The Search for Intelligent Life Among the Stars: New Strategies

January 20, 2010
Dr. Seth Shostak (SETI Institute)
A half-century ago, astronomers began trying to "eavesdrop" for radio messages from nearby star systems. Today, SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) researchers continue to point their telescopes at individual stars, on the assumption that technically advanced societies will inhabit a watery world like our own. Seth Shostak describes these searches, but then discusses some novel ideas for how we might pursue the hunt for "cosmic company" and why it's possible that we might find evidence of sophisticated intelligence out there within only a few decades. Shostak is Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute, in Mountain View, California and hosts the syndicated radio show called "Are We Alone?"

[@Mossyz.]

This man is right !!! Its like getting a cup and water from the sea....and...saying ..nope...no fish !!! Very interesting share...thx...x.x.x.x

[@18141776hhhh]

Shaun Davenport bhdbbbb🐼

[@MeissnerEffect]

So Seth is hilarious AND awesome! Great trait for a SETI communicator.

[@miramarensis]

Great lecture. Always a pleasure to hear Seth talk about SETI. Thanks for uploading.

[@raymondparsley7442]

SETI is a nice thought with lots of bright scientists filled with hope.... Considering the length of time involved, anywhere from hundreds to millions , even billions of light years for a one way transmission.... It becomes apparent that receiving such a signal would be meaningless for two way commutation... Thus, we may realize we're not alone in the universe... while at the same time, realizing we are... because the distances are too great for communication. Receiving a signal may be interesting, but otherwise useless.

[@foffjerkholes4995]

It's actually a great project to have researchers and engineers think of new concepts in cheap information delivery and reception, learning to recycle 100% of all the materials of the old radar arrays for the new ones with updated technology. Learning how to right the most efficient software and construct hardware to save one electricity and cut down costs. No, they don't have a lot of bright scientists, they let the software run, do they're day jobs and every few weeks to months personally go to the facility that holds the data and begin working for hours to save on costs and labor for bright minds. Find nothing interesting, give it another few years, buy then technology will hopefully advanced, you recycle all the material for the new project from the old project, update software, rinse, repeat. Really, its the perfect challenge to teach us how to use our minds and technology with the lease cost as possible. I personally contribute to the cause, and they are not asking any government for millions or billions of dollars as they know NASA has other more interesting technologies to develop for it's next missions.

[@larrycastro7937]

If SETI ever gets a signal from some highly advanced technological civilization out in ourUniverse, it would be one of the most exciting events in the history of mankind.

[@MultiBikerboy1]

Larry Castro ....2017 Trump presses green light for disclosure through ‘to the stars academy ‘....the most exciting event in the history of mankind.

[@zapfanzapfan]

As always it is a pleasure to listen to Seth Shostak, thank you for putting it on the webb!

[@Sylvianisme]

31:37 "They study the heck out of it" My favourite quote

[@Guitcad1]

Carl Sagan once compared us to modern hunter-gatherers living on an island, with no exposure to the modern world, who communicate by means of runners and drums. If asked how they thought a very advanced civilization would communicate, they might reply with "very fast runners" or "very large drums." The way we actually communicate now, with radio signals and fiber optics, would be utterly beyond such people's comprehension. Sagan suspected, as do I, that such may be the case between us and any other civilization out there. We have no idea what their technology will turn out to be like. It's unlikely that they will attempt to communicate with us via drums, but it's all we know about, so we sit here on our island listening for drums.

[@Guitcad1]

It takes some brainpower to come up with things like the bow and arrow, but that didn't impress the Spanish conquistadores much. The ancestors of Europeans went through the same stages that the inhabitants of the New World were going through when they encountered them but that didn't arouse any nostalgia among the likes of Cortez or Pizarro. They assumed these natives were "dumb." And they were maybe a couple of thousand years ahead of the New World. Just based on the number of civilizations that may be out there and the amount of time that has been available for them to develop, any extraterrestrial beings we eventually encounter will most likely be many millions of years ahead of us. We will be termites compared to them.

