11 May 2015

SPI #16 – Is Anybody Out There?

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There are trillions of trillions of stars in the observable universe. Billions upon billions of earth-like planets that might support life. All estimates of probability point to the existence of several other advanced, intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. And yet…

…..

…….

………

Silence.

In spite of the best guesses and calculations of many great minds, the cold fact remains that we don’t have any reliable evidence of extraterrestrial life. This, is Fermi’s Paradox.

Of course, such a big question draws out both geniuses and wackos willing to theorycraft what the answer may be. Are we alone because we’re living in a computer simulation made just for us? Are we just the first intelligent species to emerge in the universe? Is there something in the next stage of human development that will cause us to self-destruct and leave the universe even emptier than it is now?

Explore these theories and more in this episode!

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Got comments, or maybe another theory that we didn’t cover? Write us in here: podcast@selfproclaimedintellectuals.com

Show Notes

Thanks very much to all the sources we used for this podcast. There’s tons of fascinating stuff out there; go get lost in these resources and more!

  • Michio Kaku on the Kardeshev scale and more: 

     

     

  • Read about the Dyson Sphere and other megaengineering concepts.
  • This Wait Buy Why article on The Fermi Paradox is a great summary of many of the topics we talked about.
  • Here’s the Hardcore History episode Adam mentioned on World War I, titled Blueprint for Armageddon. If you’re more into history than the future, give this one a listen after you’re finished with us!
  • “They’re Made of Meat” by Terry Bisson. Quite the thoughtful little piece that we read in this show.
  • Here’s a water bear. It is creepy. Oh, and Travis was technically wrong about it being an extremophile.
  • Finally to close out, here’s Michio Kaku again on broadband scanning and “missing” the greater civilizations (the portion we used started at about 2:45 in this video): 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwJxdKfoaU4