Why Have We Not Found Any Aliens? - with Keith Cooper

After six decades of examining signals from space, why have we yet to discover evidence of extra-terrestrial life?
Keith's book "The Contact Paradox: Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" is available now - geni.us/JFpy
For the past six decades a small cadre of researchers have been on a quest, as part of SETI, to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. So far, SETI has found no evidence of extraterrestrial life, but with more than a hundred billion stars in our Galaxy alone to search, the odds of quick success are stacked against us.
Keith Cooper explores how far SETI has come since its modest beginnings, where it's going and the assumptions that we make in our search for extraterrestrial life.
Watch the Q&A: • Q&A: Why Have We Not F...
Keith Cooper is a freelance science journalist and editor. Since 2006 Keith has been the Editor of Astronomy Now, and he is also the Editor of Astrobiology Magazine. In addition he has written on numerous space- and physics-related topics, from exploding stars to quantum computers, for Centauri Dreams, New Scientist, Physics World, physicsworld.com and Sky and Telescope. He holds a BSc in Physics with Astrophysics from the University of Manchester.
This talk was filmed in the Ri on 22 November 2019.
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[@courierdubois]

My favourite part of his lecture is around minute 32, when he talks about just how far (or how NOT far!) our radio signals have penetrated our galaxy. It's barely -anything-! I was glued to this lecture for the entire 51 minutes. Thank you, Keith!

[@Just.A.T-Rex]

About 125 lightyears?

[@vygotsky17]

Has anyone ever factored into the equation the difficulties for aliens in getting funding to look for us?

[@thehoogard]

actually it would go under the fraction of alien civilizations that send signals into space.

[@droptuned83]

Or the motivation.

[@anonb4632]

@maximumchron They're probably not capitalist either. It is unlikely their economics work the same way as our do. Ours are substantially different from a century ago, let alone a millennium. They may not even have a concept of money.

[@Danny19KILO]

@@anonb4632 Maybe they are at the point where they branch out on their own. Kinda like "Amazon" building a spaceship of its own and not leaving our solar system. At this point, traditions resources sounds more realistic than buying and selling with money.

[@bitcoin.crypto]

For those that have achieved space travel, having a far advanced telescope millions of times stronger than our Hubble telescope is likely. They probably mapped out plausible planets and set off to visit them like we travel on an airplane for a few hours

[@alisonvanschoor730]

It is a real gift to make a complex subject so easy to understand - loved it, thank you!

[@MrGeoffHilton]

Thanks, I was riveted to the screen for fifty minutes, I'd forgotten how much I used to love the Christmas Lectures. Worthy of my subscription. A Carl Sagan quote that has always stuck with me "humans may be the best beef animals in the universe" from his Cosmos series.

[@fuzzylogic33]

Humans taste of pork

[@purplexs2506]

A speaker who can expound at length, without notes; just a few slides to set the course for himself, and the audience. That alone makes this presentation a pleasure. But the content of Keith Cooper's talk is well worth our attention.

[@Sun_Flower1]

I loved this lecture! It randomly appeared in my feed. Thanks, R.I. This was a subject I never took seriously before. Very interesting.

[@rolandthethompsongunner64]

I’m still trying to take it seriously. And if we think shining lasers into space to see who or what might say hello could be the last thing we do.

[@flojos]

Randomly :)

[@adrianvidgen4261]

Can't take it seriously at all.

[@tommyodonovan3883]

He's a great orator, his brilliants and his enthusiasm shine through.

[@Narrowgaugefilms]

The problem of finding extraterrestrial civilizations is something like this: Let's say there was a single human village in Europe and another in Australia, but none other anywhere else. They both have a small fleet of ships and can travel a few days away before they must return to port and resupply. How long would both villages go believing they were alone in the world? Maybe first contact would come when their respective civilizations and technologies had spread so far that it was inevitable there be an encounter. Maybe that's how it will ultimately happen in space as well.

[@danielcrooks2408]

thats way too small of an example...as inevitably they WILL meet each other if they continued to develop in a similar time frame on the same planet. If for a brief instance another life form somewhere in a "close" solar system happened to develop at exactly the same time we did AND they managed to broadcast a signal which we could recognise, say they were in an area of space that was close by the time of which it would take to reach earth the civilization that sent it could be thousands upon thousands of years gone by. Think of what we have achieved in the last 200 years......now 5000....say 50000 ? What sort of advances would a civilization have IF they lived another 50000 years? IF we are around that long (and not been wiped out by a meteor or solar flare or the planet finally giving up for what we are doing to it....) we may be so advanced that we might not even notice it Also as a race we may be so far removed from what we are now, our current ideologies and perceptions of the universe may be so different to them as to have no common ground, i.e., they would either share knowledge or wipe us out, or we do the same to them.