[@thabed007]

funny how peoples still say that there's still no evidences, but maybe it's just that a lot have missed what's been going on in the latest years?? it's true that the news don't speak a lot about these thing... don't you know that almost all contries has now disclosed their ufo files? and that they are available for all to read, just type "disclosed ufo file" on google, you have search a lot to find the most interresting cases, but there is a lot. that plus countless of ex-millitary officers/pilots that as came forwards to speak, a couple of the most well know astronaust also did, it's not just random peoples who might be seeking attention anymore, but peoples who are well trained observers... now if your among the people who think they are ours, i agree that nowadays some of might well be, but do you really think that in the years of the firsts official reports, they would have gone from the Heinkel He 178(first craft to use turbojet) to a craft that can almost diseapear in the blink of an eye in only under 8 years???

[@Guitcad1]

***** It got marked as spam. I restored it.

[@thabed007]

***** i didn't say i bought that stuff that easily, been looking into that subject for a long time, but it's really in the last years that i really started to notice that there was really something going on, specialy with all those millitary/astronauts coming forward. and for what i've said that forever reason it seem you could read is that, just in case you where among those who think that these where all millitary crafts, i agree that some very might well be today, but do you really think that they had gone from Heinkel He 178(first turbo jet 1939) to a craft that can almost disapear(1947)? but as it seem that you class those in the real of mythical creatures, you would say more, to go say that to these ufo, as they seems to still get seen by peoples who are trained to recognize a flying object, like millitary peoples, astronauts, even government peoples have came forward, a lot of those are backed by radar evidences. but i guess that if you don't want to beleive nobody can force you. but for me there is WAY to much evidences to even doubt that there is something to it. started to look into this almost 14 years ago and even today i often fall on cases that i never heard of, specially since 2009, it's crazy how many credible withnesses have came forward!!

[@thabed007]

not sure, your message or the original comment might have been reported as spam for some reason, because i didn't receive any notification for your last comment, it's because of his that i knew you had answered!! seem like some peoples instead arguing preffer to "hide" the comments they don't like lolll!!!

[@mauroenriquez8526]

That's why I always sit in the back of the auditorium because that's whete the guest speakers always head to sign books & that's where they also wait their turn to speak :)

[@cyaneyed7146]

Seth is a great speaker

[@jerrilehane7815]

Seti found zero

[@TheAsmodeus2012]

All true. If you had only static circumstances to deal with in the equation. But they would far more likely be beings who are ACTIVELY curious. If they are interstellar capable, they have that capability for a single reason: Because they intend to use it, or are currently actively using it. Such a world of interest would warrant at least a probe or two. And honestly as far as I know, communications via quantum entanglement would allow for real-time tele-presence observations and probe control.

[@TheAsmodeus2012]

Way to debate me on the merits there sparky. A few facts for you: 1. As far as science is able to tell, the effects of entanglement are instantaneous or nearly so, across ANY distance. That is not made up in my head. 2. OUR computing and communications technologies are beginning to utilize numerous quantum effects, including entanglement. That too, is not made up in my head. 3. There is currently something like a 20 min time lag signalling the Mars Rover. It'd be useful if it were instant.

[@danielgriffiths2917]

great talk. just one thing. its silicone valley? youd think they would have the tec to record in HD

[@Shannonbarnesdr1]

we keep looking for solar systems and life in other galaxies, we need to look in our own, we have a large spiral galaxy that is bound to hold many solar systems, surely some that has potential for intelligent life. we need to be exploring our own galaxy, as we have more of a chance of reaching some neighboring solar systems in the milky way, before we can travel to any '' nearby'' galaxies.

[@KipIngram]

28:30 - Well, wait; what about the S curve? All areas of technology start out with very slow growth and then go through a period of explosive growth, only to slow down again as we "master" the technology. That time in the middle is a sweet giddy period, like new young love, but it doesn't last forever. Eventually all technologies "mature" and growth thereafter is rather slow. Just an occasional refinement. So is it reasonable to expect antenna or mirror size to continue improving at the same rate it has been? I quite like the idea of simple dipole arrays - we can use phasing to line up their signals rather than having to have a perfect parabolic reflector.

[@ArtDocHound]

Hello from Earth year 2021 🖖

[@roliver3165]

I love this guy!!😂😂

[@bonysminiatures3123]

Another thing is we don't know what forms of communication slightly more advanced civilizations what use to communicate

[@Brainbuster]

Just imagine the leap of progress we'd see if we started communicating with them. On November 4, 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of sun-like stars and red dwarf stars within the Milky Way Galaxy.

[@trentp2000]

Check out the drake equation. 40 billion is good but what about all the other size planets in the habitable zone and don't forget about moons. Also life could have evolved outside of what we call the habitable zone. I think people have a hard time thinking about life that is completely different from us , that don't need the same environment or gravity ect. To live.

