1967: CARL SAGAN on the search for INTELLIGENT LIFE | Where Is Everybody? | BBC Archive

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  • Опубліковано 30 жов 2024
  • In this extract from the classic BBC science documentary Where Is Everybody?, Dr Carl Sagan - an astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University - considers the complexities of searching for intelligent extraterrestrial life, and suggests means by which we might communicate with it.
    Clip taken from Where Is Everybody?: The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe, originally broadcast on BBC One, Thursday 5 October, 1967.
    You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
    Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - www.youtube.co...

КОМЕНТАРІ • 159

  • @thecaveofthedead
    @thecaveofthedead 2 роки тому +77

    He was a beautiful combination of intelligence, curiosity, and kindness.

    • @SkySpiral8
      @SkySpiral8 Рік тому

      I recommend reading the biography by William Poundstone. It humanizes him a bit more.

    • @n49945
      @n49945 Рік тому +2

      And poetry.

    • @abhiram4376
      @abhiram4376 11 місяців тому +3

      He was quite handsome too

  • @psihostrumpf6233
    @psihostrumpf6233 2 роки тому +24

    Carl Sagan will always have a special place in my mind and my heart.
    I remember being shocked as a boy after learning that stars have life cycles and different one at that. I didn't believe it at first. However, that single piece of information is what pushed me into this Mother of All Rabbit Holes, called astronomy.
    Almost thirty years of undying ever-growing passion... from random chapter in a random book picked up from a shelf because i was an extremely bored youngster... to almost crying over the beauty of the photos from JWST... wow! What a ride this was! And still is... woo-hooo!
    I'm 43-ish now and if anyone asked me what part of myself i like the most - i would say without thinking: astronomy! Love for astronomy! This unquenchable thirst to comprehend, understand, fathom at least a little bit of that cosmic mystery, is as pure as it was that very first moment after reading Sagan's words. Same level of excitement, same sense of wonder as it was back then. But, with JWST on our side now, multiplying the amazement. I love Hubble Telescope and i always will, deep field shocked me down to the quantum level, so called Planck's shock! Hahaha!
    But - c'mon... lets be honest.
    For me, as a kid, stars were something unchangeable. They were all the same and static, besides spewing out the nuclear fire.
    Then, Carl Sagan blew my whole night sky into little pieces. My mind too. They are both coalescing still, ever since.
    One of the smartest, purest, most right-minded and good-hearted humans that ever lived - Mr. Carl Sagan! I truly feel deep respect and love for this human being!
    Seeing him today and hearing this voice, i felt like an old dear friend or super-cool uncle came into my home unannounced. They are all more than welcome, any time. Mi casa es their casa!
    Thanks for the video!

    • @VIKASHSINGH-hf3kt
      @VIKASHSINGH-hf3kt 5 місяців тому

      I can feel your happiness,excitement and curiosity while reading your this awsome message about one of our greatest inspiration Dr. Carl Sagan. He also changed my whole perspective about the world or can say about the Universe we live in. I can not explain in words here tht how much my life is changed because of Carl Sagan sir as if I do start to write here, it will be kind of a short book which nobody gonna read.
      Lots of love from KOLKATA, INDIA

  • @davidlister370
    @davidlister370 2 роки тому +31

    The movie 'Contact' (which came out in 1997, 30 years after this recording) was based on the theory Carl Sagan presents here

    • @letsgocamping88
      @letsgocamping88 2 роки тому +14

      And the book written by Carl Sagan.

    • @davidlister370
      @davidlister370 2 роки тому +4

      @@letsgocamping88 Yes, that's true. I didn't word this very well I just meant the ideas he puts forward here were the basis of the movie.

    • @civlyzed
      @civlyzed 2 роки тому +4

      Growing up, I loved listening to Carl Sagan and saw 'Contact' 3 times in the theater. It's been a while since I've watched it...sounds like a good choice for this holiday weekend. Cheers!

    • @eemoogee160
      @eemoogee160 2 роки тому +2

      He said he was inspired for some of the ideas in Contact while smoking a doobie in the shower!

    • @civlyzed
      @civlyzed 2 роки тому +2

      @@eemoogee160 That is awesome! I remember reading that in "Carl Sagan A Life".

  • @sinjinadams2862
    @sinjinadams2862 2 роки тому +10

    Fascinating! I really enjoyed that. It's sad that he's gone.

  • @ronnyb5890
    @ronnyb5890 Рік тому +5

    Carl Sagan,a remarkable man and scientist,i always loved his easy to understand expalnation of things,we lost yet another great scientist with his passing,RIP Mr Sagan,i still have the wonderful documentary series COSMOS in my possesion,love it,also a great score by Vangelis

  • @RolandElliottFirstG
    @RolandElliottFirstG Рік тому +13

    Not many have surpassed Carl, he was a true gifted human.
    There is other life in the Universe, one day contact will begin.

  • @eatnntuunasnwch
    @eatnntuunasnwch 2 роки тому +27

    "I think that the surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that none of them have tried to contact us."
    - Calvin and Hobbes

  • @AntGeezer
    @AntGeezer 2 роки тому +38

    Newsflash: There’s STILL no sign of intelligent life on earth…

  • @Concreteowl
    @Concreteowl Рік тому +3

    RIP Arecebo

  • @jack_timber
    @jack_timber 2 роки тому +5

    I remember watching this it was really good.

  • @hunewearl8924
    @hunewearl8924 Рік тому +1

    I love his voice.

  • @Dan23_7
    @Dan23_7 2 роки тому +10

    I listen to a band called Bong Tower, a Russian group.
    They have 2 albums, Oscillator and Oscillator 2, the latter is dedicated to Carl Sagan and the gold disk.
    They’re like documentaries but with music, give them a listen

    • @tonyatkinson2210
      @tonyatkinson2210 2 роки тому +1

      I just gave them a listen . Cool.
      Reminds me of the British band Public Servuse Broadcasting .
      Second album : The Race For Space . Give it a listen 👂

    • @Dan23_7
      @Dan23_7 2 роки тому

      @@tonyatkinson2210 I will do 👍🏼

    • @tonyatkinson2210
      @tonyatkinson2210 2 роки тому +1

      @@Dan23_7 did you listen ? Great album

    • @Dan23_7
      @Dan23_7 2 роки тому

      @@tonyatkinson2210 Not yet, we’ve been away in Scotland. Home now so I’ll definitely check it out over this weekend 👍🏼

  • @valeriataylor8337
    @valeriataylor8337 2 роки тому +4

    in the book "Pale Blue Dot", the chapter 5 "Is there intelligent life on Earth?" he makes the reader try to imagine himself as an alien looking at our planet's surface, just like this, and trying to figure out life just by looking at it, what is the blue surface, the greenish areas and the "tiny multicolored beings a few meters in length" that often carry parasites. It is amazingly simple and complex at the same time, and amusing.

  • @shubhanshujain752
    @shubhanshujain752 2 роки тому +1

    I love this UA-cam channel

  • @ObiWanBillKenobi
    @ObiWanBillKenobi Рік тому +5

    7:10 And ASCII art is born. XD

  • @kamandi1362
    @kamandi1362 2 роки тому +9

    But if they took the pictures at night they’d see all the streetlights.

  • @InaQube
    @InaQube 2 роки тому +3

    Before searching for intelligent life in the universe we should first detect and protect intelligent life here on earth.

  • @jenynce
    @jenynce 2 роки тому +1

    BBC how do they always manage to get the best stuff

  • @jonathanmitchell9886
    @jonathanmitchell9886 2 місяці тому +1

    You have to wonder if Sagan was really on board with the Oannes hypothesis in "Intelligent Life in the Universe." I always thought that was more of Shklovskii thing; Sagan was inherently more conservative, while Shklovskii's theories were more daring. But Sagan signed off on it, and the book is still quoted today whenever Paleo-SETI is discussed.

  • @PrasannaKrishna-r2e
    @PrasannaKrishna-r2e 9 місяців тому +1

    SIR CARL SAGAN - INFINITE EPOCH ❤❤❤💐🙏

  • @swaneknoctic9555
    @swaneknoctic9555 2 роки тому +53

    "Trying to find some evidence for intelligent life on Earth"....You're wasting your time there pal.

