Lost in Translation: Encrypted Alien Messages with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Charles Liu

Are we thinking about the fundamentals of the universe wrong? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly answer grab bag questions about aliens, gravitons, and the big unknowns with astrophysicist Charles Liu.
We discuss quantum field theory and string theory. What questions do Neil and Charles want answered during their lifetimes? We explore the Fermi Paradox and the existence of life unlike our own on Earth. Could super-intelligent aliens be encoding signals to look like noise? Plus, would the transferring of mass during time travel cause an explosion?
Could aliens be sending messages right under our nose? Learn how Charles uses AI in the classroom, what a graviton is, and the nature of Hawking radiation. Discover how the universe may be woven out of wormholes. Could the universe be expanding due to suction?
Where is the center of the universe? Are we creating energy or just redistributing it? We talk about where fossil fuels energy comes from, time dilation, and our vantage point in the universe. All that, plus, discover the largest object in the universe.
Thanks to our Patrons Karim Beydoun, Sture Seljelund, Ken Hays, Kasi Kanniah, Dillon, Mandi McKay, and Phillida Hutcheson for supporting us this week.
NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free.
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About StarTalk:
Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
#StarTalk #neildegrassetyson
Timestamps:
00:00 - Grab Bag with Charles Liu
1:40 - Quantum Field Theory
4:57 - The Unknowns We Want Answered
12:40 - Mass-Energy Conversion in Time Travel
16:28 - Could We Be Bombarded With Alien Transmissions And Not Know it?
21:15 - Do We Need Gravitons?
24:45 - Event Horizons & Virtual Particles
30:47 - Could Expansion Be Suction?
35:45 - Moving at the Speed of Light & Time Dilation
37:12 - Our Vantage Point in the Observable Universe
40:12 - Do We Create Energy or Just Redistribute it?
44:05 - What Is The Largest Object in The Universe?

[@StarTalk]

Want to ask a question of your own? Come check out the Patreon: www.patreon.com/startalkradio

[@tiago.alegria.315]

Why the big bang didn't collapse into a back hole since everything was on a single point?

[@cntthnko1111]

Is this actually NDT sending this message?

[@Alice_Sweicrowe]

What if they cracked faster than light communications? Non-local communication could be a thing.

[@kirickreutov2846]

Is it possible that gravity is just particles that are attracted to matter but not to itself?...and the more gravity particles are on and object (bigger matter) the more attracted to another object it becomes....does this explain dark matter?

[@afrodesiac8064]

If you think the invention of nuclear weapons was bad, you'd better hope humans never figure out time travel.

[@officermills]

Over the last few years, I have watched Chuck nice become an amateur astrophysicist. So proud ✊🏾

[@EmpyreanLightASMR]

I'm still in the 2016 episodes of this podcast (listening to 'em all in order) and Chuck has grown, even at that point. Takin' charge in many of the All-Stars episodes

[@morpheus6749]

You mean an amateur clown. He degrades an otherwise decent program.

[@EazyE11]

That's Lord Nice to you buddy.

[@jaijaiwanted]

Haha so true, and we’ve been learning along with him

[@clandeszipp4564]

Nice patronising there. (No pun intended.) Is he your relative or something?

[@ThizzRyuko]

Charles Liu should be on this show more often

[@ray_ray_7112]

Yeah, I was just about to say the same thing. Liu is very well scientifically inclined. He is so interesting with how he explains things.

[@FrustratedAeroBoys]

yes.

[@alro11]

he has his own podcast he is brilliant and such a nice human being ❤

[@arlenesobhani8739]

Yes!

[@Sina.g.z]

His answers are really brilliant.

[@Walter-White149]

Can we appreciate how smart Chuck has become from the start of startalk

[@RedHead_88]

lol, so you're saying he was dumb before?😅

[@FaQYouMean]

Not "smart", educated. 😌

[@BeamMonsterZeus]

We don't "become smart" we become educated

[@lymarisestrada588]

I love when the four of you are together in a video. I learn, think and laugh so much. ❤ Thank you!!

