1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,319 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: let's let's take a minute here to listen to the 5 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: music of the spheres. It's lovely, right. We forget that planets, 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: stars and queens, oars are all giving off radio signals, 7 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: and if you have the right equipment you can actually 8 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: use drop on space and hear all these sort of 9 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: bubble squeaks. Yeah, we're talking about the sonification of this 10 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: radio wave information. And this kind of stuff has made 11 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: the rounds on the Internet time and time again. Before 12 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: the Internet, it was even available on vinyl. And it's 13 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: it is. It's haunting, it's beautiful. It's like the sound 14 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: of space whales um, you know, singing in the cosmos. 15 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: But just imagine, just imagine that you go to eavesdrop 16 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: on space one day. Can you hear something that is 17 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: ferociously loud? Yeah, something that sounds a little like this. Okay, 18 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: maybe not exactly that. Yeah. That that I want to 19 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: be clear is is not an actual sonification of anything 20 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: from our universe. That is a creation by our our 21 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: sound designer and producer, Noel Brown, and we wanted to 22 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 1: include that clip because we're not exactly sure what this 23 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: space war which actually exists sounds like. Yeah, so all 24 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,119 Speaker 1: we know it's six times louder than anything else out there, 25 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:42,480 Speaker 1: and it is a mystery. It is this haunting, perhaps 26 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: even disturbing on an intellectual level. Uh, noise, just discordia 27 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: emanating from the universe, and uh we throw our best 28 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: theories at it, and nothing so far has really stuck. Uh, 29 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: you can't help but let your imagination run wild, of course, 30 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: like I instantly, I instantly they turn to Lovecraft's HP 31 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: Lovecrafts Demon sultan as is Off, which was quote that 32 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: amorphous blight of nethermost confusion, which blasphemes and bubbles at 33 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: the center of all infinity, who gnaws hungrily, admits the muffled, 34 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 1: maddening beat of vile drums anothermost confusion. Yeah, we're gonna 35 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: have to use that. Um. Yeah, And this is not 36 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: the first time that we've had this kind of nice, 37 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: deep mystery to chew on, right, like we have had 38 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: sounds emanating from the depths of the ocean, from the 39 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: depths of space. Now, um, that make us wonder what 40 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: exactly is going on. And so that's what we're going 41 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: to try to do today, plumb the depths of this 42 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: sound and figure out what it is and where it's 43 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: coming from. Indeed, we're gonna examine this universe wide phenomenon 44 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: of the space roar. Now, let me just clarify a 45 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: couple of things to start off. When we're talking about 46 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: listening to the space roar or any of these these 47 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: cosmic sounds, the soonification of the data. You know, we're 48 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: not talking about actual sound traveling through space. Sound travels 49 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 1: and waves just like light, just like heat, But unlike 50 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,920 Speaker 1: light and heat, sound travels by making molecules vibrate. So 51 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: for sound to actually travel, say from a ringing bell 52 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,080 Speaker 1: to your ear, there has to be a molecule filled 53 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: medium for it to travel through. Here on Earth, air 54 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: molecules provide the pathway, but in space, particularly deep space, 55 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: there are just no molecules to vibrate, that's right. So 56 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: what we are relying on when we talk about eavesdropping 57 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 1: in space, we're relying on radio waves and in n 58 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: American physicist Karl Jansky first detected radio static from our 59 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: very own milky way galaxy and similar emission from other 60 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: galaxies creates this kind of background hits of radio noise. 61 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: So when we talk about radio waves, where we're talking 62 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: about well, they are one of what we call electromagnetic waves. 