  • @akshatpathrikar7080
    @akshatpathrikar7080 Рік тому +2

    Wow! Dr. Sagan has always been so impressive.

  • @qed100
    @qed100 Місяць тому +1

    Mention of the questionable merits of American television reminds me of a physics text I bought close to 40 years back. The introductory page of the chapter on "The Particlelike Properties of Electromagnetic Radiation" includes a scene from an episode of I Love Lucy, with Mrs Ricardo attempting to pass herself off as a wall-mounted hunting trophy. The picture's caption says,
    _"From the elegant theory of Albert Einstein to the precise experiments of Robert Millikan, the photoelectric effect is an example of the transition of a physical phenomenon from theory to experiment to application, in this case the television camera. The photo shows an example of the benefits to humanity that have resulted from applications of this basic physics."_

  • @ObiWanBillKenobi
    @ObiWanBillKenobi Рік тому +4

    5:58 The assumption is that the receiver person is using base 10. They may not be. Humans have 10 fingers. Extra-Terrestrials, according to Steven Spielberg for example, have 8 fingers.

    • @AndrewHillis_2024
      @AndrewHillis_2024 Рік тому +1

      Kurt Vonnegut In One Of His Many Interesting SF Books (I Can't Remember The Name Of The SF Novel Now But Maybe You Do?) Described Some Aliens That Communicated Using Tap Dancing And Farting!!! 😀😃😄👍

    • @steveschunk5702
      @steveschunk5702 Рік тому +1

      Primality doesn’t depend on base.

    • @qed100
      @qed100 Місяць тому +1

      It wasn't Base 10. It was Base 2, binary. That's why the message consisted only of 1 and 0.

  • @Buff_Cupcake
    @Buff_Cupcake 2 роки тому +21

    I wonder what he'd make of the James Webb telescope that launched this year or the Artemis Program that NASA is currently implementing. Must be horrible having such an open and forward thinking mind, stuck in an era where technology was so limited.

    • @shannondore
      @shannondore 2 роки тому +4

      His mind would be blown by the images of the James Webb Telescope. I wish he could have see it, it would have made him very happy.

    • @tonyatkinson2210
      @tonyatkinson2210 2 роки тому

      Nah . I think he believed in the most magical of times : men on the moon , sending probes to the far reaches of the solar system .
      So you think it’s horrible living now instead of in another 50 years when technology will be so far advanced that the James Webb will look primitive?

    • @WaitingForTheSubway
      @WaitingForTheSubway 2 роки тому +1

      I bet that’s what people will say about us a hundred years from now☺️

    • @valeriataylor8337
      @valeriataylor8337 2 роки тому +1

      Not really, because if we have such advanced technology, part of it is thanks to him as well. He helped to lead the path. The pity is he could not live enough to see what he helped to build. Of that he could live forever to see everything every new technology could give him

  • @fidelcatsro6948
    @fidelcatsro6948 2 роки тому +2

    They should have used transmission at 1200Mhz and plainly said: My cat loves u too!!
    This wouldve sent a Universally understood message to any planet in the Universe!

  • @eprohoda
    @eprohoda 2 роки тому +1

    wwhat'up,love it- great view, BBC-

  • @mavidateeta
    @mavidateeta Рік тому

    carl was sneaking in some burns there at the beginning heck yeah carl!!! lol

  • @andreinarangel6227
    @andreinarangel6227 2 роки тому +1

    I've seen reconnaissance satellite imagery taken of the Soviet Union in 1962. YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING as small as a car tire. 1962.
    Professor Sagan never had access to that level of resolution while he was alive.

    • @krashd
      @krashd Місяць тому

      You've seen aircraft recon imagery that detailed in 1962, but not satellite. Even today satellites would be lucky to see something as small as a car tire.

  • @science212
    @science212 Рік тому +2

    Sagan was a good person. But life is unique. Read the book Rare Earth, by Peter Ward.

  • @HikikomoriDev
    @HikikomoriDev 15 днів тому

    7:19 wow look at that terminal go!

  • @hjc9114
    @hjc9114 2 роки тому +2

    Imagine aliens scanning for radio frequencies and picking up on a random television program

    • @petergivenbless900
      @petergivenbless900 2 роки тому +1

      And then consider that one of the first major TV broadcasts was the opening of the 1936 Olympics presided over by Adolf Hitler!

