1740]

What about the thousands of Authentic UFOs,UAPs the military admits now. They're already here,dummy. We don't see anything???

[@atimetraveler4910]

I truly believe actual interstellar travel is just impossible.

[@globextradingsystemsllc1740]

@@atimetraveler4910 Impossible for your brain capacity to understand how it's accomplished. Science,math we created and Einstein got us stuck in the mud of progress.

[@atimetraveler4910]

@@globextradingsystemsllc1740 progress where? Wheres this progress? We haven't even gone to mars yet or are even close to doing that yet. Also stop being one of those "I believe anythings" possible. Interstellar travel has hundreds of problems and even small paradoxes. Won't ever be done.

[@globextradingsystemsllc1740]

@@atimetraveler4910 Hundreds of problems for you and most mediocraties. The limitations you believe are limitations in thinking way out of the box ,and a step away from Einstein. What about dark energy? 😉. If the big bang was truly understood in its context ,then the fabric of space can travel at millions of times faster than light.Expansion was quite fast.Dummy up.

[@PatchedBandit]

Anyone who has even the slightest understanding about the scale of the observable universe should not be very surprised that we haven't seen anything. It's like we are taking 1 milliliter out of the earths ocean and state: "there are no whales".

[@patelk464]

The Dark Forest hypothesis propose that an alien civilization will at first search for life on other planets. At some point they become advanced enough to realise to their vulnerability to other alien civilization and as a result becomes Dark.

[@ingridhohmann3523]

So in other.words ,,,don't stick your head and.play it safe ,,?????I'm not objecting to that 🤔 ,but let's colonize Mars ,it's close by,in the neighbor so to.speak wink 😉

[@patelk464]

@@ingridhohmann3523 At least we can be fairly certain that there are no little green monsters on Mars, hopefully 😉

[@sufficientmagister9061]

​@@patelk464 What about Artificial Super Intelligence? If that emerges, it gets out of human control, then destroys humankind as a whole. Then ASI will be the dominant life-form exploring the universe.

[@davecurry8305]

Colonizing Mars makes no sense. It is far too hostile to be a second home for humanity. It may be worth going there for exploration’s sake. Beyond that, stay home and repair earth makes much more sense.

[@Fyodor48]

Whilst an interesting hypothesis, it is ultimately irrelevant. Why? You may ask, simple really; for the planet Earth is the *only* populated planet in existence. And all the studying, all the searching, all the probes being sent out in scanning for evidence of life; Two now in interstellar space. Alas, Tis But an exercise in futility. That said, Thank-you for all the amazing images from Webb, Hubble (particularly Hubble deep field) . This small piece of dark sky when looked at, the astronomers expecting little in return were stunned to learn and see!! Thousands of galaxies!!!!!! So what’s beyond that? What’s beyond these thousands of newly discovered galaxies?? If (and they’re not) were an astronomer using their Hubble or Webb or better, way out there in *newly discovered* ‘Hubble deep field land’ and those telescopes were pointed at a ‘dark patch’ of their relative Sky, what on Earth would those Super mega telescopes wayyy out there observe What would they see? The answer is absurdly simple!!!. *NOTHING but, more and more and more ‘Deep Field* images of just more and more Spiral etc galaxies like our own Milky Way. *Beautiful for sure, but like the rest of the Universe with the exception of our Blue Beautiful Planet; Utterly devoid of life. *So Guys n Gals, get out there look after our world and treat it with the Love, Respect and Reverence Tis due* *I give you this unasked for reality, but give it I Must*

[@blanckieification]

The way I see is: If they are more advanced and capable of making contact, you can compare it with making contact with gorilla's. We mostly let them live and if we want to study them we do it from a safe distance.

[@doobiedoo3302]

Exactly if I was an alien and saw hairless apes with nuclear weapons constantly at war with each other destroying the planet I would keep my distance too.

[@agncxrx]

The difference is gorillas and other animals know about our existence

[@isatousarr7044]

The Dark Forest Hypothesis is a chilling perspective on the potential dangers of encountering alien civilizations. Could it be the key to understanding the apparent silence of the cosmos?

[@stephenbrooks733]

Imagine we received a message back saying..' be quiet they'll hear you'

[@Grombrindal91]

In the 3 body problem series aliens respond back with “do not respond, do not respond, do not respond”.

[@harrymacdonald858]

Isaac Asimov Quote: Today's science fiction is tomorrow's science fact ..aye aye! a Ken a KEN ! Aye! sounds archaic ? x love is

[@borzica]

Could it be that alien life exists in a different dimension and we simply cannot perceive them?

[@ganymede3141]

Could it be that we can use our imagination to come up with all sorts of fictional explanations using nonsensical pseudo-scientific language?

[@C0Y0TE5]

@@ganymede3141 unnecessarily judgmental. Be kind

[@EgoJinpachi_]

no need to worry for that scenario when its probabilistically impossible aliens dont already exist in this universe.

[@C0Y0TE5]

Our understanding of dimensions so far is that those more than 4 must be incredibly tiny. -- Recap, we have 3 spatial dimensions plus a 4th, time that apears to create an infinite universe. -- Doing the math by adding a fifth dimension reveals what is very similar to the electromagnetic theory. Or a very tiny place. This leads to String Theory and 10 or 11 dimensions, but all are very tiny, eg: particles/wave forms/fields/strings/branes. -- One view of this is that these dimensions are like a screen through which the illusion of our 4-dimensional universe is "created"/projected. -- So, perhaps, better for u, not tiny beings from tiny dimensions, but maybe alternate realities in a multiverse, or our future selves traveling back in time may be more likely.

[@borzica]

@@C0Y0TE5 whoa thanks for the comment! I was thinking similar to the way our brains cannot perceive a tesseract, perhaps we cannot perceive beings living in the 4th dimension.

[@anonamon9074]

Meanwhile Aliens: "welcome back to another episode of humans do the dumbest things"

[@mollybell5779]

Just wow, seriously. Checking out ancient dried up lake beds on Mars, and I didn't know there was *that* much water on Europa. Great stuff! Thank you

[@ScienceTime24]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@Hongobogologomo]

Uranus and Neptune have oceans of methane water slush, too. Down to the rocky core deep

[@grem6966]

basically the entire volume of the moon aside from the crust and the core is water

[@mollybell5779]

@@grem6966 wow! I didn't even know there was any water on the moon at all, but after a little research, sure enough! Thank you.

[@bigboicreme]

​@@grem6966 is it drinkable?

[@nettewilson5926]

I think time and space distances are so great that even if life is not rare, we would be unlikely to find it

[@Impactor07]

Well, what about the wormhole theory? I mean, if it's true(hypothetically), then there'll be no prob in travelling vast distances in space

[@albundy7198]

If we could build a telescope that could detect every star around the entire habitable area in a different spiral 🌀 galaxy like the location of earth in a Milky Way spiral bc I think you will have better luck looking outside the galaxy into another Milky Way twin galaxy about the same age or a little older.

[@bigboicreme]

​@@Impactor07 wormholes just don't exist naturally

[@ArmstrongandTumbler]

@@Impactor07 If wormhole travel was hypothetically real, and we somehow found a way to master using it, there are still hundreds of billions (with a B) star systems in our galaxy, and every star system can have hundreds if not thousands of planetary/moon bodies in orbit around each one. We will still have our work cut out for us. LOL

[@Impactor07]

@@ArmstrongandTumbler Yeah lol I mean having a headstart is always better than doing everything by scratch imao but still, the wormhole remains a theory, but one that seems likely to be true imao...

[@Dante-cv3ts]

I like listening to brian cox talk about sciencey stuff with my high school equivalent diploma brain

[@TinaBornemannn]

What counts, is, that the brains works. Diplomas does not mean anything. It's well known today.

[@JPayne95]

If humans stumbled across a planet full of life that we deemed to be of lesser intelligence, would we make ourselves known or would we study from a distance and use what we can get?

[@Alexander_Kale]

I mean, consider for a second the implications of what you just suggested. 1) In our society, observation without consent is very much a crime. Espionage between nations is very much a necessary evil. If a government agent wants to read your emails, he needs to justify that before the law, and in order to do that, he needs to show credible proof that you harbour hostile intent. You are effectively suggesting that future humanity of yours to do that. Spy on people. For thousands of years. Unsupervised. Without justification. Without asking for consent. 2) Imagine the knowledge and power such a future humanity holds. They would have incredible understanding of biology and physics. For all intends and purposes, if they are capable of interstellar travel, they can produce infinite amounts of energy. Would you really consider it ethical for such a species to sit back and watch as their objects of study engage in bloody wars for limited ressources? WOuld you consider it ethical and good for such a species to watch as their subjects struggle to deal with climate change, when you could give them access to unlimited, cheap, clean energy? Would you consider it ethical for such a species to sit by and watch as those people in their ant farm die in the thousands to diseases that you would consider preventable, when you could very easily mass produce cures for any and all of them? 3) Finally, imagine the cosmic joke. SOmeone on that planet looks up into the sky, wondering if they are alone. If there are other species out there, somewhere across the ocean of space. Meanwhile, your future humanity is sitting behind their stealth fields, laughing at him while they wave.

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

do we study chicken, insects, and other animals from a distance?

[@JPayne95]

@Dave_of_Mordor from our perspective, no. But that's why you're never going to see beyond because you can't look at their perspectives. Does an ant know that it's being watched? Are fish aware of world outside of the oceans?

[@Alexander_Kale]

@@Dave_of_Mordor You do realize that ants are not people, yes?

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

@@JPayne95 you cannot claim these perspective are true because you don't know how and what ants or fish think.

[@paulaneph3257]

Love Brian Cox!! He makes such complex things so simple to understand

[@stoobydootoo4098]

And a great Scottish actor! He's nearly 77, you know. 😆

[@brucedunn6845]

He knows nowt

[@aleklaw1175]

What movie was the clip at the beginning from

[@sgtflashback5442]

What irks me about the dark forest is this: we already sent out a heap of radio signals, heck even intentional information about us and our location along with a friendly greeting. We did this out of naive trust in technical and societal advance and a sense of final frontier star trekish enthusiasm.. Why should we be the only idiots to have done this and everyone else intuitively chose to stay hidden as best as possible?

