Why Have We Not Found Any Aliens? - with Keith Cooper

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  • čas přidán 26. 04. 2024
  • After six decades of examining signals from space, why have we yet to discover evidence of extra-terrestrial life?
    Keith's book "The Contact Paradox: Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" is available now - geni.us/JFpy
    For the past six decades a small cadre of researchers have been on a quest, as part of SETI, to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. So far, SETI has found no evidence of extraterrestrial life, but with more than a hundred billion stars in our Galaxy alone to search, the odds of quick success are stacked against us.
    Keith Cooper explores how far SETI has come since its modest beginnings, where it's going and the assumptions that we make in our search for extraterrestrial life.
    Watch the Q&A: • Q&A: Why Have We Not F...
    Keith Cooper is a freelance science journalist and editor. Since 2006 Keith has been the Editor of Astronomy Now, and he is also the Editor of Astrobiology Magazine. In addition he has written on numerous space- and physics-related topics, from exploding stars to quantum computers, for Centauri Dreams, New Scientist, Physics World, physicsworld.com and Sky and Telescope. He holds a BSc in Physics with Astrophysics from the University of Manchester.
    This talk was filmed in the Ri on 22 November 2019.
    ---
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  • Věda a technologie

Komentáře • 3,8K

  • @vygotsky17
    @vygotsky17 Před 4 lety +1293

    Has anyone ever factored into the equation the difficulties for aliens in getting funding to look for us?

    • @thehoogard
      @thehoogard Před 4 lety +32

      actually it would go under the fraction of alien civilizations that send signals into space.

    • @droptuned83
      @droptuned83 Před 4 lety +30

      Or the motivation.

    • @anonb4632
      @anonb4632 Před 4 lety +42

      @maximumchron They're probably not capitalist either. It is unlikely their economics work the same way as our do. Ours are substantially different from a century ago, let alone a millennium. They may not even have a concept of money.

    • @Danny19KILO
      @Danny19KILO Před 4 lety +5

      @@anonb4632 Maybe they are at the point where they branch out on their own. Kinda like "Amazon" building a spaceship of its own and not leaving our solar system. At this point, traditions resources sounds more realistic than buying and selling with money.

    • @bitcoin.crypto
      @bitcoin.crypto Před 4 lety +13

      For those that have achieved space travel, having a far advanced telescope millions of times stronger than our Hubble telescope is likely. They probably mapped out plausible planets and set off to visit them like we travel on an airplane for a few hours

  • @courierdubois
    @courierdubois Před rokem +21

    My favourite part of his lecture is around minute 32, when he talks about just how far (or how NOT far!) our radio signals have penetrated our galaxy. It's barely -anything-!
    I was glued to this lecture for the entire 51 minutes. Thank you, Keith!

  • @alisonvanschoor730
    @alisonvanschoor730 Před 2 lety +31

    It is a real gift to make a complex subject so easy to understand - loved it, thank you!

  • @MrGeoffHilton
    @MrGeoffHilton Před 2 lety +42

    Thanks, I was riveted to the screen for fifty minutes, I'd forgotten how much I used to love the Christmas Lectures. Worthy of my subscription. A Carl Sagan quote that has always stuck with me "humans may be the best beef animals in the universe" from his Cosmos series.

  • @purplexs2506
    @purplexs2506 Před 2 lety +69

    A speaker who can expound at length, without notes; just a few slides to set the course for himself, and the audience. That alone makes this presentation a pleasure.
    But the content of Keith Cooper's talk is well worth our attention.

  • @SoulDelSol
    @SoulDelSol Před 2 lety +91

    I like the fishing analogy about trying to catch fish by scooping a small bucket into giant ocean. It's interesting because it doesn't only point to problem of volume studied vs entire volume but also issue of technique - any fisherman will be able to tell you that you could be surrounded by fish and still not catch one with a bucket. There are very specific tools say a rod and reel and boat even with those it still takes practice, expertise, putting your time in, knowing the right spots, etc to get a good one

    • @Lyons_T-BAG
      @Lyons_T-BAG Před 2 lety +4

      He got that Analogy from Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I have no idea where Neil got it from! But it's definitely a fantastic way to sum it up.

    • @dharmaqueen7877
      @dharmaqueen7877 Před 2 lety +7

      We know there are fish in the sea to be caught, because our experience and observation tells us there are. We cannot say the same for off planet life.

    • @socksumi
      @socksumi Před rokem +4

      And time. What if those fish were spawning in that ocean thousands of years before we decided to go fish there... or thousands of years after. Separation, not only by the vastness of space but by eons and eons of time greatly reduces the likelihood of a potential meeting between species of different worlds.

    • @PetraKann
      @PetraKann Před rokem

      Or a giant net

    • @Force1Com
      @Force1Com Před rokem

      Or a big electrical bomb to incapacitate them

  • @tommyodonovan3883
    @tommyodonovan3883 Před 2 lety +8

    He's a great orator, his brilliants and his enthusiasm shine through.

  • @cheapy2006
    @cheapy2006 Před 2 lety +1

    Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without watching a few of these!!

  • @mrsportysomil
    @mrsportysomil Před 4 lety +62

    That was a wonderful talk and the speaker's passion for SETI was quite evident! Thanks Ri for uploading it. This is why you're my all-time favorite channel on CZcams!

    • @TheRoyalInstitution
      @TheRoyalInstitution  Před 4 lety +11

      Wow! Thanks so much for the kind words, we're glad you're enjoying it!

    • @thomashess6211
      @thomashess6211 Před 2 lety

      @@TheRoyalInstitution Yeah, thanks for the disinformation. Our govt works with aliens. Our skies are filthy with UFOs. Shills like you are trying to somehow convince those who have never seen them that they dont exist. You are a dying breed.

    • @geoden
      @geoden Před 2 lety +5

      SETI was worth trying, but the poor results so far probably means it might be under threat of termination. If aliens exist, they are too far away and may not wish to communicate anyway. Even if close, say 50 light years. What would be the point of a two way 100 year contact lasting more than a human lifetime?

