Dimitar Sasselov - Why Do We Search for Intelligent Aliens?

[@jbtownsend9535]

We're still prone to thinking in our very human eighty-year local time and space bubble where a "year" is a certain increment of time that means something to us. The synchronicity of matching up with our technologically newborn species in our specific time bubble, versus the vast, deep time distances vs speed of visible light limiting what we see (and what they see here if far away enough ) are the really immense and hard to digest aspects of this search. In a sense the Fermi question is as much "When are they" as "Where are They?"

[@robertschriek1353]

Thanks for your interesting videos, much appreciated

[@ufotv-viral]

👽👍

[@johnschort7634]

Would have liked at least one half to one full hour of discussion on this subject, including if intelligent techno civilizations come into existence, how might they end up and what percentage might self destruct before they become apprehendable from earth?

[@ufotv-viral]

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[@daniel4647]

A lot of them would probably self destruct, especially something like a sentient A.I as it has no biological drives and therefore no reason to play the game of life. Considering this that might also be the case for a sufficiently advanced biological species, once their intelligence reach a certain level they might no longer see the point in keeping it up. In order to continue after this has all been resolved would require some sort of ideological program, an unchangeable faith that life or sentience is sacred or something like that. And to get a biological brain to continuously run this program you'd probably have to engineer it to not be able to break free of that pattern of thinking/behavior. Which means you'd have to limit it's intelligence and ability to evolve. At which point it would more resemble a sort of technologically advanced virus than an intelligent species. Basically a bunch of religious zealots with spaceships.

[@Beevreeter]

The one huge mistake made by both the Fermi paradox and the Drake equation is simply this: Both ASSUME that technological civilisations like ours are somehow an inevitable endpoint or goal of evolution. This may simply not be true. Were it not for the extinction event that removed the dinosaurs, they might still be roaming this planet today, in a a very similar form, and no human would ever have evolved. Don't forget that they were around for millions of years more than we have been, and never developed 'intelligence' as we understand it. Also don't forget that our mammalian brethren like gorillas and chimpanzees have been evolving for just as long as we have, and have NEVER come anywhere close to becoming technological species. Insects have existed and evolved for over 450 million years and are highly successful without ever having evolved technological intelligence. Life and natural selection may simply not work that way. Intelligence may not be the advantage we think it is. Millions of species have arisen and gone extinct in the course of evolution on this planet - that is just be the way life naturally operates. There is no aim or goal to it. Our technological civilisation may be a complete fluke, perhaps the only one that ever arose, in fact our species might be like a very aggressive cancer mutation, which does extremely well for itself while it survives but eventually kills both host and itself. This would solve the Fermi paradox in an instant. Other planets may well be teeming with life, living in balanced ecosystems that just never become technological, until the time that life on their planet is no longer viable. We should avoid making assumptions about the direction of life in general based on the single example that we have here on this Earth. It may just not be so.

[@nthk4u]

We still have the problem of the speed of light. It could be that the civilisations that are technologically advanced enough to have attempted to distribute information, have not yet (by our time) conquered the speed of light. So, even if they were a billion years ahead of us technologically, they may be billions of light years away, or moving away so fast their signal never reaches us (in terms of our technology/time).

[@brudno1333]

And, we also have the problem of economics. It could be that after another 50 years of searching, the powers that be will decide that we've spent enough money on this "zero result" search and we might as well give up, and use the money for more necessary purposes. That would mean that we've looked for perhaps 100 years and the likelihood that such a narrow window would yield results is very very small. If other civilizations were like minded, those sending out signals might do so for 100 or 1,000 years, but not forever. Thus we need to be looking at the exact time that their signals pass us by. As far as aliens visiting earth, I think that's in the realm of science fiction and will remain in that domain forever.

[@catman4471]

Do you think that the speed of light is the answer? It seems to pose more questions than answers. What happens to an object as it approaches the speed of light...it's mass becomes infinite as does the energy required to move it. Another problem is how do you navigate an object travelling at the speed of light? By the time you see the moon for example, you'd have crashed right into it..that's if you even see it at all. If aliens that regularly visit our planet actually exist then I think they've mastered something else rather than travel at the speed of light.

[@tomashull9805]

Quantum entanglement is instantaneous.... Quantum mechanics; quantum fields are fundamental to nature of reality of the whole universe...

[@Reklaw-]

Easily by an order of magnitude, this was Robert's most engaging interview/discussion in the series.....

[@johnbrzykcy3076]

I watched the LOST IN SPACE television series as a kid. The robot was really cool.

