Martin Rees - What Would Intelligent Aliens Mean?

Do intelligent aliens exist? Who knows? But here's what we do know: the potential existence of intelligent aliens probes meaning and purpose in the universe. What would it mean if the universe were teeming with life? What would it mean if we humans were alone?



Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He served as Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Rees was President of the Royal Society.


Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[yuriysarkisov]

I used to be scared that aliens would come and get me too. Now, as an adult, I would gladly go with them :)

[landofsyn]

Never stop I love watching your videos before bed. I find them a way to reduce my anxiety lol

[robertschlesinger]

Excellent video. Very interesting and worthwhile video. Martin Rees is obviously brilliant and always worth carefully listening to.

[IKEMENOsakaman]

The day humans meet face-to-face with aliens on Mars:
Humans We found aliens!!!"
Aliens We found aliens!!!"

[soubhikmukherjee]

Shout out to everybody who loves watching RLK.

[andymelendez]

Interesting. I think that on our own planet, big surprises await discovery.

[jamessmith]

This information is way behind the curve...

[otiyacot]

EN: Certainly intelligent life apart from what we know is very important. But from there to the late Carl Sagan wanted Arecibo to work for him (although in his "Cosmos" he recommended seeing solar eclipses reflected in a pool of water). Or the one who published that we were invaded by Martians (as stupid as all the misfortunes it caused).
ES: Ciertamente que vida inteligente aparte de lo que conocemos, es muy importante. Pero de ahí a que el difunto Carl Sagan quería que Arecibo trabajara para él (aunque en su "Cosmos" recomendaba ver eclipses solares reflejados en una pila de agua). O aquel que publicara que estábamos invadidos por marcianos (tan estúpido como todas las desgracias que ocasionó).

[jamesruscheinski]

Could consciousness take on forms other than biological in universe?

[neuralbrew]

If life were common throughout our universe, we'd see evidence that life could spontaneously develop in the laboratory from the mixing of random chemicals and conditions. The odds of amino acids forming long protein chains and the proteins folding in just the right way so as to produce self replicating molecules is so astronomical, the rare earth hypothesis makes the most sense. This also is evidence for a multiverse with an infinite number of big bangs producing an infinite number of various conditions. More likely we'd find life in a parallel universe.

[futurez]

When you see the Pale Blue Dot photograph: that _"speck of dust, suspended on a light beam"_ and realize it was taken from the edge of our own solar system, then you conceptualise (as best you can) how miniscule that distance is, relative to even our closest neighboring star, you really begin to understand just how difficult it would be for us to find them, or them us. You can factor in the radiation we throw out, but even then you're only looking at a couple of centuries, at most.

The closest star to the sun is over 4 light-years away! At that speed you can circumnavigate the Earth 7.5 times in ONE SECOND! And it takes FOUR YEARS going at _that_ speed to reach our sun's neighbor, which in cosmic terms is practically on top of us. At that speed, It would take 2.5 MILLION years to reach our neighboring galaxy.

These are completely unimaginable distances. How ever far you can conceptualise the distance, it's further than that. IMO, there lies the real issue, however abundant intelligent life may be.

[danielalexander]

After years of speaking to the world's most brilliant scientists, philosophers, and theologians, what are your own conclusions to the profound questions you pose? In other words, I am asking you to interview yourself.

[DerMaikNichJa]

I like the statement, and hopefully I repeat it correct, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

[jamesruscheinski]

What is the basis for intelligent life? How did human intelligence get started?

[vidtrax]

No proof they exist or they don’t....the process goes on....fascinating 😊

[rajeevelkunchwar]

Looking for our reflection when there is no mirror or light.

[hexchad]

Asking a science fiction writer would be a lot more interesting than asking this guy. He's really stuck in his own paradigm of his science

[bozo]

I think Rees is right. We need to be agnostic - not by choice or on principle but due to a near-total lack of knowledge. We don't know enough yet to even guess at whether life or intelligence are common or rare. I think anyone who is very confident about any estimate is making a basic mistake. (The Drake Equation is a Rohrshach test.)

[ZeroOskul]

9, 14, 15, 12, 5
10, 16, 18, 16, 10
125

[jpsquared]

@7:10 I love the reference to the "Global Community" which was actually meant for the inter-gallactical community.