[@wmwastle]

Just because we haven't found them doesn't mean they aren't there. I cannot believe we are alone.

[@The_cool_guy78]

The name of movie pls

[@randar1969]

I do , logic tells me if intelligence is easy to create, we should have seen it by now since they can have headstart and be millions if not billions of years further then us. With our current 'speeds' even with robotic craft we can visit the entire milky way galaxy in around 100-200 million years. The Universe can create planets like us for far longer then that alteast 10000 million years.

[@tmgn7588]

@@randar1969 Literally ignoring so many factors. Why would we visit the entire milky way in a rush? A human could have easily walked from South Africa to South America (when the Bridge was still there), yet it took thousands of years. And if intelligence is too easy to create, there won't be enough oil to power an industrial revolution. If intelligent life tends to stay in the ocean, this doesn't favour electronics which right now is the only thing we could use to conclude an exo-planet has intelligent life.

[@tr3vk4m]

@@The_cool_guy78 Contact 1997

[@keenfire8151]

@@tmgn7588 Correct. But I just wanted to say one doesn't need oil to be a successful space faring civilization. That's just the route we happen to go down because those materials are the easiest for us to extract and manipulate. We have to think of the possibility that not all elements in the universe made it to Earth. There could be ways of travelling the universe we can't even fathom, simply because we don't have the elements here to even understand the physics.

[@TheDevilsAccountant]

Intelligent life deciding to not contact us is what makes them Intelligent.

[@romino23]

01:34 It took humans nearly 4 billion yrs to become who they are, that's the third of the age of the universe... mind blown.

[@renegarza793]

It actually only took humans 1 billion years. The other 3 billion were for the earth to set the right conditions for life (1billion) to progress to existence. -Neil Degrass Tyson

[@adrianmarzozanon3433]

always a pleasure see your videos.

[@The_cool_guy78]

The name of movie pls

[@adrianmarzozanon3433]

@@The_cool_guy78 mm,i think it´s contact,but i´m not sure

[@PhecdaPlato]

Love Brian Cox ❤ he’s a Rock Star on so many levels ❤

[@faulypi]

It’s just that the Universe is so large that it’s almost impossible to pick up signals from anywhere else unless they were specifically designed to be so powerful as to be picked up at astronomical or intergalactic distances.

[@davidmccann9811]

Just a few questions (I can't answer them, but maybe someone else can?) 1. Would we necessarily be able to recognise an alien life form if we met it? What I mean is would it have to be observable to us in a physical sense, or could it even stand next to us without us knowing and not be detectable by our equipment? 2. Even if it were only a couple of light years away, would it necessarily be able to contact us or even want to? So, if it for instance was on a par with say a cow or a dog it wouldn't be trying to contact us. Then again if it was so advanced that it saw us as comparable to the primitive life forms of its own planet, would it even bother? 3. Could an advanced life form exist inside our own planet? I don't mean 'Hollow Earth Theory' more like hollow areas. 4. Does the universe have to be how we observe it, or could it be an illusion of some kind?

[@BipoIarbear]

Technically fire is a living breathing entity so I think yep we probably passed life by at some point

[@Trusteft]

1. Yes, if we met it. If it's part of the physical world yes we would in some way be able to observe it. Yes it could stand next to us without us knowing it was there. 2. Yes or no, it depends, there are humans who want to contact aliens and there are humans who don't want aliens. That is just among one species. So more species who knows how they see the possibility of contact with other species, probably there is a variety of approaches depending on the species. If it saw us as a primitive life and wouldn't bother, should we bother? 3. No. Physically impossible. 4. Yes the universe has to be how we observe it, unless proven otherwise. If proven otherwise then the universe is how we would then observe it based on our updated knowledge of it. If you are asking if the universe is a construct, a virtual world or something like that, then my answer is probably not. Unless we find proof to the opposite.

[@luke88759]

1. We are specifically searching for life similar to that on Earth because that’s the only thing we are certain we would even recognize as life. There may be other life in the universe that is so unlike ours that we would not be able to tell. So yes, it absolutely could be undetectable and unrecognizable. 2. I think it would probably depend. And I think that could potentially be a big reason we haven’t found anything yet. Just because humans share connection and curiosity does not mean another intelligent life form would. There could be many reasons why a civilization would not want to interact with us or be found at all! 3. Not advanced, but undiscovered for sure. The majority of the deep sea has not been explored, and I imagine that there is plenty of life down there that has never been seen before. However I don’t think it would be possible for something more advanced than us to live so close and be undetected. 4. I don’t really have the answer to this question! I guess it would have to be how we observe it, but at the same time, there is so much we don’t know about the universe. Our observable part of the universe is so small. We do know that the laws of physics must apply the same way throughout the universe, but things like black holes are still partly unexplainable. I don’t normally comment on KZbin videos but I’m really interested in this stuff and I hope I was able to help!

[@cfrandre8319]

@@luke88759 Well reasoned...thank you

[@matthewsands3591]

​@@Trusteft how is 3 not possible?