[@jameshedden2260]

Gotta say, Niel, Chuck, Chuck, and Gary is the best teamup everytime

[@Nefville]

Add Janna Levin and I'd agree

[@jameshedden2260]

@Nefville this is true Janna is also a great guest

[@Nefville]

@@jameshedden2260 That would be like the Startalk Avengers lineup for me 😂

[@sabotagesabotage7927]

I know it’s selfish of me but y’all putting out multiple videos a week has been a blessing to me at least.

[@vince7207]

I'm selfish too... Love it

[@Synthwave89]

Science baby, can't get enough of it.

[@ivandagr857]

Sit down. Bish be humble!

[@yamibakura8096]

Blessing… lol

[@sebclements866]

I CAME HERE TO SAY THE SAME THING.

[@TheMaestromMephisto]

When I was in high school, I used to hate physics, math, etc., and it was all because of the teachers and the environment we grew in. No one told us about their application to day-to-day activities. Now, as an adult who is out of school, obviously, I'm fascinated by physics. We need to change our education system. The fact that children finish school and celebrate and feel like they are coming out of prison tells you all you need to know about our education system.

[@iverstim]

“Prison”You sound like my 15 year old son lol

[@ranyawad5971]

Neil my man casually describing the Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum telecommunication technique made my day. He is so good at simplifying and explaining things.

[@chefjosephkowles575]

“Beep boop beep boop” is a message we all received 🤖

[@scottycartercom]

StarTalk is by far the best conversation in the Universe!

[@DanceBeforeTheStorm_]

I love how the mutual love and respect fills the atmosphere in these sessions ❤ Humanity at its best. Keep looking up to each other!

[@roberthiltz2741]

I have created the bad (or good?) habit of listening to these powerful conversations with my twelve year old daughter while she is having breakfast and getting ready for school in the morning; I think she has been having her mind blown before addressing the regular learning structure of middle school! At the very least, she goes to school with the knowledge that her dad is a super geek who adores your conversations and theories. Thank you for massive thought provoking thru two generations of my family! ❤️

[@MistSoalar]

Charles is such a genius in many ways

[@followmepeon]

Please don’t stop making such amazing content, we all need more of this in our lives!

[@wangtoriojackson4315]

I'm not sure why this episode is a Sports Edition, but I'll take more Charles Liu any day of the week.

[@johnyepthomi892]

Loved seeing Gary on as well. I love when you 4 get together, that’s my jam 😀.

[@itsd0nk]

The all-star team up of star talk right here. Love this group’s dynamic.

[@sankishaya]

I love this show. I get so excited when a new video comes out. THANK YOU

[@SLADEYBMX]

Would love to see Neil and Chuck at Starfest Australia, they have a night at the local Pub where the scientists and astronomers answer questions from the public. It also happens to be one of the best places on earth to view the stars , Coonabarabran Australia 🇦🇺

[@cntthnko1111]

What Liu said about education is incredible, great thought. Education really needs to evolve.

[@robertlanders5723]

I’m finding these exchanges funnier and funnier… Am I becoming a geek through osmosis ?? 😮

[@Graycy808]

Yes. Enjoy it. Lol

[@danaschoen432]

Neil deGrasse Tyson! A man for the ages!

[@JS-TexanJeff]

Chuck IS gravity personified! Love it!

[@WildernessGirl21]

Chuck is a cutie pie, has a fantastic smile and even better laugh!

[@Palidine4M0O]

Gotta see that voice animated XD

[@Micah98134]

I died at Chuck’s hypothetical of aliens sending us an encrypted message in pig Latin. 😂😂

[@bobjackson6669]

Loved the show. I send these shows to my young grandsons.

