#98: The Meaning Of Human Existence, And The Search For Alien Life – Avi Loeb

Avi Loeb is Chair of Harvard’s Astronomy Department.

Show notes

Selected links

• Follow Avi: Website
• The Myth Of Sisyphus, by Albert Camus
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas Kuhn
• ‘The End of Spacetime’, public lecture by Nima Arkani-Hamed
• Rendezvouz With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
• ‘Glowing Auras and “Black Money”: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program’, NYT article (16/12/17)
• ‘2 Navy Airmen and an Object That “Accelerated Like Nothing I’ve Ever Seen”, NYT article (16/12/17)

Topics discussed

• Avi’s childhood growing up on a farm in Israel, and journey into academia. 5:16
• Avi’s romance with philosophy, Satre, and Camus. 10:11
• When in their careers should scientists court risk? 15:24
• Albert Camus and The Myth Of Sisyphus. 21:10
• How does alien intelligence change the meaning of human existence? 24:50
• If there was no other intelligent life in the universe, would that make a god more likely? 34:51
• How far off is technology for 3D printing of…humans? 40:49
• What are the a priori odds of other intelligent life in the universe — and how do we calculate them? 42:49
• Why is it so quiet out there? 47:25
• Space archaeology. 52:33
• Is space-time a doomed concept? 1:04:14
• How do we verify what happens beyond the event horizon of a black hole? 1:12:08
• The multiverse: bullshit or not? 1:17:25
• What could spacefaring aliens teach us about physics? 1:30:00
• ‘Oumuamua — a possible interstellar spacecraft lurking in our solar system. 1:31:45
• The Pentagon UFO releases. 1:43:47
• Hostile aliens. 1:46:00
• The advantages of generalism. 1:54:43
• The meaning of life (42). 2:01:21