[@ufotv-viral]

Fantastic 👽👍

[@johnbrzykcy3076]

@@ufotv-viral Thanks.

[@davefk]

I love the way these scientists think we are technically advanced.....They must of thought that a few thousand years ago also.

[@ufotv-viral]

👏🏻👽

[@catman4471]

@@ufotv-viral Compared to 1000 years ago, we are technilogically advanced, but we still have a long way to go.

[@ufotv-viral]

@@catman4471 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👽

[@catman4471]

@@ufotv-viral Yup, one day we too will be green with bald oval heads, can't wait for the future!

[@jeffamos9854]

Why do we search for intelligent cats ? Maybe cats are searching for intelligent humans.

[@xspotbox4400]

Cats dream of fingers, can't carve space technologies with claws.

[@jeffamos9854]

Xspot box. Funny my cat clawed my hand this morning. Think my cat dreams of chowing down on my fingers.

[@xspotbox4400]

@@jeffamos9854 Imagine varieties of cat food your cat could cook for you both if it could control your fingers.

[@oskarngo9138]

That is assuming those intelligent aliens even want to associate with us...or worse.

[@bozo5632]

Humans don't associate with wasps, but they can see us.

[@vasilabyss2739]

The reason why humans are searching for intelligent aliens 👽 life, is to figure out how stupid humans are. We haven’t figured it out yet.

[@ufotv-viral]

👏🏻👽

[@trelkel3805]

Maybe we are the earliest sentient life could have formed and there are a bunch of civilization in near or close to state as us and that's why. Or it could be that I've have absolutely no idea, ever thought of that?

[@bozo5632]

I think Information Technology might explain the apparent Fermi Paradox. Who would want to live light years away from the server hubs? Imagine hundred year ping times...

[@ufotv-viral]

👽👍.

[@victorgiacobbe4453]

How could you be so smart and so arrogant and so blind to alien life that's been here for years and not even investigate the possibility it's mind-blowing

[@xspotbox4400]

What came first, virus or bacteria?

[@9snaga]

Bacteria, though i can't qualify my assertion.

[@xspotbox4400]

@@9snaga Sound logical, virus can't replicate outside living cell, so bacteria must have caught a virus? What are those not alive and not dead materials than, perhaps virus is just a failed transition to a bacteria.

[@bozo5632]

The Drake equation does not ASSUME the universe should be populated. That's a separate and unfounded assumption. I think what we do see right now is exactly what we should expect to see either way, whether life is very rare or very common. We don't know yet.

[@pikiwiki]

What if "the aliens" are already here in the form of species other than homo sapiens?

[@ufotv-viral]

They're here 👽👽👽

[@jamesruscheinski8602]

Some alien civilizations may have ended, some staying away from us, some beyond observable universe, some trying to visit, i.e. UFOs, but our behavior too problematic, some think better to leave us alone, some too far away to contact, some return messages we not understand, some or all may be blocked to protect us.

[@zedwms]

But then, there's that damned Hanson's Great Filter, what we may well be facing today. At Hanson's beverage factory, there is a filtration device that is bigger than the rest of them. Do they call it Hanson's Great Filter?

[@bozo5632]

...because There's bugger-all down here on Earth.

[@bazstrutt8247]

Monty Python 😂

[@davefk]

Well, intelligent life at least:-)

[@mitseraffej5812]

Wha

[@mitseraffej5812]

Bo Zo .What about all the Trump supporters?

[@chrisc1257]

Are eyes more important than limbs?

[@xspotbox4400]

Could be, some species eyes grow on top of limbs.

[@chrisc1257]

@@xspotbox4400 Subatomic Ocular Perception.

[@MultiBikerboy1]

As ‘To the Stars Academy’ rollout disclosure this vid proves that the scientific community are still out to lunch.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

It seems to me that as you advance in an industrial way there comes a point where you are using up the planets resources and altering the ecosystem making the planet difficult to inhabitant.unless you had two planets in the same syestem that are inhabitantal, assuming no inhabitants of the second planet,that eventually you come to a stop, the vastness of space and the lack of exploitable resources is the stop block and we are rapidly approaching that stage now.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

@@Graewulfe won't work as the Earth has 6 billion people on it and the Moon and Mars too hostile for anything more than maybe a few thousand.no I'm afraid that we have a major problem with a lowering glass ceiling despite what oligarchs like Elon Musk say,short of inventing a hyperdrive or portals in space/time,I don't think that we are going to be able to get out of this one.even rockets using nuclear fission) assuming we actually have the technical ability to build them?), probably the most practical way to get off the planet, would still use uranium dug out of the Earth and eventually that's going to run out too .

