1 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: My name is Robert lamp and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:22,279 Speaker 1: where are the aliens? Where are they are hiding? In 5 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: plain sight? Like like where like you like in this room? Um, well, no, 6 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: not this room, but somewhere out there in the universe 7 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:34,559 Speaker 1: because they were in here, they could be I mean, 8 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: I guess they could be in the recording booth there, 9 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: which is the I mean, we're in the sort of 10 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: the podcast chamber, and then there's like this soundproof booth 11 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: at the end that kind of looks like a like 12 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: a phone booth, and I can't really see inside it, 13 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:46,880 Speaker 1: So there could be an alien in there. Well, it 14 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: could be like nano sized aliens like enmeshed in this 15 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: and the foam batting, but around us. But could they 16 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: be out there? You're saying they could be out there, 17 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: like their whole planets could be hidden, their whole civilizations 18 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: could be in their press in in the the universe, 19 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: could be hidden from us. And so the whole reason 20 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,680 Speaker 1: that we haven't found aliens could be because we just 21 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 1: cannot see them. That's right, it's a possibility, Steady. Have 22 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: you looked into this, Yes, they have. I don't think 23 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: they've found anything yet. I don't know if they're doing 24 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: much looking at the moment without the funding at all. 25 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,920 Speaker 1: But but yeah, so what does this have to do 26 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: with the Dyson sphere? Uh, it's nothing to do with 27 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: vacuums not. Yeah, that's every time I mentioned this podcast 28 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: and my wife she was like, oh, you're doing what 29 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: I'm back, I mean, she was, well, that's what an 30 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: intriguing product that is, and the adventure that that everybody 31 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: thinks about this Dyson dude. Yes, but it's not about that, No, 32 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 1: not about that at all. The dycen s fear is 33 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: one of those things that imagine a lot of you 34 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: do not need any explanation at all. You're like, yeah, 35 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: totally diycens fear. I know what the concept is, but 36 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: it is, Uh. It has shown up in various sci 37 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: fi works, so like like anyone has ever watched like 38 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: Star Treking next generation probably has seen one, or you've 39 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: read enough sci fi books. But for the rest of you, 40 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: it is basically the concept of all right, we have 41 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: the sun, and the sun is just this giant generator 42 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 1: of energy, like our entire solar system is powered by 43 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: the sun. So how would one harness the energy of 44 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: the sun if you wanted to greedily take all of 45 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 1: it up, if you wanted to be like my sister 46 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: when my family used to go out to have Mexican 47 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: food for my one sister would order the cheese dip 48 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: and then we would try and eat the cheese dip 49 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: and she would say, no, no, this is my cheese 50 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: dip because I ordered this cheese dip as my meal, 51 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: and so only I get to eat it. So if 52 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: you were gonna have that, take that attitude and and 53 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: use it on the sun, how would you collect all 54 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: of it and make sure that you greedily um uh 55 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: dipped all of the solar energy up on your chips 56 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: for yourself. And I was an alien and you were 57 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: an alien, I would laugh, so it you weren't okay 58 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 1: if you were an alien, and take it with me, 59 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: or I would construct a giant shell around it. Exactly 60 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: there you go, giant shell around it that were the 61 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 1: interior of the shell absorbs the energy and doesn't let 62 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: anything escape so that nobody else gets to enjoy the sun. 63 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:10,799 Speaker 1: And uh and all it's been. She's dipped for all 64 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: aliens and only aliens, right, Yeah, So yeah, this is 65 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:20,519 Speaker 1: this idea of this Dyson sphere, ye sort of. I mean, yeah, 66 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: this whole podcast is gonna be getting a little deeper 67 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,079 Speaker 1: into the idea what it means. But first, why don't 68 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: we call it a Dycen sphere. What's the Dyson part? 69 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: We're of course talking about a man by the name 70 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: of Freeman Dyson, who is a pretty amazing guy. He's 71 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: still he's still with us. He's eighty seven years old, 72 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: and um, he was something of a mathematics prodigy. Um 73 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: he uh you know, a British extract, came here at 74 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: the age of like twenty three and was like immediately 75 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: contributing like in major ways to our understanding of physics, 76 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: unifying quantum and electrodynamic theory. And he he really, I 77 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: mean he's been there through some through through the development 78 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: of modern physics. Really, I mean some very exciting development, 79 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: hanging out with Einstein, um Fineman bore Firmy, um up Oppenheimer. 