131 | Avi Loeb on Taking Aliens Seriously

131 | Avi Loeb on Taking Aliens Seriously

The possible existence of technologically advanced extraterrestrial civilizations — not just alien microbes, but cultures as advanced (or much more) than our own — is one of the most provocative questions in modern science. So provocative that it's difficult to talk about the idea in a rational, dispassionate way; there are those who loudly insist that the probability of advanced alien cultures existing is essentially one, even without direct evidence, and others are so exhausted by overblown claims in popular media that they want to squelch any such talk. Astronomer Avi Loeb thinks we should be taking this possibility seriously, so much so that he suggested that the recent interstellar interloper `Oumuamua might be a spaceship built by aliens. That got him in a lot of trouble. We talk about the trouble, about `Oumuamua, and the attitude scientists should take toward provocative ideas.

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Abraham (Avi) Loeb received his Ph.D. in plasma physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently the Frank B. Baird Jr. professor of science at Harvard University. He served as the Chair of Harvard's Astronomy department from 2011-2020. He is Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Founding Director of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative. He is chair of the Advisory Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative. His new book is Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.


Jaksot(416)

AMA | August 2022

AMA | August 2022

Welcome to the August 2022 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patr...

1 Elo 20223h 6min

205 | John Quiggin on Interest Rates and the Information Economy

205 | John Quiggin on Interest Rates and the Information Economy

The idea of an "interest rate" might seem mundane and practical, in comparison to our usual topics around here, but there is a profound philosophical idea lurking in the background: if you lend me mon...

25 Heinä 20221h 19min

204 | John Asher Johnson on Hunting for Exoplanets

204 | John Asher Johnson on Hunting for Exoplanets

Recent years have seen a revolution in the study of exoplanets, planets that orbit stars other than the Sun (or don't orbit stars at all). After a few tentative detections in the 1990s, dedicated inst...

18 Heinä 20221h 15min

203 | N.J. Enfield on Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Not Scientists

203 | N.J. Enfield on Why Language is Good for Lawyers and Not Scientists

We describe the world using language — we can't help it. And we all know that ordinary language is an imperfect way of communicating rigorous scientific statements, but sometimes it's the best we can ...

11 Heinä 20221h 24min

AMA | July 2022

AMA | July 2022

Welcome to the July 2022 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). I take the large number of questi...

4 Heinä 20223h 26min

202 | Andrew Papachristos on the Network Theory of Gun Violence

202 | Andrew Papachristos on the Network Theory of Gun Violence

The United States is suffering from an epidemic of tragic gun violence. While a political debate rages around the topic of gun control, it remains important to understand the causes and possible remed...

27 Kesä 20221h 15min

201 | Ed Yong on How Animals Sense the World

201 | Ed Yong on How Animals Sense the World

All of us construct models of the world, and update them on the basis of evidence brought to us by our senses. Scientists try to be more rigorous about it, but we all do it. It's natural that this pro...

20 Kesä 20221h 9min

AMA | June 2022

AMA | June 2022

Welcome to the June 2022 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! We are inaugurating a slightly different publication schedule, in which these monthly AMA will take the place of one of the regular Monda...

13 Kesä 20223h 4min

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