    • @yonkel0
      @yonkel0 Před 2 lety +4

      @@thomashess6211 take your meds

    • @sandal_thong8631
      @sandal_thong8631 Před 2 lety +4

      @@geoden One-way communication is reading books from long-dead people. A positive signal could be transformative and help us survive. Knowledge of their history, geology and biology (evolution) would double our knowledge of those fields. Receiving an Encyclopedia Galactica would advance us a thousand years.

  • @Sun_Flower1
    @Sun_Flower1 Před 3 lety +37

    I loved this lecture! It randomly appeared in my feed. Thanks, R.I. This was a subject I never took seriously before. Very interesting.

    • @rolandthethompsongunner64
      @rolandthethompsongunner64 Před 2 lety +4

      I’m still trying to take it seriously. And if we think shining lasers into space to see who or what might say hello could be the last thing we do.

    • @flojos
      @flojos Před 2 lety +2

      Randomly :)

    • @adrianvidgen4261
      @adrianvidgen4261 Před rokem

      Can't take it seriously at all.

  • @helenamcginty4920
    @helenamcginty4920 Před 2 lety +2

    I am amazed at how so many lecturers know their topic so well they can just speak with no notes.

  • @yesvee7377
    @yesvee7377 Před 2 lety +61

    He summarised everything we known so far and what we do about aliens, excellently put together, brilliant lecture! He should have his own youtube channel or podcasts of some sort

    • @DanFrederiksen
      @DanFrederiksen Před 2 lety

      No he was completely wrong. Anyone even remotely aware knows that UFOs are real. Obama and Nasa administrator both effectively admitted that ET ships frequent our skies in late 2021. A bare minimum of thinking is allowed. You can start with the 2004 USS nimitz case. Its a solid starting point by which you can be certain.

    • @DarthVader20201
      @DarthVader20201 Před rokem +2

      Aliens won’t survive in our atmosphere, hypothetically speaking….

    • @DanFrederiksen
      @DanFrederiksen Před rokem +4

      @@DarthVader20201 Why not? all that I'm aware of are oxygen breathing. The grey race in the travis walton case has a dense moist low oxygen atmosphere where travis walton had trouble catching his breath, I'm guessing around 3% oxygen content and maybe double pressure so a relative oxygen pressure around 6-7% but he could function in it. In our atmosphere they might feel the oxygen is very rich, not sure if that would cause problems for them but I'm guessing not at least short term. We can breathe pure oxygen.

    • @MrSCOTTtheSCOT
      @MrSCOTTtheSCOT Před rokem +4

      @@DarthVader20201 We don't survive too long under water or in space, but we have constructed suits to assist our existence in such environments, same for going onto mars we will need suits, Id guess any alien civilisation that has constructed vessels for space travel, have also achieved creating environmental constructs to assist in living in environments different to that they evolved in naturally. Talking about suits, Darth you should be well aware of self contained suits to assist living.

    • @johnrose950
      @johnrose950 Před rokem +3

      @@DanFrederiksen some great points very well put Dan

  • @lesleyhahn8682
    @lesleyhahn8682 Před 3 lety +9

    I've had my computer on the Seti @ home project for about 20 years. Happy to be part of it!

    • @humphrex
      @humphrex Před 3 lety +1

      funnily enough, the energy consumption of this program actually prevents us from ever reaching advanced civilization.

    • @SuperYtc1
      @SuperYtc1 Před 2 lety

      Found anything?

    • @blackeagle2458
      @blackeagle2458 Před 2 lety +1

      ...and nobody has phoned home yet?

  • @jump501
    @jump501 Před 2 lety +18

    I felt his nervousness but I hope he reads these comments that let him know he did a great job. Next time get some friends to come along and laugh at your great jokes!

  • @rauladdams5709
    @rauladdams5709 Před 2 lety +6

    Love this fellow! Excellent lecture ❤

  • @Narrowgaugefilms
    @Narrowgaugefilms Před 2 lety +23

    The problem of finding extraterrestrial civilizations is something like this:
    Let's say there was a single human village in Europe and another in Australia, but none other anywhere else. They both have a small fleet of ships and can travel a few days away before they must return to port and resupply. How long would both villages go believing they were alone in the world?
    Maybe first contact would come when their respective civilizations and technologies had spread so far that it was inevitable there be an encounter.
    Maybe that's how it will ultimately happen in space as well.

    • @danielcrooks2408
      @danielcrooks2408 Před rokem

      thats way too small of an example...as inevitably they WILL meet each other if they continued to develop in a similar time frame on the same planet.
      If for a brief instance another life form somewhere in a "close" solar system happened to develop at exactly the same time we did AND they managed to broadcast a signal which we could recognise,
      say they were in an area of space that was close by the time of which it would take to reach earth the civilization that sent it could be thousands upon thousands of years gone by.
      Think of what we have achieved in the last 200 years......now 5000....say 50000 ? What sort of advances would a civilization have IF they lived another 50000 years?
      IF we are around that long (and not been wiped out by a meteor or solar flare or the planet finally giving up for what we are doing to it....) we may be so advanced that we might not even notice it
      Also as a race we may be so far removed from what we are now, our current ideologies and perceptions of the universe may be so different to them as to have no common ground, i.e., they would either share knowledge or wipe us out, or we do the same to them.

    • @danielcrooks2408
      @danielcrooks2408 Před rokem +1

      Edit: I wrote this before listening to the whole thing.....i'm glad he went into alot of things I was thinking about.

    • @davidhess6593
      @davidhess6593 Před rokem

      Yes but Europe and Australia can't see each other.

    • @biggusdickus5986
      @biggusdickus5986 Před rokem

      Any Aliens contacting us first would have to have been far more advanced than ours, to develop necessary spacecraft and spend time getting here.
      We will never se any.

    • @davidhess6593
      @davidhess6593 Před rokem +1

      @@biggusdickus5986 Never is a long time.
      A lot can happen in never.