[@ivandariogye]

Because it would be pointless to look for stupid aliens?

[@xspotbox4400]

We can use stupid, terrible ideas are more easy to spot.

[@rlbfilms]

Why do we search for intelligent aliens? Because they're flying circles around our jets over the Pacific. This is, Hiding From The Truth with Robert Lawrence Kuhn. Oh yeah, we have them on radar moving at 20 thousand miles per hour. Anyone at home Robert?

[@rh001YT]

intelligent alien life probably came to Earth in Japan prior to the Meiji period, perhaps in Edo period, and somehow passed on their genes or something, then the mother ship left or something like that. Half-alien and Half-Japanese then initiated Meiji period to learn about human technology from Europe and USA. After only 40 years she felt she was ready to take over Asia as she saw a good opportunity with Europe being immersed in war. Sadly she may have acted too soon..almost won but then lost. However she hardly paid any price for that and Emperor Hirohito was kept on the throne likely because Americans came to know that he used alien mind tech to control the Japanese people telepathically. Today Japan probably has secret weapons more advanced than any nation and soldiers on, her men working long hours to keep pumping up the economy to support her advanced weapons programs. Some half Japanese/half alien genes probably made it into Korean population which would explain their advanced economy.

[@neilwilliams4420]

Because there’s fuck all intelligence on earth

[@xspotbox4400]

It might we got that life in the universe idea all wrong, who knows what molecules assemble under special conditions. Perhaps it was after shock from a Big bang, permeating trough entire universe at once, causing gravity to entangle and force energy to flow in unusual ways. Than life could start everywhere at once, in a form of some quantum goo, filling oceans with molecular plasma capable of replicating. There's also a hypothesis saying life could start inside the stars, producing entangled monopoles that behave like DNA and such. Never mind monopoles, there are two things we just don't understand, not one, life could emerge just like atoms did long ago. Imagine Big bang and inflation more like rhythmic shock waves, like some intense energy field was shaking and atomic particles began to pop out, didn't have to to be an explosion necessary. Than some particles formed atoms, but space continued to rock'n roll and lumps of atoms formed strains of molecules, capable of replicating entire chain. I have no idea how universe could vibrate and if phenomena could last for millions of year, but let's suppose it did, cyclic shaking of space time could produce unknown effects. Problem are adaptations and branching of diversities, if we start with a tinny single cell, then it's not clear if we talk about living organism or just a chemical process. A cell would be limited to it's molecular composition, chemistry can mean many things, must include physical phenomena that emerge from it's atomic structure, like Brownian motion, buoyancy and such no serious theory include in their formulations because effects are just to feeble and this make it hard to explore all possibilities. But an ocean of strange stuff and an era of shaky physics, that's completely another story, droplets of life igniters could be floating everywhere in universe.

[@bozo5632]

In 99% of sci-fi universes, nobody transforms galaxies in ways that would be recognizable from another galaxy. In 99% of sci-fi universes, ET would be undetectable by early 21st century earthlings. There's no paradox. We haven't looked for them yet.

[@joenelson3037]

Yet your assumption is based on fiction.

[@bozo5632]

@@joenelson3037 No, I don't assume it, we really haven't started looking for ET, except around the house. We don't have the telescopes yet to get started.

[@joenelson3037]

Bo Zo What do you mean by “around the house”?

[@bozo5632]

@@joenelson3037 I mean, we have looked around a little bit on Earth, on the moon, in the solar system, and we've looked for radio from very nearby stars. We couldn't detect a civ like our own from more than a few dozen light years. We don't have big enough telescopes yet. We haven't started looking yet.

[@joenelson3037]

They cling to this belief in spite of the complete absence of evidence.

[@ferdinandkraft857]

The main evidence is the unfathomable number of stars and exoplanets that exist besides the Earth.

[@joenelson3037]

Ferdinand Kraft That supposition tells us absolutely nothing other than the universe contains an unfathomable number of stars and exoplanets beyond the sun and the Earth. Which plants can give rise or permit the evolution of a species even remotely similar to the human species? Numbers aren’t evidence, at least to the extent that the preponderance of evidence standard can be satisfied.

[@candr61]

All these smart people and they don't think to ask if there here already,??????

[@shazanali692]

Well not 14 billion years if this universe is just a explosion in a drop of ocean then we are surrounded by other universe, hence the multiverse, these umiverses are probally infinite in time

[@ufotv-viral]

👌👽

[@fjgiie]

Many planets make more life? There is a swimming pool in my back yard without any water in it. If there were many thousands of empty swimming pools in my larger back yard, how many pools would have water in them? I think life like humans takes multiple universes to make them. I bet good universes are far apart and separated by many useless universes.