63 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: So electromagnetic waves include light, radio, X ray, gamma ray, 64 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: and infrared and ultra for violet. And the thing that 65 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 1: differentiates them is their wavelength. So a wavelength of say light, 66 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: stretched out over a long, long, long and long distance 67 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: ratchets down its energy and then it shifts it into 68 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: a radio wave. So in other words, radio waves are 69 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,840 Speaker 1: just another form of light. And this means that light 70 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: from a distant galaxy can't perceive by sight, but it 71 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: can be heard by radio telescopes. Hence all those bubbles 72 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: and squeaks we can hear when a radio telescope homes 73 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: in on say Uranus or Jupiter. So that brings us 74 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: to ARCADE. ARCADE being a two thousand and six NASA 75 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: experiment developed by the Goddard Space Flight Center. ARCADE stands 76 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: for Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, astrophysics, and Diffuse emission, and 77 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: essentially it's uh it was. It was a high altitude 78 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,919 Speaker 1: balloon payload designed to study the early universe by measuring 79 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: the frequency spectrum of the ca es make microwave background 80 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,599 Speaker 1: or c m D and searching for signals from the 81 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: first stars to form after the Big Bang. See heat 82 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 1: from the Big Bang still permeates the universe today, and 83 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,039 Speaker 1: scientists can observe it as this faint glow of deep 84 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: space microwaves. This is the cosmic microwave background, and it 85 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 1: contains what some scientists dub quote a fossil record of 86 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: every of every early universe. I like that idea, that 87 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: fossil record. I really like the fossil record analogy too. Yeah, 88 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: and the instrumentation aboard this device is pretty crazy. The 89 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: official Arcade website makes the following comparison. Imagine warming your 90 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: hands by the light of the stars in the night sky, 91 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: you know, standing out on a cold day, raising your 92 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: palms up and warming yourself by that those distant pinpricks 93 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 1: of light. Impossible right now. Imagine trying to detect the 94 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 1: heat from stars we can't even see, like you mentioned earlier, 95 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: than the light from those stars just turning nothing but 96 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: radio waves after a while. That's why NASA's Gotta Space 97 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: Flight Center designed Arcade to measure temperature differences as small 98 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: as one one thousandth of a degree in the background 99 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: only three degrees above absolute zero, while also avoiding confusing 100 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:15,159 Speaker 1: data from everything else in the universe. So the entire 101 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: instrument inside this ballooned uh lifted package was cooled with 102 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: liquid helium to to a to a temperature of two 103 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: point seven degrees above absolute zero. So they made it 104 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 1: as cold, if not a little colder than the CMB, 105 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:34,320 Speaker 1: so there's no confusion for its seven cryogenic radiometers. So 106 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 1: July two thousand six successfully launched this sucker from Columbia 107 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas. It ascended to an 108 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: altitude of one thousand feet or thirty seven kilometers, and 109 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: after four hours of observation, parachuted back to Earth. Oh 110 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,479 Speaker 1: and what did Dr Alan Cogert, a research scientist at 111 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:59,159 Speaker 1: Nassas Cattard Space Flight Center and head of the Arcade project, Fine, Well, 112 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:03,599 Speaker 1: he found something was absolutely astounding, and honestly, he was 113 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: just hoping to find confirmation of the cosmic microwave background 114 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: and gather a few nude radio emission points. But says quote, 115 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: the universe really threw us a curve instead of the 116 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: faint signal we hope to find there was this booming 117 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:23,240 Speaker 1: noise six times ladder than anyone had predicted. He says, 118 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: the energy alone that could generate this level of signal 119 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: is incomprehensible. And Uh, I've seen accounts of it. It's 120 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 1: been described as a static like noise coming from all directions. 121 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: And the discovery is based on noise measurements and the 122 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: microwave frequency bands at three, eight thirty and ninety giga 123 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: hurts which peaked NASIS detectors at three and eight giga hurts. 124 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: So they were observing about seven percent of the sky 125 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: when they had this booming sound come to them. Yeah, 126 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: and so we have a big fat mystery on our 127 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,559 Speaker 1: hands here. Um. It's uh, it's important to to drive 128 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: home that this is not like a one time signals. 