wow, i 'm 1st! "What are we doing wrong?" and then "What are the economicopolitical systems in the universe?", all these after "Why did you come here?"
@@skywindow6764: When I was 12, reading the great Heinlein's "Have Space Suit, Will Travel" did a great job on speculating, re how such things might work out. No doubt wrong, but very interesting and decent philosophy. That novel is so good, I re-read it roughly once a decade, just to enjoy the romp, though at age 12 it seemed like a long complex novel.
Fret not my friend, our greatest intelligence is our group intelligence. If we set our minds to a task as a species, there would be no comparison. Our collective brain power and ability, in my opinion, rivals all.
Wow.... Chuck had the best questions...he was on the same level as the other 2... Loved the silicon and conditions question... It blew my mind that someone had the boldness to think outside of our own understanding.... Good on ya Chuck!
Well, he was reading questions that other people had posed, but it blows my mind that someone in the comment section had the boldness to avoid thinking OR understanding that which they are commenting on. ;)
@@curtskywalker7441 maybe he stole some questions... But usually when it's someone else's questions he states who is asking the question.... What I'm referring to is when he asked questions and didn't state they were from someone else... So I'm going on assumption that they were his own questions or comments.... Not saying he couldn't have stole them from someone, as you are implying... But it never crossed my mind, as I'm sure Chuck is a man of integrity.
On the question in science fiction about encountering intelligent but less advanced civilizations, this theme comes up repeatedly in the Star Trek canon, where humans (and other advanced species) decided on a policy of non-intervention and non-contact with any civilization not capable of interstellar travel, aka The Prime Directive. Humans themselves were left to themselves until the the moment they developed faster-than-light travel, at which point the Vulcans initiated First Contact. There’s also the famous quote from Arthur C. Clarke, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
I’m new to Startalk, but it’s my favorite “channel” (I turfed out the telly years ago). Intriguing subject matter, an intelligent presenter and guests; served with humour and good cheer.
I so love love love StarTalk!!! Thank you for always educating and enlightening us. Dr. Tyson and Lord Chuck Nice are such a great duo! - Fan and follower for life!🥰🌠
When discussing the limitations of variation between silicon bonds and carbon bonds, I wonder if there are places in the universe where some of our specialized and sophisticated materials occur naturally. Does plastic exist beyond our influence, occurring naturally? Are there mountain-sized semiconductors of silicon/germanium that could operate as giant, functional transistors, just as they are?
i don't believe i am particularly smart, so when I have not heard anyone else express this, I have to assume I'm missing something obvious. Why are we even looking for organic life forms? In my lifetime we have gone from prosthetics being wooden legs and arms to prosthetics and neural enhancements that are on the verge of giving people advantages over unenhanced humans. Assuming other civilizations have had thousands of years head start on us, why wouldn't they have long since gotten rid of their physical bodies? In other words, why would they still be shipping meat across the galaxy? Couldn't they exist on planets outside the Goldilocks Zone if they have artificial bodies?
I agree completely. To be so naive to think that "intelligent life" has to take on some similar carbon based humanoid form shows our arrogance and ignorance. Guess that is what makes us human after all 😂
It takes time. But if you think as deep as possible, over and over and over again, you start to notice how unfathomable our universe is. Also human beings and consciousness, we must being missing something. Something we just can’t understand.
And yet we can “fathom our universe” & what is your point about consciousness ? How do you know “….we just can’t understand…” consciousness or do you mean we don’t yet fully understand it ?
I disagree. The mind allows us to discover anything we put it to. Name one thing on this planet and its been named because we have discovered it. Once we understand something, it becomes facts in a systematic values and becomes tested repeatedly. Though we haven't discovered something doesn't mean we don't understand it. We are logical beings not reactive beings. IF we ant to know something we can learn it by asking the right questions and testing theories. We're fairly amazing beings.
@@xPhen And the even better news is we probably have a great deal more to discover & learn. For instance, the Big Bang model is supported by a great deal of evidence, yet we have not been able to observe the processes prior to the Planck time because we currently have no way to do that & it may be a limitation that cannot be overcome.
@@Folkstone57 Maybe. Or we know it all already and we just haven't wasted the time to turn theories into tests. Which become facts that value proof. That then turns into truth. So its purely the mentality we have approaching subjects or things we don't understand at this time. Its all out there its dependent on us finding it or allowing ourselves to discover without hiding out intentions. Like meditation, those who don't practice don't know the effects and never will without testing it for themselves.
@@xPhen I don’t think it’s even remotely possible that “…we know it all already….” as that flies in the face of human history. I’m not sure what you mean by facts becoming truth. I don’t agree with your meditation example, as you may “practice” meditation & so does someone else, but that’s no guarantee either of you will know the effects or even have the same experience.
What is intelligence? Given that we are limited in our understanding of the environment around us by our senses, there could well be many other life forms around us that are far more advanced, but don’t interact with us in a way that we are aware. Trees may think we are not intelligent life because they speak to us below 8hz and we don’t respond. Bats may consider us unintelligent because they ask us to respond above 20kHz.
I remember back in 2011 or so seeing Neil deGrasse Tyson at our Phi Theta Kappa convention in Seattle. I was so impressed by his speech and presentation, just as I am by StarTalk. I'm glad I found this on YT. And I'm glad I found a brilliant mind like Mr. Tyson, who loves to question the Universe as much as the rest of us! Keep it up, Neil 🤗
Great show guys! The issue of finding less intelligent life is often addressed in Star Trek - hence the "prime directive" which says humans must not interfere with the development of species less advanced than ourselves
Edibles are not the same drug as smoking.when you ingest thc it turns into 11 hydroxy metabolite which is 4 time more psychoactive than thc. This isn't a bad thing. The fact people have no idea this is a thing, is a problem.
