Welcome to the After-On Podcast. I'm Rob Reed, and I'm Tom Merritt. And this is a special

episode designed around the book, After-On. Each of these special episodes focuses on one

aspect of the science, tech, and social issues explored in the novel. Now, you don't have

to read After-On in order to learn from or enjoy these podcasts. That's because we

wait until the very end to discuss the book in detail and to really tie it to this week's

topic. That last section will make perfect sense if you're reading the novel, but if you're

not reading it, just tune out at that point. You can always come back if you decide to

read it later. And we'll warn you before we get to that part. But first, we have a lot

of things to talk about which should be interesting to everybody.

Hopefully, including this message. This is a quick update from Rob before what I promise

will be a truly fascinating interview with British astronomers Stephen Webb about Fermi's

paradox. This is the question of where all the aliens are, given that we've seen no sign

of extraterrestrial intelligence despite living in a universe whose vast and ancient nature

has given aliens plenty of space and time in which to emerge. My guest today wrote a book

on this subject appropriately called, Where is Everybody? I read it shortly after it came

out in 2002 and it blew my mind because it taught me to respect the seemingly frivolous

question that you might briefly bat around after seeing Star Wars or something. Where are

all the aliens? Are they secretly among us, studying us from afar, or non-existent?

Stephen's book taught me that this is actually profoundly momentous and scientifically

serious question. But first, that quick update. As regular listeners know, I've been trying

to decide whether to continue with this podcast after the first eight episodes which have been

loosely tied to my novel after on. As this is episode eight, I now owe you an answer.

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