1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Gradios How Stuff Works. Welcome back 5 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 1: to the show. My name is Max, my name is 6 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: they call me Ben. We are joined as always with 7 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:33,279 Speaker 1: our super producer Paul Michig. Controlled deconds. Most importantly, you 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: are you, You are here, and that makes this stuff 9 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,279 Speaker 1: they don't want you to know. At the very end 10 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 1: of a whirlwind week as we record this, so as 11 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: we've been doing recently, we just want to check in 12 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: with each other. Matt, how's it, how's it going? Let's 13 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: go really well. Just finished an interview with John Douglas, 14 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: the FBI profiler from mind Hunter, about Wayne Williams. It 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: was awesome, nice, nice, looking forward to hearing that. Know, 16 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: how are you doing? Okay? Um me and you had 17 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: a little bit of a Chicago adventure doing stuff for 18 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: ad sales and I just got back. I want to 19 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,040 Speaker 1: learn more about that. What we basically just present kind 20 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: of a faux podcast for advertisers so they understand how 21 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: add ads work and podcasting. Because you think it'd be obvious, 22 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: but a lot of people don't really. You know, old 23 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: school marketers are more into like radio and like television 24 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: and more traditional forms of advertising. So we literally do 25 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: a kind of pretend podcast with panelists who are executives 26 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: in our company, and then you go and some are 27 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: great on Mike, which is yeah. And you know, the 28 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: week before that, I was in Texas, uh doing it, 29 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: doing a similar thing. So we've been we've been on 30 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: the road, and I think, well, I think all of 31 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: us will end up traveling over the summer. But of 32 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: course the best part of this crazy job is getting 33 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: together to hang out with with you three in the 34 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: studio and all of you listening to Day. But if 35 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: you say I love listening show, I also love communicating 36 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: in my own way. You know, I I have ears, 37 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: but I also have a voice, and I have something 38 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: to say. We have got your back. You can call 39 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:13,359 Speaker 1: us directly. We are one eight three three st d 40 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: w y t K. Leave a message. You've got three minutes, 41 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: and if it takes more than that, just call back 42 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: and feel free to get weird with it. If you 43 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: don't want us to use your name, make sure to 44 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:29,399 Speaker 1: say that in the message. Today's question are we alone? 45 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: This is one of the most profound, disquietening, fundamental questions 46 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: of the human species, and since before the dawn of 47 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: recorded history, we have explored this question via stories, theories, myths, 48 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: and legends about what could be out there on the 49 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: edges of the map, or what could be out there 50 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 1: in the stars, even before we understood exactly what uh 51 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: galaxies and solar systems and stars are actually like. And 52 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: it's an interesting it's an interesting evolution, right, because we've 53 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: talked about this in the past and episodes on UFO 54 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: abductions and fay culture, right, and the whole idea of changelings. 55 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: The characters of our myths and our folklore are not 56 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:18,640 Speaker 1: set in stone, not near as much as we we 57 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: sometimes think we had for thousands and thousands and thousands 58 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 1: of years legends about demons and angels and supernatural beings, 59 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:32,519 Speaker 1: and now we still have these same sorts of phenomena 60 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: occurring in our oral traditions, but the stories have shifted 61 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: from from the fay or the fair folk, true stories 62 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: about extraterrestrials, extra dimensional entities and so on. And if 63 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: you look back at those stories, the fascinating thing is 64 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: the story of an alien abduction. Aside from the window dressing, 65 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: it mirrors beat by beat the story of being abducted 66 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: by the l or faith folk, you know, pulling a 67 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: Van Winkle. But the the ideas, we were always looking 68 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: for intelligent non human species, something very different from us, 69 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: that shared one fundamental trait sapiens wisdom, sentience. This search 70 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: continues today. Spoiler alert. You will run into many people 71 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,479 Speaker 1: who feel like they have cracked the case, but they're not. 72 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 1: Everyone agrees with them. Yeah, it's true. And the search 73 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 1: actually in real life continues today. And what is it now? 74 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: Keep losing track? Yeah? Uh? And some people really thought 75 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: that we'd found an answer to this question unequivocally, but 76 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:46,040 Speaker 1: then something happened. Well what happened? Here are the facts. 77 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: So starting in two thousand seven, uh, there are these 78 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: things called fast radio bursts that radio astronomers started to detect. 79 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,559 Speaker 1: It's a phenomena. It's different. It's very different from other 80 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: types of radio waves that are intercepted by some of 81 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: the instruments that we use, like the one you guys 82 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: went out to the Green Bank out in West Virginia 83 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: and the Radio Quiet Zone. Those things are always looking 84 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: and they'll find things well. In particular, these are called 85 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: fast radio bursts. Let's give you the story behind it. 86 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:19,720 Speaker 1: There's an astronomer named Duncan Lorimer and his student David Narkovic, 87 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 1: and they found the first official fast radio burst when 88 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,840 Speaker 1: they were looking for pulsar data. So they're looking for 89 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: that and they end up coming across this weird little thing, 90 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: this quick little millisecond first. Uh, and they're like, man, 91 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: what the heck is that stuff? Oh, And then Duncan says, 92 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: let's call it a Lormer burst. They are They are 93 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: commonly called Lormer burst, but we don't know how how 94 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 1: it went down like that. You're right, Matt. It's it's 95 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:52,840 Speaker 1: typically gonna last one too, maybe maybe a few more milliseconds. 96 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: And it's also a transient pulse. That's important because that 97 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: means we cannot predict where these things will occur, which 98 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: which comes into our story in a big way. Uh. 99 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: And since we can't predict where they occur, we don't 100 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: know when to look for them or where to look 101 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: for them, And we also don't know what causes them. 102 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: We just know that they are one of the largest 103 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:22,920 Speaker 1: discharges of energy that we have witnessed. And it's so 104 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: weird to think that they're that large. But they only occur, 105 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: or at least we only measure them in these tiny moments. 