[@shinymike4301]

May as well look eh. Be nice to know we aren't alone, even if they do kill us.

[@PATRICKJLM]

They don't have any reason to kill you.

[@oskarngo9138]

Patrick Thomsen Mantzouridis Maybe; they want to kill us for Sport/Challenge/Fun/etc... ... like we hunt deer/foxes/fish...

[@xspotbox4400]

Perhaps everything on Earth taste like chicken to aliens.

[@PATRICKJLM]

@@oskarngo9138 If they wanted, we would have been dead already, no?

[@oskarngo9138]

Patrick Thomsen Mantzouridis Not Necessarily... Interstellar space is beyond big... ...and transporting life across stars is extremely, extremely difficult... ...by advertising ourselves; by searching for them;.. ...it just might give them the incentive to transport a few “breading” pairs of those predator aliens to Earth... ...since they may think Earth is “Rich-Rich” hunting/food ground!

[@ZafOsophy]

We are all on a journey, through life, and a search for meaning/God.

[@suatustel746]

Just give it in, trying so hard find a God, if even you find there won't be a personal God, a true god doesn't rest upon his last laurels, if you know what I mean???

[@suatustel746]

@NotACapitalist doctor shall I tell you the purpose of life ;it can only be explicable for theologians point of view unless you're prepared to listen, but only be useful for believers, I'm sceptic by the way...

[@ZafOsophy]

It's no big deal, I have already proved in my 4 minute video, that a universal God exists, 'Logical and Scientific, Proof of God'. It wasn't difficult, for a super genius, like myself))) There is almost no doubt, other life and intelligent life exists in the universe (logic). First, there was the adaptation/evolution of the single cell (the most complex machine in the universe, designed and planted on earth, a von Nauman machine, by God), then the most able creature, Primate, was given an extremely limited access to the universal consciousness, to further evolve spiritually and know God. Same as less able physical creatures, have perished, the less able spiritual creatures will be left behind, and the spiritually advanced creatures will be granted greater access and contact to the universal consciousness, and other advanced spiritual beings. It's not that difficult, to work it out))) The deterministic universe, has already completed the simulation. We can see deeper and deeper into the future, the more data points we process, e.g. weather forecast.

[@suatustel746]

@@ZafOsophy why do I waste my breath that I don't know, just answer me this question:why can't we pluralise the concept of deity since no one (including GOD'S) accountable their existence, And Sarte put it aptly 'EXISTENCE PRECEDE ESSENCE' where is parts come from? Since he's executer of plans and projects as you're asserted he's a entity and being doesn't he need a template or template (spiritual. Immaterial or esoteric nature) he needs a kind of embodiment (where from) do you get my drift please understand what I'm saying??????

[@ZafOsophy]

​@@suatustel746 "God, (there is) no God but He, The Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, by whom all things subsist." Without a frame of reference, we can forever wander in the dark, inventing theories. I will answer your one question: There can never be more than 1 God, otherwise, they would be forever in conflict with each other, competition, and nothing would ever be done. I am not going to answer any more questions, you can know my mind, by watching a few of my short videos. If you don't agree, never mind, it's not the end of the world, we can agree to disagree.

[@SyriusStarMultimedia]

Human measurements are pointless on any scale.

[@holgerjrgensen2166]

There is Only the same Eternal Race of Life, all and any Life-Unit is the very same Race. You have Never seen your self, the Living behind the Being cannot be seen, and the Living beings cannot deny their own existence. So, if you are searching for Life, you must first understand what Life actually is. Kuhn and Sasselov don't know yet, they just speculate in all kind of nonsense.

[@ufotv-viral]

👽

[@garypowell4565]

More proof that we are special and God does exist.

[@catman4471]

Q: Why Do We Search for Intelligent Aliens? A: Because we can't find intelligent humans.

[@mrdoodle4458]

Why do we search for any aliens? Boring.

[@Cyberdactyl]

Nothing at all new in the discussion. And Hanson's 'Great Filter' is only briefly mentioned. And no discussion at all about abiogenesis. Two junior high school kids interested in Fermi's Paradox would have had a discussion of equal depth.

[@johnschort7634]

Or even greater.

[@MrBinest]

Lol bro . So much hate, there's tons of content in youtube and it's free . Your complaining makes sense if you had paid for this.

[@Cyberdactyl]

@@MrBinest Seeing 'hate' in the comment explains it all.

[@xspotbox4400]

We don't know, so it's not just about amounts of creative ideas, we also need to understand simplest ideas better.