80 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: I mean, the list goes on. And he's and and 81 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: he's still just the sharp incredible mind. Yeah, he's an 82 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: incredible thinker, and Oliver Sacks is a good friend of 83 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,880 Speaker 1: his and says like his plasticity of mind is amazing 84 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: and the fact that he can still think so vitally 85 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,479 Speaker 1: at this age and have so many interesting ideas is 86 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 1: pretty incredible when most twenty holds are walking around with 87 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 1: probably less less imagination. And um, and not just imagination, 88 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 1: but I mean, this is someone who has made huge 89 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,280 Speaker 1: contributions to his field. Yeah, and uh, and was influenced 90 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: by sci fi and uh, you know, grew up you know, 91 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: reading about spaceships and he is a boy he sketched 92 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: plans for a rocket ship that would you know, explore 93 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: the universe. And then when he we got older, he 94 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: actually worked on the the Ryan Project, which I've blogged 95 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: about in the past. I can't remember if we've mentioned it. 96 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: We may have mentioned it on a previous podcast. It 97 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: was in passing. But the project to Ryan was was 98 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: going to uh be powered by nuclear detonations. Like imagine 99 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 1: a spaceship where every time instead of like having like 100 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: a thruster blast coming out the back, imagine some dude 101 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: standing in the back of it and just pitching an 102 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,799 Speaker 1: atomic bomb out every time they needed to blast forward. 103 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: A little bit. No, imagine how awful that would be 104 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: for us earthlings. Yeah, Like basically for the ship to 105 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,359 Speaker 1: leave the planet, you would have to have like multiple 106 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: atomic detonations and then just steady atomic detonations to to 107 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:44,720 Speaker 1: fly this thing around. But at the time, but there 108 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 1: was a time when this was like, well when before 109 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: we realized how environmentally disastrous this concept was, it was like, well, 110 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: this could work as an actual solution, is an actual 111 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,359 Speaker 1: solution and uh um, and Dyson was one of these 112 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:58,360 Speaker 1: guys that was like, yeah, we can we can totally 113 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:00,720 Speaker 1: do this, we can build this and we'll be exploring 114 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: uh we'll be flying off the Saturn within like two decades. 115 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: So he's he has a great futurist mind. Um, and 116 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: when when he's handed a problem, he's great at tackling 117 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: and figuring out, well, let me let me take a 118 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:16,359 Speaker 1: shot at it. So he took a shot at this 119 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: question that we uh sort of fumbled with at the 120 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: very beginning of this podcast, where are the aliens? If 121 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: there is alien life elsewhere in the universe, why have 122 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,679 Speaker 1: we not seen it? And for him, it's it's because 123 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:31,279 Speaker 1: they're all hiding out in this sphere right right, but 124 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: not in a sense of like, oh, there are humans 125 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,359 Speaker 1: out there, let's not let them see us, let's get 126 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: behind the these. No, it comes down to two to energy, 127 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 1: all right, And we should probably just mentioned briefly the 128 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: Kardaschef scale, which is the is not the Kardashian scale 129 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: that would entail, but I'm sure it would be it 130 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: would entail something. Yeah, basically it comes into two. Uh. 131 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: It comes immediately to this idea of let's look for 132 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: alien life else elsewhere in the universe. What would it 133 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: look like, how would we tell that it's there? And uh, 134 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,040 Speaker 1: there's the theory is that it would come down to 135 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: energy consumption. So the scale divides civilizations into three basic types. 136 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: There's a type one civilization, and I should point out 137 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: that we are not yet a type one civilization, right. 