[@AnthonyRiddle]

How come the two best speakers of our generation are both scientists? Neil DeGrassi Tyson and Brian Cox speak so well and with so much passion and enthusiasm. I love listening to them talk.

[@sandal_thong8631]

I like the idea that an alien civilization is only broadcasting to us after seeing the pollution in our atmosphere from Roman smelting of lead and silver 2000 years ago. Therefore we might only get a signal from stars within a 1000 light-year radius of ours.

[@GreenDistantStar]

It's an interesting concept. Problem is, there is so much volcanic activity on the Earth on any given day, any Roman smelting of lead and silver would be virtually impossible to detect. Any devices that were so attenuated that they could, would simply see the Romans doing it. That intelligent extraterrestrial life exists elsewhere is one of those things that even very rational people will believe, despite there being no hard evidence. It's about probabilities until it isn't.

[@johannzdebor5615]

My revolution in physics has been irrefutably valid for 28 years. Light years and the big bang never happened. We live in the parallel universe. Explorers of extraterrestrials and contact holders of star spaceships since 01/17/95. Johann Zdebor

[@Mercuryrising56627]

They are even depicted on cave drawings and egyptian drawings, which means they were around "from the beginning".

[@mycount64]

roman smelting... what kind of telescope do you think they are using? JWST can pick up molecule signatures in atmospheres of exoplanets at the proper angle to the star it circles (look at that on a graph) its not a picture of smokestacks and furnaces. Further any signal over 100 light years out is indistinguishable from background noise. Kopernican principle if we don't see them they don't see us. If resources are scarce none in their right mind will waste energy sending a signal to a bronze age civilization. When history shows that the average empire lasts a few hundred years. The average species goes extinct in X million years (mammals average 500 thousand years). We are half way through our life expectancy.

[@stephenkiely9244]

@@mycount64 I would assume they wouldn't be using a human telescope. If they are out there, we have no idea what technology they could be using.

[@phrayzar]

The dark forest theory is such a classic manifestation of human neurosis.

[@mattsmith1859]

How? It makes sense base in our limited understanding of how civilization progress. The way its presenting inthe Three Body Problem makes it make more sense. We don't any any other examples to draw from and our sci-fi runs the spectrum from helpful and kind aliens to murdering madmen. The Dark Forest is nicely in the center.

[@swellawsum]

Famous last words

[@adamlouis3725]

its math. if only 1 out of 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 civilizations follow dark forest theory on a long enough time line only they will be lift. the universe will continue to produce similar conditions to what exists now for 100 trillion more years. the universe has only existed for a blink compared to its expected life span

[@ArmstrongandTumbler]

Some may say it would be so cool to find out other lifeforms that think like us, but others may say it would be the worst discover in humankind for find aliens that think like us. I mean we have enough nuclear firepower to blow up our whole planet many times over, pointing at ourselves, and it can be set off with basically the press of a button at all times.... If I were an alien, I'd stay away from us too.

[@siddharthavicious108]

People who thought like you got eaten by tigers 10000 years ago.

[@Mr_Glenn]

What was the opening scene from?

[@Bob-of-Zoid]

We may just have to reevaluate what we call "The Goldilocks zone", as there are many more factors than just a planets position in it's solar system to account for. It's a magnificent chaos out there, just on a scale hard to fathom for most.

[@kbuttstadt]

Still, that's an idea that is 100% terran. The thought process that states "change our perception" was created, like all ideas we know of at this point, on this planet.

[@haukikannel]

We have only found water / carbon based life. So the chance of finding that kind os life is bigger that life that is based on for example cilicon… Because if there would be life based on cilicon we should have seen it in our solar system. So goldilock zone is the best ques / chance we have to find out life that is somewhat similar to us. Does that means that it is the only possible way life can develop. No, but it is the most likely candidate.

[@WINZ0W]

If someone in the universe were looking for proof of life in our direction would they find it or will they have to wait a fee million years for the evidence we are projecting now to reach them?

[@monkeymox2544]

Depends how far away they are. Signals from earth have now reached around 70 earth-like planets

[@stangoodvibes]

The 3 body problem. The best sci fi trilogy since...ever

[@haimbenavraham1502]

We've got to start taking extraordinary responsibility for the miracle we are.

[@vsstdtbs3705]

A rat and chicken is also a miracle. They might not exist elsewhere in the universe too.

[@Andy-nl8uq]

Check out the newest deep field from the JWST. There are so many galaxies, let alone stars and planets, that it's impossible we are the only intelligent life. The real question is could we ever make contact with it, or is time/distance just too insurmountable?

[@drjojo5551]

@@Andy-nl8uq Jesus dude….what a damned leap to call us intelligent!!!! With a nuclear holocaust at poopy joe’s fingertips………..

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@vsstdtbs3705 Chickens are our invention!

[@vsstdtbs3705]

@@RideAcrossTheRiver They have more rights than we do, because they have been on earth longer than us.

[@BrianHartman]

Imagine you drop a 10-foot circumference boulder in the Atlantic Ocean from 100 feet up, off the coast of France. Would you expect to be able to detect the waves the boulder makes in New York City? I think that's the problem we're dealing with: There's just a lot of space out there, and the signals we're looking for are small.

