The speaker discusses the potential implications of finding alien life forms on other planets, specifically Mars, Europa, and Titan. The speaker suggests that such discoveries could be devastating for humanity, as they could indicate the end of our species is near. The speaker then imagines the development of life from its inception to the present day as a flight of stairs, with each step representing a different level of complexity and evolution.
The speaker outlines the steps of life's evolution, from the first step of dead chemistry assembling itself into self-replicating patterns, to the final step of becoming a galaxy-wide civilization. The speaker argues that this is a universal principle for civilizations, regardless of their origin. The speaker then introduces the concept of the "great filter", a challenge or danger that makes becoming a galactic civilization extremely difficult, possibly even impossible.
The speaker presents two scenarios for the location of the great filter: either it is behind us, meaning we are the first species to encounter it, or it is ahead of us, meaning many others have already encountered it. The speaker discusses the potential consequences of each scenario, emphasizing that if the great filter is ahead of us, our odds are extremely poor.
The speaker concludes by stating that the best case scenario for us currently is that Mars, Europa, and the Milky Way are sterile and devoid of life, with billions of empty planets waiting to be discovered and filled with life. The speaker suggests that the likelihood of finding life outside of Earth that is similar to us depends on the number of planets in their stars' Goldilocks zones.
1. NASA has supposedly found alien bacteria on Mars.
2. There are also alien fish in the oceans of Europa.
3. Ancient alien ruins have been discovered on Titan.
4. The discovery of these alien life forms could mean the end of humanity.
5. The development of life from its inception to us today is compared to a flight of stairs.
6. The first step is dead chemistry that needs to assemble itself into self-replicating patterns.
7. The second step is for our early life to become more complex, able to build more complicated structures and use available energy more efficiently.
8. The third step involves cells combining to become multicellular beings.
9. The fourth step sees the species evolve into big brains, enabling the use of tools, culture, and shared knowledge.
10. The species can now become the dominant life-form on its planet and change it according to its needs.
11. The first attempts to leave its planets are happening now.
12. It's in the nature of life as we know it to reach out to cover every Lygia can and since planets have a limited carrying capacity and lifespan, if a species wants to survive, it will look for more places to spread to.
13. The steps above seem logical: colonize your own solar system, then spread further to reach other stars, to the possible final step of becoming a galaxy-wide civilization.
14. This is very likely to be a universal principle for civilizations, no matter where they're from.
15. If a species is competitive and driven enough to take control over its planet, they'll probably not stop there.
16. We know that there are up to 500 billion planets in the Milky Way, at least 10 billion earth-like planets, many of which have been around for billions of years.
17. We're observing zero Galactic Civilizations, which means something is preventing living things from climbing the staircase beyond the step we're on.
18. Something that makes becoming a galactic civilization extremely hard or maybe impossible is the great filter, a challenge or danger so hard to overcome that it eliminates almost every species that encounters it.
19. There are two scenarios: one means we are incredibly special and lucky, the other one means we aren't doomed and practically already dead.
20. The scenario depends on whether the filter is on our staircase behind or ahead of us.
21. If the filter is behind us, we are the first.
22. If the filter is ahead of us, plenty of others died already.
23. A great filter before us is orders of magnitude more dangerous than anything we encountered so far.
24. Even if a major disaster killed most of us or threw us back thousands of years, we would survive and recover.
25. If we can recover even if it takes a million years, then it's not a great filter but just a roadblock to an eventual galactic civilization on universal timescales.
26. If a great filter really lies before us, it has to be so dangerous, so purely devastating and powerful that it has destroyed most if not all advanced civilizations in our galaxy over billions of years.
27. Mars is sterile, Europa's oceans are devoid of life, and the vast arms of the Milky Way Harbor only have empty oceans hugging dead continents.
28. There are billions of empty planets waiting to be discovered and filled out with life, billions of new homes waiting for us to finally arrive.
29. The likelihood of finding life outside of Earth that is similar to us depends on how many planets there are out there in their stars Goldilocks zone.