Can We Survive the Destruction of the Earth? ft. Neal Stephenson

Science fiction author and futurist Neal Stephenson helps Matt determine what humanity needs to do in order to survive the destruction of our own planet. You can find Neal's book Seveneves right here www.nealstephenson.com/sevenev...
Get your own Space Time t­shirt at bit.ly/1QlzoBi
Tweet at us! @pbsspacetime
Facebook: pbsspacetime
Email us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] com
Comment on Reddit: / pbsspacetime
Support us on Patreon! / pbsspacetime
Help translate our videos! kzbin.info_cs_p...
What do we do to protect ourselves from extinction level events? And what if some of those events are unavoidable? Can we survive adrift in space? Find out in this episode of Space Time.
Written and hosted by Matt O’Dowd
Made by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com)
Previous Episode
• The Quantum Experiment...
5 Ways to Stop a Killer Asteroid
• Video
5 REAL Possibilities for Interstellar Travel
• 5 REAL Possibilities f...
Comments by:
vhsjpdfg
• The Quantum Experiment...
Farzher
• The Quantum Experiment...

[@matkosmat8890]

A special shout to Neal! A Young Lady's Primer is my favorite sci-fi of all time! Thanks for a nice video and for inviting him!

[@luciengrondin5802]

Glad to see the idea of building underground arks mentioned. Usually people when talking about ensuring mankind's survival only talk about colonizing mars. But as explained in the video, it's not a solution to a nearby supernova or a GRB. And it's not as if an asteroid impact would completely destroy Earth or anything. It would make it worse a place to live, but it'd still be better than mars. Earth is not a basket that would be destroyed if someone drops it. There's nothing in space that could damage Earth as bad as a basket in the analogy. Ensuring the long term survival for mankind probably consists in building large emergency infrastructures on Earth. Bunkers, basically. In fact many have already been built during the cold war. Also things like the Seed Vault would be useful. Research into long term storage of food and energy would also help.

[@AFastidiousCuber]

How about instead of trying to make the universe more habitable for us, we make ourselves more survivable, through the use of genetic engineering or transhumanism?

[@thisnotjesus]

... smart, but the most reliesilent creatures are microscopic and simple. so we have a crappy paradox.

[@davidthomas2021]

because its easier to build a huge arc and put people inside, than to go to each one of those people and engineer them to survive in a plethora of environments.

[@budc.8172]

That's why we need to develop an artificial intelligence that is comprised of microscopic robots (Replicators from Stargate SG1). This way we can live forever through our inventions.

[@matthewthomas7070]

There won't be enough support for it as it will be seen as inhumane and wouldn't be allowed to happen

[@6to1]

+Matthey Thomas Pfff give it a hundred years... Or preferably less.

[@Trinexx42]

Seriously, Space Time and MagicScrumpy are the greatest things to ever happen to KZbin. I've honestly learned so much from this channel, about General and Special Relativity, to Dark Energy and the expansion of the universe, to Quantum Mechanics. This channel is honestly one of my favorite channels and I always get really really excited when I see a new video (along with MagicScrumpy). Thank you so much.

[@Wihnu99]

People say like "great video", when the episode is 13 min long and has been released 2 min ago

[@alexoelkers2723]

?

[@sarbe6625]

relativity?

[@niTeDFS]

Next week's video was also great!

[@DrIBeast]

That's not a accurate time. bud.

[@thomasruwart1722]

I have 8 screens and watch 8 different 100 second segments all at the same time thus I can watch the entire video in about 100 seconds. Cool huh?

[@dangiscongrataway2365]

Best humankind survival technique? education and get rid of nukes

[@fredthemanish]

nuclear weapons are also a good deterrence.

[@666Tomato666]

+fredthemanish back to the vat Nixon, and take Agnew with you!

[@84ND3R5N4TCH]

And when an asteroid threatens Earth, what will we nuke it with? Chinese take-away?

[@dangiscongrataway2365]

When Will You Learn? No, but you can use Chinese take-away to make a gravitational pull on the asteroid and change the trajectory of the asteroid.

[@ardorpraxis9661]

I really hope that this is the plot for Armageddon 2!

[@arnabbiswasalsodeep]

Weirdly the pbs space time vids have lower volume than other videos on youtube, not sure if its just my computer but without changing the volume it feels like the audio here is dropped near 30% than other vids

[@lakibadhikari7930]

yes. I am experiencing the same.

