So where are the aliens?

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2019

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Vulcans, Daleks, Martians, Grays - our culture is pervaded by alien beings from distant worlds – some benevolent…most not so much. In our galaxy alone, there should be tens of billions of planets harbouring life, but we have not heard any broadcasts or seen any flashing lights from distant civilisations. Chief astronomer for SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), Seth Shostak, has devoted his career to searching for signs of alien life. In this programme he tackles the fundamental question about whether we are alone in the universe.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BEC, the EEC, the
0:02.0	The Earth is a beacon,
0:07.0	broadcasting electromagnetic waves across the Cosmos,
0:11.0	radio, television, with music, sitcoms, drama news.
0:16.0	Rocketman is on a suicide mission for himself.
0:20.0	And the further out you go, the older that news gets.
0:23.2	Nelson Mandela's first steps back to freedom.
0:26.7	The German people awoke this morning as one nation.
0:29.7	Obviously a space program.
0:40.0	The eagle has landed.
0:41.0	You'd hear our comedy, our quiz shows advertising.
0:44.0	After seeing and hearing, a new 1951 Dumontelisets, you'll never be satisfied with lens.
0:50.0	80 light years away, you'd receive the first transmissions to make it through Earth's atmosphere,
0:55.5	radar.
0:56.5	So about 10 German machines, dive bombing the British convoy.
1:00.5	There are hundreds of billions of planets in our galaxy alone and evidence from space
1:04.7	telescopes suggests tens of billions of these tens of billions could be similar to
1:09.8	Earth. So where are the aliens? I'm Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Seti Institute.
1:17.0	Seti is the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
1:20.0	And for the BBC World Service, I'll be hearing about the latest efforts to find E.T.
1:26.0	Talking to some of the pioneers of the search and asking why we've not discovered evidence for alien civilizations.
1:35.0	Whenever I sit on an airplane, whenever I go somewhere to talk,
	...

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