  • @chrisjenkins9978
    @chrisjenkins9978 2 роки тому +1

    You don’t need higher resolution to see street lights or radio broadcast?

  • @tachikomakusanagi3744
    @tachikomakusanagi3744 5 місяців тому

    Carl Sagan is the Professor character in every SciFi film who runs towards the aliens shouting 'we have nothing to fear from them' before being immediately vaporised.

    • @krashd
      @krashd Місяць тому

      Nah, that makes him out to be an idiot.

    • @tachikomakusanagi3744
      @tachikomakusanagi3744 Місяць тому

      @@krashd He was the guy behind putting a map back to the Earth on Voyager 1 & 2.

    • @tachikomakusanagi3744
      @tachikomakusanagi3744 Місяць тому

      ​@@krashd Just to be clear, I think he is a very intelligent and accomplished man, but far too trusting of any potential alien races, should they turn out to exist.
      He saw straight through Edward Tellers 'Star Wars' scam, for example, so when it comes to humans he's pretty quick on the draw:
      ua-cam.com/video/qNoFRRsxUQg/v-deo.html
      He just doesn't seem to want to accept that non terrestrial intelligences might also harbour such destructive attributes as the previously mentioned Mr Teller.

    • @tachikomakusanagi3744
      @tachikomakusanagi3744 Місяць тому

      @@krashd Just to be clear, I think he is a very intelligent and accomplished man, but far too trusting of any potential alien races, should they turn out to exist.
      He saw straight through Edward Tellers 'Star Wars' scam, for example, so when it comes to humans he's pretty quick on the draw: ua-cam.com/video/qNoFRRsxUQg/v-deo.html
      He just doesn't seem to want to accept that non terrestrial intelligences might also harbour such destructive attributes as the previously mentioned Mr Teller.

    • @tachikomakusanagi3744
      @tachikomakusanagi3744 Місяць тому

      Just to be clear, I think he is a very intelligent and accomplished man, but far too trusting of any potential alien races, should they turn out to exist.
      He saw straight through Edward Tellers 'Star Wars' nonsense, for example, so when it comes to humans he's pretty quick on the draw: ua-cam.com/video/qNoFRRsxUQg/v-deo.html
      He just doesn't seem to want to accept that non terrestrial intelligences might also harbour such destructive attributes as the previously mentioned Mr Teller.

  • @Beehashe
    @Beehashe 2 роки тому +4

    Sagan grew up in the same neighborhood in Brooklyn where Anthony Fauci is from.

  • @Celticowl4136
    @Celticowl4136 2 роки тому +3

    SPOILER ALERT: he didn't find any

  • @mrdeathgaming1457
    @mrdeathgaming1457 6 місяців тому

    I wish I could be alive in 2224 and see this.

  • @Muonium1
    @Muonium1 2 роки тому

    Note that when he's talking about satellite resolution and hoping for a 10 or 100 times increase in resolution to be able to view the modifications to Earth's surface caused by humans, such resolution enhancements had already been achieved at exactly the time he was speaking. The classified Corona Program of film based reconnaissance satellites had by '67 reached regularly delivered ground resolutions of just under 2m in the KH-6 and KH-4B film return missions. I can't imagine that, even though a mere civilian astronomy professor, he could have possibly been unaware of this fact at the time of filming, particularly with all his NASA and JPL contacts.

    • @qed100
      @qed100 Місяць тому +1

      I don't think he was aspiring to finer resolving power. He was elaborating on how ambiguous the presence of people such as ourselves is at various scales of resolution. He incorporated this same sort of monologue into an episode of Cosmos, with the point being how hard it might be to identify civilized life on distant planets.

  • @heresjohnny602
    @heresjohnny602 2 роки тому +3

    Just using basic understanding of light tells us that if a being was living 65 million light years away they'd still see dinosaurs. If they were 4.5 billion light years away we'd be unobserveable, why haven't they visited, because they don't know we exist.

    • @fishwatch8677
      @fishwatch8677 2 роки тому

      But is a telescope that could see that far theoretically possible?