We might be getting pranked by aliens but it should be of some consolation that they probably had to go through this phase too at some point. And it may be that we as individuals aren't able to communicate with, say, a single relatively hyper-intelligent alien but perhaps as a species or when they look at our collective efforts we hold up better.
@@jahvongrey5663 yes I agree, the star trek episode where the Q test humanity is very interesting, the Q seem to be like a multi-species Omniversal society of hyper intelligent faempirions equivalent of the earth humans in the federation you know as Picard was later offered a role as a Q, maybe all of us have such potential eventually
@@jahvongrey5663 when it matters? We fight for bs reasons and barely learn anything as a species, destroy our environment until its too late and wondered why it happen And "great" is subjective
My question would be to Ask what types of bonds scientists have tried on earth with silicon. Knowing it's bonds are more rigid is fine, but considering how little we know about universe now - wouldn't there be some possible combinations we havn't tried yet that could be possible for alternate forms of life?
Neil Tyson, do you believe it's possible for black holes to have been at the center core of all mass before the big bang,such as heavy materials sink towards the core or center mass of planets?
I nominate Chuck as President of StarTalk. And also he should get an honorary doctorate for his efforts to educate and relate the science of climate change for the rest of us.
In what direction does space go? And in what direction do Scientists send space telescopes? Do space telescopes also orbit the sun? Once they are outside of the suns orbit do space telescopes continue “straight”?
It's quite amazing that we've existed as a speices for 300 000 years (give or take) and never been able to see more than a couple of miles with any real accuracy, but the development in tech the last 100 years have enable us to read atmospheres a couple of hundred lightyears away. That's some serious exponential development we more or less take for granted.
Well I’m maybe not smart however….can he say things about life and death ?😐or the mistake on black holes ?or the illusion of free will ?😐Beacuse I can 😎that is it you say RED and want the truth 😐if you say blue I’ll leave you be 😐remember all I’m offering is the truth nothing more 😑
I've wondered this very question for ... probably at least 4 decades, since I ran across the concept in a science fiction story (thank you, Asimov!). I'm going to be interested in what you all have to say!
When we think of the evolutionary development of advanced alien species we assume that they went through the phase we are at now. Thinking outside the box let’s consider that they may have skipped that stage and went on to super-intelligence instantly. Let’s also assume that they are a benevolent species. We can start there and then bring other evolutionary traits in to consideration to explain their development. Evolutionary development like ours probably is not the only way. But it is fun to consider all the different possibilities. I love how Neil, David and Chuck get me to think outside the box. Thanks guys.
Wouldn’t intellectual capability and capacity plateau eventually? Assuming the species has not artificially made themselves smarter wouldn’t there be a space in which a further intellectual ability is not needed? As you can accomplish anything you need, and there is no reason for the species to become smarter.
Not 100% Sure, but at higher temperatures and in the presence of certain other elements, Doesn't silicon loosen up a bit and start forming more flexible variations of molecules?
Even as a little kid I was bothered by the phrase "life as we know it"...what about life as we don't know it? And also as a little kid who LOVED Star Trek it always bothered me that on every planet they visited they never wore any kind of spacesuit or even breathing apparatus. Sure it was better for TV drama but kinda unrealistic. Great show! Love y'all, The Old Hippiebilly
I would think one of the biggest proponents of assuming they are more advanced than us is because we accept that when we view these far away places is that we are peering through the lens of time. We arent seeing the object as it is but as it was. So, to "see" a civilization on a far out planet in another galaxy, or even our own, it would have to have been there long enough to affect the light we are currently viewing. This adds to the complexity of the window with which we can visably detect. We may view a planet that appears devoid of life that is teaming with it because its fairly recent; or we may see an active civilisation.... which could actually be long gone.
Really enjoyed listening to your conversations. It seems that when the question is asked what kind of life there might be out there, that is something that we are really blind to. We really only know of one form of life, that being the cellular based life that we have here on this planet. If we did not have ourselves to observe, we would never be able to imagine our own form of life, the cell based variety. It seems really far beyond what our imaginations are capable of thinking of when we ask what types of life are possible other than our own cell based life. We could really be in for some big surprises someday when we run into life elsewhere.
@Stocks With Fabian You attribute a base low human quality of wanting to control others to beings that are supposed to be more advanced. Don't think so.
Consider the following: a. I am a human as defined by humans. b. I am an energy based quarkelectronian as modern science claims that all matter is made up of quarks, electrons and interacting energy and I am made up of matter and interacting energy. c. I am a being of 'light', 'if' my current theory of everything is correct whereby the 'gem' photon is the energy unit of this universe that makes up everything in this universe, including space, time and numbers. (Currently dependent upon the results of my gravity test). d. "I" do not even actually exist but eternally existent space time exists as me, currently in the forms as above. * I exist and yet "I" simultaneously do not exist, dependent upon perspective. But yet, do "I" not truly exist in absolute truth reality as only eternally existent space time exists as all things in absolute truth reality? * "I" can mentally change between perspectives thereby experiencing existence from those various perspectives. "My" mind continues to expand, but is it truly 'my' mind that is expanding or is it eternally existent space time's mind that is expanding? In absolute truth reality, it would seem to be the later. * 'To Be or Not To Be'. I am both, 'I Am and I Am Not.' But I Am Not it appears more than I Am. * Consider also: If asked the general question, 'What do you know?'. My current answer would be, 'Not much compared to all that can be known.' (I Am Not, More than I Am). It's humbling.
