188 | Arik Kershenbaum on What Aliens Will Be Like

188 | Arik Kershenbaum on What Aliens Will Be Like

If extraterrestrial life is out there — not just microbial slime, but big, complex, macroscopic organisms — what will they be like? Movies have trained us to think that they won't be that different at all; they'll even drink and play music at the same cafes that humans frequent. A bit of imagination, however, makes us wonder whether they won't be completely alien — we have zero data about what extraterrestrial biology could be like, so it makes sense to keep an open mind. Arik Kershenbaum argues for a judicious middle ground. He points to constraints from physics and chemistry, as well as the tendency of evolution to converge toward successful designs, as reasons to think that biologically complex aliens won't be utterly different from us after all.

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Arik Kershenbaum received his Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology from the University of Haifa. He is currently College Lecturer and Director of Studies at Girton College, University of Cambridge. He is the author of The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens — and Ourselves.


Jaksot(416)

193 | Daniels on Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

193 | Daniels on Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

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AMA | April 2022

AMA | April 2022

Welcome to the April 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 quest...

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192 | Nicole Yunger Halpern on Quantum Steampunk Thermodynamics

192 | Nicole Yunger Halpern on Quantum Steampunk Thermodynamics

Randomness and probability are central to modern physics. In statistical mechanics this is because we don't know everything about the distribution of atoms and molecules in a fluid, so we consider a p...

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191 | Jane McGonigal on How to Imagine the Future

191 | Jane McGonigal on How to Imagine the Future

The future grows out of the present, but it manages to consistently surprise us. How can we get better at anticipating and preparing for what the future can be like? Jane McGonigal started out as a ga...

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190 | Lea Goentoro on Regrowing Limbs

190 | Lea Goentoro on Regrowing Limbs

Biological organisms are pretty good at healing themselves, but their abilities fall short in crucial ways. Planaria can be cut into pieces, and each piece will regrow into an entire organism; but for...

28 Maalis 20221h 3min

189 | Brian Klaas on Power and the Temptation of Corruption

189 | Brian Klaas on Power and the Temptation of Corruption

All societies grant more power to some citizens, and there is always a temptation to use that power for the benefit of themselves rather than for the greater good. Power corrupts, we are told — but to...

21 Maalis 20221h 22min

AMA | March 2022

AMA | March 2022

Welcome to the March 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 quest...

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