[@sharkman3376]

Always fun when Charles is on

[@brianjones6500]

The encryption section of this talk is interesting. Neil suggested that if everything is encrypted it just becomes noise. Keys are required to remove the noise and understand the message. Most of our planets communication is blasted out without encryption. [CIXIN LIU] Wrote the dark forest "3 body problem" trilogy. I grin when I think about the premise that any noise that reaches a higher intelligent life form results in only one option -- silence the noise. As always StarTalk topics make me appreciate science. Thank you.

[@2242Ironwolf]

LOVED this talk! All segments were fun, but segment 2 was mind opening. Both with the points of view on AI and it’s use, and the wormholes being the literal fabric of space. Thank you all for a fun afternoon of provoking thought.

[@deeorlando6536]

Geek in chief is a very eloquent speaker. Love having Charles on the show.

[@davecurtis8833]

I went to Brian Cox's Horizon tour down here in Dunedin, NZ and he also mentioned about entangled particles being connected via wormholes.

[@paulmichals]

Minor correction @8:04 NG Season 6 Episode 20 is "The Chase".

[@joshualynn9913]

On the question on the graviton. I think its a matter of micro vs macro. Think of an ocean and there are waves. Those waves are comprised of molecules; they are not the molecules themselves. Which, if my understanding is correct, is different from quantum fields where the field is the wave of possibility in which we find the particle.

[@LegendNights]

Just watched Dr. Neil on Stephen Colbert Late Show last night. Love the conversation about AI and you have blow my mind on it. Thanks 👍👍

[@nalamonster963]

Love these vids ❤. It makes me regret I never continued school after high school, alot of what they say in these vid feels clear to me & i understand it. Makes me wonder how far i could have gone.

[@milosterwheeler2520]

What if A.I. formulates a question so sophisticated and receives an alien answer so complicated that humans don't comprehend either? Are we then in "Colossus: The Forbin Project" territory?

[@Sina.g.z]

French Alexanderia, how lucky you are for having someone in your life to listen these awesome eipsodes together. I listen it just by myself. Actually this is so much a personal activity for me that I feel maybe these guys only exist in my bubble of universe and they're not actually outside there.

[@annmoore6678]

You guys really make me want to up my whole level of thinking and seeing. Because it’s so much FUN!

[@CountGremlin]

"your ultimate demise" Neil killed me 💀💀

[@JMoroccoMisterBoy]

Charles Liu, Chuck, Gary and Neil: Tks. much.

[@KarrGalaxyStudios]

Hi Neil, Chuck and Gary! I really look forward to watching these Charles Liu and scifi tie-in episodes! So much fun and education!

[@greatlakesuperiordeepviewsvide]

I have been listening to this on my phone podcast. I am so happy to have the opportunity to see this same show on my PC. I deliver newspapers and this is a pleasure journey show to finally see the characters. So cool and thanks to you all eh, cheers!

[@greatlakesuperiordeepviewsvide]

Chuck looks exactly like I imagined him to be. Expressing himself, eh. Just sayin.

[@stevevargo6554]

We need more Neil de Grasse Tysons

[@RandomJ2023]

Sir, as we appreciate your questions and quest for insight, we are unable to release our secrets yet. Try again another time. 😊

[@dnf7778]

Wicked show guys, love all the guests on the special edition

[@sebclements866]

Boys putting out so many vids this week LOVE IT ❤

[@anubisantas]

It would be the greatest show of all getting Chuck Liu and Lawrence Krauss together talking about star trek, like Krauss' book.

[@mnpavannag]

Loved all your videos. Question to you both the scientists: Does Time Dilation can predict the future and past? Else, it's the state of Super position? Heard its beyond fundamentals of physics/mathematics.Pls clarify...

[@geekexmachina]

Personally as a variation of the time travel question, if you were to do time travel into the past assuming that whatever arrives is intact then we are saying that the destination spacetime will now have more matter than it had. How much extra matter suddenly appearing in the universe will it take to have lots of consequences and certainly if there was repeated time travel piling up extra matter into the past. Also if this had happened would we have detected it in the universe. BTW regarding the hiding aliens there was an episode of Space 1999 where an alien race stopped the moon base crew from colonizing by making the moon temprarily habitable until it was out of range

[@robertlanders5723]

I make a motion to recognize Chuck’s voice as the the “official” voice of GRAVITY.