    • @thebat7048
      @thebat7048 2 роки тому +1

      Course they have visited lots of evidence to suggest that 🙄

    • @heresjohnny602
      @heresjohnny602 2 роки тому

      @@thebat7048 Why the eye rolling sarcasm. ? Honestly grow up.

    • @heresjohnny602
      @heresjohnny602 2 роки тому

      @@fishwatch8677 If we have Webb now then we can reasonably extrapolate that if intelligent life resides on one of the twenty trillion possible planets out there that they may have it too, of course this assumption is very heavily rooted in human narcissism because there could also be nothing but simple bacteria or that we ourselves could be super advanced while they're going through the stone age. The thing is with science on earth at least is that we're often not hampered by our ideas but the energy we need to achieve them. Professor micho kaku once stated that if a civilisation is out there and they've harnessed the planck energy of the universe they'd be considered gods in every sense of the word.

    • @thebat7048
      @thebat7048 2 роки тому

      @@heresjohnny602 Maybe because you're soooooo closed minded and trying to come across all factual maybe that might be why I 🙄

  • @zebonautsmith1541
    @zebonautsmith1541 Рік тому

    well the Aliens would certainly have MUCH better computers. LOL

  • @jasonayres
    @jasonayres 2 роки тому

    (5:40)
    👾: That'll be the phone, love.
    🤖: Oh, I got up the last time..

  • @garyproffitt5941
    @garyproffitt5941 Рік тому

    Giving water to h2o the giver for life with nimbus, cirrus and the cloud form h2o and very intelligent Carl Sagan✔

  • @zagros90
    @zagros90 Рік тому

    True love ❤

  • @AJM01
    @AJM01 2 роки тому

    Only ever found out who Carl Sagan was because of watching The X Files back in the day!

  • @RP-mm9ie
    @RP-mm9ie 2 роки тому

    A Mystic

  • @keatonjamescurtis
    @keatonjamescurtis 8 місяців тому

    Wow!

  • @leehyunsong7001
    @leehyunsong7001 2 роки тому +1

    Carl Sagan died in 1996

    • @pressureworks
      @pressureworks 2 роки тому +1

      No he didn't. He just transferred to a different state of being. Undetectable to us, so far.

  • @SlavaVeres
    @SlavaVeres Рік тому

    2:00 😂 I’m watching it from Ontario in 2023 - not sure there is much “intelligent life” here

  • @musicauthority7828
    @musicauthority7828 Рік тому +3

    There never has been intelligent life on Earth. and there never will be and that's a fact.
    Carl Sagan was one of the most brilliant minds to grace the Earth. and he was a huge inspiration to me. it's so sad he left us too soon. he is definitely missed.

    • @SkySpiral8
      @SkySpiral8 Рік тому

      Are you ironically contradicting yourself?

  • @Band_Aid_Man_
    @Band_Aid_Man_ 2 роки тому

    in ten short years Voyager's 1 and 2 would leave the Earth carrying the Golden record, time capsules that would transmit much more information about life on the more of dust if extraterrestrial should find them!

  • @thebadgamer1967
    @thebadgamer1967 2 роки тому +3

    Still no intelligent life on earth sadly

  • @pressureworks
    @pressureworks 2 роки тому

    7:00 something like this.....Homer Simpson!!!!

  • @DonLeist
    @DonLeist 7 днів тому

    Their are billions and billions of Nerds!

  • @panas1174
    @panas1174 6 днів тому

    They sent a fax to aliens...

  • @Spgeddylee
    @Spgeddylee Рік тому

    the first 7 seconds... Keep looking buddy, oh and good luck. §=0|

  • @DigitalDisciple4555
    @DigitalDisciple4555 2 роки тому

    To hell with space. I'm still trying to find it on earth lol

  • @peterbabu936
    @peterbabu936 2 роки тому +1

    intelligent live on earth? he talks about dolphins right?