106 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 1: It's literally like the blink of an eye. One of 107 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: these objects can let loose as much energy as the 108 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: Sun puts out in an entire year. Let's say that 109 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: doesn't impress Let's just say that, but that would be 110 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: weird if it didn't. But you know, if you're a 111 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,280 Speaker 1: really hard sell, it's also enough energy to run, Oh, 112 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: a little thing called humanity. Ever heard of it? The 113 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: human race, civilization as we know it's. Yeah, run humanity, 114 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: not in ancient times, but run twenty nineteen uh, human 115 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: life across the in it for ten trillion years uh, 116 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 1: without any change in its strength or any variants over time, 117 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: which is impressive. But that's that's also telling us that 118 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: there's no gearing up to whatever is causing this, you 119 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:17,119 Speaker 1: know what I mean. We don't see arise the peak 120 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: that Matt's talking about there all over the sky. They're 121 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 1: not concentrated on the plane of the Milky Way. They're 122 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: also very very very very far away. And that's why, 123 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: despite being so powerful, the strength of the signal reaching 124 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: Earth is actually one thousand times less than the signal 125 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: that would come from a mobile phone on the moon 126 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: trying to call one eight three three S T D 127 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: W Y t K. But feel free to give it 128 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: a shot if you want. Just think about that. The 129 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: moon is so far away half of us can't get 130 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: service in like the airport, so that so it's amazing 131 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: that's something like green Bank can sense a signal that's small, 132 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,560 Speaker 1: and the only reason we can, since this signal from 133 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: billions of light years away, is because it is so powerful. 134 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: On the CETI website, they describe the actual energy that's 135 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: being measured by our instruments to detect one of these 136 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: is less than the energy you would take for an 137 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: ant to move its leg, basically the the amount of 138 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: a TP that that would take. That's what they're detecting. 139 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: It's smaller than that. And yet because it's so small, 140 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,840 Speaker 1: we can we understand because of the distance how strong 141 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: it is. That that's mind blowing to me. So what 142 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: could be doing this? These are happening now as you listen. 143 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: These are happening now. We don't know how many are 144 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:43,559 Speaker 1: occurring because the way we end up finding them. People 145 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: have proposed a number of possible explanations, and the big 146 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: ones right now would be it's a black hole. It's 147 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: it's just it's something with a black hole. And then 148 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:57,199 Speaker 1: someone else says, no, that's malarkey, that's space age malarkey. 149 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: It's obviously rotating neutron stark, all right, And and more 150 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,199 Speaker 1: people come in, uh no hashtag no sukalos and say 151 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: it's extraterrestrial life. Yeah, it sounds like a special dressing. Yes, 152 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:16,839 Speaker 1: I'll have the I'll have the cops salad six the sucalos. 153 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: But this is pretty strange stuff, right. I mean, we 154 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,199 Speaker 1: have to stress that these are not live events because 155 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: they're billions of light years away. That means, if we 156 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: look at a timeline, this occurred a long, long, long 157 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: long time ago and took the speed of light to travel. 158 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:37,079 Speaker 1: Here reminds me of that episode of the Adventures of 159 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: Pete and Pete where there is an alien character that's 160 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: in the school and um, they're obsessed throughout the episode 161 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: about Johnny Unitis and this football game that gets transmitted 162 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: and it takes like years for this alien kids civilization 163 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: to see the broadcast because it's and so they're only 164 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: just now seeing it. And they think Johnny Unitis is 165 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: like this current. You know it's are because they're like 166 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 1: seeing it because it takes that long for radio waves 167 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: to travel through space. It also reminds me of this 168 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:07,600 Speaker 1: may be a deep cut to some of us, but 169 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:12,080 Speaker 1: I've recently rewatched this and the nostalgia made me love it. 170 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: Do you guys remember that film Explorers. It's like those 171 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: three kids build a spaceship. Yeah, Chuck, I mentioned it 172 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: on movie Crashing. I've never seen it or even heard 173 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:25,319 Speaker 1: of it, and I looked it up briefly and it 174 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: was sort of a contemporary with like flight of a 175 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 1: navigator like kind of that. Also the main characters named Ben, 176 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: but they get these dreams from what turns out to 177 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 1: be a UFOs and I won't turns out to be aliens. Sorry. 178 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: UFO could be anything, right, it can be a hot 179 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: air balloon. But this, this is important for our purposes 180 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: because just like you're talking about with that uh, that 181 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: gap in time in transit of information, the aliens in 182 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: that film are also fascinated with very old television and 183 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: radio programs that made it out there in space, and 184 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: it's an endearing story. Unfortunately, the science is a little 185 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: tougher because as as those signals travel from Earth, they 186 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,720 Speaker 1: tend to dissipate and they can get lost in the background. 187 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: Noise man, Are you're saying that Pete and Pete got 188 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 1: it wrong? Then I'm saying that you know they're no 189 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,960 Speaker 1: Bill Nye. That's fair. I think it's unfair. I actually 190 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: missed the Pete and Pete but one of uh, one 191 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:29,720 Speaker 1: of my friends, one of our mutual friends actually is 192 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: uh still head over heels or I should say over 193 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,079 Speaker 1: the moon for this show for Pete and Pete's right, 194 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: and let us know if you liked Pete and Pete, 195 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: that's one where the one kid had the tattoo, right, 196 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:42,719 Speaker 1: yea Petunia, you can make a dance. It's also the 197 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:44,679 Speaker 1: first place I ever heard of who Iggy Pop was 198 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 1: because he was in the show. He played none as 199 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:48,840 Speaker 1: Dad and he would just build in the credits as 200 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: Iggy Pop. I'm like, what kind of name for a 201 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: person is Iggy Pop? And then it turns out he's 202 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,439 Speaker 1: this total crazy anarchist punk rock guy. That's like that 203 00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: guy the main actor in Young Einstein. His name was 204 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 1: Yahoo Serious And that was the breaking point for me 205 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 1: as a child when I was like, hmmm, I think 206 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:13,320 Speaker 1: sometimes people in Hollywood don't use their real names, but 207 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:15,719 Speaker 1: but yes, this is this is strange stuff. It's not 208 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 1: it's not live. We're we're getting these details way after 209 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 1: they happened. And additionally, our searches were largely not live 210 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: because we were, Matt, as you said, we were going 211 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:32,840 Speaker 1: through this archive data. So what Duncan Lormer found was 212 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: information that he pulled from a survey of different pulsars, 213 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: and it just happened to contain this information of what 214 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 1: we now call f s B s. And the thing was, 215 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: as soon as we found one back in oh seven, 216 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:53,439 Speaker 1: we started finding more and more by astronomers and places 217 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:57,679 Speaker 1: around the world had found sixteen. And as they were 218 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 1: discovering more detecting more, scientists began to realize that there 219 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: must be more to this fast radio burst thing than 220 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,320 Speaker 1: they originally thought. So by two thousand twelve, Victoria Caspy 221 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: of McGill University figured that as many as ten thousand 222 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: fast bursts occur every single day across the sky. And 223 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 1: yes they're powerful, um but they're also incredibly short, and 224 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 1: that's why they're very difficult to catch, except when they repeat. 225 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: Oh and we'll learn about that right after a word 226 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:46,040 Speaker 1: from our sponsor. Here's where it gets crazy. It's called 227 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 1: this part of the episode. Don't call it a comeback 228 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: just because that's a cool phrase. In November of astronomer 229 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 1: named Paul Scholes at McGill University in Canada found ten 230 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 1: and there's a quote here, non periodically repeated fast radio 231 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: pulses in archival data gathered in May and June by 232 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: their Cebo radio telescope. So these ten bursts that he 233 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,960 Speaker 1: discovered have dispersion measures and sky positions consistent with the 234 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: original burst, which was called f RB one to one 235 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:25,440 Speaker 1: oh two that was detected back in two thousand and twelve. 236 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: This means that this series of bursts, unlike any other 237 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: radio burst discovered beforehand. It's repeating from the same place, 238 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: the same massive discharge of energy is happening over and 239 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: over again. And what they also figured out was that 240 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: like the burst the original burst, in each of these 241 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: emissions has a plasma dispersion measure that is a full 242 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: three times larger than anything possible for any source within 243 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,440 Speaker 1: the Milky Way galaxy. That means that whatever this is 244 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:11,480 Speaker 1: is so far away it's not even in our galaxy 245 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 1: and it's happening, Uh at least you know, ten or 246 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: eleven times, probably more that we haven't caught this. This team, 247 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: Schultz's team thinks that finding this rules out self destructive 248 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: cataclysmic event, you know, like the kind of trick that 249 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: can only happen once, like a magician actually sawing someone 250 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: in half. Well, yeah, it's like it reminds me of 251 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: just an explosion right when you're when you're thinking about 252 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:42,800 Speaker 1: that amount of energy that gets released. If you think 253 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 1: about the the impact wave or the wave that gets 254 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: sent out whenever there's a massive explosion here on Earth, 255 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,240 Speaker 1: like um, that wave is essentially what that radio burst 256 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 1: would be once it reaches Earth. That's what we're what 257 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:57,760 Speaker 1: you're thinking. So you can only have that one time 258 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 1: with the initial explosion or when when a stark lapses 259 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: into a black hole, you get that initial burst of 260 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: energy that would be sent out. But like you said, 261 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 1: been it doesn't happen over and over and over and 262 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 1: over again, at least not with those kinds of explosions 263 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 1: that that happened out in the cosmos. Right, you explode 264 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 1: a star, it's gone, and the thing is to other 265 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: folks This meant that there might just be some intelligence 266 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: um manipulating, directing actively causing these fast radio bursts, which 267 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 1: is mind boggling and the implications. But this one burst 268 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: is not or this one location burst is not the 269 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:39,280 Speaker 1: only example. Quite recently, this year January twenty nineteen, as 270 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 1: we call it on this planet, astronomers discovered a second 271 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:47,440 Speaker 1: source of repeating fast radio bursts. They named this one, 272 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: uh fast radio burst one eight zero eight one four. 273 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: They're not being they're being super specific with the names, 274 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: and they have a system, but it's not as anthropomorphological 275 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 1: as naming hurricanes, right. And this was found at a 276 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: place called the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment or CHIME, 277 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,880 Speaker 1: which is way better named than f RBO one four. 278 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: So they found six bursts between August and October, consistent 279 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: with origination from a single position in the sky. This 280 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: meant that this discovery was still very very recent for 281 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: our society. Uh. This meant that just in in less 282 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: than in less than fifteen years, they had found things 283 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 1: that were fundamentally changing their understanding of what these bursts were. 284 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:47,119 Speaker 1: Because when they detected this stuff, they said, well, we 285 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 1: found one and we thought that might have been exceptional, 286 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,160 Speaker 1: But now we found two that are exhibiting the same traits. 287 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:58,640 Speaker 1: We think there may be a substantial population of points, 288 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,680 Speaker 1: specific points in the Uni verse that were billions of 289 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: years ago omitting these massive bursts of energy for milliseconds 290 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,440 Speaker 1: at a time. And yeah, what in the heck could 291 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: cause that? Get to the aliens. Get it's time for 292 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: the aliens. We're all waiting for it. So some researchers 293 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,119 Speaker 1: have argued that the mysterious phenomena called fast radio burst 294 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:25,920 Speaker 1: could be evidence of advanced alien tech. Specifically, the argument 295 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,560 Speaker 1: is that the most um I would say, the most 296 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,399 Speaker 1: academic argument, the most sophisticated argument is that these bursts 297 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 1: maybe energy leakage from planet sized transmitters that are powering 298 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: interstellar probes. Yeah. This comes to us from a guy 299 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:46,680 Speaker 1: named Ave Loebe at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 300 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: and he had to deal with we've we've talked about 301 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,960 Speaker 1: this before. He had to deal with some opprobrium and 302 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: some uh some side, some side, I at the very 303 00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:01,520 Speaker 1: least from his colleagues in this discipline. Because often in 304 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:05,440 Speaker 1: the volunted halls of ivory towers, certain types of research 305 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:11,960 Speaker 1: are considered off limits or fundamentally um wrongheaded. Yeah, there 306 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:17,160 Speaker 1: we go. Wrongheaded. Oh that's an old Bush administration quote. 