Seth Shostak directs the search for extraterrestrials at the SETI Institute in California—trying to find evidence of intelligent life in space. He is also committed to getting the public, especially young people, excited about astrobiology and science in general. For much of his career, Seth conducted radio astronomy research on galaxies, and has published approximately fifty papers in professional journals. He also founded and ran a company producing computer animation for TV. Seth has written several hundred popular magazine and Web articles on various topics in astronomy, technology, film and television. He has edited and contributed to a half dozen books. His first popular tome, “Sharing the Universe: Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life” appeared in 1998. He has also authored “Life in the Universe” (2006, 2nd edition, textbook, with Jeff Bennett) and “Cosmic Company” (2003, with Alex Barnett). His most recent book is “Confessions of an Alien Hunter” (2009).
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Episode outline
- 01:21 — 2036, First Contact, Speed of Search, computation power, machine learning and AI contribution
- 04:00 — What percentage of the stars are we analyzing?
- 05:14 — The million sweet spoot, why 2036 could see a first contact
- 05:51 — The WOW Signal and other unique signals, seen once and never again
- 07:39 — Technosignatures
- 10:22 — Communication with alien civilizations
- 12:44 — Radio signal density and intensity in Space
- 13:55 — First contact, how advanced will they be?
- 14:27 — Life in our solar system, from the 7 worlds with water to the phosphine in Venus
- 16:31 — Enceladus: best bet on finding life in our solar system
- 17:51 — The SETI Institute, current status
- 19:11 — 1 Pixel - taking pictures of exoplanets with the upcoming James Webb Telescope
- 20:40 — Contributing to the search from home
- 22:14 — Supporting the SETI institute
- 23:07 — Terraforming Mars - Spacex mars mission
- 24:13 — The nature of consciousness
- 25:48 — Astronomy today: exoplanets, gravitational waves, dark matter
- 27:22 — Are we living in a simulation?
- 29:06 — Moral existence in a simulated reality
- 29:37 — Who wrote our code?
- 30:30 — Our cognitive limits, figuring out the infinite
- 31:10 — Dark matter
- 32:06 — How fast could we travel?
- 33:06 — Wormholes in space
- 34:12 — The 21cm Hydrogen line, 1.4Ghz, universal radio frequencies
- 35:46 — How Seth got involved in SETI, animation and sci-fi filmmaking
- 37:23 — Seth's film equipment
- 38:02 — Sci-fi movies
- 39:55 — Railroading
- 41:10 — Seth's podcast - Big Picture Science