[@danielcrooks2408]

Edit: I wrote this before listening to the whole thing.....i'm glad he went into alot of things I was thinking about.

[@davidhess6593]

Yes but Europe and Australia can't see each other.

[@biggusdickus5986]

Any Aliens contacting us first would have to have been far more advanced than ours, to develop necessary spacecraft and spend time getting here. We will never se any.

[@davidhess6593]

@@biggusdickus5986 Never is a long time. A lot can happen in never.

[@SoulDelSol]

I like the fishing analogy about trying to catch fish by scooping a small bucket into giant ocean. It's interesting because it doesn't only point to problem of volume studied vs entire volume but also issue of technique - any fisherman will be able to tell you that you could be surrounded by fish and still not catch one with a bucket. There are very specific tools say a rod and reel and boat even with those it still takes practice, expertise, putting your time in, knowing the right spots, etc to get a good one

[@Lyons_T-BAG]

He got that Analogy from Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I have no idea where Neil got it from! But it's definitely a fantastic way to sum it up.

[@dharmaqueen7877]

We know there are fish in the sea to be caught, because our experience and observation tells us there are. We cannot say the same for off planet life.

[@socksumi]

And time. What if those fish were spawning in that ocean thousands of years before we decided to go fish there... or thousands of years after. Separation, not only by the vastness of space but by eons and eons of time greatly reduces the likelihood of a potential meeting between species of different worlds.

[@PetraKann]

Or a giant net

[@Force1Com]

Or a big electrical bomb to incapacitate them

[@mrsportysomil]

That was a wonderful talk and the speaker's passion for SETI was quite evident! Thanks Ri for uploading it. This is why you're my all-time favorite channel on KZbin!

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

Wow! Thanks so much for the kind words, we're glad you're enjoying it!

[@thomashess6211]

@@TheRoyalInstitution Yeah, thanks for the disinformation. Our govt works with aliens. Our skies are filthy with UFOs. Shills like you are trying to somehow convince those who have never seen them that they dont exist. You are a dying breed.

[@geoden]

SETI was worth trying, but the poor results so far probably means it might be under threat of termination. If aliens exist, they are too far away and may not wish to communicate anyway. Even if close, say 50 light years. What would be the point of a two way 100 year contact lasting more than a human lifetime?

[@yonkel0]

@@thomashess6211 take your meds

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@geoden One-way communication is reading books from long-dead people. A positive signal could be transformative and help us survive. Knowledge of their history, geology and biology (evolution) would double our knowledge of those fields. Receiving an Encyclopedia Galactica would advance us a thousand years.

[@rauladdams5709]

Love this fellow! Excellent lecture ❤

[@yesvee7377]

He summarised everything we known so far and what we do about aliens, excellently put together, brilliant lecture! He should have his own youtube channel or podcasts of some sort

[@DanFrederiksen]

No he was completely wrong. Anyone even remotely aware knows that UFOs are real. Obama and Nasa administrator both effectively admitted that ET ships frequent our skies in late 2021. A bare minimum of thinking is allowed. You can start with the 2004 USS nimitz case. Its a solid starting point by which you can be certain.

[@DarthVader20201]

Aliens won’t survive in our atmosphere, hypothetically speaking….

[@DanFrederiksen]

@@DarthVader20201 Why not? all that I'm aware of are oxygen breathing. The grey race in the travis walton case has a dense moist low oxygen atmosphere where travis walton had trouble catching his breath, I'm guessing around 3% oxygen content and maybe double pressure so a relative oxygen pressure around 6-7% but he could function in it. In our atmosphere they might feel the oxygen is very rich, not sure if that would cause problems for them but I'm guessing not at least short term. We can breathe pure oxygen.

[@MrSCOTTtheSCOT]

@@DarthVader20201 We don't survive too long under water or in space, but we have constructed suits to assist our existence in such environments, same for going onto mars we will need suits, Id guess any alien civilisation that has constructed vessels for space travel, have also achieved creating environmental constructs to assist in living in environments different to that they evolved in naturally. Talking about suits, Darth you should be well aware of self contained suits to assist living.

[@johnrose950]

@@DanFrederiksen some great points very well put Dan

[@lesleyhahn8682]

I've had my computer on the Seti @ home project for about 20 years. Happy to be part of it!

[@humphrex]

funnily enough, the energy consumption of this program actually prevents us from ever reaching advanced civilization.

[@SuperYtc1]

Found anything?

[@blackeagle2458]

...and nobody has phoned home yet?

[@firebird6522]

Interesting, entertaining and easy to understand lecture!

[@helenamcginty4920]

I am amazed at how so many lecturers know their topic so well they can just speak with no notes.

[@blackholeentry3489]

In the late 60's, I witnessed a classic ''Flying saucer" fly low and slow directly over my house less than 100' directly above me.....never made a whisper...and was as big as my house. Although it was about 10 pm and dark, my unshielded front porch light lit it up quite well. On its bottom was a tight triangle of brilliant red lights. It wasn't until the next day, as I was telling coworkers about it, I suddenly realized that although that craft was very low, it never made a whisper. Now, here it is over 50 years later and cannot seem to shake that image from my mind. I had been working in my unheated shop and was intent on getting a hot cup of coffee, but how I wish I had given it the attention it warranted. Instead of spending time concerning ourselves about finding aliens, we should be concerned about the fact they have long ago already found us. BHE

[@738hickory]

Amazing story! I believe you! So many people even in our lifetime have experienced similar events, yet we have no concrete proof of their existence. I'm hoping that we can get that proof soon.

[@paulmurphy8993]

I love Arthur C. Clarke's take on this subject: Either we are the only intelligent life form in the universe or we're not. Either thought is terrifying.

[@alkh3myst]

Yes, many people are terrified at the mere thought of alien civilizations. This is why the world's various governments have been lying to us about UFOS/"UAPS" like...forever.

[@geoden]

Doesn't terrify me, why should it? we're never going to encounter aliens.

[@geoden]

@@alkh3myst Yes, its part of the age old story, ignorance fosters fear. Conversely, learning and knowledge gives confidence and kills unwarranted fear. There is no evidence of aliens, none. Any person with a small amount of scientific factual knowledge can understand why. 1. The Universe is vast beyond the comprehension of most humans, these are the scared ones. 2. If aliens exist, they are too far away to concern us in any way. 3. Our nearest other star system with a planet is 24.5 trillion miles away, it would take us about 80 thousand years to go there. (let that sink in) 4. Physical law is universal. Aliens are as constrained by these laws as we are. 5. We have a limited life span of around 100 years. Why would anyone of us care about or fear aliens who would much take longer than a human lifetime to to reach us? 6. Forget about all the 'pie in the sky' propulsion systems you may have heard of. They won't happen. We can't travel through space faster than the speed of light. End of facts.

[@Matt198d]

Either thought is only terrifying if you look through the lens of fear. Afraid to be alone or afraid of what aliens might do.

[@scooterbob4432]

@@geoden Just in case you see one, just ignore it. They avoid associating with us humans anyway.

[@fredb2022]

Thank you to our host presenter. Nicely done. Really learned a lot. Here’s hoping.

[@AHPSC]

Yep, a very good looking guy.

[@petergianakopoulos4926]

@@AHPSC meh

[@TexasNightRider]

I enjoyed this very thorough lecture of the search for other life in the galaxy.

[@Foxiol]

This was amazing to listen to.

[@markmars1587]

Food for thought. Great presentation, loved the seminar

[@vladimir0700]

Best SETI lecture I’ve heard-excellent

[@fredb2022]

Agreed

[@jdickson242]

Loving these talks!

[@AlokKumar-ym8bl]

Sir, many thanks for your noble research 👍 🙏

[@tonybegg7324]

I saw Carl Sagan at the R.I. The thing I remembered most was his comparison of how expensive an aircraft carrier was compared to how much we spend on this kind of research.

[@jump501]

I felt his nervousness but I hope he reads these comments that let him know he did a great job. Next time get some friends to come along and laugh at your great jokes!

[@raphaelandrews3617]

Great I love this channel and the lectures.

[@alexbowman7582]

The 2022 Nobel prize was won by three physicists proving that quantum effects are instant. So perhaps it’s possible to send quantum messages quicker than instantly meaning that using quantum entanglement it may be possible to send messages instantly, this would have the advantage/disadvantage of the transmitter not only knowing the answer before he transmitted the question but the receiver knowing the question before he’s received the question.

[@lorenafrusciante3307]

Fantastic and informative lecture ! Thanks

[@kevinholly5517]

Brilliant lecture! What a lovely man! Audience somewhat devoid of humour though😀

[@EleanorPeterson]

Hi, Kevin! I was listening on headphones, and there's quite a bit of response in the audience, but there are three things to consider: The first is that Keith is wearing a voice microphone specifically designed not to pick up extraneous noises. It's a lecture, so there's no ambient chuckling being recorded for an audio engineer to mix into the main feed. And besides, adding 'canned laughter' from a so-called live studio audience is a crime punishable by death and a fine of £2.35. The second point is that this is happening at a famous venue. People in such a 'hallowed' hall will be nervous; parents will have told their children not to fidget and to be on their best behaviour.🤐 It's not a stand-up comedy club or a political rally; only barbarians would stamp and whoop in a library or cathedral. 🤫 The third and perhaps most important thing to consider is that this is in England. Unless it's attending a winter pantomime (which is very loud, rude, crude, chaotic, with lots of shrieking kids and audience participation), a typical British theatre audience sits and listens in silence. Good manners, what? 🧐 Interrupting a lecture, music recital or intense theatrical production with noticeable outbursts of laughter or applause is extremely bad form. It breaks the spell. One nods and smiles, or purses one's lips and frowns whilst appreciating the performance.🤔 In a situation like this, a lecture, one listens and does not join in. The applause (if any!) comes at the end. An American audience (for instance) might see this as being terribly cold and discouraging, but that's why we made sure that there's a lovely great big ocean separating our two nations... 😁