129 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: This isn't like the Wow signal or the bloop uh 130 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: that came from the ocean that we've discussed in the 131 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: vast UH. This is a universe wide phenomenon that is ongoing. 132 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: But Arcade was the first instrument to meant to that 133 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: was actually able to measure the radio sky with enough 134 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: precision to detect this mysterious signal. Uh. And ironically, the 135 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: roar hides the signal uh or seems to hide the 136 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:33,199 Speaker 1: signal from the earliest stars, thus interfering with the very 137 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 1: mission we originally sent Arcade up for to begin with. 138 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: All right, so let's take a quick break and we 139 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: come back. We're not going to provide an answer to 140 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 1: this mystery. We're not gonna solve them, but we're gonna 141 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about some of the ideas that have 142 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: been thrown out there, most of which are have been 143 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: shot down as well. But I think the theories, even 144 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: the ones that ultimately don't hold up, helped to illuminate 145 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,960 Speaker 1: what might be happening and just the sphere of possible answers. 146 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:09,240 Speaker 1: All Right, we'll back. Have you ever seen those maps 147 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:11,959 Speaker 1: that say you are here, shows you in the middle 148 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: of the Milky Way. Oh no, I was just thinking 149 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: about the zoo. But the zoo, Yeah, you're here at 150 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:19,440 Speaker 1: the zoo. Yeah, I get lost enough there without even 151 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: taking into account I see the map, right, But you 152 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: maybe have seen those illustrations before which say, hey, by 153 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,679 Speaker 1: the way, the Solar system is located within the Milky 154 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: Way galaxy, so it makes sense that one of the 155 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: first places we would look to to try to solve 156 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 1: the mystery of the roar is of course the Milky Way, 157 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:44,319 Speaker 1: because it produces something called synchrotron radiation, which is electromagnetic 158 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: energy emitted by charged particles. We're talking about electrons and 159 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: ions that are moving at speeds close to that of 160 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: light when their paths are altered as by magnetic fields. 161 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,319 Speaker 1: It is so called because particles moving at such speeds 162 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: in a variety of particle accelerator that is known as 163 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: synchrotron produce electromagnetic radiation of this sort. Now, okay, great, 164 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: it's creating electromagnetic radiation. We can pick up on that 165 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 1: as we know. Um that being said, it doesn't look 166 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,320 Speaker 1: like our galaxy is the culprit because, according to dal 167 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: Dale Fixen, a University of Maryland research scientists and a 168 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,880 Speaker 1: member of the Arcade team, infrared radiation goes hand in 169 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:31,080 Speaker 1: hand with syncrotron radiation, and the already measured amount of 170 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: the Milky Ways infrared radiation radiation is not on the 171 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:39,080 Speaker 1: same order of magnitude required to create that kind of roar. 172 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: So already we can look at the Milky Way and saying, no, 173 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: you are not it. You're not the culprit alright, so 174 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,520 Speaker 1: we we slashed that one off the list. Um, you know. 175 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: Dale Fixen also looked into the idea that the roar 176 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 1: could be emanating from the very first stars that Arcade 177 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: was actually looking for. Right, these first stars, thought to 178 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:01,199 Speaker 1: have formed about thirteen billion years ago, didn't have any dust. 179 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: That's because the first dust in our universe was formed 180 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:09,720 Speaker 1: within these very stars. So in theory, possibly these stars 181 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: could have created a lot of synchrotron radiation without that 182 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: correspondingly high amount of infrared radiation, which we would have 183 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: theoretically already detected. So there's one possible loophole. But it's 184 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: not an answer. Dubious about it, well, I mean, I'm 185 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: I'm dubious about I trust Fixing on this. If he 186 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,960 Speaker 1: says that it's not a slam dunk, then I'm gonna 187 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: have to take his word for it. Wise, all right, 188 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:41,000 Speaker 1: what about other far flung galaxies, well, clusters of galaxies 189 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 1: formed by gravitational murder of smaller clusters and subclusters. And 190 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: we know from radio telescope observations that sometimes there's the 191 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:56,119 Speaker 1: presence of large regions of diffuse steep spectrum synchrotron emission 192 00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: and galaxies that emit more light at radio wavelengths than 193 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 1: a visible wavelengths. These are known as radio allowed galaxy. 