307 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: Wrong Headed hit the mainstream during the Bush administration as 308 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,360 Speaker 1: a way to say not that something was factually inaccurate, 309 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: but that it was dumb to talk about it. So 310 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 1: someone would say like, well, you know, it turned out 311 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:32,840 Speaker 1: there were no weapons best destruction in a rock, and 312 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: someone else would go, you know, that is wrongheaded, because 313 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: why don't just say wrong before dumb. It's like a 314 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: very diplomatic, couched kind of term, right, And it's also 315 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,959 Speaker 1: removing removing response responsible from yes for the fact that 316 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,720 Speaker 1: whatever they're saying is true. You just don't think it's 317 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: right headed. But no one ever said right headed either. 318 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:59,639 Speaker 1: It's just wrong headed. But yeah, so so obvious. Loop 319 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: and team have to have to deal with some criticism, 320 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 1: a little bit of controversy. But their defense for this was, 321 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: you know, they said, look, we're not we're not crazy 322 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:13,600 Speaker 1: people anymore crazy or unstable than the average astrophysicist. We 323 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:18,080 Speaker 1: think there's nothing wrong with this question, and they explained it, 324 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,160 Speaker 1: uh the following way. We've got a great quotation from them. 325 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: Fast radio bursts are exceedingly bright given their short duration 326 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: and origin at great distances, and we haven't identified a 327 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: possible natural source with any confidence, and artificial origin is 328 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: worth contemplating and checking. That's it. It's just saying no, not, 329 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: it's not a dumb question. It's worth looking into it. Yeah. 330 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: And and in the article from the Smithsonian, the Harvard 331 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,720 Speaker 1: Smithsonian Center where they're talking about that, they you know, 332 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,480 Speaker 1: they make a great point of sciences about checking a 333 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 1: hypothesis and deciding whether or not there's enough evidence to 334 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: support that, and then can you repeat it right? And 335 00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,360 Speaker 1: in this case, I think we do ourselves as humanity 336 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:02,520 Speaker 1: a disservice if we completely throw this out the window, 337 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:05,400 Speaker 1: rather than at least checking a box and saying, okay, 338 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: well it's not this thing, but let's at least conceptualize 339 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 1: what it could be if it were absolutely absolutely That's 340 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 1: how investigations and research work. I was personally. You can 341 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 1: find a paper online, read the full paper, and it's 342 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: pretty fascinating. I was personally um persuaded by the possibility 343 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,720 Speaker 1: of this. They built a pretty defensible argument. So Loeb 344 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,400 Speaker 1: has a co author, a guy named u Monosity Lingham 345 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: is from Harvard, and what they looked at was just 346 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,640 Speaker 1: the feasibility of something. Is it possible to build something 347 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:43,880 Speaker 1: that could do this, that could create this much energy? 348 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:45,919 Speaker 1: And keep in mind when you're learning about this, that 349 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: this is within our understanding on this planet of how 350 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:55,200 Speaker 1: physics works overall, and exactly how the what the limits 351 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: of technology are, right, because if someone were building something 352 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,400 Speaker 1: that could create uh fast radio burst, they would be 353 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: on a way different position in the kardashianv scale. So 354 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: here's what they found. They said, Okay, could you build 355 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:14,880 Speaker 1: a radio transmitter strong enough to give even that very 356 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:19,080 Speaker 1: very weak signal to us this far away? And they said, 357 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 1: you know, if the transmitter were solar powered, it would 358 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 1: have to be absorbing sunlight on an area of a 359 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:31,480 Speaker 1: planet twice the size of Earth. And if so, think 360 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:35,160 Speaker 1: about the total land massive Earth. Multiply that by two. 361 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: If you took all the sunlight that was falling on 362 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,960 Speaker 1: that much land, you would generate enough Again, from my 363 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,639 Speaker 1: our understanding, you would generate enough power to uh to 364 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,199 Speaker 1: make this thing kind of happen. So you would have 365 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:55,159 Speaker 1: to construct it. That's the other thing. How would you 366 00:22:55,240 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: construct something that is two Earth's worth of fully functioned 367 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: solar power? Right? And I would I would just argue that, 368 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:08,880 Speaker 1: you know, I'm look, I'm no Harvard Smithsonian physicist here, 369 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:11,960 Speaker 1: but if you're talking about Kardashian scale, then maybe you're 370 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,640 Speaker 1: talking about, you know, something that could harness the entire 371 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: power of a star. You know, what are those things 372 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:24,879 Speaker 1: called Dyson spheres? Uh? You know, it wouldn't have to 373 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 1: be the planet that's absorbing the sunlight. It could be 374 00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: the thing that's absorbing the star. You just in general, right, right, anyway, 375 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,080 Speaker 1: cut out the middleman. Yeah, I'm just saying that's a 376 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:39,199 Speaker 1: very good argument. Well they so they said, okay, we 377 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 1: know that our species can't build that yet, but according 378 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: to the laws of physics as we understand them, it 379 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: is possible to build that. And they also said, okay, 380 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: well all right, we know energy wise it's possible. But 381 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:57,360 Speaker 1: if we built this transmitter, how how can we actually 382 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:00,800 Speaker 1: make it work? From an engineering perspective, which of people forget. 383 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:03,359 Speaker 1: And that's one of the most important things in any 384 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: construction project, whether we're talking autonomous vehicles and space shuttles 385 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,960 Speaker 1: or a good a good paper clip, you know what 386 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,119 Speaker 1: I mean. So, if you're an engineer out there listening, 387 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: thank you so much. Thanks for saving the show clip. 388 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: It's just such a perfect object. I'm a flexible straw fan. Yeah, 389 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 1: I'm easily We're talking about this earlier. I think I 390 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: am so easily impressed by small, smart inventions. Um I 391 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:31,439 Speaker 1: feel about crazy straws. I love them too crazy for me, 392 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: too crazy. They're definitely a statement. Yeah, they just make 393 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:38,199 Speaker 1: me uncomfortable. And someone who's like, I want all this 394 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 1: soda eventually, but not all at once. I wanted to 395 00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: be a drink and a form of entertainment. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. 396 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,399 Speaker 1: It's like someone saw the board game mouse Trap and 397 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: they said, what if I could put that between me 398 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:54,879 Speaker 1: and everything I drink? So let's talk about the transmitter. 399 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,640 Speaker 1: That was like, so, what happens if you can even 400 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 1: build one of these things? If your harness that Yes, 401 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,199 Speaker 1: from the engineering perspective, how could you make something like 402 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:09,159 Speaker 1: this work without immediately burning itself up in a fiery inferno? 403 00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: You know you would be you would be capable of 404 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: keeping it running from multiple uses. According to this paper, 405 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:22,119 Speaker 1: if you've created a water cooled device that was also 406 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,399 Speaker 1: twice the size of Earth, so we're four earths deep now, 407 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:30,719 Speaker 1: to make one location that could send uh f RB 408 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: fast radio burst and then that's that's just the fact. Okay, 409 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 1: so that's the crazy news. There's no proof that happened, 410 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:42,359 Speaker 1: but it is technically possible, right, that's technically correct. Someone 411 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:46,560 Speaker 1: say the best kind of correct to say that a 412 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,359 Speaker 1: civilization that was way better than us could could potentially 413 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,200 Speaker 1: build it. But it doesn't answer the biggest question, why 414 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: would you build this? Yeah? Why the hell would you 415 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,119 Speaker 1: double size the Earth with all that water and all 416 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 1: that just land mass to gather solar energy and then 417 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: make a giant radio burs Why? Why the hell would 418 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,720 Speaker 1: you do that? How about powering interstellar light sales? There 419 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: would go about that? What is that? Yeah, that's a 420 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,880 Speaker 1: good question. Um. So the amount of power that it's 421 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,439 Speaker 1: involved in such a device would be enough to push 422 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:23,280 Speaker 1: a million tons of payload, or about twenty times the 423 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: largest cruise ship on Earth. And uh, here's a quote 424 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,639 Speaker 1: from Lingham that's big enough to carry living passengers across 425 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,960 Speaker 1: interstellar or even inter galactic distances. So to power a 426 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 1: light sale, um, the transmitter would need to focus a 427 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,440 Speaker 1: beam on it continuously. It would be like wireless transmission 428 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: of this energy. Yeah, this this stuff is fascinating, Um, 429 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: because there's there's some stuff we're gonna talk about a 430 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: little later about attempting to use this kind of technology 431 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:55,679 Speaker 1: here on Earth, and some plans to make use of 432 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 1: it there. And just to back check, really good, this 433 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 1: is a completely um the a radical form of technology. Right, 434 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: solar sales are at this time, they're they're in a 435 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:10,879 Speaker 1: drawing board phase. Uh. The idea is that you can 436 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:16,240 Speaker 1: propel a spacecraft or some object through through the ink, 437 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: which I like to call space through through the ink, 438 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: using the radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large mirrors. 439 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,960 Speaker 1: So you're pushing it with light like you were saying, no, 440 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: it's it's turning it into a space sailboat. And a 441 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,440 Speaker 1: good analogy would be like a sailboat, where the light 442 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: is exerting the force on the mirrors in the same 443 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:41,480 Speaker 1: way that wind would be exerting force on a sail. Yeah, 444 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: And in this way, it's almost like a giant laser 445 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: giant laser beam. Now, let's keep in mind that whatever 446 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 1: speed an object like this would be traveling at, it 447 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: would not be the speed of light. It would be 448 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:01,040 Speaker 1: much much, much much slower. And if there were people 449 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:03,440 Speaker 1: living on that thing to pay on where they were going, 450 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,200 Speaker 1: or there were entities living on a thing to pay 451 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,159 Speaker 1: on where they were going, then it would be um, 452 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,400 Speaker 1: it could very well be something like that sci fi 453 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:15,680 Speaker 1: concept of the arc, you know what I mean, where 454 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: the people who actually are keep saying people, where the 455 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: entities who actually arrive at the destination or the endpoint 456 00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:29,919 Speaker 1: are generations removed from the people who began the journey. 457 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:31,920 Speaker 1: So back to how this power would work. To power 458 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 1: such a thing, the transmitter would need to shoot the 459 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,560 Speaker 1: focused beam of this energy at the sale continuously, and 460 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:43,240 Speaker 1: to earthly observers this would appear in the form of 461 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:47,320 Speaker 1: a brief flash caused by the sale and its host planet, 462 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:51,960 Speaker 1: star or galaxy all moving in relation to us relative 463 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: to us right, so we wouldn't have a consistent vantage point. 464 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: I would also would also wonder if it's possible to 465 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 1: pan on how how this will work out technologically speaking, 466 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 1: I wonder if it's possible for them to just shoot 467 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: beams not continually, not continuously, rather but shoot them in 468 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: burst to give it, you know, and to give it 469 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,280 Speaker 1: a little more thrust, and then maybe even adjust the 470 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,720 Speaker 1: sales and hit a burst again if it needs to 471 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: make a turn. So as a result of what you 472 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,280 Speaker 1: were saying, all that that beam is moving across the sky, 473 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 1: but it only points at us for a for a moment, 474 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: you know, like a flashlight in the dark, and repeated 475 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,880 Speaker 1: appearances of the beam which are have been observed, right, 476 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: it can't really be explained through the normal things like 477 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: the death of stars or or the collapse of black 478 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: holes or something. These repeated appearances might give us clues 479 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: about an artificial origin. Now in the paper they are 480 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: very clear to say that this is all speculation, and 481 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,600 Speaker 1: other investigators pooh pooh and tut this all the livelong 482 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: day and a tiske it they do, they tisk as well. 483 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,400 Speaker 1: There's a been a there's a lot of tiscree and 484 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:11,240 Speaker 1: topology going on, because the big question is, again, what 485 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: could motivate any sort of society or civilization to produce 486 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: signals that are so intense they can be seen from 487 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,080 Speaker 1: other galaxies. There was a great line on this, and 488 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 1: I think it was maybe uh Space dot com or 489 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: Science News where they said this would be like the 490 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: sinking Titanic using a flare gun bright enough to be 491 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: seen from Mars, Like what would you what would you do? 492 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: And this also reminds me of that that old sci 493 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: fi trope, which I think is possible. Uh, you know 494 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:50,440 Speaker 1: where we finally get a signal back from all the 495 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:53,040 Speaker 1: setty stuff we've been we've been sending out there and 496 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,600 Speaker 1: all these other radio signals and it's coming from inside 497 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,960 Speaker 1: the house. I was gonna say, Um, the actually, the 498 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: way the story goes is they get a message back 499 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,960 Speaker 1: and it translates to s they'll hear you, which is 500 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: I mean, that's the great filter. Right. But but okay, 501 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: so we've got the aliens and the big news for 502 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,880 Speaker 1: today's episode is the aliens are actually possible? Is that 503 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:21,040 Speaker 1: extraterrestrial thing? From what we understand about physics and the 504 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: nature of the universe, Uh, this extraterrestrial angle is possible. 505 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,640 Speaker 1: It's not proven, but more and more people are saying, 506 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: maybe we are not the best qualified to search for 507 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: signs of life. Let's ask our our new, uh quickly 508 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: up and coming children of humanity for some help. Let's 509 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:51,360 Speaker 1: throw artificial intelligence into the mix. What are we talking about. 510 00:31:51,480 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 1: We'll tell you after a word from our sponsor. So 511 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 1: on August, astronomers with the Breakthrough Listen Project, which is 512 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:10,640 Speaker 1: a one hundred million dollar project to hunt for Science 513 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: of Intelligent alien life. Uh, these folks spot at twenty 514 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: one repeating light pulses. Uh, we've been referring to form 515 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,480 Speaker 1: this whole episode Fast Radio Bursts f RBS, and they 516 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:27,640 Speaker 1: were emanating from the dwarf galaxy f RB zero two. Um, 517 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,960 Speaker 1: and that was all within an hour's time. Right, So 518 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:35,320 Speaker 1: let's talk about Breakthrough Listen for just a second to 519 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: to establish what they are. Breakthrough Listen is, according to 520 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,480 Speaker 1: its own website, Breakthrough Initiatives dot org, the largest ever 521 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:51,960 Speaker 1: scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth. Uh. 522 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: They are searching on a scale that's unprecedented in any 523 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:02,320 Speaker 1: other publicly available uh forums. So they're also being aided 524 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: by CETI. They are all in general, Yes, yeah, they are. Uh. 525 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:10,520 Speaker 1: They have been surveying the one million closest stars to Earth, 526 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:14,640 Speaker 1: the center of the galaxy, the galactic plane, and they 527 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: listen to they listen for at least messages or signals 528 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: from the one galaxies closest to our own, closest to 529 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,400 Speaker 1: the Milky Way. So they are not messing around, and 530 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 1: they have they have another program that was a particular 531 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,600 Speaker 1: interest to us, Right, Yeah, there's one called breakthrough star 532 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,240 Speaker 1: Shot that is actually exactly what we were talking about 533 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 1: in the last section about solar sales and using some 534 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:41,920 Speaker 1: type of light beam like a laser of sorts of 535 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:47,840 Speaker 1: focused energy beam too to send these very tiny, very 536 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:51,240 Speaker 1: very very tiny probes out through space with a solar sale, 537 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: um by shooting, by shooting this thing at them. And 538 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: it's another thing. Um, this star shot project, just like 539 00:33:57,440 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: the one we talked about before Breakthrough listen is again 540 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: a hundred million dollars and maybe it's combined funding. We 541 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 1: haven't actually seen their books, but um, they got a 542 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,960 Speaker 1: lot of money from that Uri Milner character, this Russian 543 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:13,319 Speaker 1: born billionaire, and they're talking about you would only have 544 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:15,640 Speaker 1: to aim this beam because of the energy you would 545 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,439 Speaker 1: produce at the solar sale for nine minutes. And once 546 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 1: you've done that, then you get this thing up to 547 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 1: roughly twenty of the speed of light and it's just 548 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:28,920 Speaker 1: going to travel out through to some other star system, 549 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,560 Speaker 1: maybe to Alpha Centauri, maybe somewhere else like that, um, 550 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: just to see what's out there. Proximate B that they're 551 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 1: just gonna send out probes, these tiny little baby probes, 552 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,320 Speaker 1: and they're thinking it will take about thirty years roughly 553 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,879 Speaker 1: to make this kind of thing happen. And by the way, 554 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:49,279 Speaker 1: billions and billions and billions of dollars, billions and billions 555 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 1: and billions and billions and billions and billions for with 556 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: our current technology. They're saying, it's roughly eight point four 557 00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:57,799 Speaker 1: billion is what it will be to actually make this 558 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:02,279 Speaker 1: laser beam thing happen. Um in the out dude. The uh, 559 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:06,200 Speaker 1: the area that they would need is roughly a kilometer wide, 560 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:12,560 Speaker 1: um thing to to actually hold this laser to transmit 561 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:17,680 Speaker 1: the light. Yeah. Yeah, And so this this is a 562 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:22,400 Speaker 1: fascinating project. No, like a lot of these ambitious projects, 563 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: they're probably if they get to it, they're probably going 564 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:29,960 Speaker 1: to run over their deadline. That's probably not gonna be 565 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,160 Speaker 1: in the next thirty years, or at least if it 566 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:35,360 Speaker 1: happens the next thirty years, it'll probably be them working 567 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:40,960 Speaker 1: with someone else. Future historians will rightly think that it's 568 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:46,120 Speaker 1: ridiculous that so many great ideas that are feasible were 569 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:50,759 Speaker 1: held back because of our obsession with generating money. Uh 570 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: not the you know, the economy is not the best 571 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,919 Speaker 1: plan we've had, but I guess it's got us where 572 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,920 Speaker 1: we are so far, right so best of luck to listen, 573 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:02,719 Speaker 1: star Shot and all the folks that break Through. If 574 00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 1: you happen to be listening today, would love to interview 575 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:09,680 Speaker 1: you about some of this stuff. So when when I 576 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:12,520 Speaker 1: read about star Shot, one of the things that I 577 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:15,239 Speaker 1: noticed that we should definitely point out is again, this 578 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,920 Speaker 