[@jeyDsixx18]

I think they shoot u for any outbursts…

[@markstevenson1646]

I was at this lecture and we were all pissing ourselves, oh god how we laughed.... I hope this makes you feel better

[@lukefish7562]

@@jeyDsixx18 sadly the truth

[@beingjohn392]

@Elli P Your comments were great, no… ‘spot on!’ Right up and until the America bashing. I have some sad news for you cheeky girl. It wasn’t England that put the pond between the two countries, but then I’m a polite monkey.

[@mikekenney8362]

Nicely presented. 3 possible areas of response to the title query: they don’t exist; they don’t want to be contacted; we don’t have the capability. Either of the first two options obviates the third. The Drake equation applies but does not prevail

[@mottthehoople693]

or aliens are not as advanced as us so lack the means to even perceive us much less respond to us. Unless aliens are going to be travelling inter dimensionally or via a wormhole the distances are just insurmountable

[@SonatasysInc]

Thank you. Very compelling presentation. Learned a few more things. Best regards!

[@laniakea1541]

This guy (K. Cooper) is brilliant. What a talk! He connected so well with the audience. What a speaker!

[@ToniLixSim]

he is not smart, u are idiot who believe on fake things, so sad for u and many people like u :(

[@laniakea1541]

@@ToniLixSim I never said he was right or that I believe what he says. Just saying how well he connected with the audience, but well, you REALLY wanted to call me idiot, that says a lot about you buddy

[@ToniLixSim]

@@laniakea1541 u say this guy is brilliant. brilliant liar or? if u understand he was lying that mean u learn and change ur mind, same as people who listen to politic and tv media and read news paper are idiots too,, until they learn they are losing time with fake things

[@ToniLixSim]

@@laniakea1541 i play games after i have explored and learn too too many things, i did not sleep more than 3 hour for a many years, all that was because i like to learn things, i know not sleep is bad but dont want to stop learning, that was not stay away to play games as u wrote and deleted. and i do not live on my family house it is my house, im sorry for that u did not like it my comment but i like to say the truth without care how u will take it, better talk bad to me and u learn something than if i talk nice to u and u still not understand the truth.

[@jamesleem.d.7442]

I hope he is not related to D.B. Cooper ??

[@staggerlee9362]

A person can get lost on here on Earth and in spite of wanting and trying to be found, combined with rescue squads in full force out looking for them, yet we often still can't find them. Even full sized planes with tracking devices have accomplished this. Now expand that to the universe and think about it again. We just don't understand the scale.

[@AVerySillySausage]

Yeah, we also need to realise that the classic sci-fi of galaxies teaming with intelligent life is just fantasy, life is definitely not that common, let alone intelligient life, if it was it would be impossible for us to not be aware of it already.

[@timq6224]

simplest reason -- the window for detection is miniscule. We make "noise" but it would barely be discernible past our own solar system. 200 years later, we will have the technology to not make any more noise as we switch to greener methods. A 200 year window, in which a alien would have to be looking directly at earth and intentionally searching for specific data (which we don't even know what we are looking for yet) is rather a long-shot by anyone's standard.

[@sandal_thong8631]

Finally found a video on this subject that mostly agrees with me. The Drake Equation is a thought-experiment. We have insufficient data for many terms. We need the telescopes to give us a survey of Earth-sized exoplanets out to 500 or 1000-light year radius. Once we get a number of oxygen-atmosphere planets then we can multiply by 100 or 50 respectively for distance, or by fraction of stars to get a number for the galaxy. Meanwhile if we can seriously listen/look for radio or laser emissions from more stars we might find evidence of alien civilization, which could help us unify and survive, even if they don't give us their history or tech.

[@sandal_thong8631]

@SittingMoose Shaman I don't think sulfur-breathers will come evolve to live on land and build radio telescopes, especially without an ozone layer.

[@sandal_thong8631]

@SittingMoose Shaman You need to say what you mean then with regard to my OP which said: We can use astronomy to look for f-sub-l, the fraction that have life (as evidenced by oxygen atmospheres), and N directly, by finding just 1 radio/laser message we'd go from N≥1 to N≥2.

[@GalZiv]

Best lecture on the subject. Amazing.

[@KeithCooper-Albuquerque]

This is a great post for several reasons -- not the least of is that I share Keith's name!

[@m.g7408]

Its gonna be an exciting day the first contact or proof of alien life in other places in the universe. Its just fascinating stuff. Hope to be alive to see that day.