[@trentp2000]

I probably should have watched some of the video before I wrote that. Didn't know the were gonna go over some of that. But I think there estimates of stars with planets is way low

[@billhenry7213]

Even if you are absolutely correct, there is no point speculating about life in other galaxies. There is equally little point in speculating about life out of the reach of our current ability view or communicate.

[@jaspalraina220]

1) On Earth, we have so much variety of life, variety in all aspects e.g. design, function, habitat, etc etc. However, just focussing on the aspect of "life span" we have biengs with ages measured in just days to hundreds of yrs. Although the habitat a.k.a. local conditions(deserts, mountains, forests) may differ, still its the same planet with (gravity, elements available, solar radiation, atmosphere, duration of year & seasons) bieng the same. 2) All species on earth irrespective of thier lifespan differences, go through their life stages (birth, childhood, adult, old, death) & yet each species percieves time at the same rate. For e.g. a monkey living through its life & having the knowledge of the elephants (longer than his own) lifespan dosen't in any way percieve time in his life to be fast paced. Whatever the difference in the lifespans of each species may be, they all percieve their lives to be wholesome & in no way diminished or extended. 3) We know that Gravity is the curvature of spacetime. The sharper the curve, the greater the mass, the greater the gravity & the slower the time. Summarising points 1 to 3 what is the possibility that if there may be a terrestrial planet having may be 2 to 3 times earths gravity(slower time) with its habitable zone bieng twice or thrice that of earth(longer year) so that some species on it has a lifespan 4 to 5 times greater than our maximum life span & still have a very normal feeling about it. Also how would that species percieve us or we them if there's a chance encounter.

[@KipIngram]

41:20 - Could we put a megastructure across the surface of the moon to make it a better reflector of such signals? I suppose we could, but no doubt it would be expensive, and no way we're going to dump a lot of money into such an endeavor.

[@cpchehaibar]

24:58 You are wrong! It wasn't Rodney, his name was Thor! RIP Johnny Hart.

[@EqualityCanadaMedia]

We just interviewed Dr. Shostak for The Star Spot radio show: "With ever more groundbreaking data coming in from exploratory missions in our own solar system to the burgeoning array of extrasolar planets being discovered on a regular basis, are we getting closer to answering the age old question: Are we alone in the universe?" Search "The Star Spot Podcast"

[@nole74]

Also why do we believe they would even care about communicating with us? I'm not so sure. We dont spend much time trying to communicate with insects or Deere in the woods..

[@autdelux]

lol the great syfy movie avatar ^^ the most flat plot u have ever seen i lold hard on that guy

[@KipIngram]

Hey, that supernova idea is pretty cool. Though it does require that we be on the exact line from the supernova to the other civilization.

[@gary6514]

Could we be the first life in the Universe.....if we are then we truly are Masters of the Universe.....

[@Roedygr]

When Drake says there are 10,000 extraterrestrial civilisations, does he mean in our galaxy, in the universe, or that we could potentially contact?

[@StereoSpace]

Roedy Green Our galaxy.

[@robertbarrett8539]

+Roedy Green 10,000 in our galaxy that are intelligent enough to transmit or receive

[@ceresludovic7509]

+Roedy Green I think this is 10 000 civilisations only in our galaxy.

[@noseonscent1935]

@Shaun Davenport any math to back up your critique?

[@noseonscent1935]

@Shaun Davenport not sure I agree. Science has many new "facts" and I am sure NASA and big brother are keeping a tight lid on the more dangerous discoveries. Man is not as a collective ready to be fully aware...yet.

[@Myglowplug]

after all the efforts, What IF they don't answer ?

[@joeroganjosh9333]

An older Dudley Moor……love, peace & chicken grease.

[@realzok]

I understand the curiosity that makes Some Scientists such as Shostak to work on this. Sometimes,however,I cannot think of what the practical reason for locating something versus the expense. Think,there proboably are others out there. With the scale of the Cosmos it is almost a certainty. The abundance of elements seem to be fairly uniform. We know this through Spectroscopy. "They" might not want anything to do with us. Who could blame them judging on what has occurred here in just the past century. Also, there might be some things out there that we do not want to find us. What I am trying to say is that there are so many variables to this it just might not be practical.