[@humanform5354]

I 2nd that...

[@kencoledc]

Great episode!

[@bethwhite2857]

Loved the talk 👍

[@bmelloyello]

ok question: If you imagine a giant basketball in space, and you dribble the basketball, you create gravitational waves in the fabric of space, right? if there was a ship, sitting some distance away from the basketball, could you somehow ride the gravitational waves? The waves could start slowly and increase frequency until it hits a resonant frequency with the ship? could we find a way to push the ship or do you think the waves could eventually just rip the ship apart? (If this idea is the ticket to interstellar travel I take all credit and want the first colony in Alpha Centauri named after me)

[@RaspberryBibingka]

This is the best crew!

[@EmpyreanLightASMR]

8:00 Chuck and Neil (and especiallllly Chuck) have previously been blown away by Charles Liu's episode-specific recall for details in Star Trek.

[@ScottMcDavid-Music]

According to Paramount Plus, Star Trek TNG episode "The Chase" was season 6: S6 E20 Apr 26 1993... I went looking for it because I wanted to watch it.

[@JT_771]

Thanks Chuck, for closing out gravities' sauce at the end.

[@konstantinossfikas4201]

Liu’s comment on AI vs human intelligence and education processes is gold!!

[@AEady24]

Love this show❤

[@misterfixit9515]

Regarding the encryption keys for decrypting transmissions hidden as noise: maybe that's what Fast Radio Bursts are!

[@diegofire247shorts7]

I love that chuck is here

[@PatriciaOConnorBonsaiBalcony]

A short time back you mentioned a photon leaving the sun and the length of time it it would take. But to the photon it gose from its creation to kissing our face in the same instant. My question is will the first thing with a perspective to go the speed of light witness the end of time in that same instant?

[@shannonmcdonald7584]

My favorite time of day

[@TurdLocked]

My Favorite Universe- Neil deGrasse Tyson Lectures a classroom on how the elements are made- I watch that to start my day and listen to the latest StarTalk to end it.

[@R3cce]

Neil’s birthday in 2 days. October 5th 🎉

[@ziggy_425]

That episode of Star Trek, the chase, is one of my favorite episodes!!

[@MichaelSmith420fu]

I feel like words like "thing" or "particle" suggest a sperate specific #1 in some formal way. Is that right? What about the particle makes it district?

[@sekaramochi]

Another amazing video Love you guys Please please please never stop ♥️

[@LogicalNiko]

I think on the subject of particles and fields, both are are human abstraction to describe reality. Fields and particles and their interactions are the best way we have to mathematically model the interactions and understandable concepts that our brains can interpret. We know that these “elements “of reality are more complex than we can conceptualize at the moment so we have to do create models to describe those models are particles and fields

[@feynmanschwingere_mc2270]

Great comment. Wittgenstein, ironically, was the first to grasp this (well Plato did first, probably even some great thinker before Plato, but Wittgenstein gave it more rigor). The problem boils down to LANGUAGE. It's our super power. I'll leave you with that 😉

[@LogicalNiko]

@@feynmanschwingere_mc2270 ironically in college I used to do public tours of CAVE systems way back before VR was practical (Cave Automated Virtual Environment). And the “Cave” part was a reference to Plato. So I don’t know how many times I explained Plato to people. Some is language, also our brains are developed to deal with the physical world through our limited senses. So much of our ability to hold concepts in our mind is derived by this. We cannot hold true concepts of infinity, multiple higher dimensions, things that exist without physical components. For example, We have to reduce particles into ideas of spheres and then get confused when they do not behave like spheres ( quantum effects for example). They are not actually the mental model we hold in our head, and at some point all models fail to accurately describe what they were designed to emulate. Some of these things we will probably never be able to understand outside of mathematical equations until we find a way to augment our world with additional toolsets. The aforementioned VR systems were one of those early toolsets; eventually I suspect neural interfaces into our brains will allow us to hold concepts we never could think about before.