[@playgroundchooser]

they are way lower... except for the f'ng gmc ads before them!

[@potatoesgroove6567]

its so people will listen more carefully. its educational not entertainment(kinda), so they dont need to keep our attention because we want the information.{i think}

[@user-wo1ur5tz9d]

I love this channel, the soothing voice of the host, the incredibly relaxing backround music, the beautiful cosmo backround picture and the modern approach and presentations. Please consist these traits on every of your well made videos.

[@msms47]

Build a WALL ! around earth

[@afonsodeportugal]

But that would be racist towards aliens!

[@jacksilverman9052]

You definitely get a spot on the ark

[@msms47]

Afonso de Portugal who cares aliens are rapist with thier huge diks

[@chillemperor3228]

+msms47 Damn Aliens, taking our JOBS!

[@JiveDadson]

And make the space aliens pay for it!

[@MastaChafa]

Proper science teaching is pure love.

[@yoshispock5862]

Gotta love those random Star Trek sound effects XD

[@KnitBone]

Seveneves is amazing. One of the very few books I don't mind being plugged 😊

[@deathpony698]

But why is there hair around Uranus?

[@hussainattai4638]

Did you come from scishow?

[@Fjolltzu]

wrong channel bro

[@happysoul941]

Pretty darn sure theres more hair around Uranus!

[@petrabanjarnahor229]

+Magical Drizzle i dont get a lot of hair around Myanus.

[@Tomyb15]

OMG I was literally going to reply exactly that! Just "wrong channel bro". I hadn't even checked the earlier replies.

[@MrCristie1]

damn gamma ray bursts are scary

[@Kronimiciad]

"... and at the moment, _we_ are trying to kill us."

[@Azamat421]

So right you are

[@PepinsSpot]

We are doomed. That's why the Fermi paradox exist. Everyone has died.

[@teddycouch9306]

read the three body problem and the dark forest.

[@petrabanjarnahor229]

+Teddy Couch We are already dead. This is hell.

[@madscientistshusta]

the Fermi pardox can't be if that was the one we would still see micro organisms in space yet there is nothing, meteors from Mars should contain bacteria, nearby goldilocks zone planets should be sludge balls

[@garethdean6382]

To be fair, they might be; we have nowhere near the resolution so spot sludge on nearby planets.

[@alveolate]

my theory is that dark matter and dark energy are gravity-based stealth technology that hides all other sentient species. the idea is that any worthy civilisation would need to master gravity-manipulation technology without destroying itself before they can join the rest of advanced intergalactic civilisation. before that, even the smartest species are just treated as safari animals living in the wild and generally ignored.

[@MINDPLUNK]

"Uh, yeah, we did... next week" Nice

[@Sophistry0001]

Is it worth it? Our primate ancestors did what they needed to do to continue the species, not knowing that we'd get weak and hairless and glorify Cyrus and Bieber with our fragile technology. I think we owe it to the next of species to enable them to even exist, and let them make the decision for themselves what is worth doing for the survival of the entire species.

[@fredthemanish]

men are still good.

[@Sophistry0001]

+fredthemanish for sure. I was thinking more like millions of years from now. I hope we can even get that far.

[@fredthemanish]

+Matt look into the civilizations types and tiers, many theorists explain how civilizations would die from a level 1 to 2. very interesting. oh if you were wondering, we are currently at around .75.

[@Sayris13]

We're currently what they call a Type 0 civilization...if you go with Dr. Michio Kakus' examples.

[@jeromej.1992]

If that's your description of humanity, this isn't mine. We came a long way and if we had discarded humanity for its bad points in the past, we wouldn't be here today. Tomorrow is another deal and, and thankfully, there won't be anymore Bieber and Cyrus, maybe there will be other ones or we'll step out of those kind of things, like we stepped out of many things already. Or maybe the bad is only inherent to the good. Like there is no good without bad, maybe the good itself creates a bad by contrast, because nothing can be all the same and constant so contrast there will always be.

[@jamescioffi3796]

so pumped for next weeks episode. this whole series is so mind bending.

[@HappyHighwayman]

Amazing. Keep it up. I've learned so much in this series.

[@666Tomato666]

first thing is to actually make humanity worth saving

[@TheKikou18]

good point

[@yodastitch4227]

It BEGINS right now. And it's true at any instant.

