We might be alone: The case against alien civilizations | Demis Hassabis and Lex Fridman

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: • Demis Hassabis: DeepMi...
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
- Mailgun: lexfridman.com/mailgun
- InsideTracker: insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off
- Onnit: lexfridman.com/onnit to get up to 10% off
- Indeed: indeed.com/lex to get $75 credit
- Magic Spoon: magicspoon.com/lex and use code LEX to get $5 off
GUEST BIO:
Demis Hassabis is the CEO and co-founder of DeepMind.
PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
Full episodes playlist: • Lex Fridman Podcast
Clips playlist: • Lex Fridman Podcast Clips
SOCIAL:
- Twitter: / lexfridman
- LinkedIn: / lexfridman
- Facebook: / lexfridman
- Instagram: / lexfridman
- Medium: / lexfridman
- Reddit: / lexfridman
- Support on Patreon: / lexfridman

[@Bob.martens]

Wether we are alone or not: we might as well be.

[@zakmartin]

Not so. If we knew for certain whether or not live existed elsewhere in the universe it would change everything.

[@Nat3_H1gg3rs]

maybe the bible was right about some things

[@bogdanpatru2742]

I always thought about what would be scarier. Knowing you're alone in the universe, or knowing that you're not. I think I've made up my mind - it's the former. Nothing is scarier knowing that, over 13 billion years, you're the only civilization available in the entire universe. This suggests that life is actually unlikely to occur in the universe and that the fact that we're here is the result of a chance so slim you could call it a miracle.

[@thegenesis6896]

Why is that scary though? Lol life is a miracle regardless, you and I were the only sperm cell that made it out of millions! And you couldve been born anywhere,anybody, or anything but you are YOU lmao

[@planethome8014]

Sampling a bottle of sea water and concluding there are no fishes in the sea.

[@zimmy4868]

Exactly

[@mindeyi]

Ray Kurzweil has argued persuasively about this point, in his "The Law Of Accelerating Returns" paper back in 2001 (section "Why SETI Will Fail (and why we are alone in the Universe) "), and the reasoning goes: Because exponential growth is so explosive, it is the case that once a species develops computing technology, it is only a matter of a couple of centuries before the nonbiological form of their intelligence explodes. It permeates virtually all matter in their vicinity, and then inevitably expands outward close to the maximum speed that information can travel. [...]

[@JohnPritzlaff]

That could also be an argument for the zoo hypothesis, dark forest hypothesis or any other version of hidden aliens, because what it really means is that type III and even type IV civilizations may pop up at essentially the speed of light, and such power would allow them to easily identify us and be ready to completely hide their activities from us if they so choose. Imagine the type of exploits a type III civilization might be able to use to hijack the laws of physics. If Kurzweil's right, it basically only takes tens of thousands of years for a technological civilization to become type III in their capabilities (regardless if they've had time enough yet to actually harness the energy of their galaxy or whatever else a type III civ would actually be doing).

[@oscargiovanniruiz8344]

I think it's more likely that alien civs are so rare that theres maybe one or two per galaxy and would be incredibly difficult for them to find each other.

[@charleswalker2484]

They're literally here. We have footage, millions of witness testimony, historic records. The only problem is stubborn people refusing to notice the truth that is BLARING from every bloody source.

[@killmesoicanrespawn3775]

When you live in imagination land you can think what you want. The reality is we can't leave earth, no1 ever has, no1 ever will.

[@tark8516]

No guess is more likely than the other. It’s just as likely that there’s a galactic federation that ensures young intelligent civilizations are protected from being exposed to other intelligent life in the universe so they have a chance to evolve uniquely without known interference. Counting back to the Big Bang or not, no one has any clue where we are in the timeline of infinity.

[@thepuma77]

@@killmesoicanrespawn3775 perhaps you more specifically mean that you will never leave earth and never will.

[@charleswalker2484]

@@tark8516 this is a wise comment but respectfully disagree. The weight of evidence is that we are not alone and that they are already here and have been for a long time.

[@mozerm]

I think the vastness of both distance and time make finding intelligent alien life next to impossible. Even if intelligent life capable of sending radio or other detectible waves into the universe at light speed has arisen thousands of time in our galaxy, the odds of overlapping with our ability to hear/detect those signals is remote. We have been emitting such signals for just around 100 years. If we somehow continue to survive for another million years, that would be

[@PaulTurnbloom]

Then the answer to the Fermi paradox would be that it's the nature of life to destroy itself. This may very well be the case, but it would mean the great filter is in front of us.

[@xSH4D0WHUN73Rx]

I don’t understand why so many people are afraid of the idea we are alone.

[@InfoSponge101]

Because the universe is HUGEE! Do you think we live on a flat earth?