I have a question, maybe someone here knows the answer to. How far off are those 12 earth- like planets? Did our radio get to them? How long till we hear back?
I'd love to sit down with Neil and his colleagues and just listen to them go back and forth about random scientific fields and questions that really matter in this universe. Sometimes living day to day lives being constricted by capitalism, racism, political strife, and everything else associated with our failing society just makes me depressed. Then I listen to these episodes and realize that none of that matters. At the end of the day, what matters is expanding our knowledge and understanding of the universe. We are complicated creatures with living computers sitting in our skulls, yet only a small percentage choose to use that computer for what computers are made for, the rest choose to waste their processing power on pointless things like discrimination, ignorance, and conflict. It's not about being "smarter" either, it's about opening your eyes and your mind to the limitless possibilities of what we could accomplish if we could work as a unit. If humanity operated like a hive mind, we'd be so technologically advanced that scifi would no longer be able to hold the fiction title. It would just be modern science for us. Time travel, interdimensional travel, anything could be possible.
Just because silicone could not be the base of life in experiments because it does not bond in different directions does not exclude that it could not become attached to carbon in a way that it can change shape. As you said about the Legos, do they not come with attachments that bend?
Word! Ignorance is bliss. Chemistry's probly not the same everywhere, and we probly don't have everything in the universe here. Until we know, we don't!
Everyone forgot to mention that a major difference between Carbon and Silicon is that water is just a better solvent with Silicon, since the Silicon rather pair with it than itself. So if there were Silicon based life it would have to have another solvent than H²O.
Actually Strugatsky brothers touched upon idea of finding less advanced civilisations in their books. Earth emissaries are called Progressors and monitor development of other civilisations. Book Hard to be God explores this idea brilliantly.
I personally think we should be systematically under-counting the number of earth-like planets in habitable zones because our solar system had 3. Mars, Venus and Earth. All of them had Oceans at different points, Mars lost it's atmosphere so it got too cold, and Venus had a runaway greenhouse effect happen. Invoking the anthropic principle here, stating we are not in a special part of the Universe, the Universe must be littered with places like this.
44:10 Perhaps one of the most interesting possibilities in a hypothetical multiverse is that there’s one wherein Chuck is known for pronouncing each name correctly.
Silicon does not seem to enjoy remaining as a complete unit for very long. It breaks down and degrades rather fast when compared to carbon. ESPECIALLY when exposed to sunlight and oxygen. There are carbon based objects that are thousands of years old, surviving to this day. Meanwhile, everything silicon based has and will continue to degrade and essentially fall apart. I can not see silicon as a base for what we currently consider to be life. But again, I am basing that off of what humans have done with silicon so far. Perhaps nature knows a way to combine silicon molecules to extend usable existence.
Moneyyyyyyyyyyyyy as chuck always says "GIVE US YOUR MONEY, questions available to patreons" at the low low price of $1...... wish i could afford that $1 but im poor and would rather buy something to eat with that dollar than have my existence acknowledged by one of my favorite comedians....and also lord chuck nice
I get a kick out of how fast people call other people friend. I don't have any friends, I have acquaintances. To me a friend is someone you grow up with. Someone who knows you inside out. Someone you can't lie to. Someone who keeps you grounded. These are things I'll never have. I grew up a military brat, moving around every couple of years. If someone calls me a friend. I look at them weird. I'm no one's friend. I'm just another stranger in the night passing by. If you're in my life, then you are only in my life for the next few chapters. Don't worry, I'm not going to be around long enough to even remember your name.
Ask the alien in your window... 👽 Don't you mean we're miss-shaping the world? Speaking of Star Trek, have you ever heard of the Prime Directive? I love that laugh when you say we had 3 data points and decided all galaxies have black holes in the middle. Maniacal 🤣 You know, technically, Noon is when the Sun is at its appex in the local sky, so why aren't we calling it, One O'Clock Noon? This is a question for those who believe we actually save daylight by shifting the clock (as opposed to just resetting your alarm.)
If there was an earth like planet that developed at the same time, and had intelligent life like us on it, when we observe them from here it would be way in their past, maybe in their dinosaur era, they would see the same when they observe us.
Basically, It would be the same observable time period from both planets... Assuming they are relatively near each other. There are other factors to consider which would change that result. For example acceleration apart from each other or large areas of gravity affecting one more than the other.
I am so glad someone has brought this up. I think about it all the time. Because…. How many full extinctions have other planets experienced? What if our dinosaurs weren’t ever made extinct? And if there were intelligent life that were at the same tech level…whatever we can’t do… they can’t do either! Like snail mail or a message in a bottle waiting to reach the recipient…
46:40 Why does everyone assume that Venus' atmosphere is the result of "runaway" greenhouse gases? Why can't it have formed with a high volume of CO2 and a lot of volcanism?
I think I've heard you say the sun's expanding. Could we just be getting closer? How do you calculate Pluto's orbit if we don't know its size? How many times can you see it in a given period from a single telescope? It's orbit is unaffected by other planetary bodies? Is the atmospheres peaks affected by other planetary bodies? To what degree is the oceans change to the moons position vs the atmosphere, does it change with its chemical composition? I was looking at how quartz watches work. With tesla's research lab at the base of pike's peak, and the pyramids, would that change change the voltage of piezoelectric crystal?
i need to become a patron now to ask what we do if we just find a bunch of life on a planet but nothing intelligent like earth before humans theres just animals left no ones to talk to
please keep posting in general and please keep posting about aliens as long as you feel it's important, because we deff wanna hear you talk about aliens more please
It's probably smartest and safest to assume we're pretty dumb compared to potential intelligent aliens, but yes the possibility that we are at least at our best or collectively more capable than our lowest estimates should be considered too I think.
Why are we dumb and they are smart but we can sit it a lot of animals dumb but it's been proven time and time again that there's a lot of smart animals out there is it because they don't speak a language
What if the entire universe is the true intelligent life? Think of how we describe it and how it correlates to what we consider life. Our universe through some complicated process is able to basically produce offspring creating (Stars - Planets - Solar Systems - Galaxys and possibly other universes) and those also have a life span. Also the idea about perspective, get down to quantum mechanics and the distance between atoms can feel like the space between stars/planets etc. So like the MIB movie illustrated, what if our entire universe is just a marble being tossed around by some other form of being? I think once we can clearly define what we consider "Intelligent life" in its most basic form, we will have better luck finding it.
I think DNA is more common in the cosmos than we suspect. If planets exist that have similar conditions to earth during the early days, they would also have DNA arise as the most reliable self replicating nucleotide. It happened here over the course of hundreds of millions of years, when essentially evolution of molecules by natural selection occurred. Less efficient molecules or those that replicated less reliably would be superseded by better models.
I think that one of the first questions could be, if we encounter beings that are smart as us but not technologically advanced, like we were a thousand years ago, for instance. They wouldn't know about space travel, radio communication, etc. Could we introduce ourselves to them and show them how to make rockets, cellphones, etc.? Or there would be a "Prime Directive" and we could not interfere in their evolution. Say that we find life on one of the moons on Jupiter or Saturn or anywhere else on reach of our space probes that has this conditions.
Problem with finding NTIs is that until we can go there (or they come here), all we can do is listen. Imagine they are 500 light years away. They would have to been at a radio frequency capable tech level 500 years ago, and they will have had to send out a powerful enough signal that it doesn't blend into the background before it gets here. Even we are moving towarf low power and directional. Now add in the expansion of space. Gets geometrically harder as you think of and add new requirements. Hope they find one, but I doubt we are definitively detect except by from very close, so I would think NTIs would be the same.
20:30 We can communicate with chimps and we do. We communicate with other animals every day. It's just that we communicate messages and thoughts that we think are trivial. People that have dogs for instance know this pretty well.
We process oxygen and carbon to live so perhaps would be a matter of looking for life that process silicon with something else to live? Also I read this once a looong time ago: could quartz be considered a life form..?
I super appreciate chuck coming in at the end and setting the record straight about climate change and runaway greenhouse gas effects... i would have just added, we don't need levels of it as seen on Venus to wipeout the Human Species -- so the fact burning all the fossil fuels would not precipitate a venus style catastrophe, it could still spell the end of Humans, and significantly alter life on Earth as we know it today and in the past.
What's the first question you would ask a visiting alien?
wow, i 'm 1st! "What are we doing wrong?" and then "What are the economicopolitical systems in the universe?", all these after "Why did you come here?"
Jesus? Is that you?
Are you here to do to us what we do to each other?
"Klaatu barada nikto?"
@@skywindow6764: When I was 12, reading the great Heinlein's "Have Space Suit, Will Travel" did a great job on speculating, re how such things might work out. No doubt wrong, but very interesting and decent philosophy.
That novel is so good, I re-read it roughly once a decade, just to enjoy the romp, though at age 12 it seemed like a long complex novel.
Thank you to everyone that brings StarTalk to us. I just love this show. Can't get enough of you guys. 💗
brought to you by viewers like you....
David needs his own show. He’s a wealth of knowledge and so pleasant to listen to.
Thank you Neil for bringing love for science back
The top like 5% of bears are smarter than our bottom percentile. Algae makes better choices than some people. I'm giving it a preliminary yes.
Fret not my friend, our greatest intelligence is our group intelligence. If we set our minds to a task as a species, there would be no comparison. Our collective brain power and ability, in my opinion, rivals all.
And they're all in government and at the top of corporations.
@@connorlappe2418 the internet and the wisdom of the crowd phenomenon both prove this to be true.
🤡🤡🤡
Hey everybody. This guy is making fun of the mentally handicap and democrats. Get him
Neil and Chuck could discuss burnt toast and I'd still be enthralled. Its so cathartic to see how these two finesse science. NEVER stop!!!!!!
100 % Agree ❕️
Thats because Neil would have some way of bringing an obscure fact about burnt toast to the table.
And now we have a toast episode- well done
Always a great privilege of learning new knowledge from you guys 🙏🏽
Yes it is...
Wow.... Chuck had the best questions...he was on the same level as the other 2... Loved the silicon and conditions question... It blew my mind that someone had the boldness to think outside of our own understanding.... Good on ya Chuck!
Well, he was reading questions that other people had posed, but it blows my mind that someone in the comment section had the boldness to avoid thinking OR understanding that which they are commenting on. ;)
@@curtskywalker7441 maybe he stole some questions... But usually when it's someone else's questions he states who is asking the question.... What I'm referring to is when he asked questions and didn't state they were from someone else... So I'm going on assumption that they were his own questions or comments.... Not saying he couldn't have stole them from someone, as you are implying... But it never crossed my mind, as I'm sure Chuck is a man of integrity.
@@TheNightcrowsNest you can't steal questions
On the question in science fiction about encountering intelligent but less advanced civilizations, this theme comes up repeatedly in the Star Trek canon, where humans (and other advanced species) decided on a policy of non-intervention and non-contact with any civilization not capable of interstellar travel, aka The Prime Directive. Humans themselves were left to themselves until the the moment they developed faster-than-light travel, at which point the Vulcans initiated First Contact. There’s also the famous quote from Arthur C. Clarke, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
I’m new to Startalk, but it’s my favorite “channel” (I turfed out the telly years ago). Intriguing subject matter, an intelligent presenter and guests; served with humour and good cheer.