1: would be an ARC scenario, you know, like depending on 579 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:22,880 Speaker 1: where they fly to. Yeah, yeah, it's a one way shot. 580 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:30,200 Speaker 1: So these researchers applied machine learning techniques to a data 581 00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:34,239 Speaker 1: set from August of the researchers a Breakthrough Listen, led 582 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,440 Speaker 1: by a doctoral student named Jerry Young. They wanted to 583 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:40,800 Speaker 1: train this algorithm, which they called a convolutional neural network, 584 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:45,760 Speaker 1: to spot f rbs out of four hundred terabytes of data. 585 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,600 Speaker 1: This thing essentially guide intern job look through this and 586 00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:53,040 Speaker 1: see if it meets the parameters of this. It's kind 587 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:56,799 Speaker 1: of like the strategy that I T companies used to 588 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: optimize search results. You know, if you Google something and 589 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:06,080 Speaker 1: they dug up just from using this approach. An additional 590 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: seventy two light flashes. Uh So that brought the total 591 00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:13,279 Speaker 1: number of f rbs detected on that day from that 592 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:17,919 Speaker 1: single source to nine three. And it looks like We're 593 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:20,880 Speaker 1: going to see more and more of this sort of 594 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:26,920 Speaker 1: partnership between humans and algorithms. We're gonna have more sophisticated algorithms, 595 00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:33,239 Speaker 1: maybe ultimately machine consciousness. Whatever you feel best describes AI 596 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:37,520 Speaker 1: helping us, and it will be significant. However, one thing 597 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:41,319 Speaker 1: that no machine consciousness, no algorithm can tell us yet 598 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:46,440 Speaker 1: is why this would happen, Why why these things would exist. 599 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,840 Speaker 1: So the most exciting part of the stories that it 600 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:54,319 Speaker 1: actually could be aliens. We can only say that here's 601 00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:57,879 Speaker 1: the tricky part, because no one knows what causes these 602 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,560 Speaker 1: fast radio burst The vast majority of people looking into 603 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:04,360 Speaker 1: this are almost certain it is caused by something mundane, 604 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:08,520 Speaker 1: by nature, not technology, like a magnetar, which is something 605 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,880 Speaker 1: you'll have to well, a magnetar is cool. Magnetar sounds 606 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,240 Speaker 1: it sounds like metal bands, it sounds like it sounds 607 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: like it could be a villain. In the seventies kids cartoons, 608 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:24,720 Speaker 1: I am magnetar, yeah, or it sounds like a really 609 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:31,200 Speaker 1: really weird uh here and gone scent instrument from the eighties, 610 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:33,600 Speaker 1: it was like, all right, and we've got you know, 611 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 1: Derek Jeter on magnetar. Well, see, yes, exactly. But a 612 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:44,600 Speaker 1: magnetar is actually just a highly magnetized neutron star magnet 613 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:49,480 Speaker 1: And the thing is this giant star spins on a 614 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:53,000 Speaker 1: millisecond scale, like is spinning so fast that the way 615 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,839 Speaker 1: the radiation comes off of it, it could explain why 616 00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:59,680 Speaker 1: you'd get this quick burst essentially that then occurs like 617 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:03,000 Speaker 1: nine do something times in a certain span in a 618 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,960 Speaker 1: single twenty four hour period. Um, I don't know. It's 619 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,120 Speaker 1: just it's really interesting. It's something that could be out there. 620 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:12,560 Speaker 1: It's not exciting, but it would you be okay with 621 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:16,840 Speaker 1: the nicknamed magnetar. Sure, Mac, I want to get a 622 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:20,200 Speaker 1: pow man, all right, to photoshop. I've got to get 623 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:22,840 Speaker 1: some magnets. Are pictures of Matt up, Matt the Magnetar 624 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:28,440 Speaker 1: Frederick So okay, I'll take workshopping. So people are betting 625 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:31,759 Speaker 1: on this mundane explanation. Why is it because they're being 626 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:36,880 Speaker 1: funny duddies sticks in the proverbial mud and sort of, 627 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,960 Speaker 1: but not not, that's not the entire reason. See, these 628 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:44,840 Speaker 1: bursts are seeing all across the sky, and that means 629 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:49,239 Speaker 1: that if they're coming from all these different, multiple locations 630 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:53,480 Speaker 1: all the time, that if someone were to build this, 631 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:56,160 Speaker 1: some entity were to build this, they would have been 632 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,520 Speaker 1: building tons of them. Like It's like it would be 633 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:03,600 Speaker 1: the universe equivalent of quick trips or mattress firms. You know, 634 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:08,000 Speaker 1: our Starbucks is a better analogy. It's just so much 635 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:12,880 Speaker 1: stuff to build. That's for Earth's worth of just land, 636 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:17,720 Speaker 1: for everything, and for every single one. So how could 637 00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:21,200 Speaker 1: if these are aliens, how could they build a network 638 00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:25,440 Speaker 1: that size that again is billions of years old and 639 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:28,239 Speaker 1: these are billions of light years apart. How could they 640 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:32,080 Speaker 1: build this sort of thing? Uh? Really, when if you 641 00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:36,919 Speaker 1: look at their timeline, they there hasn't been very much 642 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:39,560 Speaker 1: time since the Big Bang from what we know at 643 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:41,759 Speaker 1: this point when these would have had to be constructed, 644 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:46,160 Speaker 1: assuming that they were constructed very very quickly. So even 645 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:48,839 Speaker 1: if you think of a reason for doing this, it's 646 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,480 Speaker 1: hard to think of the organization this would be. This 647 00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:57,040 Speaker 1: would literally be something spanning the known universe. And also, 648 00:40:57,680 --> 00:40:59,960 Speaker 1: we have to look at ourselves. The search for alien 649 00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:03,480 Speaker 1: is really at this point kind of a search for ourselves. 650 00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:07,480 Speaker 1: Were very narcissistic outfit. You know, we're desperate not to 651 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:10,040 Speaker 1: be alone in the universe, and we have an m O, 652 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,680 Speaker 1: we have a pattern, we have a type, we have 653 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:20,120 Speaker 1: historically attributed tons of new new astronomical mysteries to extraterrestrials. 654 00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:23,839 Speaker 1: They're multiple examples. Yeah, it's true. A half century ago, 655 00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:28,319 Speaker 1: Soviet scientists thought they were pretty sure that quasars were 656 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:33,200 Speaker 1: actually signals being broadcast by advanced societies, uh, in a 657 00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:36,560 Speaker 1: galaxy far far away. Well, yeah, because as soon as 658 00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:40,399 Speaker 1: we first can detect something on you know, on Earth here, 659 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:45,040 Speaker 1: and it's some kind of strange signal that's repeating, especially 660 00:41:45,239 --> 00:41:47,399 Speaker 1: or a signal you know, that appears to come from 661 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:52,160 Speaker 1: a very specific place and and and doesn't stop, then 662 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:54,920 Speaker 1: we we hope it's that it's the thing you're talking about, Ben, 663 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:56,919 Speaker 1: We it's our m o. We we need it so 664 00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:00,439 Speaker 1: badly to be something else that we truly thought that's 665 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,800 Speaker 1: what quasars were. They were somebody's sending out radio signals. 