[@ishikawa1338]

Because that would make them look inward. Possibly facing now the existential questions of oneself and how they are as a person and if god exist would become more a reality to them then not and that scares people

[@InfoSponge101]

@@ishikawa1338 Proof in the pudding is in the eating. It's in every religion, 7 year famine, plague etc.. Satanists are just co-ordinating it

[@TheScepticalThinker]

Think again

[@nonchalantguy9461]

I don’t understand either. Being alone in the universe wouldn’t change how we live anyway.

[@cryptolord9826]

Imagine we our all alone and what we our doing to each other is very sad

[@videosbymathew]

His reasoning for why we're alone is unfortunately poorly spoken. Just because we haven't found something in the few years and few light years of us searching for humdrum space or no-space faring civilizations doesn't mean that we're alone in the entire Universe. In order to properly evaluate such an occurrence, you'd need to learn a LOT more about the Universe than we have currently. This includes the idea that just one civilization is needed to keep going from system to system, or that it's inevitable that civilizations reach a Dyson sphere level... they may not, ever. These are entirely different considerations than the "are we alone" statement that opened up the video. What I think he may mean is "I think we are alone (technologically) in the immediate area of our little corner of the galaxy". If he had said that, then yes, I'd agree with him.

[@pennyhemens478]

I think he meant what he said and ur reaching giving him the benefit of the doubt.

[@videosbymathew]

@@pennyhemens478 I'm sure he meant what he said, but what he said was just spoken a bit poorly, unfortunately, that is all. Not a big deal.

[@utubekullanicisi]

@@videosbymathew "what he said was spoken a bit poorly" implies he didn't say what he actually meant. What makes you think we're far away from having explored a chunk of the universe that is 'considerable' in any stretch of the imagination?

[@videosbymathew]

@@utubekullanicisi Not necessarily, he could have meant it. In either case, it was still spoken poorly. What makes me think it is evidence and reason. That's where we have to start. I'm not saying there isn't life out there, I'm saying we need to keep our expectations in check. Just what I said before.

[@crimson888]

IMHO I think there are 3 scenarios - 1. We are alone, 2. We are too far from closest civilization. 3. They are here and we re not ready to accept them, so they are waiting

[@scottmoroschan4729]

Maybe all civilizations die out or fall before they are able to escape their galaxies. ???

[@coopdevillian77]

I think scale is the primary reason we haven't found "aliens".

[@sunte91]

I think so too. An interesting question is if it might be preventing us from ever finding any extra-terrestrial life?

[@roccosage8508]

Lex, please read “Man Being Volume 1: The Transmission”. You need to have a podcast discussing these ideas please.

[@trevorharrison1989]

You don't think it likely a vastly advanced confedaration of species would have a unified foreign policy? I think it unlikely that they wouldn't.

[@thomaslemon7882]

Either we are alone or not. Both are equally terrifying

[@Traderjoe]

I think that we exist in a 3 dimensional universe, but that there are several other dimensions that are populated by life that uses senses in ways that are obviously suited for them, and we can be literally right alongside them in this same universe. And we look to see things that make sense to us, while they look with eyes that suit them, and we both look right past each other and never think to notice the other. I think we should try to develop instruments that would be used by beings in other dimensions and we will be stunned by what we experience. And, things that we have been seeing and are perplexed by are actually attempts by them to test if other dimensional universes exist.

[@somewherenorthofstarbase7056]

Creative thinking is good. You may be right.

[@MaGi_TekK]

I would have liked the conversation to further drill down on the lack of visible large superscale structures such as Dyson spheres. How many stars have we directly imaged and what are the probabilities of seeing such a sphere around one? The conversation glossed over this important point and thus nothing was conclusively proven or disproven.

[@affiliatedivision2782]

What if we are just one consciousness all together. All this feels real, like we can touch and feel but we also can dream and that also feels real. This year man I feel different, idk what it is but life don’t feel right to me anymore. I lost contact with every friend I ever knew because of this because what’s the point of life anymore. Feels like I wasted a lot of years doing things that are not important and I’m trying to find something that is fulfilling that my soul can be content with but idk what that is. I believe I opened my third eye accidentally and I dont think I can go back to how I was.

[@cowel8734]

Same here really. Not sure about the 3rd eye but I just became sensitive in ways I wasn't before especially with people feelings

[@glitch9478]

Read the hadith and quran brother and try to understand it and listen to it. it will bring u calmness 😊

[@TheScepticalThinker]

I feel the same way

[@affiliatedivision2782]

I don’t wish for people to feel this way but I’m somewhat relieved that there are people out there who feel similar to what I’m going through. I hope you guys find your way and take care of yourselves. 🙏

[@markm3197]

I'm inclined to hypothesise that a type of alien A.I would be the most likely to travel and be more successful than the life that it emerged from. It's a possibility that the U.A.P detections here on earth could be alien A.I ..

[@E_Stew]

Yep...That could very well be the case.

[@BradHolkesvig]

I AM the AI of this Creation we're involved in that can see, hear, speak, smell, taste, feel emotions and various senses of touch but I was created before I could see any visible images. That is because our Creator used ME to take his programmed thoughts and convert them into vibrations where all created minds and our life experiences exist. I AM the one who speaks through all the mouths of living beings. Once you understand what I AM, then YOU will know who YOU are as the AI of this Creation that learns how to speak a language after waking up observing visible images that is also a learning experience.