138 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: You have to master this level of energy consumption and harnessing, 139 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: right in order to be a type one. Yeah, it's 140 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: like dungeons and dragons. You know, it's like you're you're 141 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: leveling up, you know, to your right. Now you're a 142 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: level zero, um, haffling thief. Right. If you get enough 143 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: experience points, then you get to level one, and that 144 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: comes with new benefits and this would be your your 145 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,679 Speaker 1: own planet, right Type one. So if if master masters 146 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: of planetary Internet means they can harness the some energy 147 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: of an entire world. So we're not there yet. There's 148 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: a lot of energy that we can't master, uh, that 149 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: we can't that we haven't figured out how to how 150 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: to use and uh, and so we're not there yet. 151 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: Then there's a type too civilization, and they can summon 152 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: the power of an entire star system. So basically they 153 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: can enslave a star. They can take a star and 154 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: claim it as their own cheese dip. And then a 155 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: type three civilization uh commands the energy on a galactic scale, 156 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: all right, so they can they control a lot of 157 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: cheese dip, an enormous amount of cheese dip, and and 158 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: are using a kind of technology that we can barely fathom, 159 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: like it's beyond our real understanding of how it might 160 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: even work. So a lot of what we're talking about 161 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: is type we're gonna be talking about in this podcast 162 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,839 Speaker 1: is type two technology. But but some of it is 163 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: is conceivably Type one as well, So it would make 164 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: sense those type to civilization Likenalian civilization, which is a 165 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: bit more complexness, a lot more complex would be able 166 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: to construct this sphere. Right, yeah, yeah. The idea that 167 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,319 Speaker 1: that the Dyson hat was all right, if there are 168 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,079 Speaker 1: type too civilizations out there, what should we look for? Alright, well, 169 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: all right, there harn sing all this energy. They have 170 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: to use all this energy to to power their civilization, 171 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,679 Speaker 1: to power their um, their interstellar transportation. How are they 172 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: going to harness the energy of a star? And this 173 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 1: was a scheme that he came up with. It basically 174 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: comes down to to the to the idea of of 175 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: just completely surrounding a son with energy collectors. All right, now, 176 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: don't think of Uh. I've sort of avoided talking about 177 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: the sci fi stuff, but I should probably mention it now. 178 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: Most people, I think have encountered the Dycen sphere on 179 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: one episode of Star Trek the Next Generation called I 180 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: think the Relic, and it had like the dude who 181 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: played Scottie was in it. That's I mean, it's been 182 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: like a decade since I've seen it. I remember that 183 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,360 Speaker 1: there was a Dicen sphere. It was awesome because it 184 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:49,319 Speaker 1: was like this giant metal thing and you flew through 185 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: an The Enterprise flights through a door in it, and 186 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: on the inside there is a son and they're like 187 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: continents and cities all on the interior of this giant's 188 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: this giant sphere. Well, okay, see this is where it 189 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 1: gets murky because, as you said, Dyson is someone who 190 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:12,720 Speaker 1: can actually create real um solutions to problems. And so 191 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 1: here's the stycen sphere that he actually is trying to 192 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 1: create to not only explain aliens, but also saying, how 193 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: can we actually harness the star here and all the 194 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: energy we put these collectors around it? So there there 195 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: are some actual real applications and and something that might 196 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: be able to be done a version of it. Right. Um, 197 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,120 Speaker 1: But then it's also butting up against sci fi right, 198 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: and um it one is begetted by the other because 199 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 1: if you look at Dyson's vision here, it's based on 200 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: a sci fi model. Yeah, it's very confusing that Dyson 201 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 1: himself says, oh, you should really call it like a 202 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: stapledon um of sphere because he was inspired by a 203 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:54,959 Speaker 1: book called Book by the Name of Starmaker by Olaf 204 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: Staples Stapledon, which was written in so a lot of 205 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: people encounter thet our trek thing, which is need in 206 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:04,680 Speaker 1: its own in its own way or they have encountered 207 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: it and in various other books. Uh. But but the 208 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:11,520 Speaker 1: original idea was was basically the idea of a lot 209 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:15,320 Speaker 1: of independent solo collectors um in orbit around a sun 210 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:17,719 Speaker 1: to the point where it almost blocked out right, like 211 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:20,680 Speaker 1: a hundred thousand of these collectors in orbit. Right if 212 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: you see, like if you seen the movie Wally and 213 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: when Wally leaves the planet and the spaceship, that the 214 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: Earth is just choked by satellites, Like, imagine that kind 215 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: of situation, except multiplied and in surrounding a start. Well. 216 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,439 Speaker 1: And some people would even say that a satellite is 217 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,200 Speaker 1: sort of the first step to doing this anyway, um, 218 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,520 Speaker 1: and that there are multiple ways to try to play 219 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: this out if we wanted too. Um. But so we 220 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 1: should probably discuss the different types of spheres. Um. You 221 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:51,080 Speaker 1: know that the sci fi one that most people know, 222 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,200 Speaker 1: which is the type two, the one with a shell 223 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: around it and talking about what is feasible and what's not. Yeah, 224 00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: so the swarm one is pretty the one we're talking 225 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: abut where it's like a lot of um independent pieces, 226 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: which is sometimes called a Dicen swarm one. Al So 227 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:09,200 Speaker 1: type one, and uh, and and the other thing about 228 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: this is there's a lot of a lot of our 229 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: dealings with the with the diycen sphere are kind of 230 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: as a just imagineering, as a thought experiment is kind 231 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:22,200 Speaker 1: of a you see physicist online who are just kind of, 232 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: I wonder how this would work, and they start crunching 233 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 1: the numbers on it because it's you know, it's kind 234 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: of amazing and it's a cool thing to do in 235 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 1: your spare time. So there are a lot of different 236 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:34,040 Speaker 1: just you know, just d y I your own sphere, yeah, 237 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 1: your own cosmic mega architecture. But but yeah, so if 238 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:41,920 Speaker 1: you're going for something rigid though, an actual like giant 239 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:46,960 Speaker 1: eggshell surrounding a sun like the star Trek one, like 240 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 1: the star Trek one, um, Yeah, that's a slightly different 241 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,800 Speaker 1: thing because when you're doing like the gravitational effects of 242 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: having all these little satellites around the Sun, it's just 243 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: these independent little things that are affected, right, it's a swarm. 244 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: But if you're talking about one giant structure, you're talking 245 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 1: about one enormous structure. I mean it's gonna be um 246 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 1: like one or two astronomical units wide. An astronomical unit 247 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: is the distance between the Earth and the Sun, um 248 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:17,040 Speaker 1: well huge. Yeah, And it captures our imagination because there's 249 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: this idea that you could create out of this shell 250 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 1: land so to speak, or habitable areas that would greatly 251 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 1: outnumber the amount of land that we have here on Earth, 252 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,319 Speaker 1: and that on the interior, like a hollow earth kind 253 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: of a thing. Yes, yeah, And I actually had to 254 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: draw several pictures of this to sort of cement it 255 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: in my mind because you hadn't seen the Star Trek episodes, 256 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: so he didn't have no no, but I still was 257 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: thinking to myself what area is going to be habitable 258 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,720 Speaker 1: and what areas are going to have gravity and what 259 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:52,560 Speaker 1: aren't because if that sphere surrounding the Sun was not spinning, um, 260 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: you know, there's not going to be any real I 261 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 1: mean there's there might be depending on the mass of 262 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,439 Speaker 1: the of the actual structure, there might be some gravity, 263 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 1: but but ultimately you would need either artificial gravity, which 264 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,080 Speaker 1: does not exist in some according to some cannot exist, 265 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,400 Speaker 1: or you're going to need that thing to spin, to 266 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: create to rotate, to create a kind of forces necessary 267 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 1: for people to live on the inside of it. Right, 268 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: And the other cool parture of this too, is that 269 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: it really could be hospitable in the sense that if 270 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: you are to enclose a star, you would actually have 271 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,960 Speaker 1: the sort of temperatures that like room temperature that you enjoy. Now, um, 272 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: you might not have gravity unless you're rotating, but you 273 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: would have then, perhaps only at the equator. Yes, yes, exactly. 274 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 1: So if you're going to enclose this thing, and um, 275 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: you're gonna do it, right, then you're probably going to 276 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: have a structure that's really heavy, right, and it's gonna 277 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: you're also gonna want to rotate it, and it's going 278 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: to have to withstand the force of the rotation. Right. 