194 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: So there is this idea that there could be these 195 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 1: radio allowed galaxies out there that could have created the 196 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: space roar. However, cog art are a man at arcade 197 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:17,800 Speaker 1: says quote typical radio galaxies can't account for the noise, 198 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: as you would need the entire universe filled of them 199 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 1: to produce signal strengths this high six times higher than 200 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:29,840 Speaker 1: the combined emission of all known radio sources in the universe. Or, 201 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: more specifically, as fix In puts it, you'd have to 202 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: pack them into the universe like sardines. There wouldn't be 203 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:43,200 Speaker 1: any space left between one galaxy universe. Not again, not 204 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: an answer. Alright, Well, here's another theory, and this one 205 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: I do want to preface is is out there, and 206 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: it takes us a little more into the fringes of 207 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,079 Speaker 1: what we know and into some of the uh, the 208 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:03,920 Speaker 1: more complex and uh mind melting, mind melting theories regarding 209 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: our universe, in our place in the universe. American physicist 210 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: David brown Um has a take on space war that 211 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: plays into cellular automaton and in theory, Okay, cellular automaton 212 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 1: is a whole area that we could we could easily 213 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:19,959 Speaker 1: spend a whole podcast on, So I'm gonna try and 214 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:23,120 Speaker 1: keep it short here, but uh, this basically, this model 215 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: involves the use of colored or shaded cells on a 216 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 1: grid that evolved through a number of discrete time steps 217 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: according to a set of rules based on the states 218 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: of neighboring cells. So you may have seen footage of this. 219 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:39,040 Speaker 1: It plays into the game of life um experiment where 220 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: it looks sort of like I guess they were digimon 221 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: the sort of little primitive computerized things where you canna 222 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: have like a little digitized pet. Kind of looks like that, 223 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:51,439 Speaker 1: except more abstract little dancing pixels. Uh. And essentially it's 224 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:55,680 Speaker 1: a model of complexity. Uh. It allows uh scientists to 225 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 1: observe complexity evolving, so that cellular automaton serves is a 226 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 1: general model of complexity, a level of complexity that ultimately 227 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: theoretically is on par with our entire universe. And you 228 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: could argue that the complexity that we see in reality 229 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: could essentially begin as a little program of dancing squares 230 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: on a computer screen. Okay, if you're still with me, 231 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: all right? If if you're still with me, that's that's 232 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: the first slab on the sandwich. We are in a 233 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: computer simulation. That's where it often leads to, is this 234 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:30,640 Speaker 1: idea that you can think of in a way, you 235 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: can think of reality as a as a computer simulation 236 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 1: based on automaton. But the next layer on the sandwich 237 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: is in theory, a branch of string theory that presents 238 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 1: a model for the basic structure of the universe and 239 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: allows for the existence of additional universes. So Brown argues 240 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: that in theory describes the sailor automaton, and it real 241 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 1: photons are constantly leaving our universe to enter an alternate one. 242 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: Uh and this would mean that over time, the scentage 243 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: of real matter in our universe has decreased and the 244 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 1: percentage of virtual matter or dark matter has increased. So 245 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: this would mean there would have been more matter in 246 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: the early universe, meaning much more radio noise. And that 247 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: is what Arcade is detecting when it gazes through space 248 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 1: and time to those early stars. Okay, we are in 249 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,840 Speaker 1: a computer simulation, right, a leaky one, a leaky one. 250 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,960 Speaker 1: And as a result, uh, well, I should say. An 251 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 