WEBVTT - BONUS: What if we find aliens?

0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.400
<v Speaker 1>Hey, welcome to sign Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. I'm

0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.280
<v Speaker 1>hoor cham And in this bonus short episode, we are

0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.480
<v Speaker 1>following up on our recent episode about the search for

0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.240
<v Speaker 1>alien life. In that episode, we talked about what scientists

0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:16.880
<v Speaker 1>are doing to look for life out there in space,

0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:19.840
<v Speaker 1>and so now the question is what if we find it?

0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.200
<v Speaker 1>Are we prepared? Would people freak out or would they

0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.320
<v Speaker 1>shrug and go about their regular lives. We're gonna talk

0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.280
<v Speaker 1>to an anthropologist who's been looking into this question. Are

0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.640
<v Speaker 1>we gonna hear her opinion on what discovering aliens would

0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.519
<v Speaker 1>do to the human race. I think her answer at

0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.000
<v Speaker 1>the end will surprise you. So here is my interview

0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:41.760
<v Speaker 1>with doctor Clara Kapoa as we answer the question what

0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:52.320
<v Speaker 1>if we find aliens? Well, thank you doctor Coppola for

0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:52.879
<v Speaker 1>joining us.

0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.320
<v Speaker 2>Thank you for having me. It's really nice meeting you,

0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:57.840
<v Speaker 2>the famous cartoonist, the creator.

0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.120
<v Speaker 1>Of the Thank you so when.

0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:05.400
<v Speaker 2>I miss Clara. I studied socio culturalthropology. I specialized in

0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.760
<v Speaker 2>science and technology studies, and my question was search for

0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.440
<v Speaker 2>life beyond Earth. So I was writing about what it

0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.720
<v Speaker 2>really means to people to think about what the other

0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.320
<v Speaker 2>life is, how people used to search for that life

0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:21.919
<v Speaker 2>or how they would work with the idea.

0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:25.360
<v Speaker 1>Doctor Kapova has worked with NASA and the European Space

0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.600
<v Speaker 1>Agency on several projects, but one of them was to

0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.440
<v Speaker 1>get a sense of what people see in their heads

0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:35.399
<v Speaker 1>when they imagine an alien So, for example, take a

0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:39.560
<v Speaker 1>moment and close your eyes unless you're driving, and picture

0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.840
<v Speaker 1>in your head when an alien being would look like.

0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:47.880
<v Speaker 1>Did you imagine little green men or women, or maybe

0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.800
<v Speaker 1>something insect like? Or may you imagine a reptilian creature

0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:55.320
<v Speaker 1>like the ones in Star Wars or Star Trek. Well

0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:57.320
<v Speaker 1>you're not alone.

0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:01.160
<v Speaker 2>When I was doing my research and talking to people,

0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.720
<v Speaker 2>not only scientists but also citizens of Europe, I would

0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.560
<v Speaker 2>just ask for their idea about the otherness or other

0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.440
<v Speaker 2>life was. You know, there are hundreds and hundreds of

0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.520
<v Speaker 2>imagined life form that are being brought to us by

0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:18.040
<v Speaker 2>different books and movies and series and the variety of

0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:22.959
<v Speaker 2>our imaginations. It's amazing, actually, So a lot of us

0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.560
<v Speaker 2>would read a book when we were little or at

0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:29.040
<v Speaker 2>school or what you movie, and people tend to always

0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:32.080
<v Speaker 2>remembered that as a memory, and this memory almost defines

0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.520
<v Speaker 2>what they imagine that the other life could be.

0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.359
<v Speaker 1>It's always something you remember from your childhood.

0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.560
<v Speaker 2>I would say. So that's the feedback I was getting

0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:41.160
<v Speaker 2>from people.

0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:46.440
<v Speaker 1>So people's expectations of meeting aliens are shaped by the

0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:51.120
<v Speaker 1>movies and books in media we consume. And what's interesting

0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:54.440
<v Speaker 1>is what those depictions, which are made by writers and

0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.280
<v Speaker 1>artists say about us.

0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:02.640
<v Speaker 2>What I find really interesting think about imagined extraterrestrials. They

0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.480
<v Speaker 2>always somehow mirror what we are or we are not.

0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.520
<v Speaker 2>Either it's negation or it's based on what we see

0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:11.800
<v Speaker 2>in the nature I see.

0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.440
<v Speaker 1>What we imagine aliens might be is a reflection of

0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.160
<v Speaker 1>ourselves and how we see ourselves. We want to see ourselves,

0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.840
<v Speaker 1>how we don't want to see ourselves. Can you explain

0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:21.519
<v Speaker 1>that a little more.

0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.400
<v Speaker 2>This is based on the first contact scenario, So when

0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:29.720
<v Speaker 2>people imagine first contact with the extraterristrial, and it's something

0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.120
<v Speaker 2>that I'm often asked about, like what if we meet,

0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:35.720
<v Speaker 2>what it would be like? What do you think will happen?