  • @tonybegg7324
    @tonybegg7324 Před 2 lety +4

    I saw Carl Sagan at the R.I. The thing I remembered most was his comparison of how expensive an aircraft carrier was compared to how much we spend on this kind of research.

  • @markmars1587
    @markmars1587 Před 3 lety +5

    Food for thought. Great presentation, loved the seminar

  • @TexasNightRider
    @TexasNightRider Před rokem +1

    I enjoyed this very thorough lecture of the search for other life in the galaxy.

  • @jdickson242
    @jdickson242 Před rokem +3

    Loving these talks!

  • @paulmurphy8993
    @paulmurphy8993 Před 2 lety +367

    I love Arthur C. Clarke's take on this subject: Either we are the only intelligent life form in the universe or we're not. Either thought is terrifying.

    • @alkh3myst
      @alkh3myst Před 2 lety +5

      Yes, many people are terrified at the mere thought of alien civilizations. This is why the world's various governments have been lying to us about UFOS/"UAPS" like...forever.

    • @geoden
      @geoden Před 2 lety +22

      Doesn't terrify me, why should it? we're never going to encounter aliens.

    • @geoden
      @geoden Před 2 lety +29

      @@alkh3myst Yes, its part of the age old story, ignorance fosters fear. Conversely, learning and knowledge gives confidence and kills unwarranted fear. There is no evidence of aliens, none. Any person with a small amount of scientific factual knowledge can understand why.
      1. The Universe is vast beyond the comprehension of most humans, these are the scared ones.
      2. If aliens exist, they are too far away to concern us in any way.
      3. Our nearest other star system with a planet is 24.5 trillion miles away, it would take us about 80 thousand years to go there. (let that sink in)
      4. Physical law is universal. Aliens are as
      constrained by these laws as we are.
      5. We have a limited life span of around 100 years. Why would anyone of us care about or fear aliens who would much take longer than a human lifetime to to reach us?
      6. Forget about all the 'pie in the sky' propulsion systems you may have heard of. They won't happen. We can't travel through space faster than the speed of light. End of facts.

    • @Matt198d
      @Matt198d Před 2 lety +12

      Either thought is only terrifying if you look through the lens of fear. Afraid to be alone or afraid of what aliens might do.

    • @scooterbob4432
      @scooterbob4432 Před 2 lety +5

      @@geoden Just in case you see one, just ignore it. They avoid associating with us humans anyway.

  • @kevinholly5517
    @kevinholly5517 Před 3 lety +154

    Brilliant lecture! What a lovely man! Audience somewhat devoid of humour though😀

    • @EleanorPeterson
      @EleanorPeterson Před 2 lety +32

      Hi, Kevin! I was listening on headphones, and there's quite a bit of response in the audience, but there are three things to consider:
      The first is that Keith is wearing a voice microphone specifically designed not to pick up extraneous noises. It's a lecture, so there's no ambient chuckling being recorded for an audio engineer to mix into the main feed. And besides, adding 'canned laughter' from a so-called live studio audience is a crime punishable by death and a fine of £2.35.
      The second point is that this is happening at a famous venue. People in such a 'hallowed' hall will be nervous; parents will have told their children not to fidget and to be on their best behaviour.🤐 It's not a stand-up comedy club or a political rally; only barbarians would stamp and whoop in a library or cathedral. 🤫
      The third and perhaps most important thing to consider is that this is in England. Unless it's attending a winter pantomime (which is very loud, rude, crude, chaotic, with lots of shrieking kids and audience participation), a typical British theatre audience sits and listens in silence. Good manners, what? 🧐
      Interrupting a lecture, music recital or intense theatrical production with noticeable outbursts of laughter or applause is extremely bad form. It breaks the spell. One nods and smiles, or purses one's lips and frowns whilst appreciating the performance.🤔 In a situation like this, a lecture, one listens and does not join in.
      The applause (if any!) comes at the end. An American audience (for instance) might see this as being terribly cold and discouraging, but that's why we made sure that there's a lovely great big ocean separating our two nations... 😁

    • @jeyDsixx18
      @jeyDsixx18 Před 2 lety +4

      I think they shoot u for any outbursts…

    • @markstevenson1646
      @markstevenson1646 Před 2 lety +10

      I was at this lecture and we were all pissing ourselves, oh god how we laughed.... I hope this makes you feel better

    • @lukefish7562
      @lukefish7562 Před 2 lety +1

      @@jeyDsixx18 sadly the truth

    • @beingjohn392
      @beingjohn392 Před 2 lety +3

      @Elli P Your comments were great, no… ‘spot on!’ Right up and until the America bashing. I have some sad news for you cheeky girl. It wasn’t England that put the pond between the two countries, but then I’m a polite monkey.

  • @Foxiol
    @Foxiol Před 2 lety +4

    This was amazing to listen to.

  • @SonatasysInc
    @SonatasysInc Před rokem

    Thank you. Very compelling presentation. Learned a few more things. Best regards!

  • @philipmelton7182
    @philipmelton7182 Před 4 lety +22

    This is my favorite channel these days...
    It said 'the great filter!'
    I never clicked faster.
    Good job, again, R.I!

  • @firebird6522
    @firebird6522 Před 4 lety +22

    Interesting, entertaining and easy to understand lecture!

  • @blackholeentry3489
    @blackholeentry3489 Před 2 lety +2

    In the late 60's, I witnessed a classic ''Flying saucer" fly low and slow directly over my house less than 100' directly above me.....never made a whisper...and was as big as my house. Although it was about 10 pm and dark, my unshielded front porch light lit it up quite well. On its bottom was a tight triangle of brilliant red lights. It wasn't until the next day, as I was telling coworkers about it, I suddenly realized that although that craft was very low, it never made a whisper. Now, here it is over 50 years later and cannot seem to shake that image from my mind. I had been working in my unheated shop and was intent on getting a hot cup of coffee, but how I wish I had given it the attention it warranted.
    Instead of spending time concerning ourselves about finding aliens, we should be concerned about the fact they have long ago already found us.
    BHE

    • @738hickory
      @738hickory Před rokem +1

      Amazing story! I believe you! So many people even in our lifetime have experienced similar events, yet we have no concrete proof of their existence. I'm hoping that we can get that proof soon.