[@jeromej.1992]

Potential is enough. Worthiness is subjective.

[@madscientistshusta]

+Jérôme J. this!!!

[@ZFlyingVLover]

first thing we have to do it get everyone to understand the same priority. Forget the worth saving part because there'll always be assholes.

[@i-heart-google7132]

"Yeah, we did ... next weak..." :D lol :D you've just earned yourself another subscriber :)

[@Robert_Preston]

I've been watching this channel for the past few weeks - and I admit I don't understand most of it. However, I laughed at the causality joke. Then I sat back in my chair, and asked myself, "Did I just laugh at a causality joke?".... Love the channel!

[@sumikomei]

The smoothness with which you spelled out "vhsjpdfg" made me laugh so suddenly, omg

[@Jodabomb24]

"unfortunate chemistry" I love it

[@JazzyJacksJokeShack]

I really like the "extinction insurance" idea! We should make arks in different places like: Space, Underground, Underwater, ETC.

[@lightspeedtractor]

Good stuff. Thanks again. Loved the music as well, as a side plus :)

[@rajivarumugam6658]

this was a super interesting Space Time episode, thank you!

[@liberval9425]

What does it matter if our descendants aren't human? That's going to be the case anyway... our goal should be to preserve intelligent life in the universe.

[@SokarEntertainment]

As far as we know, we are the only life in the universe capable of knowledge retention and reason. Going by that unlikely assumption that this is true, us dying out would mean the universe loses its only vessels for self-reflection. For this reason alone we owe to the universe to not only survive, but to thrive, learning and evolve to continue providing a service that is as far as we know, is entirely unique unique. I will add though, that when you see fantastically shallow comments like "first thing is to actually make humanity worth saving", kinda makes me doubt everything I just said.

[@garethdean6382]

It is in the nature of consciousness, of intelligence to be capable of greatness and superficiality in equal parts. Nothing that is, in its own design, always good can ever be anything great. For we strange vessels, we thinking matter, we rise to greatness only because we have a choice not to. There will always be those whose minds falter, cold, closed-in, empty. But they are the product of a grand experiment of incredible variation and are to be seen as a byproduct, not the essence.

[@velkoivanov9155]

To assume that we are invaluable to the universe and are obligated to thrive is incredibly arrogant. As much as when europeans invaded the Americas and felt that they owe it the world to "civilize" the "savages". Also there are a lot of species on Earth alone that are capable of knowledge retention and reason, feelings too, or have you never had a dog ?

[@garethdean6382]

Velko Ivanov I don't know. What else in the universe is there to assign value? With invasions you have humans against other humans and the hypocrisy is obvious. But do dogs, or other species have 'values' like this? Is there anything else we know of that has the concept of 'invaluable'?

[@shirleymason7697]

Sokar .....To me, that is, to my way of thinking, it's quite limited thinking to imagine that because we don't "KNOW" of other sentient life, that is, on other planets (or even gas clouds), that on unimaginatively countless orbs out there, that planet Earth just, for some strange reason, happens to have the only intelligent life.

[@invidious07]

Love the channel, two part question. 1. If we were to identify an impending supernova that is a GRB candidate, do we have a means to predict the orientation of the blast? 2. Are GRBs that are not oriented directly at us detectable? Perhaps through reflection or scattering effects?

[@DimiKaye]

Ok, all of these are really inspiring! I'm gonna go and compose a darksynth album using some of the ideas in the video!

[@jeroenlogemann4347]

We're gonne build a huuuuge wall and we're going to make aliens pay for it. Greetings Donald

[@robertostler6733]

Not a bad idea. But I think you are just an idiot. Let me guess you don't want a wall. You don't want it because it Donald Trump idea but if you political God Obama wanted it you would.have been all over it and supported. Pull you head out of your ass. A wall is a great idea.

[@lucasnelson08]

We need warp capability. I feel it is within reach if we bring together the world best minds.

[@Sayris13]

They're working on it

[@Mastikator]

We just need negative mass to not just be hypothetical.

[@Sayris13]

There's a dude that discovered negative energy but creating it for such use he figures will take some doing.

[@Mastikator]

Sayris13 Got link?

[@CujoSuki]

We need Anti Matter. And well, heh you know

[@shagster1970]

Hey Matt - I'd like to see more videos on how relativity affects everyday things such as electrons (electrical current) moving down a wire.