0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.040
<v Speaker 2>And of course there's been already a research john about this,

0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:43.080
<v Speaker 2>and it's mostly based on the encounters of humans with

0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.400
<v Speaker 2>other humans, and this is reflected in the movies or

0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:47.520
<v Speaker 2>the stories as well.

0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:51.440
<v Speaker 1>Okay, what Tarkakapopa is saying is that it's very hard

0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.360
<v Speaker 1>to imagine something you've never seen before, so our brains

0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:59.080
<v Speaker 1>automatically go to things we have seen before, or that

0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.160
<v Speaker 1>we've seen in bo or movies. I asked her if

0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.120
<v Speaker 1>she thought that was a good idea to prepare ourselves

0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.400
<v Speaker 1>for potentially meeting aliens. Do you think it's a good

0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:11.840
<v Speaker 1>idea to use that as a reference?

0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:12.880
<v Speaker 2>What else do we have?

0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:14.080
<v Speaker 1>I don't know.

0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.440
<v Speaker 2>That's the thing, you know. We use this because the

0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.039
<v Speaker 2>human experience we have with encounters with something alien or unknown.

0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:25.400
<v Speaker 1>In other words, we are probably completely unprepared to meet

0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:29.120
<v Speaker 1>alien life because we only know what we know and

0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.599
<v Speaker 1>we don't know what we don't know. Okay. In the

0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.440
<v Speaker 1>main episode about aliens, we talked about how people are

0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:40.080
<v Speaker 1>searching for two kinds of life out there. Some scientists

0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:44.400
<v Speaker 1>are doing astrobiology, meaning they're looking for basic life like

0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.680
<v Speaker 1>microbes that used to live on Mars or maybe self

0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.080
<v Speaker 1>replicating molecules on the moons of Jupiter. And then there

0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.119
<v Speaker 1>are scientists who are looking for intelligent life out there

0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:59.200
<v Speaker 1>or aliens with advanced technology. According to doctor Kapova, how

0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.680
<v Speaker 1>we'll react depends on which of the two we find

0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.719
<v Speaker 1>first the people I talk to.

0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.520
<v Speaker 2>Most people I interviewed acknowledge that there will be a

0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.400
<v Speaker 2>different reaction dependent on the life form or the type

0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:15.080
<v Speaker 2>of the life form that will be.

0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.240
<v Speaker 1>Discovered, Meaning you probably react differently if I told you

0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:21.920
<v Speaker 1>we found microbes at Mars than if I told you

0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:25.480
<v Speaker 1>there's an alien flying saucer outside your window right now.

0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.640
<v Speaker 1>And doctor Kapova also found that your reaction depends on

0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:31.280
<v Speaker 1>how old you are.

0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.320
<v Speaker 2>Young people today they've seen so many science fiction movies

0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.040
<v Speaker 2>that they almost like, yeah, of course there's like somewhere,

0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.040
<v Speaker 2>but it's so far away and will never see it,

0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.599
<v Speaker 2>while older generation be, oh my god, this is like

0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.440
<v Speaker 2>the word changing question, you know. So it almost feels

0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.920
<v Speaker 2>like pop culture has been bombarded us with new ideas

0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:52.680
<v Speaker 2>that were almost like gotten used to it.

0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.880
<v Speaker 1>Do you think the younger generation will not be very

0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.720
<v Speaker 1>surprised or won't be very changed by this information.

0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.320
<v Speaker 2>That's a good question from what I heard from people.

0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.520
<v Speaker 2>A lot of people think that it wouldn't mistake that much,

0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.600
<v Speaker 2>but it's tect my everyday life. Unlikely.

0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.599
<v Speaker 1>You don't think there'll be a fundamental shift in how

0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:16.600
<v Speaker 1>people think about their lives or civilization or humans.

0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:20.720
<v Speaker 2>You know, our planet consists of six billion people. It's

0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.920
<v Speaker 2>really really hard to say how out the society react.

0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:26.840
<v Speaker 2>So who are we talking about? You know, there has

0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.239
<v Speaker 2>been a study done that the people in Asia actually

0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.359
<v Speaker 2>think that aliens are mostly walking amongst us, but we

0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.040
<v Speaker 2>just can't see them. So we also know that each

0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:40.200
<v Speaker 2>culture you have some sort of like a template or yeah,

0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:43.760
<v Speaker 2>a template through which this discovery will be perceived. And

0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.279
<v Speaker 2>if we're talking about the change of the world, this

0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.599
<v Speaker 2>will be almost a personal thing, right. Well, I'm just

0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.880
<v Speaker 2>trying to say that there is no generic answer that

0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:55.839
<v Speaker 2>would cover all people on planet. I see.