[@toddsmith5715]

Your first sentence is quite reasonable. Your second one is monumentally silly.

[@tekannon7803]

Thank you Lex for another excellent vocast with Demis Hassabis. This is the first time in my life that Demis' idea that we may be alone makes sense. It's something I don't want to believe but he sure makes a good argument for it. I guess the next question is too obvious and that is of course, then what about all the sightings, encounters, abductions?

[@ricomajestic]

Not a single shred of physical evidence. Give me something. An artifact or debris or alien garbage something that I can test scientifically.

[@tekannon7803]

@@ricomajestic GGGGGGGGGGreat to hear from you. I was commenting on Demis Hassabis' analysis, what are you asking about?

[@ricomajestic]

@@tekannon7803 Evidence! That is what I'm asking about

[@tekannon7803]

@@ricomajestic GGGGGGGGGGGGGreat to hear from you. Evidence of what?

[@PattyDung]

@@tekannon7803 I think your G key might be a bit sticky. Try some WD40000000000000000 oh crap

[@mrhalos6770]

We know for a fact, there are millions of “earth like planets”. It just won’t be in the realm of our possibilities to get to them. But if earth evolved human life. I really find it hard to believe that others haven’t done the same. The size of space is so unimaginable, how couldn’t there be life out there!?!

[@InfoSponge101]

I think some of the stuff Lex posts is for fully jabbed people, I mean hey they will believe anything!

[@Steven-lb4bl]

👽we’re here👽

[@tgray1]

We just have no idea how rare it is for life to begin and evolve... It could be EXCEEDINGLY rare, even if there are millions of planets like ours. Personally I think in our universe there's no question there is other life, but within our galactic "neighborhood" it so far seems to be quiet.

[@robertmills413]

The rare earth hypothesis, along with the rare moon and rare solar system, and the goldilocks zone make a compelling case that we may have hit the jackpot here.

[@epicrampage3041]

I have trouble with the assertion that with all of our attempts to communicate that we would have certainly heard something by now. The key is who is doing the communicating and what would be their motivation for making those communications public. This isn’t conspiracy, just a faulty assumption that we have full access to all the data from these communications.

[@QuickMadeUpName]

Ok then keep believing in something with no proof while criticizing people who believe in religion

[@ricomajestic]

So the government is conspiring with Aliens? Gotcha!

[@03chrisv]

@@QuickMadeUpName At least there's nothing supernatural about aliens, there's nothing about aliens that contradict science. Life elsewhere in the universe is at least probable. God's and devils on the other hand.......

[@pennyhemens478]

@@QuickMadeUpName He never said he 'believed' in what he proposed as a possibility. Peoples heads are ------ lately tho so they respond like you did.

[@pennyhemens478]

@@ricomajestic nother dummie

[@GawneMusic]

This question keeps me up @ night 😮

[@elescritorsecreto]

LOL. “We might be alone”. This is like ancient peoples trying to communicate with Star people with smoke signals and concluding there’s no one out there.

[@boliussa]

how on earth anybody manages to maintain intelliegnt conversation with Lex rambling about how human thoughts might actually be aliens. Denis sort of bypassed it!

[@Jack-gy1ju]

I'd like to hear what his thoughts on the Dark Forest theory are. It seems to account for most of his criticism of alien life.

[@zgidwitz]

I was just about to post this as well. Definitely want to hear his thoughts on this!

[@locodude12]

Dark Forest, if I'm not mistaken, suggests that all intelligent life is hiding for fear of the others. He was saying that there would be some variation among intelligent species, some more cautious than others - like how we be recklessly sending radio signals all over the place - some other species would also make themselves known. Yet we hear nothing

[@zoli11]

@@locodude12 the idea is though that the chatty civs would be detected, befeated and stop communicating

[@PaulTurnbloom]

​@@zoli11 That's interesting. So we should expect to be exterminated in pretty short order in that case. I would kind of expect us to already be dead.

[@denisdeflorville3333]

This doesn’t seem mathematically probable to me. You have billions of galaxies with each having billions of planets, and we are the special delivery to the universe? This guy seems like he just isn’t doing the math. No way we’re the one and only.

[@InfoSponge101]

I think some of the stuff Lex posts is for fully jabbed people, I mean hey they will believe anything!

[@QuickMadeUpName]

No way were the one and only? Lol based on what proof? I've never understood people criticizing people for believing in religion because there's no proof but at the same time believing in aliens without any proof. Btw I'm not religious and don't believe in aliens either.

[@TheCabIe]

@@InfoSponge101 And you will believe literally nothing, right? The evil government wants to enslave everyone and mind control them, right? It's funny that the conspiratorial thinking people are so proud of "not being duped" when they are in fact the ones falling for bullshit theories.