  • @richardsmith1284
    @richardsmith1284 Před rokem +2

    I like the idea that if they're advanced enough they know there's something out there to be afraid of so they're very quiet.

  • @fredb2022
    @fredb2022 Před 3 lety +22

    Thank you to our host presenter. Nicely done. Really learned a lot. Here’s hoping.

  • @laniakea1541
    @laniakea1541 Před 2 lety +32

    This guy (K. Cooper) is brilliant. What a talk! He connected so well with the audience. What a speaker!

    • @ToniLixSim
      @ToniLixSim Před 2 lety

      he is not smart, u are idiot who believe on fake things,
      so sad for u and many people like u :(

    • @laniakea1541
      @laniakea1541 Před 2 lety

      @@ToniLixSim I never said he was right or that I believe what he says. Just saying how well he connected with the audience, but well, you REALLY wanted to call me idiot, that says a lot about you buddy

    • @ToniLixSim
      @ToniLixSim Před 2 lety

      @@laniakea1541 u say this guy is brilliant.
      brilliant liar or?
      if u understand he was lying that mean u learn and change ur mind, same as people who listen to politic and tv media and read news paper are idiots too,, until they learn they are losing time with fake things

    • @ToniLixSim
      @ToniLixSim Před 2 lety

      @@laniakea1541 i play games after i have explored and learn too too many things, i did not sleep more than 3 hour for a many years, all that was because i like to learn things, i know not sleep is bad but dont want to stop learning, that was not stay away to play games as u wrote and deleted.
      and i do not live on my family house it is my house, im sorry for that u did not like it my comment but i like to say the truth without care how u will take it, better talk bad to me and u learn something than if i talk nice to u and u still not understand the truth.

    • @jamesleem.d.7442
      @jamesleem.d.7442 Před 2 lety +1

      I hope he is not related to D.B. Cooper ??

  • @AlokKumar-ym8bl
    @AlokKumar-ym8bl Před 2 lety +2

    Sir, many thanks for your noble research 👍 🙏

  • @tarlcabbot2551
    @tarlcabbot2551 Před 7 měsíci

    More like this, please!!!!!

  • @papabilby8855
    @papabilby8855 Před 4 lety +9

    Ignoring the UFO presence is the most unscientific thing I can think of. I’ll be glad when science grows up.

    • @nmarbletoe8210
      @nmarbletoe8210 Před 2 lety

      welcome to 2021!

    • @dannygjk
      @dannygjk Před měsícem

      So based on unproven identity of observations you came to conclusions?

    • @papabilby8855
      @papabilby8855 Před měsícem

      @@dannygjk Yes I have come to conclusions. Now I wish science would stop ignoring the topic and come to their own.

  • @unusualsheep9626
    @unusualsheep9626 Před 4 lety +10

    Wow beautiful speech. Felt like a breath of fresh air to here somoene explain seti and the obstacles it faces.

  • @raphaelandrews3617
    @raphaelandrews3617 Před 2 lety +2

    Great I love this channel and the lectures.

  • @mikekenney8362
    @mikekenney8362 Před 2 lety +2

    Nicely presented. 3 possible areas of response to the title query: they don’t exist; they don’t want to be contacted; we don’t have the capability. Either of the first two options obviates the third. The Drake equation applies but does not prevail

    • @mottthehoople693
      @mottthehoople693 Před 2 lety

      or aliens are not as advanced as us so lack the means to even perceive us much less respond to us. Unless aliens are going to be travelling inter dimensionally or via a wormhole the distances are just insurmountable

  • @GalZiv
    @GalZiv Před 3 lety +16

    Best lecture on the subject. Amazing.

  • @lorenafrusciante3307
    @lorenafrusciante3307 Před 4 lety +7

    Fantastic and informative lecture ! Thanks

  • @AstromuonKuki
    @AstromuonKuki Před rokem

    Awesome lecture. Thanks Ri.

  • @icarus6424
    @icarus6424 Před rokem +1

    The Contact Paradox is a great book. Well worth a read.

  • @vladimir0700
    @vladimir0700 Před 3 lety +14

    Best SETI lecture I’ve heard-excellent

  • @ivorbiggun710
    @ivorbiggun710 Před 4 lety +20

    A really interesting and compelling lecture by Keith. As a child I watched Carl Sagan's Christmas lecture which Keith alludes to. He was a fantastic speaker and it made a big impression on me.

    • @greggstrasser5791
      @greggstrasser5791 Před 2 lety

      Sagan was an establishment hack. Look into the hatchet job he did on Velikovsky.
      Sagan wasn’t a Scientist.

  • @donatolepore3520
    @donatolepore3520 Před 2 lety +2

    The Fermi paradox, is the best argument for our reality to be a simulation , simply because the sheer number of galaxy and stars make it a certainty of Intelligent life in the universe .

    • @tonycook7679
      @tonycook7679 Před 2 lety

      but what is it a simulation of then?

    • @donatolepore3520
      @donatolepore3520 Před 2 lety

      @@tonycook7679 what you touch smell feel and see . The point I am making is Fermi is wrong and we are not alone .

    • @donatolepore3520
      @donatolepore3520 Před 2 lety

      @@tonycook7679 that is my point the only solution to the paradox is a simulation which is counter intuitive to what we as humans experience.

  • @joegeorge3889
    @joegeorge3889 Před rokem

    one of the best lectures ever

    • @bearcountrypublishing5303
      @bearcountrypublishing5303 Před rokem

      Really? It's all lies and propaganda designed to be misinformation. It's a joke. You must be a gov't agent.