I so love love love StarTalk!!! Thank you for always educating and enlightening us. Dr. Tyson and Lord Chuck Nice are such a great duo! - Fan and follower for life!🥰🌠
When discussing the limitations of variation between silicon bonds and carbon bonds, I wonder if there are places in the universe where some of our specialized and sophisticated materials occur naturally. Does plastic exist beyond our influence, occurring naturally? Are there mountain-sized semiconductors of silicon/germanium that could operate as giant, functional transistors, just as they are?
Always a pleasure to listen to this show. Keep it up, guys. You rock! 👍👍
Thanks for the wonderful videos on discussions guys. They mean a lot to me
The episodes with Chuck are always 🔥
Yep
He's the bridge we need
Love these talks, where can one submit questions for the show
I'd LOVE TO SEE a probe STUDY and photograph TRITON. I LOVE moons that have geological activity.
chuck always makes me happy
lord chuck, master of smart people comedy(sometimes he thinks so deeply on subjects, he makes neil look clueless with HIS smarts)
@@frogz chuck is actually very versed...he surprises neil sometimes with his remarks. But Neil is hard to overshine....
i don't believe i am particularly smart, so when I have not heard anyone else express this, I have to assume I'm missing something obvious. Why are we even looking for organic life forms? In my lifetime we have gone from prosthetics being wooden legs and arms to prosthetics and neural enhancements that are on the verge of giving people advantages over unenhanced humans. Assuming other civilizations have had thousands of years head start on us, why wouldn't they have long since gotten rid of their physical bodies? In other words, why would they still be shipping meat across the galaxy? Couldn't they exist on planets outside the Goldilocks Zone if they have artificial bodies?
I agree completely. To be so naive to think that "intelligent life" has to take on some similar carbon based humanoid form shows our arrogance and ignorance. Guess that is what makes us human after all 😂
CHUCK NICE IN THE HOUSE!!!! I LOVE YOU CHUCK!!!! NEIL YOU ARE GREAT ALSO!!!!
I love StarTalk and all the hosts and guests always presented in an easy digestable format :)
It takes time. But if you think as deep as possible, over and over and over again, you start to notice how unfathomable our universe is. Also human beings and consciousness, we must being missing something. Something we just can’t understand.
And yet we can “fathom our universe” & what is your point about consciousness ? How do you know “….we just can’t understand…” consciousness or do you mean we don’t yet fully understand it ?
I disagree. The mind allows us to discover anything we put it to. Name one thing on this planet and its been named because we have discovered it. Once we understand something, it becomes facts in a systematic values and becomes tested repeatedly. Though we haven't discovered something doesn't mean we don't understand it. We are logical beings not reactive beings. IF we ant to know something we can learn it by asking the right questions and testing theories. We're fairly amazing beings.
@@xPhen
And the even better news is we probably have a great deal more to discover & learn. For instance, the Big Bang model is supported by a great deal of evidence, yet we have not been able to observe the processes prior to the Planck time because we currently have no way to do that & it may be a limitation that cannot be overcome.
@@Folkstone57 Maybe. Or we know it all already and we just haven't wasted the time to turn theories into tests. Which become facts that value proof. That then turns into truth. So its purely the mentality we have approaching subjects or things we don't understand at this time. Its all out there its dependent on us finding it or allowing ourselves to discover without hiding out intentions. Like meditation, those who don't practice don't know the effects and never will without testing it for themselves.
@@xPhen
I don’t think it’s even remotely possible that “…we know it all already….” as that flies in the face of human history.
I’m not sure what you mean by facts becoming truth.
I don’t agree with your meditation example, as you may “practice” meditation & so does someone else, but that’s no guarantee either of you will know the effects or even have the same experience.
What is intelligence? Given that we are limited in our understanding of the environment around us by our senses, there could well be many other life forms around us that are far more advanced, but don’t interact with us in a way that we are aware. Trees may think we are not intelligent life because they speak to us below 8hz and we don’t respond. Bats may consider us unintelligent because they ask us to respond above 20kHz.
My favorite episode of South Park was when the aliens spoke to cows lol
Smarter than what sample of "us?" Some USA insurgents call themselves "patriots...."
Thanks everybody, for the fun and interesting conversation!
Lord Chuck Nice for president!
I remember back in 2011 or so seeing Neil deGrasse Tyson at our Phi Theta Kappa convention in Seattle. I was so impressed by his speech and presentation, just as I am by StarTalk. I'm glad I found this on YT. And I'm glad I found a brilliant mind like Mr. Tyson, who loves to question the Universe as much as the rest of us! Keep it up, Neil 🤗
I love this show I have only found it here on UA-cam thoe.does this come on tv?can I get this on firestick?
Great show guys! The issue of finding less intelligent life is often addressed in Star Trek - hence the "prime directive" which says humans must not interfere with the development of species less advanced than ourselves
Edibles are not the same drug as smoking.when you ingest thc it turns into 11 hydroxy metabolite which is 4 time more psychoactive than thc. This isn't a bad thing. The fact people have no idea this is a thing, is a problem.
Nice Chuck
around minute 07:00 to 07:40... life signature, very well spoken!
Evening from the UK
What does one need to do to become an astrobiologist? Id love a job like that but I don't feel like there's alot of job opportunities for it
9:21 🤣🤣💀These are helping me through COVID 2024 😩😪
We might be getting pranked by aliens but it should be of some consolation that they probably had to go through this phase too at some point. And it may be that we as individuals aren't able to communicate with, say, a single relatively hyper-intelligent alien but perhaps as a species or when they look at our collective efforts we hold up better.