[@domsusefulstuff]

Loved your approach to this issue. You covered some questions I haven't heard or thought of. Eventually, I think we'll send life on a one-way trip if for no other reason than we'll have done everything else. But if and when future generations visit will they be us anymore?

[@icostaticrebound6007]

We would cause our own extinction long before any natural disaster occurs TBH

[@TheNeilDarby]

Extinction proofing idea: re-invent our monetary/economic systems to produce efficient, stable, and healthy societies that actually have the energy and collective intelligence to progress technologically.

[@gustavbabic5004]

But what will we do with all the junkies?

[@TheNeilDarby]

Gustav Babic Help them get clean by treating addiction like a health issue and not a problem of character.

[@gustavbabic5004]

We've been trying to do that for about forty years with absolutely nothing to show for it. If we have to wait until every belly in the third world has been filled, and until every inner-city addict has been cured, then we are doomed.

[@TheNeilDarby]

Gustav Babic WTF are you talking about? We throw people in jail for using minuscule amounts of drugs and in doing so ruin them psychologically. Only country that has tried what i'm talking about is Portugal and the results are far less drug use and less prisoners.

[@gustavbabic5004]

I don't know, I guess judges aren't sentencing addicts to court-ordered drug rehab programs after all...?

[@InHumanoXY]

Come on Matt, I want to have that song you always use, the one in the beginning. Nice video!

[@x_abyss]

AI, there's no way around it. Shout out to Matt for featuring Neil. Enjoyed Seveneves and Snow Crash.

[@aluisious]

"The moon explodes." Oh, cool, so you watched Cowboy Bebop. In that case we'll be fine if we're not space cowboys.

[@VlogEpicness]

We also need Will Smith.

[@yodastitch4227]

He's already the captain of the Ark

[@PeterBarnes2]

His ship will be called the Willenium Prime.

[@PeterBarnes2]

***** I've never had an internet before. What can I do with it?

[@PeterBarnes2]

***** If it's an oyster, it can make pearls. Are they Black Pearls? We could bring Johnny Depp, then, too.

[@TomasUjhelyi]

So cool for you guys to put Neil on

[@FlintTD]

Underground Moon Colony It solves several problems at once. Firstly, it protects against huge radiation bursts. Secondly, it moves humans off of Earth, safeguarding the species from biosphere-destroying events that might only affect Earth (volcanoes, evolution, asteroids). Underground moon colonies are naturally shielded from solar winds, which is a classic lunar colonization issue. Being underground can also solve structural issues that come with maintaining a pressurized atmosphere on the moon, and circumvents some of the materials cost of constantly building sealed structures on the moon when more colony space is needed. The moon is also the only extraterrestrial body we have already been to, so we as a species know we can get back there more easily than other bodies like Mars, Venus, or Jovian moons. That said, we still have all of the problems that normally come with living on another planet, including not having any atmosphere and decreased gravity.

[@theclownhimself7600]

Why is it called the K-T event if Cretaceous starts with a C

[@ragnkja]

Detective Inspector Me Maybe it was initially named in a different language, like German, where the name of the period (Kreide) does start with a K.

[@iquemedia]

As far as our almost not even human ancestors go, think back to where our current species came from. Our ancestors were able to survive extinction events millions of years ago without any technology that comes even close to rivaling our own now. Sure, they weren't as catastrophic as a gamma burst or super nova, but they survived. It should be our duty to provide the same kind of hope for a future to our descendants that our ancestors gave to us, even if they didn't know it at the time.

[@AlcyonEldara]

We barely survived a supervolcano even a few thousands years ago, not a mass extinction. So you are saying "we survivde a fall from the second floor. This wasn't as catastrophic as a fall from a flying plane but we should be ok".

[@XmarkedSpot]

People survived falling from a plane without a parachute, so much for your analogy. We'll survive, somehow, somewhere.

[@AlcyonEldara]

John T. DiFool : sure "1 guy out of 1 million survived a fall from a plane, so we'll be ok" :p

[@deathpotato488]

+David Sbabo you sir are the first person I've seen with a functional brain in the KZbin comment section for a while

[@XmarkedSpot]

David Sbabo Reading comprehension isn't quite your forte. And yes, that's exactly the point of my comment: given your analogy if 1 guy in a million survives the human species does not go extinct.

