10 Unsettling Possibilities Regarding Alien Life

An exploration of ten unsettling possibilities regarding alien life.

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[maracachucho]

The Godier paradox: you want to sleep listening to his soothing voice but you also want to hear what he says.

[Darxide]

"I am not an alien."

Sounds like something an alien would say.

[wordclock]

If they do 'walk among us', then statistically a few of them are likely subscribed to this channel.

[solvingpolitics]

I do hope the first alien message is pragmatic. Such as: “send lawyers, guns & money!”

[mr.nobody]

John always scares the crap out of me with some of these alien theories. Love it.

[nipiezo]

Alien Ambassador addressing Earth for the first time: "People of Earth, you are spelling opossum wrong"

[Tessmage_Tessera]

"Life is a way for the universe to know itself." _~ Carl Sagan, from "Cosmos"_

[aicragej]

It is rather unsettling that I am now imagining humans finally reaching the stars only to find a literal civilization graveyard.
(Random plot twist in my mind, they're all human civilizations and we really are the only ones... and the only ones left)

[RANON]

This is the kind of stuff I think about when I'm high, but more eloquently put

[JJMHigner]

"The nearest Miracle we have before us is that within a few billion years the Universe, Through The Marvelous laws of chemistry and physics, has converted part of itself into Consciousness and that Consciousness can now contemplate the very universe that begat it." ---Dr. John Oliver at SETI.

[mooferoo]

I always love the extended at the end haha

[Laurasiana]

If number 10 is true, and we’re all there is, then I think we have an obligation to survive - both as a species, and as a biosphere. Otherwise, we end up proving the Absurdist playwrights were right. I don’t want to be in a play by Ionesco!

[usnairframer]

JMG's Spooky October, the most magical time of the year (on YouTube).

[bartstewart]

This video reminds me of a funny story. I went to a Star Trek convention once. There were lots of people dressed as aliens, of course. One of them was quite incredible. He (it?) was about four feet tall, and the costume appeared totally seamless. It seemed to be naked, but there was no genitalia or openings on the body. It had this big head, but the incredible part to me was how it seemed to be all of one piece. A guy in that costume would have been sweating bullets. There was zero ventilation, nor was the skin breathable, like fabric. It looked closer to real skin. I only saw this person for a few minutes, so maybe he dashed off somewhere and got out of that costume. At the time I remember thinking - what an ideal place for a real ET to study humans! At a Star Trek convention!

[chadbaileyisawesome]

I love how deep this got on a Monday for me. Makes my stressful job seem less important. Thank you.

[jamestwine]

john, consider the possibility that the pre-conditions for life to begin ( since no one has the slightest idea exactly how and why it started ) are entirely specific to this planet...the exact composition of the earth, the strange and probably unique genesis of the moon, etc.

you are exactly right. this would make our existence monumentally significant and beyond comprehension.

the earth would then again be 'the center of the universe'...

[arebelscum]

Maybe the real aliens was the DNA we discovered along the way.

[lifeinthevoid]

New drinking game idea... every time JMG says 'Von Neumann Probes' 🤔😀
Seriously JMG always enjoyable and you got the best voice

[EvanDorn]

Fun and excellent video, though I was surprised not to see the Dark Forest hypothesis not in the list ... I find it considerably more unsettling than any of these ten possibilities. Ever since reading that book it's kind of freaked me out and I can't convince myself that it's wrong.

For those not familiar with The Dark Forest Hypothesis, the short version is this:

1) Communication is slow due to light speed. Many years to get one round trip message.
2) Technological progress is fast. Humanity went from steam engines to nuclear weapons in ~ 100 years.
3) It doesn't take much technology to destroy a planet. Rocket engine + small asteroid + a few decades acceleration = dead planet.
4) Therefore you can't possibly communicate enough with to confidently establish friendly intent, even with a young species, before they have the technology to destroy you.
5) If we can figure that out, so can they. And they know that we know.
6) At least *some* civilizations will figure this out and decide that the best chance to survive is just to destroy every other civilization they become aware of. Better safe than sorry, right?
7) So most other civilizations realized very quickly and decided to just stay as quiet as possible.
8) The reason for the Fermi Paradox is that the smart civilizations are hiding/quiet, and the dumb ones (i.e. the ones that broadcasted) are already destroyed.
9) If anyone was close by enough to hear our late 20th century broadcasts, the planet killer asteroids are probably already on the way through interstellar space. Because how could they ever prove to themselves that we will never be hostile?

Sleep tight.

[joshbyrne]

Some of the most interesting, well researched and presented content on YT. Thanks John, I always enjoy your work.