  • @nathaliafernandes5093
    @nathaliafernandes5093 Před 4 lety +15

    loved the lecture, very informative and really fun

  • @KeithCooper-Albuquerque
    @KeithCooper-Albuquerque Před 4 lety +6

    This is a great post for several reasons -- not the least of is that I share Keith's name!

  • @Bigjshifty08
    @Bigjshifty08 Před 2 lety +1

    This makes me think about that episode of "Bob's Burgers." I wonder sometimes if we should be sending out signals at all...or if it's best to just "hide" best we can out here. Curiosity is an enigmatic thing.

  • @macklee6837
    @macklee6837 Před 2 lety +1

    That was really good. I enjoyed that

  • @staggerlee9362
    @staggerlee9362 Před 2 lety +16

    A person can get lost on here on Earth and in spite of wanting and trying to be found, combined with rescue squads in full force out looking for them, yet we often still can't find them. Even full sized planes with tracking devices have accomplished this. Now expand that to the universe and think about it again. We just don't understand the scale.

    • @AVerySillySausage
      @AVerySillySausage Před 2 lety

      Yeah, we also need to realise that the classic sci-fi of galaxies teaming with intelligent life is just fantasy, life is definitely not that common, let alone intelligient life, if it was it would be impossible for us to not be aware of it already.

  • @DontMindMe_
    @DontMindMe_ Před 4 lety +213

    Rough crowd at the royal institution.
    Nobody even chuckled at his jokes and kick lines. Lol.

    • @KillingDeadThings
      @KillingDeadThings Před 4 lety +27

      Was thinking they were a bit of a tough crowd myself. Kinda felt sorry for him.

    • @jasmineluxemburg6200
      @jasmineluxemburg6200 Před 4 lety +22

      They smiled, I think. They were those kind of jokes. He is nervous and us star gazers are kind hearted folk !

    • @GhostofCicero
      @GhostofCicero Před 4 lety +30

      Had he been famous they would have laughed at the lamest jokes; I watch a lot of these. Someone could probably write a paper on why people do that.

    • @SocksWithSandals
      @SocksWithSandals Před 4 lety +25

      Enough real science, we want to get back to our gender studies class.

    • @chrisdell3472
      @chrisdell3472 Před 4 lety +2

      K Sonny lol fr

  • @Obiter3
    @Obiter3 Před 2 lety +9

    Yup, that pretty much covers it. You have to respect this man, his lecture still holds up 2 years later.

  • @Ansonidak
    @Ansonidak Před 2 lety +1

    We haven't even been looking for ETs long enough. It's like looking out your window, not seeing any cats, and saying there is a paradox.

  • @Zagy21
    @Zagy21 Před 4 lety +5

    Good fluidity and knowledge.

  • @carloscastanheiro2933
    @carloscastanheiro2933 Před 4 lety +15

    Amazing lecture, thank you.

  • @sandal_thong8631
    @sandal_thong8631 Před 2 lety +4

    Finally found a video on this subject that mostly agrees with me. The Drake Equation is a thought-experiment. We have insufficient data for many terms. We need the telescopes to give us a survey of Earth-sized exoplanets out to 500 or 1000-light year radius. Once we get a number of oxygen-atmosphere planets then we can multiply by 100 or 50 respectively for distance, or by fraction of stars to get a number for the galaxy. Meanwhile if we can seriously listen/look for radio or laser emissions from more stars we might find evidence of alien civilization, which could help us unify and survive, even if they don't give us their history or tech.

    • @sandal_thong8631
      @sandal_thong8631 Před 2 lety

      @SittingMoose Shaman I don't think sulfur-breathers will come evolve to live on land and build radio telescopes, especially without an ozone layer.

    • @sandal_thong8631
      @sandal_thong8631 Před 2 lety

      @SittingMoose Shaman You need to say what you mean then with regard to my OP which said:
      We can use astronomy to look for f-sub-l, the fraction that have life (as evidenced by oxygen atmospheres), and
      N directly, by finding just 1 radio/laser message we'd go from N≥1 to N≥2.

  • @solexxx8588
    @solexxx8588 Před 2 lety +3

    Just knowing that there is other life in the galaxy would be wonderful. I can't imagine that we are alone. I hope they find us before we are extinct.

    • @TheMercury79
      @TheMercury79 Před rokem +1

      There is a book called "Rare Earth" by Ward & Brownlee. Read it and consider
      again if we could be alone. Or just look up the rare earth hypothesis online

  • @reganbigmuzzabaker1992
    @reganbigmuzzabaker1992 Před 4 lety +11

    Very good ,well thought out , i enjoyed this lecture

  • @VideoManiacExtreme
    @VideoManiacExtreme Před 4 lety +3

    Amazing Lecture

  • @johnhenry292
    @johnhenry292 Před 2 lety

    Gripping, great delivery!

  • @XtremeDirtRacing
    @XtremeDirtRacing Před 2 lety +2

    We see the light but not the details once it’s so far away. Life is here, life is there. It’s impossible for us to be the only life source.

  • @martinroskilly9994
    @martinroskilly9994 Před 4 lety +10

    Good lecture; I thoroughly enjoyed this.

  • @Joaocruz30
    @Joaocruz30 Před 2 lety +3

    Great presentation! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Greetings from Earth!

  • @F16_viper_pilot
    @F16_viper_pilot Před rokem +1

    Wonderful presentation and Q&A session. Some great thoughts presented and discussed.

  • @wronski11
    @wronski11 Před rokem

    28:17 I saw the printout of the wow signal when I was in highschool and always wondered what it meant. After all those years I finally learned what it means. the number/letter code is intensity (x above background) vs time.

  • @baronvonteuchter1412
    @baronvonteuchter1412 Před 3 lety +6

    Tough crowd!! Nice talk, I enjoyed it. The guy was clearly nervous but he did really well. 👍

  • @donjuan2621
    @donjuan2621 Před 2 lety +54

    The vastness of the universe is unimaginable.If we would all consider that even with our telescopes in space we are only viewing such a small part of the universe at a time if you were to think of the ocean as the universe.Our observations would place us in the basement of the beach house

    • @paulnamalomba194
      @paulnamalomba194 Před 2 lety

      P to the

    • @dhl0706
      @dhl0706 Před 2 lety +4

      If that beach house were a miniature and earth the size of pluto covered in oceans and then you're only talking about the observable universe.