[@MT________]

I like your analogy! I also don't get why even scientist act so suprised by not having seen any traces of alien presence when the size and age of the universe are just such big numbers. I guess all humans can't comprehend these vast numbers.

[@alexbosse8528]

There was an interesting question posed to one of the researchers at SETI. She was asked: How much of space have we searched for life?" Her answer was: "If you imagine that all of space is equivalent to the oceans here on earth, we have searched about a glass of water. So if you were to scoop a glass of water out of the ocean and you didn't find any fish, would you say that there was no life in the ocean?" Now obviously you could argue, throw it under a microscope and likely you'll find micro organisms, but the point is space is gargantuan and we've barely scratched the surface.

[@jroar123]

There might be another reason we haven’t found any other forms of life out there. It could be that we are the very first.

[@robertjames4908]

Feasible, if it's taken over four billions years for us to evolve and the universe is only 13.8 billion years old then we may only be on the rising tail of the bell curve for intelligent life.

[@craigthescott5074]

Or we could be the last.

[@jroar123]

@@craigthescott5074 That's right. We have no idea however, that doesn't mean that we stop looking just in case. The chances are slim to non that we ever find something. But, what if there is technology drifting out in space of a race of people long since distinct? That to would make it work looking but on the other-hand, what if we are the first? wouldn't that mean we wasted resources to prove a negative. That time would have been better of used developing something to expand life from our planet?

[@Roadman1000]

The dark forest theory is pretty terrifying. Lord knows what matter of scary, incredibly powerful technology another civilization would have. Our imaginations can only wonder... Science fiction has surprisingly utilized the Dark Forest Theory very well. Warhammer 40k, an entire galaxy constantly at war. Cixin Liu, the milky way being flattened by a hyper-weapon.

[@Alexander_Kale]

The problem with the Dark Forest is that hiding would not save you. Imagine that there WAS a genocidal species out there. They would inevitably come to the conclusion that some species would try to hide from them, and they would then try and find ways to kill the ones that do. WHat is the easiest way to do this? Massive overkill. YOu have an incredibly powerfull energy source in the form of your sun. By weaponizing just a small part of it, you can absolutely kill every living thing in the galaxy without ever leaving your own solar system. If you repfer a more direct approach, send out fleets of probes equipped with nuclear bombs. Or just sent probe droids, like the ones from the second star wars movie, and tell them to report back. If one of them doesn't report back, send a kill fleet. In other words, you can rest easy. If there WAS a genocidal alien race out there, we would already be dead. The very fact that we are still alive means that we are save.

[@chromatic2006]

What is really terrifying is understanding why an advanced civilization would see a lesser developed civilization as a threat. It's because that lesser one might, upon being contacted, devote all of their resources to 'catching up". And scientific discovery is not a universal constant. It is possible that the lesser one gets really lucky, and is able to leapfrog ahead in science and technology. The greater civilization can't take the chance, they have to make a decision to eliminate now. Here we are on Earth, broadcasting our signal out freely.

[@Raxatlix]

We could be a forgotten colony of the imperium

[@daveincorp]

"It could be, we're the only Island of meaning in a Ocean of 400 billion Suns" 😢 B-E-Autiful quote

[@GordKapasky]

Already quoted it.🧐

[@daveincorp]

@@GordKapasky lol yes sir officer

[@steved5356]

Given the vast distances involved and the vast time for signals to travel it, plus all the other noise going on in universe, I suspect any signal will be impossibly weak and practically impossible to detect. In any case, we can never see back beyond a certain point as time always marches forward, and we cannot yet see beyond the cosmic microwave background. It’s like sitting in the middle of ocean, where you can only see a small area of sea around you (that analogy breaks down because that is caused by curvature of planet).

[@Dgaz..]

That introduction was beautiful

[@john_hind]

The Dark Forest Hypothesis (from the Liu Cixin novel) is much darker and logically compelling than suggested by the relentlessly upbeat Prof. Cox. The suggestion is that a species ability to comprehend and manipulate the universe plateaus at a different level depending on accidents of brain evolution. This means that when a civilisation is detected it is probably already on a path of rapid development towards its own individual plateau (a singularity). Furthermore the rate of development is likely fast compared to the rate of interstellar diplomacy constrained by the speed of light. By the time you've completed a single exchange of messages, the new civilisation may have moved from the invention of radio to a stage far in excess of your own plateau level. In this universe, plateaued survivors may well have concluded the only way to be safe is to destroy any emerging technological civilisation while they still can, which is to say immediately. This would mean the only way to survive would be to hide.

[@grabyourlantern]

We aren't taking any steps to hide. Why should we assume that anyone else would? You can't even start looking for other life without making yourself visible. And there's no reason to act as if the laws of evolution work any differently anywhere else in the universe. Gravity doesn't. Electromagnetism doesn't. Any species that attained our level of consciousness did so over millions of years, and had to go through the same selection pressures (environmental and then cultural) as we did. The result would always be the same. They wouldn't necessarily look like us, but they would be a lot like us. They would experience fear, have motivations, imagination, curiosity. They would also have the instinct to cooperate. The Prisoner's Dilemma isn't merely a economics thought experiment, but a cosmic law. The Dark Forest Hypothesis makes some self-defeating assumptions.

