WEBVTT - How Alien Contact Might Work 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.800 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.040 and Chuck's here too, and so Jerry, and this is 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:20.639 stuff you should know. I don't have a shirt on. 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:24.040 That's cool. I don't have pants on. I probably should 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.479 have told you that before we got going, but or 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:30.360 not at all. But that is a definitely the state 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:32.839 that we're in these days. It's totally fine that you're 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:35.479 not wearing a shirt while we're recording. I went to 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.680 put one on, and then I was like, why, that's 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:43.319 a great question to ask yourself every morning. Really, by 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:45.720 the way, we should point out I just noticed. I 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:47.720 don't think I told you this, but I noticed today 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:52.360 I got um, I haven't always have a a Google 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:54.880 search setting for stuff you should know when that pops up, 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.440 and it popped up that our board game is for 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:04.040 sale on Amazon dot com again. Finally it came back 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.520 in huh, I guess so. And it's on sale, so 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:11.199 it's like off even if anyone wants it. We should 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.959 point out I looked at the negative reviews. This is 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:18.160 not trivial pursuit. This is this completely different stuff you 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.480 should know. Game that Trivial Pursuit loved and wanted to 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.520 co brand. Uh So, as far as the one star 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.240 reviews that say this doesn't work with my trivial pursuit board, 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:34.120 I've tried to mash them together, but it's out there again. 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.880 I think if people are interested in that, yeah, hopefully 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:41.639 they are. I didn't realize that was a plug until 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.400 about halfway through. You're still thinking about shirt. I thought 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.919 there's some story, right, I thought there was some story 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:49.400 coming out of it, and then I was like, oh, 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:51.640 I see where he's going with this. No, I just 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:53.720 I noticed that this morning, so I thought i'd mentioned 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.720 before we get into what will admittedly be a bit 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:02.920 of a freewheeling dicussion. I think on alien first contact, 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:06.080 this one didn't quite fit into our what we like 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.640 to do, which is sort of a tighter beginning, middle 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.320 in type of thing. So I think this will be 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:16.760 a little more free wheeling. It's actually super appropriate because 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.560 that's basically the same instution attitude that humanity has shown 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:25.239 towards the possibility of having to communicate with aliens thus far. 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.359 You know, it's just kind of like, uh, yeah, we'll 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.680 figure that out on the fly after it happens kind 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:37.519 of thing. And that's really I mean, in some ways, 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:39.960 it's like, well, yeah, I mean, why would we waste 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.359 any time figuring out what we're going to say to 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.920 aliens if we're not even certain that aliens exist. But 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.040 in another way, if you look at it, you can say, 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:53.239 like that is extraordinarily irresponsible, and like, really, how much 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.400 time and resource and money would it take to say, hey, 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:58.720 you group of humans who are into this, can you 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:00.720 go figure out what we should do and what we 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:04.360 should say some contingency plans just in case? Just in case? 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.680 Um so, I mean it kind of just depends on 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.120 your perspective, I think. But there are people out there, Chuck, 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:14.200 who are working on this. They're just not really receiving 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.799 any government funding, and they may or may not be 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.359 being listened to by governments around the world. But there 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:23.519 are people who have us covered to an extent. Yeah, 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:27.200 that's a good preamble, thank you, I think. I guess 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:29.360 you know. The first thing we should talk about briefly 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.760 at least, are the couple of ways that this could 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.440 go down. Uh. One of them is far less interesting 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.560 than the other, which is to say, if we find 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.840 evidence of primitive life. Let's say let's say the Mars 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:47.360 rover UH finds and and there has been some promising 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.360 evidence of life on Mars. But if we find like 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.800 a mold or some weird you know, virus or just 0:03:55.240 --> 0:04:01.480 microbes or anything on Mars, not super ex siding, but 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.160 they still have to sort of prepare how they would 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.240 handle that, and they have talked about that kind of thing, 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.400 and they basically have said that if that happened, there 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:12.400 would be like a joint press conference and all the 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.560 scientists would be involved, and then they would start studying 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.440 that stuff. I think the real money and sort of 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:21.760 the fun of this discussion comes when we talk about 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:26.240 intelligent life, because you know, that's what that's the money. Topic. 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.920 Is something more like close encounters of the third kind? No, definitely, 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.640 but there's a little more on discovering primitive life. What 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:36.680 you just described that press conference that already happened back 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.680 in with the a l H eight four zero zero 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:42.800 one meteorite that turned out to be a chunk of 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:48.760 four and a half billion year old um Mars basically 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:52.560 that had broken off at some point and landed in Antarctica. 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:58.880 And there is multiple um circumstantial evidence on this rock 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:04.839 that suggests that magnetic microbe inhabited this rock at some 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.760 point that maybe within you know, four and a half 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:10.680 billion years ago, there was microbial life on Mars and 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.039 we have evidence of it. There's a lot of people 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:16.440 out there who are are you know, very well versed 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.080 on this, who say it's still not proof of life. 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.599 There's it's still all just circumstantial evidence that, yeah, put 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.360 together is pretty convincing, but it's not convincing enough to say, yes, 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:28.960 there's life out there. But it's still up for debate, 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.920 even all these years later. So that that press conference 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.800 with the scientists who discovered it with skeptics who present 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:39.160 the opposite side, like that has actually been put into 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:43.560 practice before. But yes, I agree with you um finding 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:49.040 the UM like intelligent life elsewhere what are UM commonly 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.880 referred to as extraterrestrial intelligences or e t e s, 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:57.400 which sounds way smarter than just saying the aliens those 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.280 are that is that that's the money contact for sure, 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.839 right and you know, within that becomes the whole host 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:07.719 of UH issues And we're going to just kind of 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.440 talk about all those because there are a lot of 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.880 things that play here, you know, one is like, we 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.680 have no idea what that could look like. We have 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.520 no idea if you know, and we'll talk, you know, 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:20.760 all throughout this about different ways we might try and 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:24.520 communicate or pick up communication from them, but we have 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.760 no idea if that would even be possible, or if 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:32.040 they even have brains like we do that could process 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.920 any kind of communication like we do. So there's just 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:40.720 a lot of speculation when it comes to stuff like this. Uh, 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.120 and I think that some of it probably has been 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:45.400 informed by the movies a little bit, right, Yeah, I 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.719 think it absolutely has been informed by not just movies, 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:53.440 but like the science fiction um genre of like books 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.800 and rom coms for sure, a little bit definitely maybe 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:02.279 in there, um but but yes, But the reason why 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.279 is because science fiction writers have like a really long 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:11.640 upstanding history of making fairly accurate predictions or figuring out um, 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:16.800 you know, paradoxes, weird solutions to issues that that you know, 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:20.920 normal scientists aren't necessarily thinking about, and they've contributed to 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.080 the field. So it makes sense that we would kind 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.760 of lean on science fiction to come up with some 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.400 of these are letta influence us too. Yeah, and you know, 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:31.760 there are a lot of smart people thinking about this stuff. 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:37.240 There's a gentleman named Jacob hawk Misra who works at 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:41.640 Penn State University, go Nitney lyons uh and it is 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.880 an astronomer there and said basically, and this is in 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.680 an interview with Life Science, said, you know what we 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.600 would probably do if we did spot some sort of 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:54.760 intelligent life is we would probably or we should probably 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.520 slow our role and just sort of watch them for 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:01.360 a while from a distance, try and gather information, learn 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.800 as much as we can, and then maybe at some 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:07.640 point before we even send humans, send out like a 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:13.280 robot or something. Right. So, what he's talking about, right, 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.480 what he's talking about bears a really strong resemblance to 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.840 a military document from the fifties that no one has 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.920 a copy of but has been written of um by 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.920 people who supposedly have read it before back in the day. 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.960 It's called seven Steps to Contact, and it was basically 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.319 that plan. You know, we we find something, we sit 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:37.679 and observe it from a distance, we get a little closer. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:42.160 There is a procedure where we abduct a member of 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.680 that species or whatever if we can to like learn 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.199 what we can from him, and then we announce our 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.840 presence and then we try to communicate, right and um, 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:55.520 communicating using like a probe um or some sort of 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:59.160 like computer makes a lot of sense, but it leads 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.360 us to a important kind of rule of thumb in 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.320 this this um this field, and that is that if 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:08.640 we humans have come up with it, there's a really 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.679 good chance that an advanced civilization that we will come 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.040 in contact with has actually done it already. So if 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:18.480 we've decided that space probe is probably the best way 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:22.120 to contact people, that's probably what we should be looking 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.920 for because that's probably what they will actually do. Yeah, 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:28.680 and this is where, you know, it's sort of a 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:32.000 it's sort of a heady thing to think about, but 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.559 the idea is that they would be an advanced, like 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.920 way more advanced civilization than we are. It's sort of 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.240 an assumption that if they contact us, or if we 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:44.720 can make contact with them, that they're way far ahead 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:48.280 of us in technology and that they have actually survived 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:53.160 uh beyond where we are now, which is uh technical 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.400 or technological adolescence. I mean, it seems like we've done 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.319 a lot, but you know, Lvia points out that we've 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.960 only been communicating you know, view radio via radio for 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.880 like a hundred years, so like we're super super young. 