[@ItohKuni]

Love the vids as always :)

[@cheaterman49]

« Yeah, we did. Next week. » . Finally speaking in proper spacetime language, not bound by causality. Kudos for helping me feel better about my own achronism!

[@TheRealBileth]

Greg Egan's Diaspora, anyone?

[@Diaming787]

First off, we have to stop killing eath other...

[@user-ff5cb9do7j]

who says we can't do both?

[@0xEmmy]

In my opinion, it's simple: it doesn't matter how, just set up some interplanetary and/or deep underground colonies that are large enough and sufficiently equipped to survive indefinitely and equipped to, if not found colonies, at least interact with others. Going interplanetary isn't just a survival strategy, it's an inevitable future.

[@firefly618]

still the Best. Show. Ever. kudos to all the staff PS more quantum stuff kthx

[@truth1901]

We are all in a dying condition. Some only have 15 years left. Worry about that.

[@conorkenney3523]

this problem is less about people dying, everybody dies, this is about future generation's ability to ever come to life.

[@sanderasdf9555]

Some are already dead...

[@robertsmith20022]

+BMAN488877 Pffff, I've still got my penis in my hand.

[@Sayris13]

lol

[@Gonzaga78]

some have been dead for a quite long time

[@TimmacTR]

Upload our minds in deep underground computers connected to the internet: problem solved

[@theOneGuy113]

why not build a portal to another dimension? populate that oo

[@garethdean6382]

Assuming nobody tries to hack the system, no viruses or just everyone going and leaving nobody behind to run the power stations.

[@TimmacTR]

Gareth Dean Obvious nuclear power supply is obvious

[@TimmacTR]

J. S Intercept That's not...realistic bro.. ;)

[@TehTimo908]

Matrix

[@ksiddiqui8]

love that background music.... the first one in this video

[@priyashmukherjee]

TRIBUTE TO NEAL STEPHENSON Neal Stephenson is one of the most important science fiction authors of our time, known for his grand scope, intricate plots, and deep exploration of complex ideas. His work has had a profound impact on popular culture, blending science fiction with other genres and featuring witty dialogue and clever observations. Stephenson's novels have won numerous awards and continue to be enjoyed by readers around the world. Notable works: Snow Crash Diamond Age Cryptonomicon The Baroque Cycle Seveneves Adaptations: Snow Crash (TV series) Cryptonomicon (video game) Stephenson is a true master of his craft, and his work is a testament to his visionary mind. *LOVE FROM INDIA*

[@cthulhu5248]

So if Earth gets hit with a gamma ray burst does that mean it'll turn into planet hulk?

[@unvergebeneid]

With the current lack of immediate threats, we should focus on more immediate problems for the time being. Once we've achieved wold peace, defeated disease and world hunger and got all of humanity living in a post-scarcity world, creating dozens of contingency plans for when life on earth experiences a really bad days at the office should be a piece of cake. We've made it so far, what's another hundred years or so?

[@yodastitch4227]

Maybe you want to adjust your time frame, another hundred years or so won't be enough to begin to address the "immediate" threats you listed. Although I agree they are the most important issues to resolve in any long term plan for humanity.

[@user-kn2qk8ly8c]

We dont know how many time those problems will take to be solved, also trying to avoid our extincion is a pretty good way to solve some of the problems you listed above, example: we colonize mars, we have more terrain to inhabit, so we can balance population in both planets, more resources (and so less need for war) and also we can grow more food (so we can solve hunger).

[@matthewthomas7070]

Sadly due to the nature of the human race it will be impossible for everyone to work together unless we were all under one rule

[@madscientistshusta]

+Matthew Thomas or a pseudo one rule like a UN on steroids

[@S3t3sh]

If only it were that simple... That would be ideal, but it's likely that the world will end from our own sun dying before we all get along. :-/

[@luis5d6b]

Waiting so badly for this ep :3

[@prashank]

Liked for the topic even before watching the video :D

[@xxnotmuchxx]

Dominant culture is destroying the environment and depleting the topsoil. I would say this is the biggest threat we face.

[@tonee899]

if we had less people that believed in ancient religions, we'd do more. religious people look forward to the apocalypse.

[@garethdean6382]

I don't know, from what I've seen stupidity is damn near universal.

[@Lifebforeafter]

Gareth Dean I'm sure it's more complicated than just stupidity being near universal.