[@thevancouverguy]

You are assuming they know what has occured here in the last century. Chances are they dont, so they would have no reason to dislike us. They dont know us.There are many reasons to do it. Answering the most important question humans have ever asked is one of them. There could be benefits. They could share knowledge with us. We could learn about them. You could argue there is no practical reason for the study of many subjects. As many students like to say, "When am I ever going to use this stuff?". Sometimes knowledge alone is practical enough reason. You cant always do a cost benefit analysis on knowledge

[@nathannate7264]

Big assumption though, thinking that if there are advanced civilizations out there who may have figured out long distance travel. They would require detecting our signal first to know we exist? There is this thing called exploration, so there is a chance they know of our existence due to that. SMH

[@rigomrtz]

I'm wondering if dark matter is vibrating faster than light? & if so is the mass still detectable. or is the fact that we can see the affects of its mass mean it can't be moving faster? sure I could have phrased that better but you get my drift

[@carryall69]

it's gravitational, that means, it has mass. it's matter. unknown matter though, but matter. and matter can't travel at light-speed. only photons and gluons are massless. dark matter may be non-baryonic matter, like electrons or neutrinos, but they too have mass..

[@galaxia4709]

Very good question!

[@ThomasJelfJr]

trevor unswin watch Nassim Haramein's original youtubes-very clever

[@tedbates1236]

He is very funny.😀

[@richardherscher8487]

Seti hustlers, dream on.

[@PacRimJim]

No, we would not conduct a conversation. But we could broadcast continuously to provide enough information to learn our languages.

[@leonardniiboyemettle450]

🌍

[@1950Viper]

We are on a lifeboat in sea of immeasurable distances and immense dangers in space. Everything is hostile in space a few seconds exposure and youre dead. We are so distant from other stars and no one is talking in our frequency. 20 years of SETI listening nothing a maybe and nothing else. It could be that we dont listen with what ET uses. Extreme distances would require burst communication a lot of information in a short time. Because of distances involved the time involved for a signal to retain it strength. Then again we should hear something. We are out of service for ETs area.

[@thevancouverguy]

That is a misconception. A few seconds of exposure would not kill you right away. People get this idea that if you were exposed to the vacuum of space you would decompress and explode almost instantly. First, you wouldnt explode. Second, it takes more then a few seconds in space to die. Besides, who is talking about actual space. Sure the almost vacuum of space is not hospitable to life. But other planets and moons may be.

[@1950Viper]

thevancouverguy The point is unlike the oceans of life on earth offer oxygen and sustenance space offers nothing and everything is dangerous from zero G to radiation and cosmic rays and freezing temperatures. Space is dangerous and distance doubles the possibility of failure.

[@minorityofthought1306]

Lucky 300. :)

[@electrostaticionengines4579]

I don't think comparing our present technology with any other civilization on another planet and they are space faring society and have the craft that can travel great distances in space is not a comparison at all. If in fact we have been visited by beings from another planet, we can't only guess why they came to this planet. I doubt any contact will be made with civilizations from other planets until we are able to explore outside our solar system. Just the fact that this planet has life, is enough to give reason for a visit. Hell we're all silly about going to Mars and that is a dead planet. Just think what would happen if we found a planet with life on it.

[@pzakkly3976]

Have you tried looking for intelligent life in San Francisco look their first before looking for it in space

[@nathanielberkeley-biggs2855]

As we now know that earth type planets are common, that means we are really not very unusual or interesting, and for the lucky few with the tech to go anywhere they want, once they have seen a few hundred earth type planets out of the quadrillions out there, most will inevitably have similar if not identical species, so we are not of interest, but more than that, with so many to visit it just wouldn’t be practical or possible to visit each one.

[@nole74]

Isn't looking for worlds by trying to identify who has water or some other element. Kind of like an Eskimo looking for worlds that have ice, since without ice you wouldn't have intelligent life cause they lack the ability to make a igloo for shelter? Do we have any reason at all to believe other forms of life will require oxygen or make oxygen? Perhaps we should open up our minds?

[@nole74]

Well I listen to the rest of it, and they don't least address this issue of how did we know et would be biological or like us at all, But obviously there's not really a good answer.

