What Are The Chances? 🤔 w/ Neil deGrasse Tyson

[Zivin]

Not to mention that for the first 3 BILLION years on EARTH life was only SINGLE CELLED LIFE.

[kevincaldwell]

So agree with Neil on this...the universe is 14 billion years old, our planet is 4 billion...what's the match of timelines for other planets? Did we miss intelligent life on another planet by a billion years? Who knows

[Beelzeon]

Honestly, I don't mind if we never find intelligent life, though I do hope we somehow find an alien species that isn't just some bacteria.

[KellySmith-cbup]

I wish I knew you personally and had you as a friend…. I miss this intellect.

[jeffkilgore]

And to top it off, the distances are numbing. Very improbable as a feat.

[BobbyBitcoin]

This is but one reason why it's highly unlikely that even if sentience exists or existed we will never encounter it ever.

[stephenc]

Here are some thoughts from a retired medical microbiologist: To incubate bacterial samples to amplify growth for analysis we first smear a specimen onto the surface of a Petri dish of agar gel with certain nutrients, then we cover the dish, then we put it on a shelf along with lots of other Petri dishes. We then let them sit for hours or days or months depending on what we expect to find later. I’ve always thought about the way galaxies of planets are scattered into clusters throughout the universe that we can see, every time I would shut the incubator door at the end of my work day, or open it again the morning after. Only hours have passed. What will have happened? How long will it take to see a change. Should I just toss the old dishes or wait another day?

[JoshVandever]

Our thoughts allow us to evolve within our lifetime. That's how humans spread out across the Earth. We need to change our ways, so that we don't do things to lead to our extinction.

[woodrobin]

In the Marvel fictional universe, they explore this.

There are incredibly ancient sentients, like the Elders of the Universe, who outlived their entire home solar systems, and the Watchers, who are virtually immortal beings that took a vow of non-interference after a tragic outcome from sharing technology.

There are relatively long-lived civilizations, like the Skrull who had a nearly galaxy-spanning peaceful federation for over nine million years before devolving into a militaristic empire about a million years ago, and the Kree who bootstrapped themselves from industrial revolution tech to interstellar military power by killing the Skrull ambassador who visited them about million years ago (and are the reason Skrull society devolved).

So they gave sentience evolving at many different points in time, but the longevity of cultures and of life forms allows for overlap and interaction.

If we're close to first past the post, though (although being the first to sentient life in 13.8 billion years seems unlikely) or if civilizations and longevity of sentence are fleeting (due to resource depletion, environmental damage, self-destructive behavior, etc) -- well, that's a horribly lonely universe.

[scapri]

NDT on the money.
The question is not where are the Aliens, but when?
The chances of them being anywhere near our time journey is incredibly remote.

[craigdeandean]

I love listening to this guy best teacher I’ve ever heard!

[NOJSIP]

Finally, commonsense about alien life. Yoda
Time and distance makes contact so difficult if not impossible.

[tomkelly]

Good point but there is also the possibility that they were billions of years ahead of us and seeded life here from where they live too

[christopherdean]

We are like two year old toddlers who have barely been out of the house, let alone the street, speculating about what the next town is like, and who lives there.

[vikctorrkreedd]

Every structure built has been previously envisioned and then been given a desired suitable location and purpose. It's laid foundation and process of completion is an enhancement of that vision already, the finished structure is also a part of that. The actual acceptance/approval (of said site), occupation, maintenance and generational progression (assuming its a family home for example) is a sign that the "high frequency" he spoke of is showcased intelligence by the act of will and attributes, although the "truth" of this existence has addressed the so called " high frequency".
The intelligence was always there just not at any recipients pace or output standards.

[Tom-zrxf]

Nice tight, fast rotation. It will be interesting to see who will be the second skater to land the quad axel in an ISU competition.

[juniormynos]

This is based on the assumption that prehistoric animals weren't intelligent as we come to define them.
And proportionate brain to body size argument is only applicable to mammals according to Neil in another interview.

[matinmohebi]

How many years it will take to populate the whole galaxy, I expect slow at the beginning but shortly there after size is not going to be intimidating anymore .

[ToddDavis-pu]

Intelligence started dropping when the internet made its nest.

[russbianchi]

Online watch the TED TALK by Rupert Shedrake "THE SCIENCE DELUSION"