Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagExtraterrestrial civilizations (search)

starry-night-sky-over-sea-and-beach-with-man-silhouette-man-standing-on-sea-beach-under-starry-sky-stockpack-adobe-stock
Starry night sky over sea and beach with man silhouette. man standing on sea beach under starry sky.

Rogan and Astrophysicist Talk Aliens and UFOs

Are we really the only (intelligent) beings out here?

By David Klinghoffer Our astrophysicist friend Brian Keating from UC San Diego was on the Joe Rogan Experience — for three and a half hours, much as philosopher of science Stephen Meyer was recently. I’ve listened to the whole thing. Very interesting! And with shout-outs to Dr. Meyer on a couple of points that Dr. Keating offers for consideration: that religious faith prepared the way for modern science by teaching the intelligibility and order of nature, and that what really got Galileo in trouble was challenging not the Bible but Aristotle, who had in effect (but not literally) been embraced as a saint by the Catholic Church. Watch and listen here on Spotify. From Another World, or Our Own? The conversation is very wide-ranging, as Read More ›

flying-spacecrafts-stockpack-adobe-stock
Flying spacecrafts

New Study on Why Aliens Never Phone, Never Write, Never Visit

Planetary scientists suggest that civilizations follow a trajectory in which there is only a short window of time to look for intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations

On the one hand, the National Academy of Sciences has said that we may communicate with extraterrestrial intelligences during our lifetimes. On the other hand, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) asked, “Where are they?” (the Fermi Paradox). A new study suggests that the natural development of civilizations may be to blame: In the hopes of answering this question, a new paper published on May 4 in the journal Royal Society Open Science claims that “civilizations either collapse from burnout or redirect themselves to prioritizing homeostasis, a state where cosmic expansion is no longer a goal, making them difficult to detect remotely.” “Either outcome — homeostatic awakening or civilization collapse — would be consistent with the observed absence of [galactic-wide] civilizations.” Read More ›

very-large-array-new-mexico-stockpack-adobe-stock
Very Large Array - New Mexico

The Drake Equation at 60 Years: The Second Most Famous Equation

After Einstein's e = mc squared. New technology is improving our ability to search the skies for signs of possible extraterrestrial civilizations

Last year marked the sixtieth year of the iconic Drake Equation, developed by astronomer Frank Drake aimed at stimulating the public to think about the prerequisites for life on other planets. Seth Shostak at Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) says it is the most famous equation after e = mc2 and offers a bit of its history: The Drake Equation was cooked up by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961 to serve as the agenda for the first meeting on the topic of SETI. In 1960, Drake had conducted a pioneering search for extraterrestrial signals – a several-week long effort he named Project Ozma. Somewhat unexpectedly, this modest experiment attracted a great deal of attention, and Drake was encouraged by J.P.T. Read More ›