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Lex Fridman Podcast

#154 – Avi Loeb: Aliens, Black Holes, and the Mystery of the Oumuamua

Lex Fridman Podcast

Lex Fridman

Technology, Society & Culture, Philosophy, Science

4.713.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2021

⏱️ 171 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Avi Loeb is an astrophysicist at Harvard. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Extraterrestrial (book): https://amzn.to/39xdnkT
Avi’s Website: https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/people/avi-loeb

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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(10:08) – Are we alone in the universe?
(14:23) – Consciousness
(19:01) – Sending digital copies of humans to space
(23:38) – Oumuamua
(45:42) – Alien space junk
(49:41) – What do aliens look like?
(1:06:58) – Drake equation
(1:08:00) – Industrial polution from aliens
(1:19:52) – UFO sightings
(1:27:48) – How long will human civilization last?
(1:30:28) – Radio signal from Proxima Centauri
(1:33:49) – Breakthrough Starshot project
(1:36:49) – Space race
(1:42:00) – Human space exploration
(1:47:15) – Social media is a threat to society
(1:52:04) – Are humans ready for discovering an alien civilization?
(1:56:15) – Mayans used astrology to wage war
(1:57:31) – Black holes
(2:16:20) – Stephen Hawking
(2:19:59) – Grigori Perelman
(2:24:24) – Theory of everything
(2:31:23) – Dark matter
(2:34:06) – Advice for young people
(2:37:10) – Memories of my father and mother
(2:41:38) – Existentialism
(2:43:52) – Mortality
(2:46:27) – Meaning of life

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The following is a conversation with Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist, astronomer, and cosmologist

0:05.2

at Harvard.

0:06.4

He is authored over 800 papers and written 8 books, including his latest, called Extra

0:12.8

Torestrial, the first sign of intelligent life beyond Earth.

0:17.0

It will be released in a couple of weeks, so go pre-order it now to show support for

0:21.4

what I think is truly an important book in that it serves as a strong example of a scientist

0:26.5

being both rigorous and open-minded about the question of intelligent alien civilizations

0:32.7

in our universe.

0:34.3

Quick mention of our sponsors, Zero Fasting App for Intermittent Fasting, Element Electrally

0:40.3

Drink, Sun Basket Meal Delivery Service, and Pessimist Archive History Podcast.

0:45.7

So the choice is, Fasting App, Fasting Fuel, Fast Breaking, Delicious Meals, and the history

0:53.0

podcast that has very little to do with Fasting.

0:56.5

Choose wisely, my friends, and if you wish, click the sponsor links below to get a discount

1:00.6

and support this podcast.

1:02.5

As a side note, let me say a bit more about why Avi's work is so exciting to me and

1:07.9

I think to a lot of people.

1:09.6

In 2017, a strange interstellar object, now named Amua Moa, was detected traveling through

1:18.4

our solar system.

1:19.9

Based on the evidence we have, it has strange characteristics which made it not like any

1:23.8

asteroid or comet that we've seen before.

1:26.8

Avi was one of the only world-class scientists who fearlessly suggested that we should

1:31.7

be open-minded about whether it is naturally made or in fact is an artifact of an intelligent

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