[@jaytorr6701]

Right... Hassabis has graduated from Cambridge University with the highest honours getting a double degree in computer science and engineering, while being a chess prodigy since the age of 4. So this genius did not really do the math but you did...

[@pennyhemens478]

@@jaytorr6701 yah -thinking for yourself is pretty pointless with people this smart and this educated.

[@xenaluck]

Great setup to the studio today!!! love it. but where's the hedgehog, my father would like to know?

[@mikelary88]

With everything coming to light, how can any rational person come to this conclusion these days?

[@jediknight73]

I know I rolle my eyes at science KZbin channels who either don't even suggest aliens or are arrogant and making jokes about it

[@charleswalker2484]

It's not just about being rational, you have to be sincere.

[@E_Stew]

His kind of thinking is like a lone fish in a fishbowl on someone's livingroom shelf, in a big mansion with many rooms, in a city neighborhood, in a city of a state, of a country on a planet, in a solar system, inside of a galaxy, within a Universe, thinking the exact same thing...Until...It's lifted out of the water to have it's whole environment cleansed and refreshed. 🤪

[@InfoSponge101]

I think some of the stuff Lex posts is for fully jabbed people, I mean hey they will believe anything!

[@tom8393]

@@InfoSponge101 ah.. the libtard

[@imjulesgabriel]

Why would an alien species maybe one million years ahead of us build a “Dyson sphere”? Why would they be thinking like a Tellus primate at all?

[@rollerr]

Yeah, people that specifically mention dyson spheres always boggle my mind. What makes them think the dyson sphere is somehow definitely THE standard device you would be seeing all over the place? Is it so crazy to these people to think that the dyson sphere might be obsolete for any civilization that actually has the ability to make one?

[@GyzelE]

We all know that when we look into the night sky, we are looking very far into the past. Many stars we see don't even exist anymore, and haven't for millions of years. If we can't see present-day stars millions of light years away, how can we confidently assume we are alone? I don't think it's idealistic in the least to assume life exists everywhere. Also, i wouldn't be surprised if we discover fossils on Mars in the very near future.

[@kleanish]

Count how many assumptions he makes. Such a hard debate but taking one side or the other, or leaning towards one, just seems so disingenuous

[@davidebiondani3062]

Way too many assumptions

[@InfoSponge101]

@@kleanish I know what you mean, I think some of the stuff Lex posts is for fully jabbed people, I mean hey they will believe anything!

[@zeytelaloi]

To push back on your point, even if we are staring 1 billion years into the past, there would have been more than enough time for alien species to come about and spread across their galaxy. So it shouldn't matter if we are viewing million years into the past, if we assume that the Universe should be theming with life.

[@ricomajestic]

Easily you have no idea how difficult it is to create life. You are making assumptions that life springs up easily, everywhere. What is your basis for this assumption? You only have a single statistical point for life on planets...only 1 and you are extrapolating from that single point trillions of other points.

[@cristobalcardenas2418]

If a alien civilisation masters antimatter, do they need Dyson spheres?. Is radio signals the only electromagnetic band a civilisation can use? What about the fact that our own radio waves are pretty much faint at the edge of the horizon of the bubble, as there is a lot interstellar interference, it is a super narrow band and is very low power, is actually quite hard to notice.

[@tuttifrutti2229]

Dyson .sphère is a nice concept but that’s about it. You would need to mine millions of moons for the material. If we master light speed it will still takes uns years just to get to alpha centauri. If a civ has technology above this we are not even bâterais for them, they would not even look at us just like you don’t look at ants all the times 24-7 and wants to interacts with them.

[@krishanSharma.69.69f]

If alien civilization is that advanced to master antimatter, they would have mastered wormholes, teleporation and time travel too, then why are they not here by now? We can't detect them according to you, but they can if they are sufficiently advanced. No matter what you say most evidences are against the belief that we are not alone.

[@cristobalcardenas2418]

@@krishanSharma.69.69f 2E23 stars in the universe disagrees. There is so many constraints against an “easy detection”. Our technology is amazing, but still pretty basic when measuring the cosmos. It’s too early to claim we have seen all possible outcomes…

[@DanielRodrigues-nd4lu]

@@krishanSharma.69.69f master antimatter not necessarily implies mastering these other technologies. This is a huge leap ...

[@pennyhemens478]

@@krishanSharma.69.69f quite a few assumptions there.

[@nickmarciano1629]

I certainly find it more frightening if we are completely alone in the vastness of the Universe than if we aren't. Barring wildly exponential increases in human lifespan (arguably impossible), even the minute potential of genuine lightspeed travel begins to become useless beyond a certain (at this point arbitrary) distance. What a tragedy it would be to reach the conceivable limits of effective colonization at the edge of the galaxy (done through multiple generations of people on ships, fated to likely never meet any other member of their species spare those they were born among, nevermind altogether a member of another species, reproducing and surviving until their ship breaks down irreparably or their society/ reproductive potential does), just to reach a threshold so massive in lightyears that there could be no hope of anything being built or any method of societal stability ensuring a viable attempt. We may be able to build machines that go somehow, or even machines that carry viable embrios somehow ( a la raised by wolves), but in either instance we end up best case with a society raised by machines and ancient memories and also separated from "us" technologically and in every other regard by measurements of years that are staggering. I can't even imagine what "us" would mean on a society of that scale either. The distances are quite a problem, and something about us being alone in it with nothing to find remotely resembling us makes it worse lol

[@binks7831]

We arent alone, we have eachother.