[@garethdean6382]

Life Before After Well that depends on how you look at it. If the human mind has a fault then we can expect that fault to influence the thinking of everyone and thus their views on pretty much everything. A simple issue could give rise to insanely complex results. I believe this is the case. One flaw in the human mind is tribal thinking, another confirmation bias. I certainly have not seen societies free from 'ancient religion' being particularly smarter than those with. (Putting aside the issue of not all religions 'looking forward to the apocalypse'.) Certainly this year has shown me a surprising number of atheists wanting a Trump presidency to cause mass chaos and thus ensure a faster revolution.

[@tonee899]

+Gareth Dean There are many caveats I didn't put because my point would need a long paragraph and would be obscured. Probably still is so I'll try to clarify... I didn't suggest there are societies today that are free from ancient religions and that are better. I think that if people were more scientifically literate and applied the scientific method where appropriate in their lives, then society would flourish at a much rapid pace. I'll probably need another caveat here... No, I am not suggesting a darwinian world either. Second, I was obviously talking about the main religions, the Abrahamic religions; the ones that are more troublesome... They look forward to the apocalypse. Third, please provide sources/survey for your claim that atheists are looking forward to the mass chaos a Trump presidency might cause. Your reading of youtube comments is not a reliable source. You are simply trying to draw similarities between religious and non-religious people to imply that neither is better, just to keep the status quo which completely misses the point.

[@garethdean6382]

tonee899 Given the recent occurrence of Trump's candidacy a peer reviewed source is unlikely to be available, it'd all be polls and online sources. (Though as a contrast I'd be interested in your sources for religious people 'looking forward to the apocalypse'.) My objection would be then that being religious doesn't change the way your mind works, fundamentally you're still human and still prone to the biases inherent in having a mind evolved as ours has. Scientific literacy has a surprisingly low impact on many things. For example while religious belief and politics both provide strong predictors of belief in evolution, scientific literacy (and educational achievement) tend to be weak or nonindicative. (See for example scholar.google.co.nz/scholar_url?url=citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.547.6811%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm14JtWtzEvw3NvPa7-YS6pZQk7aGQ&nossl=1&oi=scholarr ) In several issues being white and well educated *increases* your chances of disagreeing with scientific consensus. (These are typically 'left wing' issues such as GMOs or vaccines.) Indeed attempting to educate people on such issues often has no effect or simply entrenches their beliefs. (See for example here: pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/02/25/peds.2013-2365 ) Indeed the 'knowledge gap' theory has proven to be at best ineffective and often laughably bad at dealing with unscientific attitudes. ( www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23808985.1996.11678931 ) One can argue that this is a failure of critical thinking, that, if people were taught how to question ideas, given the 'scientific mindset' these obstacles could be overcome. But that moves us from the things people believe more to why they believe them. Especially given the role politics plays in people's beliefs I'd argue that religion is only a part and not a particularly special part of what affects our progress. We find extremism and unscientific thinking everywhere we look, from communist Russia and its Lamarckian genetics to eugenics to psychology's continuing dabblings in race and intelligence to the modern 'skeptic' movements backing conspiracies. In the end science is hard, you have to put aside natural human biases, which we often do very poorly. I am skeptical that something as amorphous and varied as religion is the be-all and end-all.

[@Shuey272]

what kind of sheilding can we use to protect us from all the types of radiation?

[@parthmaske3294]

In Double slit experiment, Is there any difference between adding detector on a single slit and adding detectors on both the slit.

[@NewMessage]

oh I thought this was a study of the post Trump era.

[@garethdean6382]

Nah, that only wipes out America.

[@amperzand9162]

...And anything us poor bastards can hit from here.

[@garethdean6382]

Amperzand I'm safe, America thinks my country is Australia.

[@amperzand9162]

Gareth Dean Yeah, you're probably fine down there.

[@davidharford3873]

I'm safe too! Trump probably doesn't even know what New Zealand is.

[@benedictifye]

Is there any amount of shielding or depth underground that could protect against a GRB? Would the far side of the Earth be protected by the nearer side to the GRB? Would there be time for the survivors to scramble and build shelters and adjust?

[@Kyle-ik6rn]

Question does the near earth object program account for a possibly asteroid to asteroid or comet to comet collision that may shift the direction of the asteroid or comet and send it straight at earth?