[@icarus6424]

The Contact Paradox is a great book. Well worth a read.

[@nathaliafernandes5093]

loved the lecture, very informative and really fun

[@Zagy21]

Good fluidity and knowledge.

[@macklee6837]

That was really good. I enjoyed that

[@richardelson3261]

Fantastic clear and humble - well doe

[@ivorbiggun710]

A really interesting and compelling lecture by Keith. As a child I watched Carl Sagan's Christmas lecture which Keith alludes to. He was a fantastic speaker and it made a big impression on me.

[@greggstrasser5791]

Sagan was an establishment hack. Look into the hatchet job he did on Velikovsky. Sagan wasn’t a Scientist.

[@unusualsheep9626]

Wow beautiful speech. Felt like a breath of fresh air to here somoene explain seti and the obstacles it faces.

[@AstromuonKuki]

Awesome lecture. Thanks Ri.

[@tarlcabbot2551]

More like this, please!!!!!

[@carloscastanheiro2933]

Amazing lecture, thank you.

[@reganbigmuzzabaker1992]

Very good ,well thought out , i enjoyed this lecture

[@wronski11]

28:17 I saw the printout of the wow signal when I was in highschool and always wondered what it meant. After all those years I finally learned what it means. the number/letter code is intensity (x above background) vs time.

[@solexxx8588]

Just knowing that there is other life in the galaxy would be wonderful. I can't imagine that we are alone. I hope they find us before we are extinct.

[@TheMercury79]

There is a book called "Rare Earth" by Ward & Brownlee. Read it and consider again if we could be alone. Or just look up the rare earth hypothesis online

[@papabilby8855]

Ignoring the UFO presence is the most unscientific thing I can think of. I’ll be glad when science grows up.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

welcome to 2021!

[@dannygjk]

So based on unproven identity of observations you came to conclusions?

[@papabilby8855]

@@dannygjk Yes I have come to conclusions. Now I wish science would stop ignoring the topic and come to their own.

[@philipmelton7182]

This is my favorite channel these days... It said 'the great filter!' I never clicked faster. Good job, again, R.I!

[@richardsmith1284]

I like the idea that if they're advanced enough they know there's something out there to be afraid of so they're very quiet.

[@Bigjshifty08]

This makes me think about that episode of "Bob's Burgers." I wonder sometimes if we should be sending out signals at all...or if it's best to just "hide" best we can out here. Curiosity is an enigmatic thing.

[@richardsleep2045]

Thanks for this brilliant talk. All power to Seti and the exoplanet watchers.

[@GH-oi2jf]

Richard Sleep - They have no power. What have they produced? Nothing, really. They have proved that other stars have planets, but we knew that anyway.

[@falconquest2068]

@@GH-oi2jf That's a rather narrow minded view. If they were to announce a major find tomorrow would that change your mind?

[@DarkShroom]

@@GH-oi2jf Seti didn't prove that... SETI mainly monitors radio communications, searches for evidence of technology

[@DontMindMe_]

Rough crowd at the royal institution. Nobody even chuckled at his jokes and kick lines. Lol.

[@KillingDeadThings]

Was thinking they were a bit of a tough crowd myself. Kinda felt sorry for him.

[@jasmineluxemburg6200]

They smiled, I think. They were those kind of jokes. He is nervous and us star gazers are kind hearted folk !

[@GhostofCicero]

Had he been famous they would have laughed at the lamest jokes; I watch a lot of these. Someone could probably write a paper on why people do that.

[@SocksWithSandals]

Enough real science, we want to get back to our gender studies class.

[@chrisdell3472]

K Sonny lol fr

[@donatolepore3520]

The Fermi paradox, is the best argument for our reality to be a simulation , simply because the sheer number of galaxy and stars make it a certainty of Intelligent life in the universe .

[@tonycook7679]

but what is it a simulation of then?

[@donatolepore3520]

@@tonycook7679 what you touch smell feel and see . The point I am making is Fermi is wrong and we are not alone .

[@donatolepore3520]

@@tonycook7679 that is my point the only solution to the paradox is a simulation which is counter intuitive to what we as humans experience.

[@joegeorge3889]

one of the best lectures ever

[@bearcountrypublishing5303]

Really? It's all lies and propaganda designed to be misinformation. It's a joke. You must be a gov't agent.

[@VideoManiacExtreme]

Amazing Lecture

[@cotlonplaz96313]

His conclusion = radio waves would be the best way to communicate long distance because they can travel through obstacles. Aliens = radio waves travel through obstacles, anyone can find us, let's not do that.

[@DwayneShaw1]

The Fermi Paradox is not all that paradoxical when you consider the vastness of space and time that makes other lifeforms inevitable also provides plenty of room for our paths to never cross.

[@trudytrew6337]

The only paradox is that it is taking so long for the scientific orthodoxy to show an interest in ufos.