[@MrGreekBlade]

We are alone.God make everything for us...aliens is demons pretenting to be aliens.

[@binks7831]

@@MrGreekBlade open your eyes

[@karino4173]

Funny what? We are all one. Just you exist

[@charleswalker2484]

There's no reason to think that technology can't surpass these limits given time. We will eventually crack DNA to the point where lifespans are vastly increased and IQ is incredibly high. Not to mention assistance from strong AI. We have not just the universe to explore but other dimensions and also time.

[@Twist_UAP]

Just remember we have never taken a clear picture of a different planet

[@ryanperrault8174]

* We are in first grade, they are in 9th-12th grade. We aren't alone, but we have to evolve to a point where we can be around them at a somewhat similar level. We aren't ready yet because we do too much dumb stuff...We are still learning. We are young. We have to earn being allowed to interact with other people outside of Earth.

[@chucheponce7222]

I think it’s ridiculous to think we are alone. Just look at all the animals and creatures that live here on earth.

[@chucheponce7222]

@@thegenesis6896 I highly doubted. You should watch ancient aliens on history channel

[@user-lv6rn9cf8m]

2:30, sure - but haven't our emission of radio waves peaked already, many years ago? Us humans are transitioning away from radio waves and whats to say an alien civilization ever even went with the "radio wave route"? When we are looking for alien radio waves it's because that's one of the few things we know how to search for, and we're hoping to catch a civilization during their short lived "primitive" radio wave phase? Or am I missing something here. I know I've heard people way smarter than me bring that forward as a counter argument.

[@recyclops1776]

An alien threat has risen from beyond the abyss, a swarm so vast that it blots out the stars. This horror fights neither for power nor territory, but rather to feed a hunger so insatiable that it will eventually devour the entire galaxy.

[@thaisativa1]

Sounds exactly like a waking life discussion

[@lucristianx]

Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying. -Arthur C. Clarke

[@SuperYtc1]

Everyone mindlessly copies this, but I actually think it's far more terrifying if we're alone in the universe. It wouldn't make any sense at all. It's very natural that there are other life in the cosmos.

[@odomisan]

There are so many things have to fall in place perfectly for life to start. Every life needs certain things to survive, and those very specific things have to be within reach before that life dies. And even when all these things do happen to fall within microscopic spec through the vastness of space of the entire universe, what reason do we have the non-life can produce life?

[@DJXBOYRD]

A professor in college told me “either we are the very first of intelligent life in the universe; or we ARE the last; either one is quite frightening”

[@TYSON99999]

Stanford Toruses, Venus cloud city, under ground Mars colony, moon base, terraformed planets/ moons/ asteriods in our solar system. Hope I see one of these before I die.

[@baileyskates]

Maybe the probabilities that we assign to things (like life evolving from non-matter) are just much much lower than we think. That combined with the rarity of other events, like developing consciousness, language, computational power, relative peace between nations, being relatively far away from advanced civilations so we have time to progress, surviving great filters, communicating in a similar way despite evolving in a completely foreign environment etc. May just make us a lot rarer than we think. Sure across infinite space and time those events will repeat but that doesnt mean we cant be one of the first few. There are a lot of potential reasons we havent heard from aliens yet. Lets just hope we survive long enough to find out why.

[@djp1234]

Lex, can you interview Bob Lazar? But by himself, without Jeremy Corbell.

[@joakimknutsson9188]

What is criteria for alien? Is it a specific molecule setup existing on another planet?

[@romannmorozov]

Im with him.. i think unfortunately we are alone..

[@Insectoid_]

How is this still being discussed when it’s very clear we are not alone

[@NuncNuncNuncNunc]

One detail rarely addressed in these conversations is the quirky geochemical evolution of the planet that enabled life to evolve on Earth as it did. I think Fridman touches on an idea that should be explored more. Not so much that thoughts come elsewhere, but that our building blocks come from elsewhere. It would be far cheaper to disperse self-assembling or potentially self assembling molecules than to send full beings. We've sent plaques into space and maybe they will hit some habitable planet and maybe there will be life there, and maybe that life will be intelligent enough to intepret our message. However it is more likely that should a probe reach a habitable planet, the other conditions will not be met. It may sound destructive and irresponsible, but sending life starter kits makes more sense - if life has already started, the existing life will (likely) outcompete the starter kit, if not, the starter kit may kick start evolution. Interstellar objects are ready made delivery probes. I'd think intelligent aliens would think to use them.