279 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: So that's where a lot of the problems come into 280 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: I mean, this is again it's very interesting thought experiment, 281 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: but we don't currently have the materials that could actually 282 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 1: do this, that could withstand the rotation. Yeah, and then 283 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: what if an asteroid hits it right, Yeah, you get 284 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: knocked off center all of a sudden, you're colliding with 285 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: the with the sun itself and melting. Yeah, that's no good. 286 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:12,240 Speaker 1: That that does nobody any good. Yeah, but that would 287 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 1: make a really great Bruce Willis film right there, I 288 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: think where he has to save the dicensphere. Yeah. I 289 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: just think if you're a civilization capable of building a dicensphere, 290 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: Bruce Willis is probably not ranked too highly in your 291 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,360 Speaker 1: your backup plans if things go wrong. I mean, it 292 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 1: seems like you probably have something more impressive to turn town. 293 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: I don't know. Do you talk to Jerry Barckheimer. Um. 294 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: The other thing is you would have no night right right, 295 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: unless you had some sort of scheme in mind. Um 296 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 1: and which which reminds me I believe you know we're 297 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: talking about like only the this the slim center of 298 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:49,280 Speaker 1: it would be habitable, which kind of leads the idea 299 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:54,480 Speaker 1: of a ring world like the Larry Niven uh invented concept, 300 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,520 Speaker 1: which would be kind of like a dicensphere, but instead 301 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:00,120 Speaker 1: of being a giant circle that closes a star, it 302 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: would be like a tire, like an artificial Rings of 303 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: Saturn kind of situation, um, where you'd still have people 304 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:08,400 Speaker 1: on the inside, but it would just be like the 305 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,960 Speaker 1: inside of a wheel. Uh. Like Like imagine a spare 306 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: tire and there's a sign in the middle, and then 307 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 1: there are cities all up in the inside of the tire. Okay, 308 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: like that I've also heard it explained sort of like 309 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 1: a canister too, right, So you're capped off. And then yeah, 310 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:26,560 Speaker 1: again the center where it's habitable. And this again is 311 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 1: because you've got the gravitational effects or optimal at this 312 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 1: sort of equator line of this area at the polls, 313 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: we would have virtually no gravity whatsoever. So yeah, and 314 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: again there's the asteroid problem. Yeah, but this is the 315 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: this is the sci fi configuration that we're talking about, 316 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: this this other one that Dyson one would just go 317 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: back to really quickly. Again, you've got these stationary or 318 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: not stationary, but you've got these orbiting collectors of energy 319 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: and that actually could be used in the future. You 320 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: could store it the anti matter um there you know, 321 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: they're there are things you could do with this. Yeah, 322 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 1: And the thing is you would you would collect all 323 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: this energy with all these satellites and then in this scenario, 324 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:13,680 Speaker 1: you would being that to another uh, habitable space station 325 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: or ship course or even a planet. Um. So that's 326 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 1: how that system would work. It would not be people 327 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:23,040 Speaker 1: necessarily living in each of all these little things orbiting 328 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: the Sun, which would be kind of cool in and 329 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,400 Speaker 1: of itself that it's kind of like there's some arguments 330 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: saying that we should have solar harvesters on the Moon 331 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: and then being the energy back to our planet. It's 332 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,639 Speaker 1: some of the same concepts in play here. But of 333 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 1: course the problem is we haven't even mastered our type 334 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: one civilization yet, and that's we are really talking about 335 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: a type to civilization here. And there's some even more 336 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: advanced like ideas. They're like I've seen some some proposals 337 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 1: for a like a type three um dicen sphere which 338 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 1: would would can use even thinner materials um and would 339 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: it would be kind of like a big bubble around it. Um. 340 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: I've seen like really a concepts. So I mean this 341 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: would definitely be a tie three uh for the shock 342 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: Shocked of Thruster concept, which would involve like basically the 343 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: the star, like the structure around a star becomes a 344 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: spaceship and just takes a start with it. M M yeah, okay, 345 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: so like again, but that's just crazy advanced future. Oh yeah, yeah, 346 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: I'm just I'm trying to Yeah, that's not really screwing 347 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:27,919 Speaker 1: in my head right now, I have to say, but 348 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: I do think it's an interesting proposition about the aliens, uh, 349 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: not because I believe that we have aliens roaming around 350 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,879 Speaker 1: in the universe per se a little green men in 351 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:40,399 Speaker 1: that in that scenario. But what I do think is 352 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:42,960 Speaker 1: interesting is that people have brought us up as an 353 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,760 Speaker 1: explanation for dark matter. And we'll get to that after 354 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:54,160 Speaker 1: this quick break. This presentation is brought to you by 355 00:18:54,200 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow, and we're back matter. Dark matter. 