We may be a young and arrogant species, but we hold up the ones we love and learn & fight when it matters, I think we can become something great
So we're being "hazed"? Yikes!
@@jahvongrey5663 yes I agree, the star trek episode where the Q test humanity is very interesting, the Q seem to be like a multi-species Omniversal society of hyper intelligent faempirions equivalent of the earth humans in the federation you know as Picard was later offered a role as a Q, maybe all of us have such potential eventually
When you look at humanity as a collective - only one thing comes to mind - wipe them out.
@@jahvongrey5663 when it matters? We fight for bs reasons and barely learn anything as a species, destroy our environment until its too late and wondered why it happen
And "great" is subjective
My question would be to Ask what types of bonds scientists have tried on earth with silicon. Knowing it's bonds are more rigid is fine, but considering how little we know about universe now - wouldn't there be some possible combinations we havn't tried yet that could be possible for alternate forms of life?
Why does Funkyspoon say we’ve been human for a couple million years? I thought humans were like 200,000 years old.
Depends on your definition of human 😊
Neil Tyson, do you believe it's possible for black holes to have been at the center core of all mass before the big bang,such as heavy materials sink towards the core or center mass of planets?
I nominate Chuck as President of StarTalk. And also he should get an honorary doctorate for his efforts to educate and relate the science of climate change for the rest of us.
In what direction does space go? And in what direction do Scientists send space telescopes? Do space telescopes also orbit the sun? Once they are outside of the suns orbit do space telescopes continue “straight”?
And yes they would be far older than we can understand. Anybody who understands the concept of "Deep time" should be able to "See" the concept.
It's quite amazing that we've existed as a speices for 300 000 years (give or take) and never been able to see more than a couple of miles with any real accuracy, but the development in tech the last 100 years have enable us to read atmospheres a couple of hundred lightyears away. That's some serious exponential development we more or less take for granted.
No one is smarter than Neil deGrasse Tyson. Not even aliens.
Well I’m maybe not smart however….can he say things about life and death ?😐or the mistake on black holes ?or the illusion of free will ?😐Beacuse I can 😎that is it you say RED and want the truth 😐if you say blue I’ll leave you be 😐remember all I’m offering is the truth nothing more 😑
I've wondered this very question for ... probably at least 4 decades, since I ran across the concept in a science fiction story (thank you, Asimov!). I'm going to be interested in what you all have to say!
Always love the show
I use these videos for sleeping. So I am always happy when I see a new vudeo notification from this channel during the day.
When we think of the evolutionary development of advanced alien species we assume that they went through the phase we are at now. Thinking outside the box let’s consider that they may have skipped that stage and went on to super-intelligence instantly. Let’s also assume that they are a benevolent species. We can start there and then bring other evolutionary traits in to consideration to explain their development. Evolutionary development like ours probably is not the only way. But it is fun to consider all the different possibilities. I love how Neil, David and Chuck get me to think outside the box. Thanks guys.
Wouldn’t intellectual capability and capacity plateau eventually? Assuming the species has not artificially made themselves smarter wouldn’t there be a space in which a further intellectual ability is not needed? As you can accomplish anything you need, and there is no reason for the species to become smarter.
Not 100% Sure, but at higher temperatures and in the presence of certain other elements,
Doesn't silicon loosen up a bit and start forming more flexible variations of molecules?
Even as a little kid I was bothered by the phrase "life as we know it"...what about life as we don't know it?
And also as a little kid who LOVED Star Trek it always bothered me that on every planet they visited they never wore any kind of spacesuit or even breathing apparatus. Sure it was better for TV drama but kinda unrealistic.
Great show!
Love y'all,
The Old Hippiebilly
I would think one of the biggest proponents of assuming they are more advanced than us is because we accept that when we view these far away places is that we are peering through the lens of time. We arent seeing the object as it is but as it was. So, to "see" a civilization on a far out planet in another galaxy, or even our own, it would have to have been there long enough to affect the light we are currently viewing. This adds to the complexity of the window with which we can visably detect. We may view a planet that appears devoid of life that is teaming with it because its fairly recent; or we may see an active civilisation.... which could actually be long gone.
Really enjoyed listening to your conversations. It seems that when the question is asked what kind of life there might be out there, that is something that we are really blind to. We really only know of one form of life, that being the cellular based life that we have here on this planet. If we did not have ourselves to observe, we would never be able to imagine our own form of life, the cell based variety. It seems really far beyond what our imaginations are capable of thinking of when we ask what types of life are possible other than our own cell based life. We could really be in for some big surprises someday when we run into life elsewhere.
We have no other type of life to compare with. That is why we are searching for life as we know it.
We really could be living in the matrix controlled by other lifeforms not so far fetched when you dwell on it.
@Stocks With Fabian
You attribute a base low human quality of wanting to control others to beings that are supposed to be more advanced. Don't think so.
Consider the following:
a. I am a human as defined by humans.
b. I am an energy based quarkelectronian as modern science claims that all matter is made up of quarks, electrons and interacting energy and I am made up of matter and interacting energy.
c. I am a being of 'light', 'if' my current theory of everything is correct whereby the 'gem' photon is the energy unit of this universe that makes up everything in this universe, including space, time and numbers. (Currently dependent upon the results of my gravity test).
d. "I" do not even actually exist but eternally existent space time exists as me, currently in the forms as above.
* I exist and yet "I" simultaneously do not exist, dependent upon perspective. But yet, do "I" not truly exist in absolute truth reality as only eternally existent space time exists as all things in absolute truth reality?
* "I" can mentally change between perspectives thereby experiencing existence from those various perspectives. "My" mind continues to expand, but is it truly 'my' mind that is expanding or is it eternally existent space time's mind that is expanding? In absolute truth reality, it would seem to be the later.