[@lazyfreedom98]

ancient gravity waves

[@herbwag6456]

SETI is worth doing but I wouldn't set my hopes too high. Just because we have radios doesn't mean they're all over the place. For one thing, higher intelligence is not enough --- you gotta have hands or manipulative tentacles to build radios in the first place. Say there's a super intelligent octopus living on the bottom of some distant world ocean --- how's he gonna build a freaking radio? We focus too much on beings like us. Chances are, most won't be like us, especially in our hearable, reachable neighborhood. That's comic book stuff. Most of these speakers are comic book thinkers -- this guy even looks like one.

[@elginwinston3390]

The Fermi Paradox

[@Ryang403]

what cud we share wiv alien cultures? for a start I think the main objective cud be sharing our solloutions about dangers in space that cud harm each of us like asteroids supernova expolsions n maybe the Andromeda galaxy that it heading for us....

[@communist-hippie]

lol. andromeda galaxy, you like to be prepared for the future..

[@Ryang403]

yeah not sure what we cud do tho ha

[@lukeperry6903]

SETI...silly effort to investigate "Stanton Friedman" R.I.P

[@johnnydept4082]

R.I.P

[@johnb8854]

First you need to Understand the DIFFERENCE, between the human species, and "LIFE The Real Self" !

[@digitalblasphemy1100]

yeah if they were close enough the planet. we are 8 light minutes from the sun. 4 light years to the nearest star. if the closest civilization with those technologies were a few thousands of light years away, they would still be observing what happened here thousands of years ago.

[@unholygod4895]

why does the introduCER emphasize the last 3 lettERS of evERY word

[@rigomrtz]

I heard that our 1st broadcast strong enough to head out across the universe ,was Hitlers Nuremberg rally ,true ? also heard a more real thing yesterday if a seti exists on a planet 65 m light years away and they are able to use a telescope to see us , they would be looking at dinosaurs and some little shrew like creatures , us!

[@geopolicraticus]

For every light year between two given stars and their planetary systems, it takes a year for light to travel between the two, so this means that a planet looking in our direction from a distance of 65 million light years would see the light coming from our planetary system 65 million years ago. If they had an incredible telescope, they could see the Chicxulub impact.

[@carlgreen5168]

Its amazing... It blows my mind. Just looking in your bathroom mirror at yourself your actualy looking back in time.....but its an unimaginable short time in the past.....as it does take a finite anount of time for the light from that mirror to hit your eyes.....lol......

[@mickelodiansurname9578]

Lets assume EVERY planet out there had not just life but intelligent life and you sent out a message.... well first all of the planets on the other side of their star... message gone. Next all of those not listening won't hear it. And lastly all of those that receive it and understand its from another world will still need to work out where it came from. They will not be accurate there. If they look at our star there is a 50% chance they will not detect earth no matter what technology they use. Because WE will be on the other side of our star. Thats if EVERY planet had a civilization... when in fact it 1 in a million at best! So WE are the only planet with intelligent life (brighter than a bacterium) within a sphere 100 light years across for certain. Intelligent life? Well we spent 200k years as humans and just 100 of those with technology. So we might, just might, be the only CURRENT civilization in this part of the galaxy. Everyone else is too far away. By the time any Aliens watch reruns of I love Lucy or see Adolf Hitler giving it plenty at Nuremberg the entire humans species will be extinct for millions and millions of years.

[@borja1000]

This guys jokes...I need an aspirin!

[@rljpdx]

borja1000 the Russians already thought of that

[@KipIngram]

There's an unspoken implication here that computers are going to replace humans. I don't believe that - I don't believe our self-aware minds are a mere matter of computation. What we will succeed in doing, though, is building computer systems that behave as though they are self-aware. And some people will swallow it, but I think there's much more to us than that. Computers are completely deterministic mechanisms. Humans have free will. Computers can read sensors and record values, but humans feel pain, and joy, and sadness and love and son on. We may indeed discover someday how to create devices of our own construction that are "conscious." But they will not be conventional computers built with transistors. They will be something new, and whether we can take *that* technology to a point of surpassing humans is a completely different matter.

[@ivorclark2523]

The way the Universe is we are all effectively quarantined from any other alien life. The distances between stars and planetary systems is so vast it is impossible to contemplate physically ever being able to travel between them. So the next best thing is EMR communications and we still after searching for ages, have found NO sign of a civilisation anything like ours. There MAY be alien life out there, but it certainly has not reached a technological level, or decided to not even attempt to communicate because its pointless. All these arguments about life must be elsewhere is still an assumption, and even so its more likely to be simple single cell. Multi cellular life that becomes technological enough to transmit and search for signals has taken over 4 billion years to evolve here on Earth, and the Universe is "only" about 14 billion years old, so that stat would indicate there might only be 2 or 3 other civilisations in the UNIVERSE capable of doing what we do. Of course I know there will be counter arguments, but these will be based on assumptions. I am dealing with facts. We ARE effectively alone, get used to it....