    • @donjuan2621
      @donjuan2621 Před 2 lety +1

      @@dhl0706 amen brother

    • @thomasbisset4544
      @thomasbisset4544 Před 2 lety +3

      i just imagined the universe. twice.

    • @greggstrasser5791
      @greggstrasser5791 Před 2 lety

      @@thomasbisset4544
      I can’t imagine you are willing to do that.

  • @richardelson3261
    @richardelson3261 Před 6 měsíci

    Fantastic clear and humble - well doe

  • @m.g7408
    @m.g7408 Před 2 lety +3

    Its gonna be an exciting day the first contact or proof of alien life in other places in the universe. Its just fascinating stuff. Hope to be alive to see that day.

  • @titannb9027
    @titannb9027 Před 3 lety +149

    Wonderful talk. Thank you for this and wished the audiences laughed at his “jokes” 😅 he did a good job 👏

    • @bettina4374
      @bettina4374 Před 2 lety +6

      From all we know so far it’s more likely that there is other life in the universe than there isn’t. At the same time it sounds totally unlikely to me that we will ever be able to make contact due to distances and the relatively short time from when civilizations are advanced enough to detect each other until the time they vanish. Even if we could find the right planet, ‘they’ could be extinct for millions of years or life might develop in millions of years when there is probably no intelligent life on earth any longer. SETI is a good idea and a nice effort but without major funding it sounds like it’s not even a drop in the bucket.
      It’s probably more likely that someone will find us. Maybe they already have, and we were so boring for them (bc we are in the Stone Ages compared to their technology ) that they only put us in their catalog and moved on to find something really interesting.

    • @titannb9027
      @titannb9027 Před 2 lety +2

      @Roger Felton we are better looking than who? 😂what are you comparing humans against?

    • @westnblu
      @westnblu Před 2 lety +5

      @@ill_be_frank stars are bigger than planets and emit light. Its easier to see stars . Exo planets whilst theorized were only confirmed in the 90s.

    • @Music1222
      @Music1222 Před 2 lety +3

      @@bettina4374 actually, we have no idea if life is more likely than not. We do not have the data set.

    • @SoulDelSol
      @SoulDelSol Před 2 lety

      @Roger Felton that's a good point, they're likely beautiful animals.

  • @jinxtacy
    @jinxtacy Před 4 lety +8

    One of my favorite presentations on the idea of other life in the universe and why we haven't made contact was Peter Mulvey's story about "Vlad the Astrophysicist."

  • @DwayneShaw1
    @DwayneShaw1 Před 2 lety +2

    The Fermi Paradox is not all that paradoxical when you consider the vastness of space and time that makes other lifeforms inevitable also provides plenty of room for our paths to never cross.

    • @trudytrew6337
      @trudytrew6337 Před 10 měsíci

      The only paradox is that it is taking so long for the scientific orthodoxy to show an interest in ufos.

    • @DwayneShaw1
      @DwayneShaw1 Před 10 měsíci

      @@trudytrew6337 I doubt you could demonstrate there has been no scientific interest in UFOs. The fact that scientists do not engage in unproven speculation about aliens, and don't consider anecdotal evidence as proof that these supposed aliens are violating the cosmic speed limit is called doing their job.
      There is no more reason for scientists to take a position on anomalies in the sky being aliens than for them to announce claims of Jesus toast proves anything about religion.
      I have no doubt scientists have looked at the information, and found it interesting, but lacking in any facts that would meet the standards of the Scientific Method.

  • @timq6224
    @timq6224 Před 2 lety +2

    simplest reason -- the window for detection is miniscule. We make "noise" but it would barely be discernible past our own solar system. 200 years later, we will have the technology to not make any more noise as we switch to greener methods. A 200 year window, in which a alien would have to be looking directly at earth and intentionally searching for specific data (which we don't even know what we are looking for yet) is rather a long-shot by anyone's standard.

  • @lthammox
    @lthammox Před 4 lety +12

    What a wonderful communicator.

  • @JAMAICADOCK
    @JAMAICADOCK Před 4 lety +133

    It's a bit like saying, why didn't scientists in the 1700s see dust-mites?
    It's all about equipment.
    I mean up until a few years ago, we didn't even know if exo planets existed
    As telescopes improve, we're probably going to find alien life.
    Whether they tell us, is a different matter.

    • @MicahPotts
      @MicahPotts Před 4 lety +5

      Well said.

    • @Galiuros
      @Galiuros Před 4 lety +3

      Evolving technology and intellect are what cause the advancement of our understanding of the physical world.

    • @carlhuck7721
      @carlhuck7721 Před 4 lety +12

      it's all about equipment. THAT'S WHAT YOUR WIFE SAID

    • @oldeharbinger
      @oldeharbinger Před 4 lety +2

      Agreed but, there's also the matter of expectation. Science seems to expect that everyone "speaks" our language. Not only the wrong equipment, wrong language. Presumptuous.

    • @laurasfar18
      @laurasfar18 Před 4 lety +3

      A secret like that will come out quick. Informations that proves extraterrestrials is out there, is worth millions.

  • @mattwuk
    @mattwuk Před rokem

    Too nervous too relax and enjoy listening to in this, calm down son, thanks

  • @alexbowman7582
    @alexbowman7582 Před rokem +2

    The 2022 Nobel prize was won by three physicists proving that quantum effects are instant. So perhaps it’s possible to send quantum messages quicker than instantly meaning that using quantum entanglement it may be possible to send messages instantly, this would have the advantage/disadvantage of the transmitter not only knowing the answer before he transmitted the question but the receiver knowing the question before he’s received the question.