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.160 So the idea is that if there's something out there, 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.120 they're way more advanced, they've survived beyond that. They have 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:17.760 technology that is, uh, they have advanced that did not 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.400 end up killing them. So they survived what's called the 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:24.320 Great Filter, which we're not even I don't know how 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:25.880 you know better than I am. How close are we 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:30.560 to approaching that? Um, The predictions are within the next 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.040 hundred years, if we can serve out the next hundred years, 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:36.560 we might be okay of like advancing tech to the 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:41.040 point where tech then takes over and wipes us out. Yeah. 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.360 So if we can survive that the great filter, um, 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.480 that means that will have such a mastery of technology 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.360 that we can defend ourselves from extinction in any form, natural, 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.840 self imposed, whatever. We'll just we'll have such a mastery 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.400 of technology that it can't wipe us out and we 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:01.360 can't be wiped out. And so the lifespan of the 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.079 humans could go on for billions of years. So if 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:09.480 we detect an advanced civilization, what they tell us, Chuck, 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.240 is that it's possible to make it through the Great Filter, 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:14.200 because we don't know if that's the case or not. 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:16.880 All the evidence we have is that we're the only 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:20.280 intelligent life in the universe, So that that raises the question, 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.080 are we the only intelligent life in the universe because 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.560 all other intelligent life has destroyed itself as it's tried 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.400 to go through the Great Filter? And if so, does 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.760 that mean we're about to destroy ourselves because we're about 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:35.400 to go through the Great Filter? Or or was it 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:37.800 already in the past? Was it was there some other 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.360 stage and evolution that we've already gone through. And so 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.840 if we come in contact with an advanced civilization, they 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.640 show us that the Great filters probably behind us, and 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:52.760 we have a long, happy, technologically advanced life ahead of 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.880 us for our species. Right, we should probably break but 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.240 before we do, uh, I do want to mention that 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.960 that same Jacob Hawk Misra also points out kind of 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:04.920 the obvious, but we do need to mention it that 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.600 they may are like this whole idea that we could 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.440 be out there watching them. Potentially they may already be 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.880 out there watching us and we just don't know about it, 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.280 and then we would be in a reactive mode rather 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.520 than a proactive mode. And it's just something to think about. 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.880 We're not like trying to say aliens, man, but uh, 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.160 just because we don't know what's out there yet, doesn't 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.040 mean that they don't know that we're out there. No, 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.440 And it's again, it's probably not aliens. If we're being observed, 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:36.160 it's probably a probe of some sort. And the spot 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:38.920 doujure that people are suggesting where it would be hiding 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:42.199 out as in a co orbital asteroid out in the 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.720 asteroid belt UM that has the same orbit as Earth 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.640 around the Sun but doesn't orbit Earth. UM. That would 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:53.520 provide a really great um hidden spot to to check 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.480 out Earth and kind of keep tabs on us because 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:58.560 he would be crazy enough to fly their spaceship into 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.720 an asteroid field. Well, what's what's really exciting is like 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:07.040 we'll probably be mining asteroids in like the next fifty years. 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.120 So if that's the case, we would find that probe 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:16.000 and possibly Han Solo. That's right, super old Han Solo 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:20.600 with a single diamond earring for some reason. All right, 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:22.800 let's take that break and we will come back and 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.880 talk about a topic that we previously covered. Set right 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:50.880 for this, all right, we have a whole episode on 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:56.280 CD the Search for extraterrestrial intelligence? Was that one at 0:13:56.280 --> 0:14:01.000 comic Con? No, because UFO one comic book. I think 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:02.920 that's the when you're thinking of, that's what I'm thinking of. 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:09.160 Those are always fun, the comic cons that is. Uh, 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:10.960 they were always fun because we had a mix of 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:13.760 like stuff you should know listeners but also sort of 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:20.120 arms crossed nerds entertained me. Yeah, that ended up liking 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.480 what we did generally. Yeah, So I just have to say, now, 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:25.680 anytime I hear comic kind have you seen Love on 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.240 the Spectrum US? The new season of Love on the Spectrum? 