666 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,279 Speaker 1: And in the nineteen sixties they even like referred to 667 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:09,400 Speaker 1: them as little green men, right, And that's I mean, 668 00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:12,359 Speaker 1: in in a hope that maybe we'll get to meet them. 669 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:14,400 Speaker 1: I know this is something that's been discussed, but I 670 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:17,680 Speaker 1: think it's so funny that historically we always expect that 671 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,560 Speaker 1: aliens from another galaxy far far away are gonna like 672 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,200 Speaker 1: communicate with us on our terms in some way, you know, 673 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:26,839 Speaker 1: or like through methods that we can understand. I think 674 00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:29,120 Speaker 1: that's always a funny misnowmen, where we think we're kind 675 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:32,840 Speaker 1: of at the center of the university and they're they're great. Uh, 676 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:39,000 Speaker 1: they're great and truly mean this noble uh. Research initiatives 677 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:42,080 Speaker 1: going on to to figure out how best to communicate 678 00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:45,719 Speaker 1: with a non human entity. And one of the one 679 00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:49,919 Speaker 1: of the weirdest analogs we have now is communication with 680 00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:55,719 Speaker 1: maritime invertebrates, you know, the octopus, the swid, the cuttle fish. 681 00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:59,120 Speaker 1: In the octopus case especially, there's some of the most 682 00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:02,920 Speaker 1: intelligent non mammals that we know of the the closest 683 00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:09,320 Speaker 1: thing we have two aliens that are intelligent and they're great. 684 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:13,160 Speaker 1: Thank god they don't have spines and they don't really 685 00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:19,400 Speaker 1: live very long, because otherwise we we would be eventually 686 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:23,640 Speaker 1: possibly sharing sharing the planet with the sapient species. Oh, 687 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:26,600 Speaker 1: by the way, there is a I think a European 688 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:34,040 Speaker 1: country maybe Germany, recently granted legal personhood to chimpanzees dolphins. Yeah, 689 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:37,600 Speaker 1: we talked about that years ago, but so maybe those 690 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:44,320 Speaker 1: are sapients as well. So now we know ave Lobe 691 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,520 Speaker 1: and his team are correct and that it is possible, 692 00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:52,720 Speaker 1: uh to be is possible that some civilization who had 693 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:57,160 Speaker 1: its ducks in way better rows than our civilization could 694 00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:03,320 Speaker 1: have built something that would propel spacecraft to travel between 695 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:06,720 Speaker 1: the stars into the ink, kind of like a space 696 00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:10,719 Speaker 1: age version of Noah's Ark. But possible is not always plausible. 697 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:14,440 Speaker 1: And the big question here is one of motivation. So 698 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:18,040 Speaker 1: so what do you think? Let us know? Also, while 699 00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:22,080 Speaker 1: we're at it, should we be encouraging the attention of 700 00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:25,120 Speaker 1: extra terrestrials? That's the big question. The late Stephen Hawkins 701 00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:30,160 Speaker 1: was very much against the idea of encountering extraterrestrials on 702 00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:34,080 Speaker 1: our home turf. Also, yeah, we're biased because we communicate 703 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:38,120 Speaker 1: through sound and sight, right, what about an entity that 704 00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:41,279 Speaker 1: just communicates through senses we don't have or senses they're 705 00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:43,759 Speaker 1: less important to us, like smell, you know what I mean? 706 00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:46,960 Speaker 1: The feeling that the best job of exploring that is arrival, 707 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:49,640 Speaker 1: because there was like the language barrier with those aliens 708 00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:51,600 Speaker 1: and it was much more of a visual language than 709 00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:53,359 Speaker 1: it was And I mean, I can't remember exactly, but 710 00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:56,040 Speaker 1: that was a good one in terms of like this 711 00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:59,120 Speaker 1: expectation of being able to communicate one to one with 712 00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:03,200 Speaker 1: the aliens, and they were like yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, 713 00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:06,720 Speaker 1: and read the book to read this story. Ted Chang 714 00:45:07,239 --> 00:45:09,480 Speaker 1: wrote that he is man, he has great I've been 715 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:13,120 Speaker 1: reading a lot of Um. I've been writing or reading 716 00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:16,640 Speaker 1: a lot more sci fi recently, I even more than usual. 717 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:20,719 Speaker 1: I recently read one called The Three Body Problem. Uh. 718 00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:24,440 Speaker 1: It's hard science fiction by a Chinese writer. Highly recommend it. 719 00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:26,839 Speaker 1: If you're interested part of a trilogy those watch out, 720 00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:29,719 Speaker 1: you'll get sucked in. So tell us aliens as we 721 00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:31,520 Speaker 1: stay here in the south, or your firum ery gain 722 00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:35,200 Speaker 1: um and uh, let's see. They're all sorts of ways 723 00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:37,279 Speaker 1: that you can tell us you are opinion. You can 724 00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:41,319 Speaker 1: give us a phone call, Yeah we are one three 725 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:44,759 Speaker 1: three std w y t K, leave a message you 726 00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:47,759 Speaker 1: might get on the show. You can also do the 727 00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:51,200 Speaker 1: old Facebook internetty thing with our Facebook group, which is 728 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:52,920 Speaker 1: what we kind of pitch is the best way to 729 00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:56,400 Speaker 1: get ahold of us and the amazing community of listeners 730 00:45:56,440 --> 00:45:59,520 Speaker 1: that you guys are a part of by very nature. 731 00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:01,400 Speaker 1: Just listening this show right now, you can find that 732 00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:03,440 Speaker 1: at here. It's where it gets crazy. All you have 733 00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,359 Speaker 1: to do is. I think answer a simple question, which 734 00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:08,120 Speaker 1: is like when name one of our names, or if 735 00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:11,200 Speaker 1: you get really clever and creative, are awesome? Mods tend 736 00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:13,600 Speaker 1: to screenshot those and send them to us, and you're 737 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:16,360 Speaker 1: gonna get in if you just say something creative and 738 00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:18,480 Speaker 1: do a nod in a way to something from the show, 739 00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,880 Speaker 1: and we love that. Make us laugh. We're a pushovers. 740 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:24,440 Speaker 1: We're an easy crowd. You should see us at comedy shows. 741 00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:28,640 Speaker 1: We do a lot for stand up comics. Uh confidence, yes, hey, 742 00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:31,280 Speaker 1: and everyone prepare yourselves. Black Mirror has a new season 743 00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:34,200 Speaker 1: coming out really soon on Netflix. Serious. Yeah, the inside 744 00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:36,120 Speaker 1: scoop on this. I know what's coming to June. I 745 00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:38,200 Speaker 1: think that's awesome. I can't wait. Nice. I hope we 746 00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:40,239 Speaker 1: do some more choose your own adventure stuff, which is 747 00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:43,959 Speaker 1: brilliant for Netflix's algorithms, So you can find us there. 748 00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:47,280 Speaker 1: You can also find us on Instagram and Twitter, and 749 00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:50,359 Speaker 1: if none of that quite bags or badgers, you can 750 00:46:50,400 --> 00:47:00,000 Speaker 1: email us directly. We are conspiracy at iHeart radio dot com. 751 00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:14,360 Speaker 1: M H. Stuff They Don't Want You to Know is 752 00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:16,880 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For 753 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:19,919 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i heart radio, app, 754 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:22,880 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.