  • @li2uo
    @li2uo Před 3 lety +3

    Lovely lecture, I've come back to watch it for a second time!

  • @richardsleep2045
    @richardsleep2045 Před 4 lety +16

    Thanks for this brilliant talk. All power to Seti and the exoplanet watchers.

    • @GH-oi2jf
      @GH-oi2jf Před 4 lety +2

      Richard Sleep - They have no power. What have they produced? Nothing, really. They have proved that other stars have planets, but we knew that anyway.

    • @falconquest2068
      @falconquest2068 Před 3 lety +4

      @@GH-oi2jf That's a rather narrow minded view. If they were to announce a major find tomorrow would that change your mind?

    • @DarkShroom
      @DarkShroom Před 2 lety +2

      @@GH-oi2jf Seti didn't prove that... SETI mainly monitors radio communications, searches for evidence of technology

  • @ssing7113
    @ssing7113 Před 2 lety +1

    I wish I could live in this lecture hall in person!

  • @pierrepellerin249
    @pierrepellerin249 Před 2 lety +27

    I know why. Imagine 2 ants, one that represent us and is on the beach in Florida and 1 that represent an alien civilization that is on the beach in Australia. What are the chances that they find each other? Well, with the size of the universe which is infinite, the odds of meeting aliens are worst then my ants example.

    • @TheBushdoctor68
      @TheBushdoctor68 Před 2 lety +3

      That's a bit crooked comparison. Ants do not have any means of long distance communication, so there's nothing to detect.
      But I agree with your argument. The distances in the universe combined with relative short use of radio waves by a civilization makes it almost impossible to detect others.

    • @pierrepellerin249
      @pierrepellerin249 Před 2 lety +3

      @@TheBushdoctor68 It was an image to show how improbable it is to meet anyone else in this crazy vast ever expanding universe.

    • @Curt_Randall
      @Curt_Randall Před 2 lety +1

      but with your analogy there are only 2 ants. In our vast infinite universe, I would like to believe there are more than 2 civilizations.

    • @pierrepellerin249
      @pierrepellerin249 Před 2 lety

      @@Curt_Randall Ok, lets put an ant on the moon, 2 on Mars, 1 on venus, a couple on some of Jupiter's moon and Saturn's moon. There, up to say 10 on a section representing say 0,000000000001% of the current universe, are their chances of meeting any better? of course not. Copy this tiny part of the universe a billion times or 0,1% of the universe, you now have 10 billion plus civilizations with the same odds of finding each other as our original 2 ants. Are the chances of them meeting any better? Well the answer is no and you now have 10 billion civs... Now there is always the possibility that 2 civ spawn so close to each other that they meet but it is still improbable.

    • @brontehauptmann4217
      @brontehauptmann4217 Před 2 lety

      yes but there is only one ant

  • @exiletsj2570
    @exiletsj2570 Před 4 lety +202

    Asking this question is like dropping your car keys out of a plane at 30,000ft, then asking why you can’t find them, by staring out the window.

    • @robinsonnait4252
      @robinsonnait4252 Před 4 lety +7

      false parabale. do you thing key is superintellegent entity?
      don't look for it if they don't want to be found. case close.

    • @DamianReloaded
      @DamianReloaded Před 4 lety +12

      The actual shock is seeing the galaxy not being overpopulated by super advanced civilizations. it's akin to having dropped keys out of a plane at 30,000ft every second during the life span of the universe and asking why you can't see them by staring out the window.

    • @frankensteinzombie9828
      @frankensteinzombie9828 Před 4 lety +4

      Your absolutely correct @exile well put

    • @CaseyFinSF
      @CaseyFinSF Před 4 lety +2

      But this question has already been answered...
      They're already here, and the United States military acknowledged this fact with their disclosure of a UFO encounter with pilots from the Nimitz aircraft carrier in 2004. The government finally acknowledges they are real, and they have a technology that is way ahead of what we currently have in today's military inventory.
      This is now a fact that has been verified by our own military command for the first time in the 70 years we've been.seening them in our skies.
      UFOs are REAL. They represent a technology that no nation on earth currently has in any of their flying invemtory, including ours. This leads all storý
      And since the above is true ,, the only logical conclusion must be that the occupants of these machines are from outside our planet. And therefore they would be considered "extraterrestrials ".

    • @jennah7724
      @jennah7724 Před 4 lety +4

      Exile 1 agreed well put

  • @SzTz100
    @SzTz100 Před 2 lety +3

    Excellent lecture, very informative and well delivered.

  • @stuanhay
    @stuanhay Před 2 lety +2

    Thanks very much for sharing this. Enthralling lecture and content. I am a firm believer that we are not alone and this lecture has reinforced this view to me. However | now do not believe that we have been visited, purely down to the fact that there is 0% compelling, recorded information to reinforce it, especially in this day and age of most of the population having access to smart phones.

    • @adrianvidgen4261
      @adrianvidgen4261 Před rokem

      I don't think you have been looking hard enough and in the right direction. Remember NASA is dedicated to keeping this sort of information from us (Never A Straight Answer).
      Try some YT sites: Secure Team 10; MrMBB333; Wages World;

  • @anthonyzeedyk406
    @anthonyzeedyk406 Před 2 lety +1

    Had the answer in the first two minutes, I'm impressed.

  • @billnorris1264
    @billnorris1264 Před 4 lety +6

    Well-done.. Initially it felt like the promise of NEW and engaging insights, but perhaps those are being saved for part 2 ? Good for an INITIAL introduction to a synopsis of the subject though..

    • @ShortFuseNL
      @ShortFuseNL Před 4 lety +1

      Yes! I totally agree. Too bad i guess.