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.400 I never saw the old edition. Oh you gotta see. 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:34.960 So there's a new one and there's one um, one 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.640 regular person. Um, I want to say character, but it's like, 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.200 you know, real life. So there's one person on it. 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.720 Her name is Danny and she's like super into animation 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:51.000 and it's just laser focused on finding a partner who 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.000 is equally into animation as she is, which is really 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.880 tough because she's really into but um. One of her 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:59.880 first questions in any one of the dates she goes 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.560 on is have you heard of comic Con? Or do 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.480 you feel you would ever want to go to comic Con? 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:09.240 Or something similar to that. It's really super cute. I 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:11.240 think you can say, cast member, I think that still 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.800 covers reality. Oh it does. Okay, yes, so one of 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.520 the cast members named Danny Yeah. Um, alright, So CT, 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.360 like I said, search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. You can listen 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:24.800 to that full episode. Uh. There is a body, a 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.280 key body for CET called the International Academy of Arrow 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:33.040 I'm sorry, Astronautics. And they are non governmental and they 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:36.360 were founded in nineteen sixty and what they try to 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.840 do is bring together experts from all over the world. Uh. 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.640 I think there's seventy seven member countries at this point. Uh. 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:45.760 It is un recognize so it's not just you know, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.680 a bunch of crackpots out there talking about aliens. And 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.120 they helped establish some protocols in the late eighties and 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.840 then updated them in um, just sort of some guidelines 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.840 about how to handle it if said he did find something. Yeah, 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.080 and they're really kind of basic and boring even when 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.040 you stop and think you're talking about discovering and searching 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:12.080 for extraterrestrial intelligence. But it's it's good that they do this. 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.520 They provided a baseline so that if you're a scientist 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.640 working in this field. You know, Oh, I can't speak 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.840 to the press, or oh I haven't haven't really confirmed 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.160 this discovery, so I shouldn't announce it yet. Like there's 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.800 just really basic guidelines that I think if you are 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.960 in the grip of having discovered something like this, it 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:32.320 would be really helpful to be able to refer to him, 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:35.840 I think. Yeah, And I think what's promising about these 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:39.720 guidelines is they talk a lot about being honest and 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:43.120 open with the press, like you said, and working together 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:45.640 with people from all scientists from all over the world, 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.680 in forming task groups and not jumping the gun. And 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:52.000 like if you you know, in the movies, if you 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:55.280 get a um, you know, the computer screen pops up 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.760 an alien signal, Like the first thing you do is 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.640 type back an answer like they eight no, no, no, 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.480 don't type back any answer. Uh, you're not the guy 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.240 in the chair. Uh. What we need to do is 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.160 like take our time with this stuff and consult everybody, 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.080 including the u N on like best next steps. Right, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.879 the guy in the chair who's big, sweaty bearded and 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.719 has a really affectionate relationship with the heroin who's actually 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.639 interested in the male lead. Yeah, you just describe me 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.360 right now, except that guy has on a shirt, right, 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:31.120 So you've got what you've got searching. You do it transparently. 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:34.880 You're supposed to communicate with the public and as we'll see. Um, 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:36.639 that's you know, if you think about it, if you 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:40.440 pay any kind of attention to science journalism, there's all 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:43.480 sorts of discussion and talk about searching the stars for 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:47.760 extraterrestrial intelligence these days, and that is part of this, 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:51.400 this this protocol, like keep the public informed, tell them 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.320 everything you're doing, tell him what you're finding, and then 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.720 later on, as we'll see, tell them how excited they 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:00.000 should be about that. Well, yeah, I mean, I guess 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.760 we should talk about that. They actually have a scale 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:07.439 that they've developed to gauge how excited the general public 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.280 would be about finding something out. And it's called the 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:15.439 Rio scale, uh. And it was um proposed by astronomers 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:20.359 Yvonne Almar of Hungary and Jill Tarter of the United 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.880 States and two thousand and it's kind of funny. It's 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:26.639 based off the or at least modeled on, the Torino scale, 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:30.399 which is a scale of like, uh, the effects of 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:34.040 an asteroid hitting the Earth. But it's how excited would 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:36.720 the public be? And what's funny about it? It's a 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:41.280 zero to ten. And one of the examples that Livia 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:45.960 gives is, all, right, let's say they found a like 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:50.040 a pretty full proof report that they found of a 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:55.040 signal from intelligent or potentially intelligent life, but they found 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.239 it in the archives, like, hey, we dug this up 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:00.280 from two thousand two and it's confirmed and it was 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.000 a signal of alien life trying to speak to us. 