1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lammon. This is the Monster Fact, 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 2: focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. If 5 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 2: you've seen the new MCU film The Fantastic Four First Steps, 6 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 2: then you've finally experienced a proper cinematic treatment of Galactus, 7 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 2: the iconic devour of worlds for Marvel Comics, created in 8 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty six by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This 9 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,879 Speaker 2: titanic space god predates the Big Bang. He survived the 10 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,520 Speaker 2: great collapse of the previous universe and entered into our own, 11 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 2: hatching from the cosmic egg. His god like abilities come 12 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 2: via the power cosmic, which he sustains through the consumption 13 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 2: of entire worlds. And yet Galactus is a lot more 14 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 2: complex than your typical Earth destroying elder god. While definitely 15 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 2: an existential threat and a perpetrator of untold megadeaths, Galactus 16 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 2: does not consume worlds with malice, as the latest MCU 17 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 2: film accurately depicts. He himself is a slave to his 18 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 2: own insatiable hunger, but is lawful and honorable standing by 19 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 2: the letter of pacts made for the survival of various 20 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 2: planets and such. While he's certainly a villain and a 21 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 2: monster by many measurements, he is also beyond good and evil, 22 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:37,319 Speaker 2: a natural force that dwarfs everything he encounters. Sometimes he 23 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 2: even acts in ways that might cast him as an 24 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 2: anti hero. In The Fantastic Four First Steps, Galactus is 25 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 2: as close to his silver Age glory as we could 26 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 2: hope for. A giant humanoid being in purple armour and 27 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 2: a great hat that might best be described as a 28 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 2: papal miter with cosmic horns. English character actor Ralph Ineson 29 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 2: provides his voice and likeness. The presentation is delightfully over 30 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 2: the top, as it should be, But the entire Galactus scenario, 31 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 2: in which a ravenous cosmic power sends its harbingers out 32 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 2: in search of worlds and civilizations to dine on, actually 33 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 2: isn't entirely the domain of comic book science fiction. Humans 34 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 2: have wrestled with the Fermi paradox for seventy five years now. 35 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 2: If other intelligent life forms exist in the universe, perhaps 36 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 2: even in some abundance, then why haven't we encountered them, 37 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:32,520 Speaker 2: heard of them, seen any signs of them. Why is 38 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 2: the universe so silent? Hypothesized solutions vary from the possibility 39 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 2: that Earth really is a rare commodity in the cosmos 40 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 2: to the idea that we exist in a sort of 41 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:46,359 Speaker 2: space zoo or nature reserve. But while the latter concept 42 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 2: entails benign alien beings that intentionally leave us alone, the 43 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 2: dark Forest hypothesis paints a bleaker picture. Name for the 44 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 2: two thousand and eight Lucien novel of the same name, 45 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 2: the dark Forest hypothe this states that the rest of 46 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 2: the universe is quiet because its various intelligent, technologically advanced 47 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 2: civilizations are understandably afraid. They remain unheard and unseen because 48 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,679 Speaker 2: they know to raise their voices or in any way 49 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 2: broadcast their presence could attract the unwonted attention of dangerous, 50 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 2: even more powerful forces. This could be threats known to exist, 51 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 2: or merely threats likely to exist and therefore worth remaining 52 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 2: silent for. And this is where we get to the 53 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 2: possibility of if not an actual galactus, then something close 54 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,840 Speaker 2: enough to terrify us, something that hungers and sends its 55 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 2: seekers and heralds far across the sprawl of stars in 56 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 2: search of civilized worlds to harvest. First, let's think about 57 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 2: that hunger galactus must consume worlds. This we know the 58 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 2: idea is far from ridiculous when we consider it the 59 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 2: Kardashev scale, which sorts potential civilizations by how much power 60 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 2: they can harvest Type one the energy of an entire planet, 61 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 2: type to the energy of an entire star, Type three 62 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 2: the energy of an entire galaxy. Certainly, by type three 63 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 2: we are contemplating galactus level power, and it certainly puts 64 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 2: forms of planet and star harvesting or even consumption into consideration, 65 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 2: both in terms of what we can imagine, such as 66 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:18,840 Speaker 2: the use of a Dyson sphere to enclose a star 67 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 2: and collect the sum total of its energy output, and 68 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 2: means that we can't even fathom. 