[@DwayneShaw1]

@@trudytrew6337 I doubt you could demonstrate there has been no scientific interest in UFOs. The fact that scientists do not engage in unproven speculation about aliens, and don't consider anecdotal evidence as proof that these supposed aliens are violating the cosmic speed limit is called doing their job. There is no more reason for scientists to take a position on anomalies in the sky being aliens than for them to announce claims of Jesus toast proves anything about religion. I have no doubt scientists have looked at the information, and found it interesting, but lacking in any facts that would meet the standards of the Scientific Method.

[@ssing7113]

I wish I could live in this lecture hall in person!

[@Joaocruz30]

Great presentation! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Greetings from Earth!

[@donjuan2621]

The vastness of the universe is unimaginable.If we would all consider that even with our telescopes in space we are only viewing such a small part of the universe at a time if you were to think of the ocean as the universe.Our observations would place us in the basement of the beach house

[@paulnamalomba194]

P to the

[@dhl0706]

If that beach house were a miniature and earth the size of pluto covered in oceans and then you're only talking about the observable universe.

[@donjuan2621]

@@dhl0706 amen brother

[@thomasbisset4544]

i just imagined the universe. twice.

[@greggstrasser5791]

@@thomasbisset4544 I can’t imagine you are willing to do that.

[@mackawy]

to summarize this fascinating talk.. there probably are few needles looking for each other in a giant endless and expanding haystack..

[@johnhenry292]

Gripping, great delivery!

[@martinroskilly9994]

Good lecture; I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[@titannb9027]

Wonderful talk. Thank you for this and wished the audiences laughed at his “jokes” 😅 he did a good job 👏

[@bettina4374]

From all we know so far it’s more likely that there is other life in the universe than there isn’t. At the same time it sounds totally unlikely to me that we will ever be able to make contact due to distances and the relatively short time from when civilizations are advanced enough to detect each other until the time they vanish. Even if we could find the right planet, ‘they’ could be extinct for millions of years or life might develop in millions of years when there is probably no intelligent life on earth any longer. SETI is a good idea and a nice effort but without major funding it sounds like it’s not even a drop in the bucket. It’s probably more likely that someone will find us. Maybe they already have, and we were so boring for them (bc we are in the Stone Ages compared to their technology ) that they only put us in their catalog and moved on to find something really interesting.

[@titannb9027]

@Roger Felton we are better looking than who? 😂what are you comparing humans against?

[@westnblu]

@@ill_be_frank stars are bigger than planets and emit light. Its easier to see stars . Exo planets whilst theorized were only confirmed in the 90s.

[@Music1222]

@@bettina4374 actually, we have no idea if life is more likely than not. We do not have the data set.

[@SoulDelSol]

@Roger Felton that's a good point, they're likely beautiful animals.

[@J7116R]

It's quite possible that microbial life exists elsewhere in the universe. There is a HUGE leap from this to intelligent life, which is exceedingly rare. Too many possibilities for extinction ranging from massive solar ejections, to asteroid collisions to orbital anomalies and so on. Also, anything suggesting life or the possibility of life on another planet requires the realization that that evidence is perhaps hundreds or thousands of light years old, perhaps even much older. It may not be there now,

[@richardcaves3601]

Just so.

[@XtremeDirtRacing]

We see the light but not the details once it’s so far away. Life is here, life is there. It’s impossible for us to be the only life source.

[@hjong8830]

I don’t understand why some people assume intelligent life would evolve at a similar rate as us. Who knows? We could be the slowest ones to evolve in the universe.

[@nickelpasta]

Or we could be the fastest to evolve, no one knows.

[@shookreeseeree4]

Maybe alien life has a short life span..maybe alien life is not organic like us..maybe they are so far far away..our signals hv yet to reach them..maybe they are not intelligent enough to pick our signals..maybe aliens were present before humans existed..so many possibles..

[@paulburns1333]

Or the quickest.

[@raidermaxx2324]

more like we are the first to evolve intelligence. The universe is super young. The era of "life" is not for a few billion years yet.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

it's a great question. humans took 4b years to evolve... or at a more fine grained scale, it took us 1m years to go from chimp to champ. parts of our evolution were very rapid... but why were we (apparently) the only ones in 4b years to evolve metal tools!?

[@baronvonteuchter1412]

Tough crowd!! Nice talk, I enjoyed it. The guy was clearly nervous but he did really well. 👍

[@pierrepellerin249]

I know why. Imagine 2 ants, one that represent us and is on the beach in Florida and 1 that represent an alien civilization that is on the beach in Australia. What are the chances that they find each other? Well, with the size of the universe which is infinite, the odds of meeting aliens are worst then my ants example.

[@TheBushdoctor68]

That's a bit crooked comparison. Ants do not have any means of long distance communication, so there's nothing to detect. But I agree with your argument. The distances in the universe combined with relative short use of radio waves by a civilization makes it almost impossible to detect others.