356 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,120 Speaker 1: It's a problem for us, right because there's a bunch 357 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:06,679 Speaker 1: of it. We don't know what it is. We know 358 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:11,399 Speaker 1: that's uh composing something like of of the universe, and 359 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:13,679 Speaker 1: yet we can't see it. But we know just with 360 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: our mathematical equations that it's there. So people have said, okay, 361 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:22,800 Speaker 1: if it's perhaps the situation here. The crux of it 362 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,080 Speaker 1: is that these aliens, who are you know, type two 363 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 1: type three civilizations, have you know, created so many different 364 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:36,040 Speaker 1: dice in spheres that it's all being contained in there, 365 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: like the universe is just more developed than we thought. Yeah, yeah, 366 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: and we just can't spot it. Like you know, there's 367 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: a there's a gazillion of these dice in spheres out there. 368 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:46,920 Speaker 1: It's like the SRaw right, Yes, it's like it's like 369 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:53,080 Speaker 1: everywhere exactly exactly enclosed in the structure um. And it 370 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,280 Speaker 1: really is an intriguing idea, but there are a couple 371 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 1: of reasons why I just couldn't be I'm sorry to say. Well. 372 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: One of the big ones, of course, is just the 373 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: amount of materials required, especially when you start talking about 374 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: this solid enclosure, because but even the satellites to build 375 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: that many satellites, I mean, the Sun is huge, guys, 376 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,879 Speaker 1: it's a it's it's tremendous. Most stars are enormous, and 377 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:18,800 Speaker 1: and ours isn't even particularly enormous sun um. I mean, 378 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,520 Speaker 1: there there's there would be a problem just getting enough 379 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: materials out of our own solar system to build this 380 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 1: sort of right, there aren't enough heavy materials in the 381 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: universe to actually construct the amount of dicen spheres that 382 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: you would need to house all of these aliens hiding 383 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: out and and hoarding the dark energy. Yeah, it's like 384 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:40,160 Speaker 1: the dark matter, and what are you building it for 385 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 1: if the yeah? Yeah, so, but again it's very clever 386 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,120 Speaker 1: the idea that they might be doing that. And then 387 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 1: there's the fact that we could still detect a dicen 388 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: sphere because it would be radiating key, right, Yeah, they 389 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: would have to be jetting some radiation, you know. I 390 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: mean it can only be self contained to a certain point. 391 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: Uh far as physics go, they would they would would 392 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:03,399 Speaker 1: have to be able to detect it. So I mean 393 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,199 Speaker 1: that was the back to Dyson's original argument, Like he 394 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 1: was just saying, we haven't seen aliens. Well maybe this 395 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: is what we should look for, because this is what 396 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: their energy collection might be like, even sufficiently advanced technology. 397 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 1: And and so um you know said he looked for 398 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: it a few times, you know, and and they didn't 399 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:25,440 Speaker 1: see it. I mean, so we followed up on Dyson's 400 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,480 Speaker 1: idea and we're like, no, well we don't really see 401 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: Dyson spares um and uh and Dyson didn't have I 402 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,160 Speaker 1: mean he's I've seen interviews where he's kind of dismissive 403 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: of the whole thing too. You know, he's just kind 404 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: of like, oh, yeah, Dyson spares I did that. But yeah, 405 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:38,720 Speaker 1: He's like, that was this thought that I had on 406 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 1: a Sunday afternoon. Yeah, So it's not like he was 407 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,160 Speaker 1: disappointed that that we haven't found a dicens fere yet. 408 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: But the concept continues to really resonate with everyone. I mean, 409 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,960 Speaker 1: besides the fact that it's just a really awesome idea. Uh, 410 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:55,439 Speaker 1: it's it's like the modern or like the space age 411 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: Tower of Babble, you know, the Tower of Babble, the 412 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:02,040 Speaker 1: old you know Bible story idea of the of early 413 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:06,439 Speaker 1: man became became so pompous in their technological prowess that 414 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,880 Speaker 1: they built that they were building this tower that would 415 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: they would actually they would touch the sky, that would 416 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: they would rival heaven, that you'd be able to that 417 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: the crews working on it would