[@keenant6347]

Theoreticaly if a photon of light was shot out of a black hole but the gravitational pull was greater than the velocity needed to escape the black hole would the photon go from +lightspeed in one direction to -lightspeed instantly or would it slow down?

[@randalledwards529]

I just recently found this channel, but I love everything about it. This video was really well done, but I have a thought to add to the discussion. Underwater Arks. You talk about how water is a great source of shielding for radiation. I believe your mars videos even say 1 meter thick water could shield from solar wind issues on mars. How would a gamma ray burst be effected in the same way? Granted anything substantially close enough would vaporize the planet. If the planet did survive the original blast, being on the bottom of the ocean could be a severely beneficial setup. We would be shielded from the dangerous gas (and radiation) present at the surface as well as having multiple energy sources nearby. Geothermal alone could sustain all of our power needs, but we could farm water power in ocean currents and we would have easy access to some biofuels. We would clearly need some way to recycle oxygen, but that would be pretty easy to set up with some underwater gardens. This setup would also protect from all but a direct hit from an asteroid or volcano as well. Aside from interstellar travel, I think it's our best bet.

[@douglastrowbridge7194]

Concerning the double slit experiment in regards to a single photon being fired at a time... At what distance do the slits have to be separated before the interference pattern is no longer produced?

[@ImpulseNZ]

random question with space travel beyond earth why can't we generate an artificial magnetic field around a spacecraft to protect us against high energy particles from the sun can we not make one strong enough or does it take too much energy

[@6666shashank]

+PBS Space Time : A little off topic but you hinted at explaining the real nature of energy in an earlier episode but never really got around doing it. You've already explained energy-matter transformation and wave-particle duality but does that really explain why there's energy in a system or what energy really is made up of. Hope to find some answers or explanatory source material from you. Keep making these great videos, thanks.

[@p5y4n1d3]

Snow Crash is probably my favorite novel, if not it's definitely a close second to blood meridian.

[@zackmax]

What about keeping a reservoir of ozone for use in case GRB hit us and release it in the atmosphere instead of waiting 80-100 years for the ozone layer to be fully replenished naturally?

[@whoeveriam0iam14222]

why are the zoomed in bits blurry? looks so weird.. like I took my glasses off during those scenes

[@sanchitsingh7162]

2:24 "GOOD TO BE HERE"

[@stevepittman3770]

Is that the asteroid video the one Scott Manley made (Asteroid Discovery)? His channel is the only place I've seen it prior, and he's made several versions. Just curious.

[@Kieran2350]

PBS Space Time you guys should post this on your fb page at the same time

[@iinRez]

It kind of sounds like the odds of the whole gamma burst or super nova event would be just as likely anywhere and everywhere in space.

[@cerezabay]

Yay, I just watched this video. Now it's time to be rethinking my life decisions for a couple hours.

[@ozdergekko]

*loosely connected question* ad "End of The Universe*: In the big freeze theorythe universe gets ever colder until the last particle has decayed. [t/2 (proton) ~10^36s... just for a timeframe] ==> Does anyone know how (if at all) photons decay/vanish? Or will they be around forever with ever decreasing wavelength, but still carrying all the information there ever was?

[@bombasticbill9607]

Hell yeah! Neal Stephenson is the shit! Just got done reading the Baroque Cycle and am currently rereading Diamond Age. Please Please Please write more books set in the Snow Crash/ Diamond age universe and get the Snow Crash movie or miniseries done, I and a lot of other people demand it!

[@Lolwutdesu9000]

These videos are always enjoyable. I like how he clearly explained the Copenhagen interpretation but didn't glorify it as some other people do. He knows the jury is still out on that. As for questions: we say we wouldn't know when we'd get hit by a supernova or GRB, but surely as our knowledge of astrophysics expands, perhaps we'll be able to predict, to some extent, based on observations prior to any catastrophic event, when a supernova or GRB will occur?

[@Hagar76a]

I wonder if there's a material known or unknown, man-made or natural that could be used to build a shield over cities that would protect or at least minimise the effects of these gamma rays? Or is an energy based shield (see Highlander II) even possible?

[@Bingstardust11]

if we build something to absorb that energy( gamma ray burst ) , then we can use it to travel in space or 'maybe' use it to create a worm hole. That would be awesome.This can help us to escape any kind of extinction.