[@PatrickEthen]

I thumbs upped this because Neil corrected the pronunciation of Nuclear. :D

[@128Benja]

To a regular user, the use of a.i could come to the ends of completing thoughts conveyed in text in many types of arranges and articulation. To a what would be an I.T admin user, a.i could be to ends of encryption, calculations, and code for different types of iterations. We could go on different types of jobs and the limitation of the jobs scope itself. Scientists and mathematicians could use a.i to store repositories of the methodologies itself, which could be a basic core, but the construction from it could not differ much from the way we approve of scientific methodologies. Instead of just limiting a.i to scopes of singular organic jobs, the possibilities to craft and encode a core that could be responsible and do the calculation in quantum speed could not only expand, affix, reconstruct, and correct things we have been doing from the biggining of time. If this comes to be socially accepted, new jobs will appear, and old ones will disappear. Just like candle crafting went down because of bulbs, or library lower since the internet can respond you in a second from just typing. A while new civilisation chapter would start and the memory of the old one would look ennificient, old, long ago, could have a possibility that in the far future it could turn into a new "before common era" marking in human time. Work would totally have to be worth it and simpler, education targeted into a new educational project to target things that are important for adulthood such as project management, self-economics, ethnic studies, international studies, methodology, language, etc...

[@machinarum]

I don’t know but Neil sounded a bit condescending with “nuclear” pronunciation . I liked when Chuck followed: “Gary you can call it however you want”

[@I.M.Q7119]

I think it was more of dig towards GWB. Which was followed by his burn of him. Not to say what you said is any less. But that’s just my interpretation.

[@christophiluslovingchristb5441]

I like Star Trek IV, the movie about going back in time to bring back the whales. They encountered an alien species that communicated in the way whales do. This had me thinking, if we haven't even deciphered Dolphin or Orca, Earth creatures, might we encounter intellectual beings that communicate in way undecipherable to us. - I'm in my 50 and have thought about this very thing since it hit the box office in 1986. Interesting topic! (I actually saw each Star Trek movie I - IV the week they came out. I've been amazed at Roddenberry's influence on technology. )

[@sandal_thong8631]

It's possible that that movie may have helped save the whales.

[@randysmith9715]

Information experts have proven that dolphins clicks and whistles contain information. So they are communicating.

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@RenataKleinRK The only thing I heard was someone named Adams translated chirps to "So long and thanks for all the fish."

[@peternmimurray]

Professor Tyson, thank you very much for pronouncing nuclear properly.

[@mattgraham5992]

A good use of AI may be to find unknown life. Feed it all kinds of DNA strands and let it evolve life forms. Great show as usual.

[@joeysipos]

AI may me an alien intelligence...being channeled from other dimensions for all we know lol

[@mattgraham5992]

@@joeysipos for got ahold of Chucks weed!!

[@petermoore900]

I love how Liu could just recite from memory all the details of the Star Trek TNG episode about the common DNA ancestor. Although, Dr. Liu, you would have gotten 100x geek points if you'd named the race as the Preservers, which requires synthesizing TOS and TNG lore along with some EU material.

[@michaelngamba1820]

Probably the most intellectual conversation ive ever heard

[@byronn2682]

There is a way to graph a signal to tell if the signal contains information, the graph makes a 45° line and to show that this works, they did it with dolphins sounds.

[@arlenesobhani8739]

Thank you for clarifying the pronunciation of "nuclear." It does my Grammar Police State heart good. It's always interesting listening to people whose language is so far above my head. It brings back my lost youth.

[@alro11]

i disagree - sounded like he was punishing a child - i felt bad for Gary

[@I.M.Q7119]

I think Neil might’ve heard Gary say it wrong. But playing it back, I think he said it correctly.

[@percyp1507]

My new fav episode

[@TheFloridaBikeVlogger]

looking forward to this one.