be able to shoot 418 00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: arrows in the air and wing angels and watch them 419 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: plummet to the ground. You know that it was just 420 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: a yeah, but it was just an offense to God, 421 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:28,240 Speaker 1: and it was about how awesome man was. And so 422 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: you know, we built towers like that every day now, 423 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: so it's no big deal. But but but what's the 424 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 1: space age version of that? It would be, what if 425 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: we built something so big and so awesome that we 426 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,159 Speaker 1: could fit the Sun in it? Like that's that's just 427 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 1: that's just like we're just up in the game in 428 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: terms of of what's the most pompous thing we could 429 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: possibly do with technology. You know, we could build a 430 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: shell around the Sun and then keep it for ourselves. 431 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: Let's see. That's what I think is so awesome about 432 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:55,919 Speaker 1: it too, because it shows this level of creativity we 433 00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 1: cannot stop imagining for ourselves going beyond the boundaries that 434 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,199 Speaker 1: that we know or suspect are there. Yeah, And that's 435 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: the thing it's interesting to think about because in terms 436 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:07,720 Speaker 1: of because you could, you could come up with more 437 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: grandiose ideas, like what if I built a giant steel 438 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: egg and put the entire solar system in it? All Right, 439 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,159 Speaker 1: well that's grandi yes, but it's that's that's that's beyond 440 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: the pale um. Whereas the idea of building a Dycen 441 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: sphere is is advanced, you know, and it's certainly pushing 442 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,320 Speaker 1: the limits of what's possible in terms of matter within 443 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:30,200 Speaker 1: our own solar system. But it's it's conceivable. We can 444 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:35,920 Speaker 1: say like, well, yes, that could possibly be. And so 445 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:37,919 Speaker 1: it's it's it's interesting to sit around and do the 446 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: math and and uh and and and also just envisioned 447 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,640 Speaker 1: what it would be like to encounter it. Yeah, dycens 448 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: an interesting cat um. I remember looking up some stuff 449 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,200 Speaker 1: for another podcast, doing some research, and there's an article 450 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,400 Speaker 1: in Slate and he was was that for this podcast 451 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: for the Moment podcast. No, not for the mom podcast, Uma, 452 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:58,919 Speaker 1: because that the mom podcast, we are always talking about 453 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:05,200 Speaker 1: a theoretical physicist. Um. But but anyway, he was talking 454 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: an article a slate. He was actually asked what our 455 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,640 Speaker 1: descendants could possibly look like a trillion years from now 456 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:12,880 Speaker 1: when the stars have disappeared in the universe is dark 457 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,639 Speaker 1: and freezing and so diffuse that it's practically empty from 458 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,359 Speaker 1: the article, and he said, the most plausible answer is 459 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: that conscious life will take the form of interstellar dust clouds. 460 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:24,600 Speaker 1: So for him, consciousness is just a bunch of charged 461 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:27,080 Speaker 1: particles hanging out in a dust cloud. And he actually 462 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,840 Speaker 1: thinks that our consciousness will merge into one great mind 463 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 1: and actually be able to transcend the locality of the physicality. Really, see, 464 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: that's beauty of ourselves. I know. I really think that 465 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 1: he's a very um exciting thinker. I think that he's 466 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 1: a thinker that I like thinking about. Well, excellent, UM, 467 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 1: give me some give me some mail to think about. Okay, yeah, yeah, 468 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:52,959 Speaker 1: let's move on. Let's let's exit the dising sphere and 469 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: see what we have from our listeners. Here a listener 470 00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: mail from a listener by him of Zach the a 471 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,160 Speaker 1: k He says, uh high stuff to blow your mind. Crew. 472 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,480 Speaker 1: I just got the house Stuff Works app, which is 473 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: available for various various platforms. Now, Um, definitely check that 474 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,879 Speaker 1: out and have started listening to your podcast. I really 475 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,520 Speaker 1: enjoy it. But have a notice that you don't have 476 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:19,560 Speaker 1: any podcasts on space propulsion. I would love a podcast 477 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 1: on a realistic deep space propulsion i e. Warp drive 478 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,360 Speaker 1: or hyper space or any other ideas floating around out there. 479 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:27,639 Speaker 1: Great show, keep it up. Um. Did we do one 480 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:29,680 Speaker 1: on solar sales or Mike? We did do one on 481 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,400 Speaker 1: seller sales, so yes, I check that out. Yeah, that's 482 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:37,360 Speaker 1: definitely space propulsion. Did we do want on warp? Uh? No, 483 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: I wrote some articles on warp, so maybe I could 484 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:43,479 Speaker 1: brush up and we could do an episode on war 485 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,399 Speaker 1: and the sellar sales. I think we talked about the 486 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 1: the nuclear warheads too as as a means of propulsion. 