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