* 'To Be or Not To Be'. I am both, 'I Am and I Am Not.' But I Am Not it appears more than I Am.
* Consider also: If asked the general question, 'What do you know?'. My current answer would be, 'Not much compared to all that can be known.' (I Am Not, More than I Am). It's humbling.
I have a question, maybe someone here knows the answer to. How far off are those 12 earth- like planets? Did our radio get to them? How long till we hear back?
I'd love to sit down with Neil and his colleagues and just listen to them go back and forth about random scientific fields and questions that really matter in this universe. Sometimes living day to day lives being constricted by capitalism, racism, political strife, and everything else associated with our failing society just makes me depressed. Then I listen to these episodes and realize that none of that matters. At the end of the day, what matters is expanding our knowledge and understanding of the universe. We are complicated creatures with living computers sitting in our skulls, yet only a small percentage choose to use that computer for what computers are made for, the rest choose to waste their processing power on pointless things like discrimination, ignorance, and conflict. It's not about being "smarter" either, it's about opening your eyes and your mind to the limitless possibilities of what we could accomplish if we could work as a unit. If humanity operated like a hive mind, we'd be so technologically advanced that scifi would no longer be able to hold the fiction title. It would just be modern science for us. Time travel, interdimensional travel, anything could be possible.
@3:04 I love that chuck knows he does that in the book because it shows he actually read it and wasn't just doing a sponsor script
Just because silicone could not be the base of life in experiments because it does not bond in different directions does not exclude that it could not become attached to carbon in a way that it can change shape. As you said about the Legos, do they not come with attachments that bend?
Word! Ignorance is bliss. Chemistry's probly not the same everywhere, and we probly don't have everything in the universe here. Until we know, we don't!
Very very funny as well as mind expanding.
I'll try it
Wonderful episode!
Am i the only one here that can think of scientific things but do not know how to explain it in words????????
Same here
same, i try to explain or define them to my fiance but i always loose my words
I agree with you completely. I can understand everything when Neil breaks it down but can’t explain it to my husband at all .
I'm pretty sure every unexplained aspect of science has been thought of, but not put into words. that's why it's unexplained....
If you can't explain it, you don't understand it well enough
Everyone forgot to mention that a major difference between Carbon and Silicon is that water is just a better solvent with Silicon, since the Silicon rather pair with it than itself. So if there were Silicon based life it would have to have another solvent than H²O.
This of course Assumes that a solvent is a requisite for life. Machines and AI don’t use solvents for example
Actually Strugatsky brothers touched upon idea of finding less advanced civilisations in their books. Earth emissaries are called Progressors and monitor development of other civilisations. Book Hard to be God explores this idea brilliantly.
I personally think we should be systematically under-counting the number of earth-like planets in habitable zones because our solar system had 3. Mars, Venus and Earth. All of them had Oceans at different points, Mars lost it's atmosphere so it got too cold, and Venus had a runaway greenhouse effect happen. Invoking the anthropic principle here, stating we are not in a special part of the Universe, the Universe must be littered with places like this.
25:00 awesome! !So, it's the black holes that form galaxies ?
44:10
Perhaps one of the most interesting possibilities in a hypothetical multiverse is that there’s one wherein Chuck is known for pronouncing each name correctly.
Great episode. Dr. Funkyspoon is always great.
Silicon does not seem to enjoy remaining as a complete unit for very long. It breaks down and degrades rather fast when compared to carbon. ESPECIALLY when exposed to sunlight and oxygen.
There are carbon based objects that are thousands of years old, surviving to this day. Meanwhile, everything silicon based has and will continue to degrade and essentially fall apart.
I can not see silicon as a base for what we currently consider to be life. But again, I am basing that off of what humans have done with silicon so far. Perhaps nature knows a way to combine silicon molecules to extend usable existence.
I’m here for a great science talk!
The last question saved the world thank you Chuck 🙏
How can we make questions for the next cosmic queries episode?
Money. Just money. It didn't use to be this way.. but green paper matters.
Moneyyyyyyyyyyyyy
as chuck always says "GIVE US YOUR MONEY, questions available to patreons" at the low low price of $1...... wish i could afford that $1 but im poor and would rather buy something to eat with that dollar than have my existence acknowledged by one of my favorite comedians....and also lord chuck nice
Goto their patreon in the description, there should be more info there. The next level above entry level is what you want i believe
@@vapandrei Yes, how dare they ask for money to support their channel. We deserve to get everything they do for us for free!
@@madeincda flat earthers do it for free, it's all about marketing and ease of use, not truth 🤣
I get a kick out of how fast people call other people friend.
I don't have any friends, I have acquaintances.
To me a friend is someone you grow up with. Someone who knows you inside out. Someone you can't lie to. Someone who keeps you grounded.
These are things I'll never have. I grew up a military brat, moving around every couple of years.
If someone calls me a friend. I look at them weird. I'm no one's friend. I'm just another stranger in the night passing by.
If you're in my life, then you are only in my life for the next few chapters. Don't worry, I'm not going to be around long enough to even remember your name.
Can silica be found as a gas? If so what form? SiO2 is solid. So that would be another difference
Ask the alien in your window... 👽
Don't you mean we're miss-shaping the world? Speaking of Star Trek, have you ever heard of the Prime Directive? I love that laugh when you say we had 3 data points and decided all galaxies have black holes in the middle. Maniacal 🤣 You know, technically, Noon is when the Sun is at its appex in the local sky, so why aren't we calling it, One O'Clock Noon? This is a question for those who believe we actually save daylight by shifting the clock (as opposed to just resetting your alarm.)