69 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 1: Yet. 70 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,839 Speaker 2: After all, we're not even a type one civilization on 71 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 2: the Kardashev scale. Some of the aims and abilities of 72 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 2: a Type three civilization or even a Type two may 73 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:37,479 Speaker 2: simply exist outside of our context, and this leads us 74 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,679 Speaker 2: to another Fermi paradox solution hypothesis, the Berserker hypothesis, also 75 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 2: known as the deadly Probe scenario. The Berserker name, by 76 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 2: the way, stems from the nineteen sixty seven Fred Saberhagen novel. 77 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,279 Speaker 2: The concept here is that the cosmos seems silent because 78 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 2: thus far all other sufficiently advanced intelligent forms of life 79 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 2: have been destroyed by deadly seeker self replicating destroyers that 80 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 2: are even now on their way to decimate Earth as well. 81 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 2: In teasing this hypothesis apart, some have argued that humanity 82 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 2: would have surely been discovered and eradicated already if this 83 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 2: were the status quo in the galaxy. However, if we've 84 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 2: not yet met the criteria for extermination, or if there's 85 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 2: some hope of passing a civilizational test that ensures our 86 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 2: survival yish, then perhaps the sword of Damocles merely hangs 87 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,720 Speaker 2: above all of our heads, entirely dependent on how we 88 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 2: conduct ourselves or how solid the latest season of Single 89 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,559 Speaker 2: Female Lawyer happens to be. Obviously, there are numerous ways 90 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 2: to dissect this hypothesis, ranging from just considering the toll 91 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 2: such self replicating machines might take on the galaxies available 92 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,280 Speaker 2: mass over time. This would potentially spell a kind of 93 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 2: Gray Goog apocalypse on a cosmic scale, as well as 94 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 2: issues of detection or lack of detection here in our 95 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 2: local neighborhood. Naturally, the idea has been explored in various 96 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 2: Sci Fi treatments, often as a means to explore our 97 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,799 Speaker 2: collective values as a species, our hopes and our fears 98 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,480 Speaker 2: that something else out there shares those values in either 99 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 2: its dark or light extremes. And we see this with 100 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 2: Galactus as well, that a herald is sent to judge us, 101 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 2: save or condemn us based on our merits or the 102 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:25,479 Speaker 2: merits of those who stand as shining examples of what 103 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 2: we aspire to be. And in this we're reminded that 104 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 2: Galactus is a comic book take on the divine, a 105 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 2: god who sits in judgment, echoing a very long standing 106 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:41,359 Speaker 2: note in human mythmaking, such as in the Bible, and 107 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 2: God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is 108 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 2: come before me, for the earth is filled with violence 109 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 2: through them. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 110 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 2: In the Bagava Ghita, I am time grown old to 111 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 2: destroy the world, embarked on the course of world annihilation. 112 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,240 Speaker 2: Except for yourself. None of these will survive. Of these 113 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:08,920 Speaker 2: warriors arrayed in opposite armies, and in Marvel comics, Your 114 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 2: planet is now marked for death. Your world will be 115 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 2: consumed by the devour. There is nothing you can do 116 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 2: to stop him, for he is a universal force, as 117 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 2: essential as the stars. Hold your loved ones close, and 118 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 2: speak the words you've been afraid to speak. Tune in 119 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 2: for additional episodes of The Monster Fact, The Artifact or 120 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 2: Animalist Upendium each week. As always, you can email us 121 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 2: at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 122 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 123 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 124 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.