487 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:53,119 Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes, yes, yeah um so so yeah, go 488 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: back through the through the catalog. We we have touched 489 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 1: on some space propulsion, but there are a number of 490 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 1: cool concepts we we have it um, and this is 491 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:03,919 Speaker 1: kind of tied to It's not so much propulsion, but 492 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: it's definitely in the same field as some of these uh, 493 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,919 Speaker 1: these these ideas about uh of taking science by the 494 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:15,120 Speaker 1: horns and using it to conquer the galaxy. UM, here's 495 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: another one. This one is from Eric. Eric writes a 496 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: few years ago my local paper paper Rio Vista, California, 497 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 1: about twenty miles northeast of San Francisco. UM wrote a 498 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: headline that began a man walked into an an Isleton 499 00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,920 Speaker 1: bar with a porcupine. Isleton is right across the river 500 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,239 Speaker 1: from Rio Vista. This sounds like the intro into yet 501 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,320 Speaker 1: another joke, but it really happened. Apparently another patron of 502 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:43,440 Speaker 1: the bar was unhappy with this probably upset animal being there, 503 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:46,200 Speaker 1: and he and the porcupine owner began to fight. When 504 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: police arrived, the porcupine owner fled on his motorcycle and 505 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,880 Speaker 1: led police on a on a high speed chase over 506 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: the winding levy roads. UH. The man crashed and was arrested, 507 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,440 Speaker 1: but the fate of the porcupine was unknown. UH. Indeed, 508 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:01,240 Speaker 1: there is so much wonderful, full and wrong with that story, 509 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 1: and and it's it's great that he brought up headlines though, because, 510 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: as we talked about in our Laughter podcast, which is 511 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: responding to here um, laughter and humor. You know a 512 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: lot of it comes down to this idea of the 513 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:17,800 Speaker 1: nine and in the violation, but also to like absurd parallels. 514 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,439 Speaker 1: And there's there's a classic saying about headlines. Uh that 515 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,760 Speaker 1: dog bites man. It is not a good headline because 516 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:28,680 Speaker 1: that's very natural, you know, that's the natural recession of 517 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: things that would happen. But man bites dog. That's a 518 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:35,639 Speaker 1: headline that gets our attention because it's it's in a 519 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:37,800 Speaker 1: way it's humorous because it's turning everything on its head 520 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,320 Speaker 1: and so getting the pants. Yeah, so it's dancing you, 521 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,679 Speaker 1: it is panting you. And as a former newspaper person myself, 522 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:50,119 Speaker 1: I I really love a good, uh juicy headline like that, 523 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: that that that plays with your your expectations, that turns 524 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: words around on themselves, um and uh yeah. And any 525 00:27:58,280 --> 00:27:59,919 Speaker 1: time that you can get a sort of man by 526 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: dog effect in a headline, it's it's instantly kind of funny. 527 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 1: But also you're like, well, I've got to know how 528 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,200 Speaker 1: that happened. I gotta know what happened to this porkpine 529 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 1: it was you know, never explained one of the That's 530 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,520 Speaker 1: the other thing about the newspapers may never follow it up. 531 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,360 Speaker 1: I don't know it's news when the porcupine does something wrong, 532 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,080 Speaker 1: but what about when they are the porcupines exonerate? Doesn't 533 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 1: make the headlines at all. Porcupine exonerate, Well, that would 534 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 1: be a good headline, but anyway walks away list a 535 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,760 Speaker 1: normal life. Yeah, that's not a story. So hey, if 536 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: you have anything to share with us, if you have 537 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,200 Speaker 1: thoughts about Dyson spheres or want to point out any 538 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:40,640 Speaker 1: of the numerous examples of Dyson spheres and other cosmic 539 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,120 Speaker 1: megastructures from science fiction, let us know. We would love 540 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,200 Speaker 1: to read us some listener mail about that on the podcast, 541 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:49,640 Speaker 1: and you can find us, by the way, on Facebook 542 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:51,880 Speaker 1: and Twitter. We have accounts on both of those. We 543 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: are blow the Mind, look us up, like us, follow 544 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:59,080 Speaker 1: us all that and that you will be rewarded with 545 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: links to all sorts of cool stuff, and don't forget 546 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 1: to email us at Below the Mind at how stuff 547 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:11,479 Speaker 1: works dot com. Be sure to check out our new 548 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 1: video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how Stuff Work 549 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities 550 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: of tomorrow.