Are We Alone? Martin Rees on Aliens, The Fermi Paradox & The Fate of Humanity

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What can a lifetime of scientific discovery teach us about the universe—and ourselves? In this wide-ranging conversation, Michael Shermer sits down with Lord Martin Rees, renowned cosmologist, astrophysicist, and former Astronomer Royal, to reflect on the forces that shape scientific success, from personal luck to cultural context. Rees shares insights on the mysteries of cosmology, the search for extraterrestrial life, and the paradoxes that still puzzle humanity.

Rees also shares intimate reflections on his friend and Cambridge colleague Stephen Hawking, thoughts on Fermi’s Paradox, and why some truths may forever lie beyond human comprehension.

The discussion also turns toward urgent global issues: the promise and peril of AI, ethical dilemmas in a rapidly advancing world, and how religion and terrorism could shape our future.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to The Michael Shermer Show.
0:15.6	All right, everybody, it's Michael Shermer, and it's time for you know what, another episode of the Michael Shermer's show. My guest today is a legendary scientist, probably the most decorated
0:26.0	scientist I've ever had on the show. He is Lord Martin Reese. He is here for the second time.
0:32.5	He's the Astronomer Royal, former president of the Royal Society, fellow and master, former master of Trinity College,
0:39.5	Cambridge, and emeritus professor of cosmology and astrophysics at the University of Cambridge.
0:44.9	He sits as a member of the UK House of Lords.
0:48.0	He is the author of many best-selling popular science books, including On the Future, Prospects for
0:53.9	Humanity, just six numbers, the deep forces
0:57.1	that shape the universe, before the beginning, our universe and others, hey, there's others, okay,
1:04.2	we'll have to talk about that, and our final hour, a scientist's warning.
1:09.6	And his next book, it looks like he's co-authored with Alan Lightman
1:14.7	coming out in September. We're recording this on July 2nd. The Shape of Wonder,
1:20.3	how scientists think work and live, which is where we're going to start here in just a minute.
1:24.2	But there's much more. He's been elected to the Academy, American Academy
1:27.9	Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of Sciences,
1:34.0	and has received, here's the list from Wikipedia. It's actually much longer than this.
1:40.1	He received the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Albert Einstein World Award of Science, the Crawford Prize, very, sort of the Nobel Prize, or maybe the Fields Medal Prize for branches of science.
1:55.6	He's also been awarded the Order of Merit.
1:58.0	The Templeton Prize, which tells us they're the highest, I think it's
2:02.3	the largest sum of money of any prize given. Well, we'll clarify that in a minute. The Isaac Newton
2:07.6	Medal, the Dirac Medal, the Lillian Field Prize, and the Fritz Sweaky Prize, the Copley Medal,
2:15.7	and the Wolf Prize in physics.
	...

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