[@TheAbraxasNexus]

Hmmmmmmm.....& some more hmmmmmmm. It is not known. For me personally I have not witnessed or experienced anything, but then the universe being 14 billion years old is also not really known, it is the consequence of big bang theory, which is a theory, & a shaky one in many ways. It is also not known if the physics problem is insuperable, it is only known, by us, that we don't know how to do it. So much is based on our current capability. Two centuries ago landing on the moon was an impossible feat. Don't confuse contemporary conceit with knowledge or a lack of understanding with certainty- there is none. Humans do this well however & always have done. Considering the scope of the universe I find the idea of us being completely alone in it far more strange, sad & unbelievable tbh. It is an equally disturbing & scary thought. What we can see & know of the universe is that it doesn't do anything just once. There is not a single cosmic phenomena in isolation & unique, bearing in mind we have an extremely limited view of one galaxy out of a hundred billion that are visible. Making any presumptions about what is or isn't is not representative of sound logic & reasoning. Logic dictates we cannot possibly know. One day we might, but not today.

[@istvanklein]

And even if we are not, most likely we will never know. For us to be able to detect extraterrestrial intelligence, it must be reasonably close to us in terms of space and time, and no one in their right mind could realistically expect this to be the case. Just because we are around here and now doesn't mean that either our galactic neighbourhood or the present time is more special than any other place and time in the Universe.

[@TheAbraxasNexus]

Robert .G True, but if it is possible for other life to exist, also intelligent life & also more advanced & intelligent life than us & we are already trying to solve the problems associated with space exploration & travel, it may not be us that detects them, it is more likely it will be them detecting us. It is exactly because we cannot reasonably expect our time & place in the universe to be more special than anywhere else that makes it a possibility. Time will tell. One things for sure as a species we will not stop trying to travel & explore space while we exist & have the capability to try- other than our current limitations there is no reason to believe we wouldn't succeed given time. Travelling to the moon was a physical impossibility two centuries ago, but we did it. So why would it be reasonable, given the other possibilities, a different species wouldn't have continued trying too & actually succeeded? Such a life form would be the one doing the detecting & be most common throughout the universe simply because of its ability to travel in it, or have machines or constructs to do it for them like we do. It's only impossible until it happens, but even if it doesn't happen in our lifetimes doesn't mean an awful lot due to the scales of the universe- our time & place is not more special & relatively brief. Everything is speculation until it actually happens. I dont really find the idea strange, I'd find it more strange if we were alone & nothing had ever learned to traverse space effectively. Until it happens or we hear from something we cannot know though.

[@JeppR91]

How do you reason there will be only 2-3 other civilizations? You yourself seem to assume civilizations can only evolve sequentially and each has to take 4 billion years. Any facts behind that?

[@ivorclark2523]

The ONLY fact we can go by is our own evolution. EVERYTHING else is probabilities and speculations. The number of civilsations is based on a revised calculation from the Drake equation.

[@MrThepatrickshow]

This all smacks of... we're just not cool enough for the aliens to give a crap about us.

[@StereoSpace]

Patrick Melody Not really, it's a statistical conclusion. Think of it like this. There are only three possibilities for alien life forms: 1. Less advanced. Don't have radio telescopes. Therefore we cannot contact them, by definition. 2. Exactly advanced as us. What is probability, give the 12 billion year age of the universe, that a civilization we encounter will have reached the exact same level of technology as humans at exactly the same time? Very small. 3. They are more advanced. The almost certain probability. That will put us in a decidedly inferior and weaker position. Not necessarily good, especially if they are aggressive. Think of Pizarro and the Incas. He could also mean we have nothing to offer but art (maybe) and resources.

[@occupiedaustralia9952]

Hang on how did he know it was Rodney who invented the wheel. Thats where he lost me.

[@mickmccrory8534]

The Universe is expanding, because the sound of the car changes when it goes by. Everything else is rampant speculation.