[@pierrepellerin249]

@@TheBushdoctor68 It was an image to show how improbable it is to meet anyone else in this crazy vast ever expanding universe.

[@Curt_Randall]

but with your analogy there are only 2 ants. In our vast infinite universe, I would like to believe there are more than 2 civilizations.

[@pierrepellerin249]

@@Curt_Randall Ok, lets put an ant on the moon, 2 on Mars, 1 on venus, a couple on some of Jupiter's moon and Saturn's moon. There, up to say 10 on a section representing say 0,000000000001% of the current universe, are their chances of meeting any better? of course not. Copy this tiny part of the universe a billion times or 0,1% of the universe, you now have 10 billion plus civilizations with the same odds of finding each other as our original 2 ants. Are the chances of them meeting any better? Well the answer is no and you now have 10 billion civs... Now there is always the possibility that 2 civ spawn so close to each other that they meet but it is still improbable.

[@brontehauptmann4217]

yes but there is only one ant

[@mattwuk]

Too nervous too relax and enjoy listening to in this, calm down son, thanks

[@danarves7452]

The concept of a Dyson sphere was dreamt up by science fiction writers. Originally the late great scientist was talking about a different kind of astronomical phenomenon. He states this in an interview which is available on KZbin :)

[@baileealligood7862]

Hardly, They are called ball Castor Canister Vacuums. The ball was first used in joints and then as rollers and wheels. Dyson's sphere is an old engineering design for earlier adaptions of the ball in a joint or as a roller. The Dyson sphere is just another adaption of an earlier invention. The ball castor gives the vacuum a smooth even movement.

[@Piddlefoots]

It is not possible to completely enclose a star, the gravitational forces will riip it to bits, we Humans already know this the math does not lie with this, this is before we mention the amount of mass / material needed to do it, is literally more than all of the planets in our entire solar system.......Yea that sounds doable, sure........No species will ever build one, ever its just absurd to an actual real world engineer........

[@matthewpollock9685]

1:19 Ah Dude, Brah, spoilers!!! Sorry, that's silly. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us.

[@patrickdegroot3692]

Love the new colours. New things showing up. Patience. It is time.

[@stuanhay]

Thanks very much for sharing this. Enthralling lecture and content. I am a firm believer that we are not alone and this lecture has reinforced this view to me. However | now do not believe that we have been visited, purely down to the fact that there is 0% compelling, recorded information to reinforce it, especially in this day and age of most of the population having access to smart phones.

[@adrianvidgen4261]

I don't think you have been looking hard enough and in the right direction. Remember NASA is dedicated to keeping this sort of information from us (Never A Straight Answer). Try some YT sites: Secure Team 10; MrMBB333; Wages World;

[@735]

Great lecture

[@lthammox]

What a wonderful communicator.

[@lisaschuster9187]

My favorite quote of all time, which will appear in my first book next year is a full sentence from the opening quote in a large “coffee table” style book on map-making by the “National Geographic Society”: MARS WAS THE FIRST PLANET TO BE MAPPED. We’ve got some catching up to do, mates!

[@michaelhunziker7287]

Sounds about right in Biden's America today

[@quixote5844]

@@michaelhunziker7287 go away troll.

[@anthonyzeedyk406]

Had the answer in the first two minutes, I'm impressed.

[@billnorris1264]

Well-done.. Initially it felt like the promise of NEW and engaging insights, but perhaps those are being saved for part 2 ? Good for an INITIAL introduction to a synopsis of the subject though..

[@ShortFuseNL]

Yes! I totally agree. Too bad i guess.

[@billnorris1264]

@@ShortFuseNL Right friend..Relevant probative opportunities were ignored ..One missed educational moment among MANY : His estimate was 100 technological species in our galaxy.. Thats a rational guess using the Drake equation, and it makes interesting and enlightening predictions.. The Milky Way galaxy is about 140,000 light years across, and 1000 Light years thick..Plugging in 100 technological species and using SIMPLE math, predicts a random civilization distribution to be about ONE per EIGHTY BILLION CUBIC light-years of space, almost perfectly absent ! If we were in the middle of a sphere that measured an unimaginable 3,000 light years in diameter, and containing tens of millions of stars , we would likely be the ONLY intelligent species inside. Nuances like these could have helped to explain the IMMENSITY of the problem in finding them... A humble opinion..

[@billnorris1264]

@@ShortFuseNL and I don't mean Mr. Cooper any disrespect, he's obviously a highly intelligent individual.. I think his presentation was fine, like high schoolers might hear in an assembly , but it could have EASILY been made more information dense and interesting in the same amount of time.

[@granthubick8684]

The universe is multitudes larger than 140,000 lightyears across.