1: indirect result of that is the space roar, which is 252 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: really just uh maybe photons exchanging energy between other universes. Yeah, close, yeah, 253 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:48,600 Speaker 1: pretty much. Yeah, we're in the matrix and and there's 254 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:51,720 Speaker 1: this big crashing sound in the in the in the distance, 255 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:56,400 Speaker 1: and that's pixels and programs being flushed out. Meanwhile, there's 256 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: a there's dark matter flowing back in. It's all very drama, 257 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:02,720 Speaker 1: it is. It's very dramatic. And again it's it's an 258 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: out there theory and it and it does not again 259 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: solve our mystery. We're still left with this mystery of 260 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: the space roar, and we may always be right. It 261 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:14,800 Speaker 1: may just be that we don't have the instruments that 262 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 1: are sensitive enough to pick up on whatever it is. Yeah, 263 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: I mean it's it's kind of it's kind of the 264 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 1: great Unknown, maybe, you know, giving us the finger a 265 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: little bit, saying you think, yeah, say, you don't have 266 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: it all, you don't have all the answers, and here 267 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna make a big loud raspberry noise at 268 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: you and and leave you with that. Try and figure 269 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: this out. Humans. So it's like a cosmic fart joke. 270 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: Maybe maybe the biggest fart joke in the universe. You know, 271 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,360 Speaker 1: I like the scatological chips. All right, Well, let's put 272 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: the space war aside and let's call over the robot 273 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: and do a couple of listener mail. All right, This 274 00:16:56,800 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: one comes to us from Alex. Alex writes in and says, 275 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: how my name is Alex. As part of my job, 276 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:04,560 Speaker 1: I tend to do a lot of driving, so podcasts 277 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: like yours really keep me saying for that, I thank you, essentially. 278 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: I just finished listening to your Mean World Syndrome episode 279 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 1: and I thought I would add to it. Recently, a 280 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,639 Speaker 1: game called blood Born was released. You can probably guess 281 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 1: from the promo art, and he included this is a nice, dark, 282 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: dreary image of some dude with horns on his helmet 283 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 1: and weapons and a dreary sort of dark fantasy, grim 284 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,359 Speaker 1: dark fantasy setting. Yeah uh, he says you probably a 285 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: guest from the promo art. It's not a pleasant, feel 286 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: good game. Without giving any spoilers, the world the player 287 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: is presented with is hopeless, desolate and oppressing. It's a 288 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 1: very good game. However, I found that after I played 289 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: for long periods, I became very forlorn and quiet. I 290 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,080 Speaker 1: found myself feeling apathetic and even resentful towards the upcoming 291 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:53,679 Speaker 1: general election. I live in the UK. I've actually stopped playing, 292 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: despite how good the game is, as a direct result 293 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,520 Speaker 1: of feeling so crappy straight after playing. Listening to your 294 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 1: podcast just after noticing this was a great little coincidence 295 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:04,800 Speaker 1: and one I thought i'd share. Keep doing what you 296 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: guys are doing. I look forward to every single episode. 297 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 1: You don't have to read this out. I just wanted 298 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:11,439 Speaker 1: to give you guys what I thought was a fresh 299 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:15,440 Speaker 1: perspective and example. Cool X, thanks for writing in about that. 300 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: We also got some feed We got a lot of 301 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:22,879 Speaker 1: feedback from our episode of the Gordian Knot of Race. 302 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:25,199 Speaker 1: We expected to get a lot of feedback. We got 303 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:29,359 Speaker 1: confirmation of unconscious bias from listeners. We got some people 304 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,960 Speaker 1: saying that unconscious bias doesn't exist, and we're not too 305 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:34,959 Speaker 1: happy that we covered it. I think we had at 306 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: least one person say that they don't see race. We did, 307 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:41,360 Speaker 1: and uh so we thought we would share this one 308 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,640 Speaker 1: from Melissa. She says, and this came through Facebook. Says, 309 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: I just finished listening to your podcast and the Gordian 310 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: not of race. This is a topic that has always 311 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: fascinated me, how something so seemingly inconsequential as how you 312 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: look could and does affect all areas of