  • @mikebeatstsb7030
    @mikebeatstsb7030 2 роки тому +1

    His voice is a bit off for what his looks are

  • @AndrewHillis_2024
    @AndrewHillis_2024 Рік тому +2

    IT'S TOO BAD THAT CARL SAGAN NEVER FOUND ANY ALIENS BUT THEN MAYBE CARL SAGAN WAS AN ALIEN HIMSELF??? WHO KNOWS???😀😃😄🤔👍

  • @SteveWilson-69
    @SteveWilson-69 22 дні тому

    I am not a follower or believer of Sagan. I have heard / watched him giving his "beliefs" about Ebens (ETs) and he was wrong on almost every level. In terms of stature, colour, makeup, skin etc, Sagan's beliefs were wrong not just by today's standards, but by most people's beliefs. He belongs, or his beliefs do, back in yesteryear where such older beliefs should remain. I see a certain arrogance that underlies his explanations and despite Sagan being obviously educated in some areas of his chosen fields, he is in over-his-head when it comes down to certain things in cosmology, space, UFOs, ETs, and so forth. In fact, I oppose many of his views not because modern science has proven some of his beliefs wrong, but because he explains those beliefs away as if there is no opposition to them, or alternative view - and there was. So what does it all mean? Nothing. Nothing except ETs do exist, as well as God of course, and we'll all find this out to be very real / true when we finally pass. Sagan was human, just like the rest of us, however unlike some of us, he never observed or was observed by other beings.

  • @geoffjoffy
    @geoffjoffy 2 роки тому +4

    Intelligent and good looking. I can say that because I am not gay.

  • @WhistlerUK
    @WhistlerUK 2 роки тому

    Was this first broadcast on 1st April 1967 ?

    • @moonlover2022
      @moonlover2022 2 роки тому +2

      In description: it says 15th October 1967

  • @marsspacex6065
    @marsspacex6065 2 роки тому

    Damn those are some bad photos technology sucked back then

    • @metaldave08096
      @metaldave08096 Рік тому

      For the times it was as good as you could get.

  • @mikepoulin3020
    @mikepoulin3020 2 роки тому

    your little green sky-fairies don't exist...

  • @pressureworks
    @pressureworks 2 роки тому +1

    4:10 baleful contents of american television programs. I wonder what he would say about the terrible programs of today ???

  • @zaftra
    @zaftra 2 роки тому +2

    His entire thought was based on a falsity; it's not the number of stars or galaxies, it's the probability of life taking hold, and that is not known; could be swarming, could be so rare we are the only ones.

    • @lightyagami1752
      @lightyagami1752 2 роки тому +3

      This video was from 1967. Frank Drake formulated his equation in 1961. The Drake equation considered both the numbers of celestial bodies and the probability of life developing on one (and other factors besides). You think someone of Sagan's background wouldn't have been aware of it?
      Popular science needs to be accessible to a general audience. The typical TV audience back then would almost certainly not be as sophisticated as a self-selected group today interested in viewing and commenting on a video such as this.

    • @pressureworks
      @pressureworks 2 роки тому

      Since what we call Space is infinite..... We could never know exactly what is out there.

    • @zaftra
      @zaftra 2 роки тому

      @@lightyagami1752 It is quite simply an unknown, any human equation is merely guess work.

    • @zaftra
      @zaftra 2 роки тому

      @@pressureworks or not.

    • @lightyagami1752
      @lightyagami1752 2 роки тому +1

      @@zaftra Your comment adds nothing here. Of course it's an unknown. The equation merely codifies how to think about the problem. Your very first comment mentioning "probability of life taking hold" etc. also stated no definites and was in the same vein as the Drake equation, but much more imprecise.

  • @thegreatawakening7thedimen837

    It's going to be Biblical• Even so• the dead will tremble• [ It's Spoken] the Pale Horse • understood the Blucifer• Pale Dot• // as one Directed His Exclamation Point of no return• ♤》\■

  • @jeririce4928
    @jeririce4928 Рік тому +1

    a charlatan of the highest order

  • @ceovideos8905
    @ceovideos8905 2 роки тому

    intellgent life doesnt exist.

    • @ericinla65
      @ericinla65 2 роки тому +3

      Not in MAGA States.

    • @ceovideos8905
      @ceovideos8905 2 роки тому

      @@ericinla65 you mean the states not on fire. yeah those other guys burning down their states seem pretty smart. keep drinking that tap water. its working wonders. i can feel the weather getting gooder with every sip they take.