[@john_hind]

@@grabyourlantern We should assume any other civilizations that survive are hiding because we've looked pretty hard and not found them (the Fermi Paradox). Remember we've only been detectable for a century which is to say in a sphere of space only about 100 light years across which is a tiny bubble on a galactic let alone a universal scale. But if civilizations survive and broadcast their existence over millennia of time we should already have detected them. The alternative is they simply do not exist and never have in which case there is no point broadcasting our existence anyway! The sensible policy would be to hide and listen for a few centuries until we get a good understanding exactly what is out there. We do not however have the discipline or coherence to implement that, which may itself be part of the 'great filter'.

[@Mike-br8zt]

Finding alien life is like finding life in Stok-on-Trent, we hope it is out there but finding it is a challenge.

[@brucedickinson12]

Is that near Stoke on trent

[@tonypine3434]

Saying "finding intelligent life" maybe would've made that dig funny. As it stands you failed. Quite ironic

[@kevone-eo6pq]

don't give up your day job.

[@Samurai78420]

I could listen to this guy for hours. Love it.

[@baddabing4494]

I think it's probably just the fact that the universe is still relatively young, and that it's bigger than our ability to rationalize probability

[@baronroaster404]

The older it gets, the further away everything will get.

[@celestenova777]

Interesting video, thanks for upload 🌠

[@ScienceTime24]

Thank you too

[@williammore558]

Just because we're unable to find alien intelligence out there in the vastness of space using current technology doesn't mean there's nobody out there. Going back a few decades, we weren't even aware of how many habitable planets within our own galaxy are out there and, fast forward, we're now aware there are billions of planets with such potential. A small sample using Kepler already harvested some interesting targets and with Webb the opportunities are even more tantalising with one target already considered as having life.

[@pliashmuldba]

I find it a bit silly potential civilizations out there should be competing for resources, when there are so much of everything out there, and so availability will only be limited in your ability to go and harvest them.

[@Z0mb13ta11ahase]

Problem is finding ones that are worth harvesting. If an advanced civilization came by earth, it may just be easier for them to wipe us out and harvest our world than it is to go scout for a world with what they need and then get to it with their workers.

[@Unrivaledanime]

It’s our limited technology that prevents us from understanding how to find or understand why we have not found other life

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

Bull. Given the vast time the galaxy has been here, any advanced alien specie would most likely be millions if not billions of years older. It would only take about 1-2 million years to colonize every planet in the galaxy at sub-light speeds. IF there actually were other alien civs in the milky way, you wouldn't have to ask where are the aliens... you wouldn't be able to swing a stick without hitting an alien.

[@Westrait]

@LucYfYre Arch of TwiLight True also since the singularity hypothesis, of big bang there should be older Civilizations since time and space is going in a linear fashion still we don't see anything ...with our scopes or satellites...not one hint ...Intelligent life seems rare if you try and match up our solar system with the many others it would all have to be a exact identical orbital alignment , size of planets moon, and Sun anything off would throw any hopes of any life...We were almost wiped out ourselves during the age of Dinosaurs. Asteroids and metoers seem to be the culprit for non intelligent life and million other things with evolution,temperature,chemical reactions ,planetary alignment,etc

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

@@Westrait Yes. Not only does earth possess a multitude of things that seem to be pretty rare, but as you pointed out, even here life has been very tenuous to put it mildly. IIRC there's been 5 global mass extinction events that we're aware of. All of these things are "filters" to the possibility of life, let alone life that survives long enough, in the right conditions, to develop technology. Even on earth which is pretty primed for life, intelligence of human level appears to be a freak occurrence since we're the only species that has evolved it out of the countless species that have existed over billions of years. Given all these things, odds are we are the progenitor species of this galaxy. If that turns out to be true, it places a heavy responsibility upon mankind to not go extinct. In that case, it would not just be the fate of humanity at stake, but of all future life within the galaxy that we would spread as long as we survive.

[@nlssvdr7107]

at the begining which movie is?

[@namrepusprime6793]

Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying. Aurther C. Clarke

[@savagestranger]

I feel that "alone" adds a layer of existential dread. A dead universe does not sound appealing (to me).

[@wantapairofboots5809]

@@savagestranger The universe is not dead, because we are here. Have aa nice day and ciao for now

[@Man_fay_the_Bru]

Never heard that before😏

[@dankmatter3068]

@Mister Mystery no you would be obese

[@agncxrx]

​@Savage Stranger even lack of extraterrestrial intelligence doesn't make universe dead. There's still can be a lot of unintelligent life or unadvanced civilizations who live still in a kind of dark ages

[@_J.F_]

Just remember that the old fashioned landline telephone was only invented by humans less than 150 years ago, and means of effectively contacting anyone on any other planet has been around for little more than 50 years. That is such an insignificant and almost unmeasurable amount of time in the scope of our galaxy and our universe that it would have to be a miracle if anything noticed such an insignificant bleep on the 'radar' and the way things are developing we might not be around for thousands of years to come either, and maybe other civilizations have/are having the same issues.

