Speaker 1: The more we humans look out into the sky, the
Speaker 1: more it becomes apparent that there is nothing looking back
Speaker 1: at us. We seem to be utterly alone. This is,
Speaker 1: to say the least very weird. Our universe is big
Speaker 1: enough and old enough that it should be teeming with life.
Speaker 1: Lots of people have come up with answers. Perhaps the
Speaker 1: aliens are hiding from something we don't know about, or
Speaker 1: maybe we're being kept in a galactic zoo without our knowledge.
Speaker 1: But maybe the simplest answer is the right one in
Speaker 1: this case. Perhaps we humans really are the only intelligent
Speaker 1: life in the universe. What if the only reason we
Speaker 1: humans are alive is because of a series of flukes
Speaker 1: and coincidences so improbable that they will never be repeated
Speaker 1: again anywhere else. Well, that would make us pretty special,
Speaker 1: and it would also put the entire future of intelligent
Speaker 1: life in the universe squarely on our shoulders. One we
Speaker 1: humans are on the eve of spreading out into the galaxy,
Speaker 1: of freeing ourselves from the bonds of Earth. To settle
Speaker 1: new planets and secure the future of intelligent life. All
Speaker 1: we have to do is survived that long existential risks
Speaker 1: are a distinctive Or maybe unique kind of risk in
Speaker 1: that we're playing for everything. If we screw it up,
Speaker 1: we screw it up for a large chunk of the universe.
Speaker 1: One thing is certain is that there's a huge amount
Speaker 1: of energy in it, and it's expanding it very question
Speaker 1: the speed of light, and so you would have no
Speaker 1: warning of it coming. And basically Earth will be sears
Speaker 1: to pieces and we just don't know. So I just
Speaker 1: don't think it's worth taking the chance. Join me. Stuff
Speaker 1: you should know is Josh Clark for the End of
Speaker 1: the World, a tempart podcast series that explores all the
Speaker 1: ways humanity could come to an abrupt an untimely end. Sure,
Speaker 1: we're all going to die someday, let's make sure it's
Speaker 1: not on the same day. M