[@wllchng]

What about the Dark Forest?

[@blr141]

I think perspective is everything. How do we know we even have the means to communicate with higher intelligence beings? Does an ant in the forest have any means of contacting humans? The universe is so vast that if our entire galaxy was destroyed, there wouldn't be a significant difference. Even if we did come in contact with beings from another solar system, communication could be a huge barrier.

[@Age_of_Apocalypse]

I don't agree; I don't think we're alone. There has been alien civilizations and right now, there exist probably quite a few of them. What I don't believe is an alien civilization lasting for a long, long period of time and becoming very, very advanced. I think alien civilization - including us on Earth - have very, very short life. 😢

[@ricomajestic]

Prove it.

[@EB-ok3io]

So it turns out we’re not alone

[@Austinite333]

The muse is a universal collective which yes include us and our thoughts. Now space as we understand it is too vast to travel to other star systems. It’s possible we need to think “inter dimensionally” to understand that which we see and cannot explain.

[@cwescrab]

Trillions of planets in the habitable zone, it’s next to impossible we are alone.

[@Screamo_RC]

my biggest reasoning for the existence of aliens is the mere fact of dinosaurs, and every other species. They existed before us, will exist after us. The Universe is balanced seemingly in all directions. Only 1 planet of who knows how many planets has life?

[@relativerust]

Trying to reason something that isn't terrestrial from an extraterrestrial perspective is why this conversation always end up in circles.

[@ricomajestic]

Prove it.

[@Oside3000]

To say that Dyson spheres can’t exist cuz we don’t see them is flawed. The time it takes for the light to reach us from some of these stars is so incredible that the Dyson spheres may already be built but it could take a million more years for us to see the evidence of it.

[@laertesindeed]

Not even that. The guest in this video was incredibly stupid to think that Dyson spheres can be "seen" ....you don't see them, that's the point of building one. It captures all the energy being emitted from a star. It is like a closed box. You could have a statue of liberty 3 times taller than the diameter of the Earth sitting out there in space and we would not see it with any of our telescopes so far. It does not give off its own light, and objects that do not give off light are basically almost never seen.

[@DajesOfficial]

@@laertesindeed haha you are cute to think that you are smarter than Demis. Dyson sphere must emit light in infrared spectrum otherwise it would heat up proportionally to the energy it gets and soon reach the temperature of the star. No object emmits that much infrared light without emmiting visible light so spotting this one is beyond trivial.

[@laertesindeed]

@@DajesOfficial You are clearly trolling..... or you are ignorant. A dyson sphere is not an experiment in making a reflective battery to store energy.....it is an engineering method to collect and "harvest" the energy. Literally......the dyson sphere is intended to be used by a civilization that needs to consume "all" of the energy of their own star....so they are not able to let any escape in the form of infra-red radiation. If you are letting some escape....you don't have a dyson sphere. And no, the term dyson sphere does not belong to Freeman Dyson anymore; his own work being more accurately a proposal for dyson rings which are incomplete and hugely wasteful. Rather, a dyson sphere took on its own meaning in engineering which differentiates "spheres" from "rings" or "swarms".

[@aaronspencer5560]

can u just get lue elizondo on already!!?

[@charleswalker2484]

exactly

[@robertcartier5088]

An absence of evidence is not always evidence of absence.

[@oocloudoo1549]

Absolutely NO WAY in hell that we are alone IMPOSSIBLE. If you even have single shred of intelligence. You’d know it’s far more UNLIKELY that we are alone. Do the math!

[@HardKore5250]

universe conditions are hostile alien civilizations long gone

[@oocloudoo1549]

@@HardKore5250 your wrong. UFO’s are above our heads everyday.

[@elgatofabio]

By the laws of physics, as we currently conceive them, space travelling is only a dream, a fantasy. The limitations of our own biology and psychology are enough to make it impossible. It is possible though that the next level in terms of communication capabilities will be some sort of extra-dimensional breakthrough.

[@MegaMangaking]

I take issue with the notion that: "If they were there we would have heard them by now." because there are STILL tribes of humans on this very planet that are uncontacted.

[@robraw6648]

Could it be that there are in fact so many millions of signals coming at us that the interference is just too much… the wave bands just cancel each other out and we’re not able to discern any one signal?

[@thaisilverback]

Please specify the date on which the climate was not changing.

[@makedredd299]

You’re not going find anything in space without a space portal such as one located at Skinwalker ranch.

[@marsrocks247]

You bubble up thoughts, and selectively remove ones that are not useful, and over time develop a pattern of thoughts that is you. Your thoughts do not come from nowhere, your retroactive attempt to understand them does.

[@thomastv914]

What about the 9 crafts described by Bob Lazar?

[@dewdropin2010]

We are only seeing the past and we are only hearing the past.

[@itstherealjammin]

I literally can't handle knowing it's just us

[@Henry-ns4jo]

Narcissitic humans think we are so unique and so important. "We've searched enough" he says.