[@KeytarArgonian]

The one thing that always comes to my mind in this situation is a time dilated planet. If a species were to somehow survive one, imagine what they could do in the fraction of a billion years, when 2 billion has, relatively, passed on their planet.

[@lokey834]

Somewhere out there…species with powers might exist. I know it sounds outlandish, but the possibility is there. Fantasy may not exist here, but it may exist elsewhere knowing that the universe is vast.

[@petercortens6019]

A century ago we were still vividly debating if the milky way was the entirety of the universe or not. I think we simply lack patience and due to our short life spans we urge for significance and importance and shape our expectancy by that

[@savagestranger]

Exactly, we should say fuck it and work on a multigenerational, multinational space elevator. We'll never see it, but the future will.

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

lack patience for what? back then, everyone was afraid to question anything. today everyone questions everything. this is not the same. stop comparing the past with our present. our society and culture are too different to be compared

[@procta2343]

@@savagestranger if we did that, i recon we would have been on mars, and i recon the world would change for the better, we would be hell of lot more friendly and greed would vanish.

[@bobbates7343]

Who is the student from U OF T that made that program ? Seems his name should be at least mentioned

[@kevinsayes]

Brian Cox could make quilting fascinating

[@stoobydootoo4098]

It already is!

[@OliverSG1]

I used to be on the 'there is 100% intelligent life out there' side of this argument. However the more and more I watch on this topic I feel myself shifting to the 'i think we could legit be alone' side. I once saw an interpretation of the drake equation which had an end result of about 30 when it took everything into account.

[@RaimoHöft]

The DE is silly and bull squirt.

[@OliverSG1]

@@RaimoHöft how so?

[@RaimoHöft]

@@OliverSG1 If you want you can have any solution from 1 to

[@edubblesspirit]

The hardest part about looking is that we have no idea what we’re looking for.

[@valterzc8187]

I don't think any civilization hundreds or thousands of light years away will be able to send us clear signals, unless they intentionally direct it towards us. But how could they know we are here? We could have hundreds of civilizations in our galaxy and still not to be able to detect each other, unless they possess technologies way more advanced than us. We still need to consider the possibility we are like an indigenous tribe, uncontacted to not interfere in our culture and way of living.

[@BlaTaN]

To think that a 'prime directive' rule applies to ALL civilizations that could possibly be out there in the universe is paramount to idiocy. What? Is there a galatic police force enforcing such rules on EVERY SINGLE INTELLIGENCE out there, come on man, be real!

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

Technosignatures would give them away to us and give us away to them.

[@simplylethul]

Our culture is to destroy the planet and all other life...like we have been.

[@calisto2735]

Artificial signals on our level grow too weak to detect reliably over distance. We, or a civilisation sending out relatively analogical signals will not be "visible" more than 6000-6500 LY away. Granted, there are millions of stars around us in a 6000 LY radius, but it's still a small part of the galaxy

[@valterzc8187]

@@calisto2735 exactly! That is a really small portion of our galaxy.

[@worthlessendeavors]

“Let’s worship the triumph of the human ego and our amazing value as elite beings in this wasteland” said the entertaining scientist.

[@twotubefamily9323]

And your educated proposal is ....

[@stuartsibbald7394]

I was stunned hearing Brian Cox say he doesn't think that life exists beyond Earth. It is such an arrogant view of the Universe, and lets be honest, we have no idea how big the Universe is, just the observable Universe. He almost contradicts himself by telling just how old the Universe is, then tells us how long we have actually been trying to make contact with other species. I like Brian Cox, I think he does a good job of presenting science as entertainment, so it was really odd to hear what he said. It's worth remembering that his comments may have been taken out of context or actually this was just a small fraction of the discussion he was having.

[@mjp152]

​@@stuartsibbald7394 I think another way to approach this is to contemplate how long the average lifespan of a civilization could conceivable be and couple that with how much of the sky we have searched. Even if the average lifespan is a million years (which in my very unqualified opinion seems excessive) we would have to have been quite lucky to stumple across a planet at the right time given that we have only searched for 20 years so far. The argument can probably be extended by examining and estimating all the parameters in Drake's equation. Even if we arrive at a large(=?) number of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy as a whole, they still have to be in close proximity to us at a time span that in cosmological terms is like a nanosecond - if we are to observe them.

[@alwood1993]

@@stuartsibbald7394 If you listen carefully he says 400 billion suns which would be just our galaxy. He never implies there is not intelligent life outside out solar system but implies that we may be the only intelligent life right now in our galaxy which seems completely reasonable. We have only been around in our current state for maybe 20,000 years and able to emit radio waves for 100. There could have been an intelligent species 500,000 years ago and we would never know. To overlap at the same time would be remarkable.

[@DaveLL500]

Any alien civilization aware of us would certainly have the intelligence to not make their presence known.

[@dancurtis461]

They know about earth. we are like the alabama of the galaxy. they roll up the windows, lock the doors, and just keep driving past.