[@NoBootyBeauty]

Duh! The sound of the car does NOT change as it goes by, it absolutely stays the same. What we HEAR changes. I believe this is as the sound waves get shorter as the car approaches, and longer as the car retreats. I hope you're not a teacher.

[@Moronvideos1940]

Looking in the wrong place.....we need to search the planet for intelligent life....good luck in that endeavor ........

[@stevelenores5637]

Did you know why some people talk fast like this speaker? It is so the message only reaches the reptile brain and not the logical brain. It is a persuasion technique. Salesman have been using this for a long time. If you looked at a transcript of what he is saying it would make less sense and be less convincing.

[@jpbrindamour5467]

None so far... Just think what earth would be like with intelligent and wise animals!

[@1950Viper]

Life is distant from us. We might not ever find life that is like us that we humans are a mutation on the surface of a rocky world with life in every environment on the earth. I am beginning to think that earths are so rare maybe one star in a million has intelligent life. But withing several thousand lightyears nothing. ET is not using radio. If we find them we cant maintain any conversation. We sure arent going to go visit.

[@philipstlmo]

well...considering the current best estimate of stars in our own galaxy is approx a hundred BILLION, using your figure would equate to 100,000 "earths" just in the milky way alone. Even 1 in a billion would mean 100 inhabited planets in our galaxy.

[@ghostfacechilla1027]

one day we could, if we can survive long enough

[@andreek8559]

I'm curious why SETI still pays Astronomers to find life on exoplanets. They won't find a goddamn thing with antennas, telescopes and other tools to measure dead stuff. In a couple of hundred years some cargo ship's captain will find something on a deep space mission hunting for valuables. Astronomers can pinpoint them into the general direction and that will be all they're good for.

[@foffjerkholes4995]

They don't. It's volunteer.

[@MrJamesLongstreet]

Fermi-paradox.

[@S....]

MrJamesLongstreet Frozen chicken.

[@mahmutpanzereinsatzbereit4293]

Stars in Hollywood or what?

[@johnwilliams3555]

Do we (you) ever send out signals to outer space? Or would our war mongers prevent us from doing that?

[@JROCTIONARY]

John Williams we have been sending signals into space ever since the first radio broadcast. There are lots of scientists who believe sending messages may not be the greatest idea.

[@StereoSpace]

JROCTIONARY For the very reason that war monger (ie, aggressive) life forms are often the most successful in reaching the top of the food and environment chain. Hence, successful species that are spacefaring may well be quite aggressive.

[@StereoSpace]

macsporan Be careful about projecting your own sense or morality or thinking on others, especially an alien species. Because you think that way, doesn't mean they do. One could argue that Pizarro and the Spanish Conquistadors were far more advanced than the Incas. How'd that work out for the Incas? Many species are aggressive and it has nothing to do with hate, it is how they evolved, it is what they do. Was a tyrannosaur hateful? Is a lion? Are locusts? What makes you think a species like that cannot evolve into a spacefaring civilization? As for microbes, we have the technology to sterilize large areas, or venture under water or into space, very hostile environments. A far more technologically advanced civilization might have technology capable of sterilizing an entire planet. My point is, don't make assumptions. We have no data. We don't know. We need to proceed with a certain degree of caution. We have no idea who or what is out there. We should go and explore, but carefully.

[@1985NEVETS]

ah Jesus not the jokes again Seth

[@robertcowart1]

more gene-yus shull-bit discussion on in-tang-gull-mint. you always hear, "even if they were across the universe from each other". None of these people EVER discuss HOW or WHY two particles become "entangled" in the first place. Who placed them across the universe from each other? How did you know that? How long did it take for that to happen? How long did it take for the "measurement observation" of the "entangled particle" to get to earth? this is what happens when the "thinker" thinks too much of his "thoughts".

[@digitalblasphemy1100]

we are NOT utilizing entanglement in ANY sense of the concept of looking at another planet thousands of light years away in real time like you originally said. IN NO SENSE! you're talking about something completely irrelevant when you bring up entanglement and what we currently know about it. MAYBE with photon entanglement years from now but we don't even know enough about it to speak on whether that's even a remote possibility. sparky out

[@scottadkins9318]

This is nothing but fanciful wild speculation.

[@digitalblasphemy1100]

you mean as far as you just made up in your head.

[@3877michael]

This is funny. I have been on craft fully conscious, several craft and several different star people. I am one of the millions who are experiencers. So I feel a little disconnected from this talk.