    • @billnorris1264
      @billnorris1264 Před 4 lety +2

      @@ShortFuseNL Right friend..Relevant probative opportunities were ignored ..One missed educational moment among MANY : His estimate was 100 technological species in our galaxy.. Thats a rational guess using the Drake equation, and it makes interesting and enlightening predictions.. The Milky Way galaxy is about 140,000 light years across, and 1000 Light years thick..Plugging in 100 technological species and using SIMPLE math, predicts a random civilization distribution to be about ONE per EIGHTY BILLION CUBIC light-years of space, almost perfectly absent ! If we were in the middle of a sphere that measured an unimaginable 3,000 light years in diameter, and containing tens of millions of stars , we would likely be the ONLY intelligent species inside. Nuances like these could have helped to explain the IMMENSITY of the problem in finding them... A humble opinion..

    • @billnorris1264
      @billnorris1264 Před 4 lety +2

      @@ShortFuseNL and I don't mean Mr. Cooper any disrespect, he's obviously a highly intelligent individual.. I think his presentation was fine, like high schoolers might hear in an assembly , but it could have EASILY been made more information dense and interesting in the same amount of time.

    • @granthubick8684
      @granthubick8684 Před 4 lety

      The universe is multitudes larger than 140,000 lightyears across.

    • @billnorris1264
      @billnorris1264 Před 4 lety +1

      @@granthubick8684 good catch friend. I meant the Milky Way galaxy and edited the comment appropriately.. thank you.

  • @CyberSamurai4Life
    @CyberSamurai4Life Před 4 lety +4

    This lecture is going be a good one! Thank you Royal Institution!

  • @mackawy
    @mackawy Před 2 lety

    to summarize this fascinating talk.. there probably are few needles looking for each other in a giant endless and expanding haystack..

  • @735
    @735 Před rokem

    Great lecture

  • @jo-jobighiker5552
    @jo-jobighiker5552 Před 2 lety +7

    The standard test to determine intelligent or non-intelligent life: Are they afraid of vacuum cleaners?

    • @pnyx7930
      @pnyx7930 Před 2 lety +1

      I agree. I’m terrified of vacuum cleaners; I must be a genius.

  • @stephenbrand5661
    @stephenbrand5661 Před 4 lety +4

    Haven’t we probably been underestimating the size our galaxy? I was under the impression that its estimated size is now more like half a trillion stars.

  • @toffeefan1971
    @toffeefan1971 Před 2 lety +4

    That was great! I find myself watching too many of these UFO conspiracy programmes so it was nice to get a more level headed perspective about the possibility of alien life.

  • @jamesleem.d.7442
    @jamesleem.d.7442 Před 2 lety

    A great lecture -- Crikey !!

  • @hjong8830
    @hjong8830 Před 4 lety +10

    I don’t understand why some people assume intelligent life would evolve at a similar rate as us. Who knows? We could be the slowest ones to evolve in the universe.

    • @nickelpasta
      @nickelpasta Před 3 lety +1

      Or we could be the fastest to evolve, no one knows.

    • @shookreeseeree4
      @shookreeseeree4 Před 3 lety

      Maybe alien life has a short life span..maybe alien life is not organic like us..maybe they are so far far away..our signals hv yet to reach them..maybe they are not intelligent enough to pick our signals..maybe aliens were present before humans existed..so many possibles..

    • @paulburns1333
      @paulburns1333 Před 2 lety

      Or the quickest.

    • @raidermaxx2324
      @raidermaxx2324 Před 2 lety

      more like we are the first to evolve intelligence. The universe is super young. The era of "life" is not for a few billion years yet.

    • @nmarbletoe8210
      @nmarbletoe8210 Před 2 lety

      it's a great question. humans took 4b years to evolve... or at a more fine grained scale, it took us 1m years to go from chimp to champ.
      parts of our evolution were very rapid... but why were we (apparently) the only ones in 4b years to evolve metal tools!?

  • @neorich59
    @neorich59 Před 4 lety +14

    Interesting stuff. I'm pleased he mentioned "Contact" one of my all time favourite films, as it always reminds me of how insignificant we are in the Grand Scheme (if there is one) that we are.
    I'm in no doubt that there is life on other planets, but there may be 100s of 1000s of planets where life hasn't evolved into a species that could ponder the existence of life on *other* planets! 😉

    • @sandal_thong8631
      @sandal_thong8631 Před 2 lety

      That film got the Drake Equation wrong as she said 1/million of 1/million of 1/million of stars in the galaxy resulting in

    • @mr4nders0n
      @mr4nders0n Před 2 lety +1

      @@sandal_thong8631 If that's true: fair point, however, for how many people would the significance of the difference actually mean to them to an extent that is meaningful. Those numbers are so massive that they actually lose meaning for those not having anything in their experience that would give those numbers meaning. Typically, such experience tends to come from work within the sciences.

    • @TheOriginalLos
      @TheOriginalLos Před rokem +1

      Some people, usually westerners, are trained to feel insignificant.

    • @GalaxDaws
      @GalaxDaws Před rokem +2

      I had same experience with Arrival (2016)

  • @454ss67
    @454ss67 Před 2 lety

    So long and thanks for all the fish!

  • @Darrylizer1
    @Darrylizer1 Před rokem

    Well Lister has come a long way, nice talk!

  • @matthewpollock9685
    @matthewpollock9685 Před 4 lety +13

    1:19 Ah Dude, Brah, spoilers!!!
    Sorry, that's silly. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us.

    • @patrickdegroot3692
      @patrickdegroot3692 Před 3 lety +1

      Love the new colours. New things showing up. Patience. It is time.

  • @lisaschuster9187
    @lisaschuster9187 Před 3 lety +6

    My favorite quote of all time, which will appear in my first book next year is a full sentence from the opening quote in a large “coffee table” style book on map-making by the “National Geographic Society”: MARS WAS THE FIRST PLANET TO BE MAPPED.
    We’ve got some catching up to do, mates!

  • @robertjensen1048
    @robertjensen1048 Před 2 lety +1

    It has to do with the size of the universe. It’s so unimaginably huge, that there could be MILLIONS of other “planet Earths” out there yet it’s unlikely we’d be able to find any of them.

  • @debbieanne7962
    @debbieanne7962 Před 3 lety +7

    Great lecture, well done!!