[@billnorris1264]

@@granthubick8684 good catch friend. I meant the Milky Way galaxy and edited the comment appropriately.. thank you.

[@jinxtacy]

One of my favorite presentations on the idea of other life in the universe and why we haven't made contact was Peter Mulvey's story about "Vlad the Astrophysicist."

[@iaov]

I suspect life in the universe is pretty common, however life that has evolved to the point of technology and that can manipulate the electro- magnetic spectrum is extremely rare.

[@roderickshaka3626]

I have the same belief

[@Ansonidak]

We haven't even been looking for ETs long enough. It's like looking out your window, not seeing any cats, and saying there is a paradox.

[@jo-jobighiker5552]

The standard test to determine intelligent or non-intelligent life: Are they afraid of vacuum cleaners?

[@pnyx7930]

I agree. I’m terrified of vacuum cleaners; I must be a genius.

[@exiletsj2570]

Asking this question is like dropping your car keys out of a plane at 30,000ft, then asking why you can’t find them, by staring out the window.

[@robinsonnait4252]

false parabale. do you thing key is superintellegent entity? don't look for it if they don't want to be found. case close.

[@DamianReloaded]

The actual shock is seeing the galaxy not being overpopulated by super advanced civilizations. it's akin to having dropped keys out of a plane at 30,000ft every second during the life span of the universe and asking why you can't see them by staring out the window.

[@frankensteinzombie9828]

Your absolutely correct @exile well put

[@CaseyFinSF]

But this question has already been answered... They're already here, and the United States military acknowledged this fact with their disclosure of a UFO encounter with pilots from the Nimitz aircraft carrier in 2004. The government finally acknowledges they are real, and they have a technology that is way ahead of what we currently have in today's military inventory. This is now a fact that has been verified by our own military command for the first time in the 70 years we've been.seening them in our skies. UFOs are REAL. They represent a technology that no nation on earth currently has in any of their flying invemtory, including ours. This leads all storý And since the above is true ,, the only logical conclusion must be that the occupants of these machines are from outside our planet. And therefore they would be considered "extraterrestrials ".

[@jennah7724]

Exile 1 agreed well put

[@jamesleem.d.7442]

A great lecture -- Crikey !!

[@454ss67]

So long and thanks for all the fish!

[@li2uo]

Lovely lecture, I've come back to watch it for a second time!

[@JAMAICADOCK]

It's a bit like saying, why didn't scientists in the 1700s see dust-mites? It's all about equipment. I mean up until a few years ago, we didn't even know if exo planets existed As telescopes improve, we're probably going to find alien life. Whether they tell us, is a different matter.

[@MicahPotts]

Well said.

[@Galiuros]

Evolving technology and intellect are what cause the advancement of our understanding of the physical world.

[@carlhuck7721]

it's all about equipment. THAT'S WHAT YOUR WIFE SAID

[@oldeharbinger]

Agreed but, there's also the matter of expectation. Science seems to expect that everyone "speaks" our language. Not only the wrong equipment, wrong language. Presumptuous.

[@laurasfar18]

A secret like that will come out quick. Informations that proves extraterrestrials is out there, is worth millions.

[@Obiter3]

Yup, that pretty much covers it. You have to respect this man, his lecture still holds up 2 years later.

[@F16_viper_pilot]

Wonderful presentation and Q&A session. Some great thoughts presented and discussed.

[@vidform]

If the laws of physics apply to the entire universe and not just our Earth, then I think life on other planets could be the same as ours. If no "happy accidents" cause the lifeforms to evolve from single-cell to multi-cell organisms, extraterrestrial life may look like an early version of our planet. Maybe there are dinosaurs on other planets. If a meteor never crashed into their planet, the dinosaurs would continue living to this very day.

[@Dexerion]

The star and solar system or energy system of the planet with the available elements could make a ton of different combinations to harbor different types of life.

[@Force1Com]

Maybe it's already destroyed itself

[@tonyshortland8812]

@@Dexerion like the ton of different life forms which have evolved on earth

[@mjeffn2]

You mean like a bilaterally symmetrical bipedal ape?

[@s.f.morris7331]

I think its so strange how earth is the only planet in our galaxy that has life. wonder why all the other planets are even here for. there isn't even a local star everything we see in our sky is exactly the same as what the Romans and early civilizations gazed upon and are light years away. it really seems like something or someone dilliberatley put us here and made sure we were isolated.i honestly think were not ever gonna know the truth because its obviously been blocked, erased and vague. I dont think we were even designed to comprehend our existence and origin.

[@debbieanne7962]

Great lecture, well done!!

[@toffeefan1971]

That was great! I find myself watching too many of these UFO conspiracy programmes so it was nice to get a more level headed perspective about the possibility of alien life.

[@davidt2291]

We are the evidence that life is out there.

[@astralcowboy5511]

‘It turned out it was dust’ Bummer.