[@FanBoyBooks]

This is the first video that actually started to convince me why it could be so hard to find advanced alien life. Yeah there are plenty of goldilock planets... But ones you give several billion years, that survived everything the universe through at them, and the Civilization survived long enough to send signals we could reach.... Then we right now can find those signals and understand them. Universe seems old but its only 13.8 billion years old, Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, single cell organsism appeared 3.5 billion years ago, AND then multicellular animals appearwd 600 Million years ago, then starting with Tesla in 1899 in Colorado Springs upto nowadays we have slowly been really just starting our search finding evidence of alien life. So yeah, we just might be a very early alien life that is looking for others And the amount of other advanced lifeforms could be rare and very spread out. Sucks, but real possibility.

[@TheBanana93]

If anything we are gonna be the aliens

[@brucedunn6845]

Thick as mince, we were genetically made by aliens. and past civilisations were much more advanced than us, you need to wake up cupcake 😂

[@zantar666]

Great video

[@ScienceTime24]

Thanks!

[@ObsoleteTechnologies]

"Either we are alone in the universe , or not." "Both are terrifying" -Some dude.

[@Hawkers900]

You take one look at all this and realize it took 13.8 billion years for me to work pay taxes and die alone

[@sofsande]

😂

[@AynneMorison]

For all we know they are near the same development as us. Barely poking a toe off the planet, or maybe still working a few centuries back in equivalence. Maybe they've already passed us and hit the terminal point for their species lifespan. Just because they are out there doesn't mean they are even trying to move off planet, maybe they don't wanna. Not all peoples are explorers on this planet either. If they are advanced like we seem to be determined to project and the only ones we have encountered so far are rowdy youngsters with a new driver's license. They could be social outcasts for their tendency toward strange 'experiments'. Maybe they don't want to meet us - we are far from united as a race, we kill each other all the time. The 'take me to your leader' trope doesn't fly when there are so very many without a top council or person to go to. Delightful to think about meeting someone from Out There, but I'm not holding my breath until they arrive.

[@sandrewss92]

Brian Cox could put you in a youtube coma for hours listening to him he's fantastic at simplifying science for us.

[@sebjep]

I think the dark forest hypothesis is the most spot on.

[@stt5v2002]

I don't. It requires civilizations that evolved on different worlds thousands of light years apart to decide to do the same thing. All of almost all of them. Very unlikely.

[@sebjep]

@@stt5v2002 And that same thing would be to expand and mine resources, no matter the consequences it has on the local population?

[@Cluedup2399]

It's just ridiculous to think there isn't life out there somewhere, I believe it's rare, but just by the mathematics alone, there has to be life elsewhere

[@Jayantea]

"absence of evidence, is not evidence of absence"

[@justinstrik7125]

If aliens are looking for intelligent life on this planet they will be disappointed

[@Phyroxin]

I imagine an advanced civilisation would have knowledge beyond our own and would therefore have capabilities to match. With that in mind I suspect they're right on our doorstep or maybe even sitting just outside our realm observing and influencing their creation...

[@xczechr]

"It could be we're the only island of meaning in an ocean of 400 billion suns."

[@BlaTaN]

'Meaning' is meaningless if the universe doesn't give a hoot, it only means something to your HUMAN BRAIN and that is all. Nowhere else cares, nothing else cares and only the Universe itself knows what is what, otherwise we wouldn't exist here either.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@Cancer McAids Indeed ... our counterparts might be over in the next-door galaxy group.

[@TheDeven1000]

I think it’s very likely that we just can’t cover the distance needed to find other life forms unless we learn to create wormholes

[@procta2343]

yeah its travel, we need a faster and safer way to travel. We have tech to go to the moon and walk on it, but no one has the bus fare to do it like they did back then. Hence why Mars is off the menu at the moment, i recon if there was a big enough drive like it was to the moon, i recon we would have been there, in the 80s or in the 90s.

[@hellenespirit6009]

Is that so?thats why when they asked why we haven't got back to the moon, they answered they gave us was ( we had the technology but we lost it and it's so difficult and painful procedure....) 🤣🤣

[@procta2343]

@@hellenespirit6009 Moon landing project, i think the US government just threw endless pots of money at NASA. But as soon as they landed on the moon a few times, budget was cut, so no more new moon walks. Also i think there isn't the drive either, like there was for getting on the moon and back. If a government hungry enough to go to mars, and back. I recon we would be there in the next 5 to 10 years.

[@stuffandnonsense8528]

The pertinent fact, or most important, when it comes to the probability of extraterrestrial life, is that it didn't take very long at all for life to emerge on earth after its formation. It seems utterly incredible that life is not fairly common. But, as Brian Cox stated here, complex life is another story altogether, that seems to have required extraordinary circumstances and, to develop further, extraordinary stability. Complex life is probably very, very rare, and (as Cox states) maybe just one per galaxy. But that means we have a responsibility to spread to as many planets as we can, terraform them, and bring life to the galaxy. Humanity is the seed of life in the Milky Way.

[@rickgrimesdirtyondatass5672]

Sounds like manifest destiny time to kick some alien ass and steal there land lmao 🤣

[@stuffandnonsense8528]

@@rickgrimesdirtyondatass5672 innsome ways it is exactly the same philosophy but with the distinction that if we do find complex life anywhere then it is out absolute responsibility not to disturb it (like a combination of manifest destiny and the prime directive - prime desinty? Manifest directive?).