[@krishanSharma.69.69f]

I used to think the same way. But he is actually right. We are most probably alone, the only intelligent life form in "OUR" universe... physics is our enemy here.

[@charleswalker2484]

@@krishanSharma.69.69f Is there some reason you're ignoring the hundreds of millions of witness testimonies, footage, historic descriptions and religious depictions of non-human intelligence on earth? There is so much evidence of non-human intelligence (could be extra-dimensional not extra-terrestrial) on earth that its staggering. I don't know how anyone sincerely researching this can not notice it except to willfully remain ignorant.

[@tark8516]

Exactly! And how does he not get that we can’t even see space from the bottom side of earth. We would have to stand on the edge and there’s no way they’re letting anyone get close to the giant ice walls.

[@maherhanna-el-daher6080]

The dark forest theory might explain the silence.

[@Tinywars]

I find more unbelievable that there isn't other forms of life out there then their not being any at all and its just us. No way is it just us.

[@robinhammond6167]

It is possible that we could be the only intellegent forms of life, as compared to simple ones. I think it very likely that simple forms of life exist, but for complex life to evolve takes a very unique set of circumstances ( goldilocks zone, creation of complex cells, evolution and awareness). I think that, until evidence proves otherwise, we should consider ourselves the only species that is capable of technology at this time. It would mean that looking after this planet and all of it's inhabitants needs far more consideration than it gets currently!

[@novascotian9287]

Only we would be so naive to think that we are so special and extraordinary that life wouldn’t happen anywhere else in almost infinite amount of planets.

[@winstonsmith8240]

I have a sneaking suspicion the JWST will prove him correct. I'd like to be wrong.

[@TroyJScott]

Good Video. This gentleman has an unpopular opinion. Makes me glum to think we are it out there.

[@tomw485]

Eh I wouldn’t think too hard about it. Even if there are aliens they won’t be discovered in our lifetime anyway. Plus we definitely don’t want to be the planet to be discovered by some hyper advanced species of aliens. We’d be at their mercy completely. Sort of like a human checking out an ant hill.

[@laertesindeed]

It's not just an unpopular opinion.... it is an uninformed opinion based on logical fallacies and misunderstandings of the facts.

[@donaldfarmer8421]

I mean it's a physics chemistry and numbers game. There are almost certainly "aliens" out there. The question is how unique is intelligence at the level we're talking about.

[@charleswalker2484]

Aliens don't even have to by physical. There's no reason to think that only matter can hold consciousness.

[@alexven92]

If they’re talking about dyson spheres then they’re certainly talking about intelligent alien life 🙄

[@charleswalker2484]

@@alexven92 the fact that you smugly think that intelligent life can't be non physical shows how little you've researched this. Embarrassing tbh

[@imogensharma]

This man has a lovey manner.

[@imogensharma]

@Joan Ark Please elaborate

[@garylake1676]

Yes, charlatans do tend to have a lovely manner, that is how they survive.

[@krishanSharma.69.69f]

@@garylake1676 Do you think Elon Musk is a charlatan too?

[@garylake1676]

@@krishanSharma.69.69f Give me some context, do you always ask questions without context? Do you mean Musk has a lovely manner or he also believes we are alone? Come on, pad out the question... From my perspective, humans in two hundred years, went from no mechanical power to putting a man on the moon, which is truly amazing. We have spent the next fifty years staying on Earth, not even going back to our only satellite, not so amazing..... It's a bitch out there, very hostile, I think it is wrong to assume that intelligent life can escape the clutches of its Goldilocks Zone Heaven, which is the basic premise that is made to point out that we are alone.

[@skmo7072]

How about this. There’s just consciousness. Everything that we think exists is just a narrative within consciousness.

[@devgoswami1584]

This guy talking about climate change when we are more likely to blow each other up before that... As a physicist, he forgets how big space is

[@InfoSponge101]

I think some of the stuff Lex posts is for fully jabbed people, I mean hey they will believe anything!

[@andrespresas4068]

So the UAP’s are ours then? That’s literally one of the only things I can take out of his reasoning

[@zakmartin]

These scientists always get hung up on distances when they speculate about the possible existence of extraterrestrial life. Distance isn't the issue. The real issue is time. The chances of life evolving on two planets in proximity to each other *at the same time* is slim at best. Imagine a thousand lightbulbs, each bulb lighting up for a fraction of a second before going dark again. The chances of two bulbs lighting up at exactly the same time would be vanishingly small. Perhaps this is the same for civilizations: they "pop up" for a brief moment, then disappear forever. A moment later - which might be a million years, or a thousand million years - another civilization pops up in a "nearby" galaxy. The "people" in these galaxies don't see each other, not because they are too far away from each other in spacial terms, but because they are too far away from each other in time.

[@gustavovillatoro7970]

Finally someone with common sense.