0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.320
<v Speaker 1>It would be different for each and every single one

0:06:58.360 --> 0:06:58.640
<v Speaker 1>of us.

0:06:58.880 --> 0:06:59.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's what I say.

0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:02.919
<v Speaker 1>In other words, we may not know how the world

0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:08.000
<v Speaker 1>will react if we find alien life until it actually happens. Okay,

0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.560
<v Speaker 1>The last question I asked doctor Kapova was what would

0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:14.400
<v Speaker 1>it mean to her to discover aliens? What would it

0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.600
<v Speaker 1>mean to you if we found life in other planets

0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.320
<v Speaker 1>or somewhere else in the universe. Let's say it's the

0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:22.640
<v Speaker 1>astrobiology kind. What would you think?

0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:26.680
<v Speaker 2>So I would think that I have now an answer

0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.120
<v Speaker 2>to one of the questions I've been asking myself for

0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:30.920
<v Speaker 2>a very long time. But when I was a child,

0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:32.960
<v Speaker 2>I was really curious, like is there something else? Are

0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.480
<v Speaker 2>you really alone? Where do we came from? Who are we?

0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.480
<v Speaker 2>So I would have that answer and I would be delighted.

0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:39.440
<v Speaker 2>That's it.

0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.040
<v Speaker 1>Would you change anything about your life right now?

0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:43.160
<v Speaker 2>No?

0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.600
<v Speaker 1>Would you still go sailing to Antarctica next month?

0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:47.240
<v Speaker 2>Oh?

0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.160
<v Speaker 1>I didn't tell you before. Doctor Kapova recently took a

0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:54.280
<v Speaker 1>leave from academic research to work on a sailboat, and

0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:58.080
<v Speaker 1>she's scheduled to sail to Antarctica next month. So would

0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.080
<v Speaker 1>she still sail to Antarctica if we found my chrobial

0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.160
<v Speaker 1>life in another planet?

0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:05.120
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely? Yes?

0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:09.840
<v Speaker 1>Okay, what if it was the alien civilization kind that

0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:10.560
<v Speaker 1>we discovered?

0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:15.520
<v Speaker 2>That is a different story, because if we could communicate

0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.800
<v Speaker 2>with them, that I would be curious to know more

0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:19.720
<v Speaker 2>about them.

0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:23.040
<v Speaker 1>Interesting, So then you might not go on that sailing

0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.240
<v Speaker 1>ship to Antarctica. Let's say NASA has your contact information.

0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.480
<v Speaker 1>European Space Agency has your contact They say, Clara Nay simplication,

0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.960
<v Speaker 1>which is established contact. Can you come in and help

0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:34.240
<v Speaker 1>us ask them questions?

0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:36.800
<v Speaker 2>Okay, I would go because that will be two grays

0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:38.080
<v Speaker 2>about I think.

0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:41.960
<v Speaker 1>You would go you would definitely change your life.

0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.200
<v Speaker 2>Of course, I would want to know. It's one of

0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.240
<v Speaker 2>the most fundamental questions, and I would be really curious.

0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.400
<v Speaker 2>So if you asked me, I would probably go, yes.

0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:53.120
<v Speaker 1>I think that perfectly illustrates the range of reactions we

0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:55.400
<v Speaker 1>might have depending on what we find out there.

0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.760
<v Speaker 2>Yes, as I said, it really depends on the person.

0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.800
<v Speaker 2>I'm sure we would find commonalities, but it would be

0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:06.000
<v Speaker 2>an amazing anthropological study on that on the humans or

0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.079
<v Speaker 2>the aliens, I guess in the interactions.

0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.240
<v Speaker 1>Oh fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining us.

0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:13.800
<v Speaker 1>Like krek Kapova, it was my pleasure.

0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:15.160
<v Speaker 2>Thank you for having me tonight.

0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.480
<v Speaker 1>All right. I hope you enjoyed that short bonus episode

0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:20.719
<v Speaker 1>and that it maybe got you to think about what

0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:23.640
<v Speaker 1>would mean to you to find out we're not alone

0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.920
<v Speaker 1>in the universe. Thanks for joining us. See you next

0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:35.679
<v Speaker 1>time you've been listening to Science Stuff. A production of iHeartRadio,

0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.400
<v Speaker 1>written and produced by me Or hey Hm, edited by

0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.800
<v Speaker 1>Rose Seguda, Executive producer Jerry Rowland, an audio engineer and

0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:47.240
<v Speaker 1>mixer Chandler Mace and you can follow me on social media.

0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.120
<v Speaker 1>Just search for PhD Comics and the name of your

0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.040
<v Speaker 1>favorite platform. Be sure to subscribe to sign stuff on

0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.880
<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts,

0:09:56.960 --> 0:09:59.880
<v Speaker 1>and please tell your friends we'll be back next Wednesday,

0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:11.920
<v Speaker 1>another episode