life. I 313 00:18:57,640 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: thought you did a very good job of talking about 314 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: unconscio a racial bias and how things woven into our 315 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: culture can affect how we feel about a person, even 316 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,879 Speaker 1: if we don't know it. I took the test linked 317 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,240 Speaker 1: on the landing page for the podcast, and I thought 318 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: the results were very interesting and much different than what 319 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: I was expecting. For some background, I live in a 320 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:20,359 Speaker 1: very heavily wide area. There are very few minorities of 321 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:23,640 Speaker 1: any race in my childhood as well as today. Best 322 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: friend is mixed, black father, white mother. I love my 323 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 1: friend dearly and I have very few early memories without 324 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,159 Speaker 1: her in them. We met at about age four or five, 325 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:35,960 Speaker 1: and as a result, I have very few memories that 326 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,200 Speaker 1: do not include her family. I expected that I would 327 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: have a slight preference for white faces. She's talking about 328 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:46,359 Speaker 1: the I A T, which is the implicit association test 329 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:50,439 Speaker 1: that she took. UH slight preference for white faces simply 330 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 1: due to culture, cultural factors and what a white area 331 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:56,919 Speaker 1: I live in and grew up in. However, when the 332 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,320 Speaker 1: results came back, that came back as your data suggests 333 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:04,120 Speaker 1: little to automatic preference between African American and European American. 334 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: This greatly surprised me and got me thinking. Could my 335 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,040 Speaker 1: lack of unconscious prejudice have something to do with my 336 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,639 Speaker 1: best friend of so many years and her family? Could 337 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:16,399 Speaker 1: it be a reflection of how, having been exposed to 338 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:19,159 Speaker 1: them at such a young age, and caring so deeply 339 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 1: for them, I developed the necessary empathy to get such 340 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: a score. Could this mean that if more schools had 341 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:29,440 Speaker 1: a more even mix, or neighborhoods were not so prominently 342 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: one race over the other, unconscious race preferences could go 343 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:37,640 Speaker 1: away as well. All rather abstract questions with no easy answers. 344 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: I was just curious if you found any information about 345 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: this in your research. Keep up the great work. You 346 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:46,200 Speaker 1: are always a fun listen, Melissa. So thank you, Melissa 347 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:50,919 Speaker 1: that that's a excellent firsthand account of not only the 348 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: results that you got on your test, but what your 349 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,200 Speaker 1: own experience m has been. Indeed, and if if anyone 350 00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,120 Speaker 1: else wants to take the I A T you can 351 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: either of course find it search or I've also we 352 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:04,479 Speaker 1: also included a link to it on the landing page 353 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:08,159 Speaker 1: for the Gordian Knot of Race episode. Now, I'm not 354 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,960 Speaker 1: surprised that you know, at such a young age, with 355 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,200 Speaker 1: her experience with her friend who is a mixed race, 356 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,000 Speaker 1: that she would have those results, because I'm thinking back 357 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 1: to the episode when we were talking about kids. I 358 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: believe as young as seven begin to express unconscious bias um, 359 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 1: so you can see how the positive side of that 360 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:31,480 Speaker 1: could be reflected, and that that's why I thought it 361 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: was so great that she shared that with us, because 362 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 1: it is the positive side. Indeed, it's good to hear 363 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,920 Speaker 1: about the positive side of that point. Sody, you have it, 364 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: We'll send the robot back to its chamber once more, 365 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: and hey uh. In the meantime, you would like to 366 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 1: check out more episodes of the podcast, If you want 367 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: to check out blog pose, videos, links on to social 368 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: media accounts, whatever, you can find it all at stuff 369 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind at dot com. And if you 370 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: have some thoughts you'd like to share with us, please 371 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: send them our way. You can do that by emailing 372 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: us at below the Mind at how stuff works dot com. 373 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,160 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 374 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com.