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.119 That ranks a two out of ten. Right, it's a 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:12.520 when in two is um is nominally low importance. I 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:14.840 just think that's so telling of people in there, like 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:18.800 having to be so in the moment, like when did 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:23.439 this happen? Okay, yawn right right. So so it's not 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.320 just like how excited the public will be, it's also 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.399 how excited you should tell the public to be, like 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.600 how important refinding this is? Right? So you would turn 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.560 around and it's still it strikes me as really weird too, that, hey, 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:39.200 we found a beacon that we've confirmed is from an 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:43.679 intelligent life outside of our galaxy, but it's not that important. 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:49.280 That's weird. The while signal wasn't the Whatev's signal like 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.480 they were excited about it. They included an exclamation point 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.200 I should point out though, that same signal if they 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.080 found that like right now tomorrow, they said that would 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:01.320 rank as seven out of and so it would be 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.880 news year. I guess right, So seven is high importance 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:10.119 and then ten is oh my gosh, oh man, oh geez. Yeah, 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:14.240 that's that level of importance. Yeah, well, which is potentially 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:18.320 like panic level, right, it is because basically you've got 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:22.760 a um, you essentially have contact, is what a ten 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.600 would be, or a signal that is coming to us 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.760 from our solar system that we can like study. It's 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:32.199 it's all about how credible and reliable it is. And 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:35.919 the first RIO scale that was introduced in two thousand 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:38.600 I think you said, um, that was updated here there, 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.000 I think in two thousand three, and then in two thousand, 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:46.919 um eighteen, I believe there was an update to it, 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:49.480 so so much so that they call it RIO two 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.399 point oh. It was led by Duncan Forgan of the 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.040 Center for ex Planet Science at the University of St. 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.800 Andrew in Scotland. Go Scotland. Go uh, Golfers. I'm sure 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:03.560 it's the University of Senn Drew. UM and so he 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.359 and the company updated the Rio scale to make it 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:10.399 even more robust. And again it all comes down to 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:15.240 how credible is this information? Right? Like, how how credible 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:18.760 is this discovery? Can we study it? Um? What do 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:21.240 other scientists in the field think about it? And you 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:23.199 put all this together and then you say, actually, this 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:25.600 is low importance, this is high importance. This is as 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:28.200 important as it comes. And then you tell the public 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:31.840 we found something and the importance of it is as 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:35.600 important as it comes, or it's not that important, which 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.119 would be a tin which is she dances on the sand. 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:41.280 I don't know what that means, but I like the 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:43.840 sound of it. Chucked all right? Should I point it out? 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:47.320 Or should I let you just discover it later? Or 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:50.320 never at all? I think maybe someone will email and tell, 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:52.480 you know, point it out. I hate it when people 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:55.440 email this hony stuff that I missed. It was a 0:21:55.520 --> 0:22:00.120 dad joke, an eighties uh kid of the eighties dad joke. Okay, 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:06.679 all right, I'm nothing, I've got maybe um Mr Mr No, 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:09.560 you're close. It's the Rio scale. She dances on the 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:14.080 same Yeah, that's great. I can't believe it. All right, 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:19.720 it was great. It's a great song. It is biproxy great. 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:23.280 Should we talk about SETA. Yeah, just one more thing 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:26.000 before we pass on from the Rio scale. Like one 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:28.440 of the important things is the reason why the scale 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:33.840 is so varied from like low importance to she dances 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:39.520 on the sand importance is Um, you're supposed to communicate 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:42.440 this to the public. If it's low importance, that doesn't 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:44.800 mean don't bother. It means go tell the public we 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:46.880 found this. But it's actually not that big of a deal. 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:52.080 It's it's instructing astronomers how to present this to the public. 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:54.159 You know, how excited you should tell them to be, 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:57.639 how important it is. Yeah. And then also before we 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:00.640 go on to SETA, once you actually have a detection, 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:03.159 there's that Setti Permanent Committee from the I A. A. 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:06.960 They have protocols for for when you do actually confirm 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:13.680 you have detected an alien signal or presence somehow set up. Yeah. 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:16.919 And so if they're if they're broadcasting on the electromagnetic band, 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:20.920 which we are out there looking for, um, so hopefully 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:24.360 that's what they're using, UM, that band would be protected. 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:26.719 Everybody else would get kicked off of that band, and 0:23:26.760 --> 0:23:29.280 then that band would be studied as intensively as an 0:23:29.280 --> 0:23:33.080 electromagnetic band has ever been studied in the history of humanity. 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:37.840 I love that. And then lastly, chuck um, there's a 0:23:38.080 --> 0:23:41.560