[@seanpreston3653]

Excellent video 🍻 👏

[@Mee399]

Love you chuck✨❤️😊 These videos with all the great scientists are undoubtedly great but you are like, atleast from my subjective point of view, like the Constants that make equations! Crazy metaphor 😁but in short,I love, you being in these talks😊❤

[@josephdonais4778]

Hit that 1st question cleanly out of the park.

[@user-dj2ci1kp8d]

With QFT could time be included as a quantum field?

[@sammo7877]

Anyone else couldn't help but stare at that thing above Charles Liu's door? What was it and why did it look like that over the camera feed

[@jackbn9353]

Dr. Frank Drake was listening for alien messages (Project Ozma) at the Green Bank (WV) Radio Observatory in the 1960s, when I was a grad student there.

[@hopey4100]

Dr. Neil, you are an inspiration to young scientists around the world. I watch you everyday, and you were the sole individual that got me super interested in science to begin with. I’d thank you if I ever met you! And I’d buy you a coffee! Haha ❤

[@RevP369]

34:56 I didn’t realize gravity was Bushwick Billy 🤣🤙🏾

[@Pierobon]

Well, I'm not an astrophisicist, but... This video made me think as a sporadic snorkel diver that gravity energy has the same property as our equilibrium around 9 or 10 meters deep and beyond, where when you dove not deep enough you will always refloat, but as you go deeper you don't automatically get pushed back up top anymore. Considering the H2O molecules are made out of energy, and supposing gravity is indeed some energy we still not really know exactly, wouldn't it be safe to say that gravity's pull changes according to it's own density in relation to other energies? (And yes, this was a hint back to relativity's theory.)

[@LightDiodeNeal]

Brilliant, every episode. Thanks from here, great show again.. 🙂 NEAL

[@rjsmith6698]

In Chuck’s gravity voice....”That’s right, I’m gravity! You see that big building? You can’t lift that because I’m holding it down! Why, I’m so strong I can even hold super clusters together. Ain’t nobody badder than me, cause I’m gravity!”

[@JustAndreaEdna]

I'm with you all the way up until the warm hole. The connective element has to be something different entirely. Maybe I work too much with literal fabric and I just can't wrap my brain around the explanation.

[@Sammasambuddha]

Mmmm....warm hole.

[@feynmanschwingere_mc2270]

Wormholes are different than you're visualizing them. Tiny wormholes smaller than your optical machinery can perceive are the mechanisms that bridge all of space-time. The math works. Now we need experimental evidence. ER = EPR Einstein Rose Bridges (wormholes) = Einstein Podolsky Rosen Correlations (entanglement)

[@geekexmachina]

If you had an interstellar spacecraft crossing between either solar systems or galaxies then the craft would likely be the nearest centre of gravity would this have consequences for the crew? And the craft

[@el_wumberino]

Brilliant! Your show-as a whole-has definitely enriched my live. Thank you very much and keep up the good work.

[@HiddenPalm]

19:45 Charles steals the show with his response.

[@donnah3910]

You all make us smarter!

[@cedrickfredric1960]

Charles Liu is awesome

[@edpoell2876]

You have to put together an animation of super heroes that make the universe having that gravity voice as one of the super heroes, kids would get a kick out of it and maybe even learn something.

[@solidreactor]

Chucks personality is gravitating :)

[@chrismuir8403]

Negative gravity? Perhaps there could be an "anti gravity charge" that would repel anything with a "pro gravity charge",, any item with an anti-gravity charge would quickly leave and we wouldn't know about it. Also, since anti-matter has an opposite electrical charge to the equivalent matter particle, perhaps it also has an opposite gravitational charge as well. That could explain why our corner of the Universe has almost no anti-matter, in spite of all the known processes that make matter produces equal quantities of anti-matter. Perhaps there are anti-matter galaxies separated from the matter galaxies by gravity.

[@oskarn5384]

Chucks Gravity voice 😂👍