[@LordMichaelRahl]

Great video as usual. I know this is not relevenant to this specific video, but I would like to inquire as to your opinion on the de Broglie - Bohm interpretation, which suggests that only the positions of the particles are the so called hidden variables, since the other types of variables are excluded while establishing nonlocality (EPR in conjuction with Bell's theorems).

[@johnseravic2717]

Question: Do most stars and solar systems in the milky way rotate in the same general orientation? if so wouldn't the chances of a gamma ray bust be unlikely as the star would be likely pointing in a parallel north south alignment?

[@jayo4438]

Regarding Gamma ray burst protection, is there any theorized tech that could become practical within the next century or two? Such as a grid of satellites that emit some kind of force field that instead of deflecting physical objects, which seems far off, just deflects levels of radiation above a certain level?

[@over01minds]

"Oh yeah, causality" lol you rock man !

[@christopherhurley2570]

Has there been any updates on the EM drive testing to verify if it actually works or not?

[@jty9631]

I liked Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. Awesome surprise to see him on PBS Spacetime

[@matthewlong9821]

I liked the idea of deep underground shelters to protect from a gamma ray burst. Mars seems like it would be a good candidate for that sort of idea, since it's much less geologically active than Earth and has near-Earth gravity, right? Alternately, we could probably arrange space arcs that are permanently out of the line of sight of any star threatening to go all gamma on us.

[@820krx7]

I love "In the Beginning was the Command Line!" what OS are you using nowadays?

[@mizzshortie907]

I always like there videos before I watch it, 😉because I already know it’s going to be gold 🥇🎯💣🚯🔁

[@thisaccountisdead9060]

I am massivley confused at the moment - is the universe rotating? I am really not qualified, but I was messing about with a graph of speed, size, and frequency for all objects in the universe (pretty sketchy). Using Newtons laws, the further away something is the slower it moves. But on the graph I drew, the further away something is the faster it moves - with a huge difference to start off with (at the sub-atomic scale... if I got the velocities right? - though how does this even apply when particles are waves as well? :P), then leveling out but then getting onto the scales of galaxy clusters the rate of increase seems to pick up again. Then at the edge of the observable universe - well I suppose we're at the speed of light then. I didn't think much of it - I mean if I applied this logic to the whole universe then it would be rotating, with objects 46 billion light years away moving at the speed of light like they were on the edge of a giant disk. "We don't live in a rotating universe though" I thought... and the universe has no centre. But (and what I did is really sketchy) what I did seemed to fit the observable data: at the very small scall speeds increase rapidly with size (like with inflation theory), then at the edge of the observable universe speeds accelerate. Also, the rate of increase on my graph, seemed to fit the observations of the speed of stars around the edge of galaxies due to the existence of dark matter - what? I dunno, I wish I had made more notes on how I got all the velocities of these things, because I wasn't expecting that. I don't think it means I've discovered anything as more accurate data could easily wipe out what I observed on my graph because the margin of error is probably quite large. But, looking again recently (I did this graph more than 5 years ago now) I've come across Godel Metric and Godel Rotating Universe and Mach's Principle - I just about understand the concepts of relativity for things like gravity and time dialation but I was like "What? - rotating universe!!!?"... I read in wikipedia that with the Godel Rotating Universe "Distant stars seem to be revolving faster and faster as one moves further away". In my own naive way - had I stumbled upon something? I really don't know :P

[@jharris947]

That was a nice happy video. Time for a cup of cocoa before bed.

[@premier69]

I think Soma (the video game) did a fantastic telling of such a scenario

[@KarstenJohansson]

Much like the seed bank, I always thought there should be something like that, with living quarters, somewhere on the ocean floor. It would have some of the complications of space, but fewer issues like radiation. For that matter, it can be (pre-apocalypse) powered in the normal manner. Generators can be tested yearly or whatever, and everything can be upgraded by submarine as technologies improve over time.

[@christiangrasslober4044]

I have a question, maybe you could help me. I watched a documentary the other night and in it they talked about a Galaxy they observed through telescopes. They said it was 50 billion lightyears away from us and then i thought "wait a minute - the universe is only 14.5 billion years old, so how can they see it when the light it radiates would take 50 billion years to reach us" So did they feed me false information, or is my thoughtprocess flawed, or is there some magic going on that i dont know about? thx up front ^^

[@jamesisaac9209]

could a gamma ray burst be used to power/thrust a solar sail? This would expedite travel speed, possibly, to another potential habitable planet if course corrections could be made.