The Institute of Art and Ideas

What every film gets wrong about alien science | Ideas for our time

Depictions of first contact with aliens may not accurately show how challenging it would really be to communicate with aliens, let alone collaborate on scientific endeavours. If we ever meet aliens, would it really be so easy to communicate with them? Would we be able to share scientific ideas? Would we be curious about the same things? In our second instalment of “Ideas for our Time”, we speak with Daniel Whiteson about his Extended Drake Equation, which seeks to capture the different factors we may not have previously considered in stories of first contact. Turning to human history, we consider whether aliens would even do science in the first place, why communication may be almost impossible, and whether human science is uncovering the true nature of reality. You can read Daniel's article here: https://iai.tv/articles/aliens-might-not-have-the-same-physics-as-us-auid-3466?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description The article is an excerpt of "Do Aliens Speak Physics", which you can find here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324064657 Hosted by Zeb Goriely. #physics #firstcontact #aliens #cosmology 00:00 Intro 04:34 Part 1: Science 07:30 Part 2: Communication 17:46 Part 3: Questions 28:17 Part 4: Answers 32:16 We should be our own aliens Dive into our full archive, including more debates, interviews, and solo talks on the brain and consciousness — plus loads more! https://iai.tv/debates-and-talks?medium=description&utm_campaign=video-essay-brain The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting-edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today! https://iai.tv/subscribe?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=video-essay-brain For debates and talks: https://iai.tv For articles: https://iai.tv/articles For courses: https://iai.tv/iai-academy/courses For our podcast: https://pod.link/1151965239?view=apps&sort=popularity