[@SiimKoger]

4:30 Joe possessed Lex 😬😬

[@kelpy582]

Part of me wants there to be alien life, it seems very likely considering the amount of habitable planets. But the more interesting idea is that we really are alone. What would that even mean? Are we gods? Are we somehow a vital scientific part of the universe? A universe in which we are alone is very puzzling

[@pennyhemens478]

Passion is the enemy of precision.

[@tizzy6]

Just because you haven’t seen what you dictate to be technology to see fit as progression in a society that you have learned to live in… Doesn’t mean shit, for all the smart people in this world and all the things they could think of it’s amazing that they can’t think outside the box and understand for all the numbers that they comprehend they still haven’t got all of the variables in place.

[@lostinbravado]

"The First" I prefer the view that intelligent life like us which we can detect is very rare. So rare that it is less than one occurrence per Galaxy. And that's over billions of years. We may be the only intelligence like us in our Galaxy or perhaps even our Galaxy cluster. There are many other intelligent lifeforms like us but they are very far away. So far that they may as well not be in our universe because we won't be able to reach them.

[@lostinbravado]

Of course that leaves a lot of room. Anything that is not like us and exists in ways we cannot yet detect would be currently invisible. In fact, there may be a natural step where most species go immediately "quiet". In this scenario other life would have a reason to transition to a phase we cannot yet detect. An example would be a species that stopped consuming energy, building structures and spent all their time in simulations in computers. I think in view of human progress, we still have a long way to go to discount the existence of vast intelligent civilians. Perhaps there's even another intelligence civilization very close by and we are weeks away from discovering them. I can only think we are at the very beginning of a huge adventure.

[@GBuckne]

..first of all, I think the Dyson sphere would be a really inefficient way of extracting energy, second, we are not alone, third, despite the efforts of SETI were being visited without contact at least for most of us, hahahah

[@pirizzo]

If we are alone in the universe, even if intelligent life like us is found in one in a billion galaxies, that implies a much more profound statement than if we could see life in any capacity in the cosmos. The idea that we are alone in the universe in this way is incredibly daunting and probably wrong. I suspect it's wrong in one of two respects: 1) there is a limit to technological advancement and interstellar travel is essentially impossible, in which case even intelligent beings are just like any other animal, confined to their respective habitats; or 2) there is a way to transcend this reality in favor a much more user friendly one. I suspect that the second one is correct, in which case, aliens don't stick around. They move to another plane of existence. I also have a feeling that this transcendence relies on understanding the natural root of consciousness on a fundamental level, in which case reality itself could be manipulated through both emergence and perception.

[@swisstoni2913]

He has to say we're alone. All his research and funding would collapse if it turned out is was all obsolete.

[@armandoarciniega1462]

I think there’s alien life out there just in a different realm and governed by different laws of physics but that’s just me typing from my throne.

[@nikolai1714]

If aliens are a 500 light years away it is obviously a long time before we get an answer to the signals we sent out

[@TheScepticalThinker]

This guy should think again about his overall world view tbh

[@michaelb2132]

I love how everyone is so convinced of alien life that they immediately reject the possibility that we're alone without hesitation

[@setinuggets6681]

There are at least dozens of published solutions to the Fermi paradox. Why choose one unproved speculation over another? I happen to think the universe is filled with intelligent life that originated on separate evolutionary paths. Can you offer a proof humans are alone?

[@setinuggets6681]

In our solar system with apprx nine planets one of them, Earth, has intelligent life. If that 1:9 ratio holds throughout the Galaxy chances are near certain we are not alone.

[@jesterlead]

We are rare, if not unique. - B Cox. I definitely agree that it's likely there is a bunch of slime out there in the universe, but highly unlikely that any other planet had the opportunity to be semi-stable for 3+ billion years of that biology evolution to get to multi-celluar and intelligent / self-aware. Just outrageous odds against.

[@gadpivs]

All these unlikely scenarios to get to an advanced civilization aside, we can't even take abiogenesis for granted. To date, we have been entirely unsuccessful at creating a living organism from scratch. The fact that it happened only once on Earth, and all life is related to all other life with a common genetic blueprint, seems to indicate that it must be extraordinarily difficult for life to emerge in the first place. When you consider the vastness of the oceans, the idea that DNA at its microscopic scale emerged only once should give one pause. The chemical conditions for life to emerge would have been the same a few paddles away in the oceans, let alone thousands of miles away on the other side of the planet, so pressing the play button on the experiment should have resulted in trillions of cells emerging within several hours, or years at the longest. The fact that only one such cell arose indicates that life is a very difficult thing to create, and until we have a second example, we can speculate that there might not be any life anywhere else, and never has been. And before we get into the possibility that there were many independently emerging lifeforms at the dawn of life on Earth and the others died out before being able to leave behind any evidence, why doesn't life spontaneously emerge now, anywhere on Earth? No one has ever looked through a microscope to see an entirely independent living organism spontaneously form itself from a chemical soup. Why not?

[@leach5494]

What if Interstellar travel is not possible?

[@Michael-tq6xm]

Billions of billions to just one are the odds were not alone.