[@danielfahrenheit4139]

maybe there are no signs of advanced life because they all called out to one another lol

[@gene546]

they use the same method to date the lava in Mt. st Helen and find out that lava was 2.5 millions old, see trust these lyiers about radiometry dating and they work miracles.

[@thevancouverguy]

That is is total creationist fake science. They did not date Mt St Helens lava to 2.5 million years old. Besides, what the hell does lava in st helens have anything to do with SETI.We are talking about interstellar communication here and you are talking about geology.Two separate fields

[@gene546]

????????????

[@thevancouverguy]

??????? what do you mean ????? wtf are you talking about. new to english?

[@gene546]

??????

[@pjeng1]

Sorry, but we are all alone in the universe. Forget about finding any intelligent aliens.

[@GregJay]

Gravity waves

[@S....]

GregJay Panem Et Circensis Oak table.

[@frappehomunculus875]

just wait till all the 23,000 nukes on this spitball start flying, bye!!!!

[@alexcastro7339]

Stop trying to hide it Seth... Just let the Beatles haircut down! That phony part in public isn't fooling anyone...lol

[@robertcowart1]

why is this thought masturbation taken to be confirmed science?

[@haroldhart2688]

2029AD IS THE END

[@4gegtyreeyuyeddffvyt]

Harold Hart Ai ?

[@boy2scout]

Confident comedian and speakers do not laugh at their own jokes

[@ossiedunstan4419]

The first place you wanna start your search is on earth , I don`t see much intelligence here, A terrible lot of ignorance and superstition, Not much else .

[@GregJay]

Old seth a latent joker

[@mikepoulin3020]

a lot of speculation, no science....

[@billhenry7213]

Science is a process as much as a body of knowledge. Speculation is the start of that process.

[@robertcowart1]

these are the same people who are "impressed" with a few hundred Billionths! of a second difference between an atomic clock flown around the world on a 60 hour trip, and one stationary. two machines built and "started" by men. how accurate was the "simultaneous start" of the two machines? hmmm.....could they maybe have "started" a few hundred billionths of a second apart from each other? hmmm....did anyone test two machines together, stationary for 60 hours? what was their difference? or two on the plane together? these thought models always remind me of "Rodan" and "Godzilla" splashing in the water. you can model some things, but you can't miniaturize water!

[@thabed007]

funny how at moment he sound just like a "debunker", much like those who worked for the goververment for a long time, ridiculing the subject, v'seen a couples of is lecture now, and he seem's specially stuck on the abducte phenomena, the rest of his jokes are fine, i find them funny in a way. But even if some abtuctees might be hoaxers looking for attention, a lots of them are truly traumatised by it, weither peoples beleive in it or not, to them it's real, making fun of them is pretty much like making fun of someone who got abused!!! for the rest he can joke all he want, nobody is forced to beleive, but maybe he's just frustrated that they never capted the "WOW" signal again, because once you start to really look into it, it's pretty clear that something is going on, i used to be skeptic, but now there's so much evidences it's overwhelming, most of contries released their files. freely availlable for anybody to read, countless reports from ex-millitary, police officers, even some astronauts came forward to tell what they've seen, all of whitch are trained observers, some pieces of material that have been found on sighting sites have been analysed, and are of unknown origins, and so on, can't even speak about all there is as i would spend the night typing about it, i'll only had for those who think it as started with the atomic bomb, if you research it enough you'll see that they've been here for a long time, some of our forefather have seen some, christopher columbus have seen one, further back, during renaissance a "war" in the sky as been reported, waged by strange objects of all shape and size, a lots of their old paintings as weird objects painted in the sky, go even further back, you'll see that probably all religion started because of them, almost all gods/angels came from the sky...

[@StereoSpace]

thabed007 I think it's possible we've been visited and people have been abducted for study. I don't see anything crazy about that idea. Seems pretty straightforward really.

[@brucenassar9077]

blah blah blah in other words we could not find life in our own mirrors

[@Un-Known-X]

Hard to make sense of his lecture, he rambles with irrelevant humor...

[@boy2scout]

No Seth talks too fast he is annoying he stammers his haircut is stupid and no one should ever wear a turtleneck again

[@boy2scout]

And he is not 1/2 as funny as he thinks he is

[@haguey666]

ruined it with his sarcastic non funny sense of humor