Water and oxygen would prevent silicone based life. Would Venus be a perfect place for it to emerge?
Always with pleasure!
If there was an earth like planet that developed at the same time, and had intelligent life like us on it, when we observe them from here it would be way in their past, maybe in their dinosaur era, they would see the same when they observe us.
bad news, i've observed earth and cant detect any intelligence anywhere
Basically, It would be the same observable time period from both planets... Assuming they are relatively near each other. There are other factors to consider which would change that result. For example acceleration apart from each other or large areas of gravity affecting one more than the other.
I am so glad someone has brought this up. I think about it all the time. Because…. How many full extinctions have other planets experienced? What if our dinosaurs weren’t ever made extinct? And if there were intelligent life that were at the same tech level…whatever we can’t do… they can’t do either! Like snail mail or a message in a bottle waiting to reach the recipient…
46:40 Why does everyone assume that Venus' atmosphere is the result of "runaway" greenhouse gases? Why can't it have formed with a high volume of CO2 and a lot of volcanism?
Does anyone know why an exoplanet being earth size is relevant? I get Goldilocks zone, but is size a significant factor in habitability?
thank you chuck for always asking what i'm thinking
I would LOVE for DR GREER to be a guest on this platform.
There is a difference between "intelligence" and "technologial advance".
I think I've heard you say the sun's expanding. Could we just be getting closer? How do you calculate Pluto's orbit if we don't know its size? How many times can you see it in a given period from a single telescope? It's orbit is unaffected by other planetary bodies? Is the atmospheres peaks affected by other planetary bodies? To what degree is the oceans change to the moons position vs the atmosphere, does it change with its chemical composition? I was looking at how quartz watches work. With tesla's research lab at the base of pike's peak, and the pyramids, would that change change the voltage of piezoelectric crystal?
i need to become a patron now to ask what we do if we just find a bunch of life on a planet but nothing intelligent like earth before humans theres just animals left no ones to talk to
please keep posting in general and please keep posting about aliens as long as you feel it's important, because we deff wanna hear you talk about aliens more please
It's probably smartest and safest to assume we're pretty dumb compared to potential intelligent aliens, but yes the possibility that we are at least at our best or collectively more capable than our lowest estimates should be considered too I think.
Dumbness comes in different forms.. the most intelligent might develope a self I am best so fu.. kind of ego based view.. etc etc.. lets be cool. 😉
Why are we dumb and they are smart but we can sit it a lot of animals dumb but it's been proven time and time again that there's a lot of smart animals out there is it because they don't speak a language
I loved "Venus Revealed." I wish it was available on Audible.
Thanks Much !
Dr. Tyson, does the black hole at the center of the galaxy the engine that drives the galaxy? Meaning the spin.
What if the entire universe is the true intelligent life? Think of how we describe it and how it correlates to what we consider life. Our universe through some complicated process is able to basically produce offspring creating (Stars - Planets - Solar Systems - Galaxys and possibly other universes) and those also have a life span. Also the idea about perspective, get down to quantum mechanics and the distance between atoms can feel like the space between stars/planets etc. So like the MIB movie illustrated, what if our entire universe is just a marble being tossed around by some other form of being? I think once we can clearly define what we consider "Intelligent life" in its most basic form, we will have better luck finding it.
I think DNA is more common in the cosmos than we suspect. If planets exist that have similar conditions to earth during the early days, they would also have DNA arise as the most reliable self replicating nucleotide. It happened here over the course of hundreds of millions of years, when essentially evolution of molecules by natural selection occurred. Less efficient molecules or those that replicated less reliably would be superseded by better models.
I think that one of the first questions could be, if we encounter beings that are smart as us but not technologically advanced, like we were a thousand years ago, for instance. They wouldn't know about space travel, radio communication, etc. Could we introduce ourselves to them and show them how to make rockets, cellphones, etc.? Or there would be a "Prime Directive" and we could not interfere in their evolution. Say that we find life on one of the moons on Jupiter or Saturn or anywhere else on reach of our space probes that has this conditions.
Why assume intelligent extraterrestrials would land in the US?
Cause they speak English, duh.
Problem with finding NTIs is that until we can go there (or they come here), all we can do is listen. Imagine they are 500 light years away. They would have to been at a radio frequency capable tech level 500 years ago, and they will have had to send out a powerful enough signal that it doesn't blend into the background before it gets here. Even we are moving towarf low power and directional. Now add in the expansion of space. Gets geometrically harder as you think of and add new requirements. Hope they find one, but I doubt we are definitively detect except by from very close, so I would think NTIs would be the same.
They will be able to pour on a silicone/ carbon mix for heat shielding for retuning spacecraft. 12:24
Use Nordic Runes for communication with Nan
Could life have started with silicon and gradually switch to carbon?
Or the other way around, carbon life changing into silicon life?
20:30 We can communicate with chimps and we do. We communicate with other animals every day. It's just that we communicate messages and thoughts that we think are trivial. People that have dogs for instance know this pretty well.
We process oxygen and carbon to live so perhaps would be a matter of looking for life that process silicon with something else to live?
Also I read this once a looong time ago: could quartz be considered a life form..?
Remember, the Silicon-based Horta lived within a mining colony inside an asteroid..
A great Star Trek episode.
I super appreciate chuck coming in at the end and setting the record straight about climate change and runaway greenhouse gas effects... i would have just added, we don't need levels of it as seen on Venus to wipeout the Human Species -- so the fact burning all the fossil fuels would not precipitate a venus style catastrophe, it could still spell the end of Humans, and significantly alter life on Earth as we know it today and in the past.
We'll be alright 😂