Will We Ever Find Intelligent Life in The Universe? - Q&A

Añadido: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome back to the channel.

[00:00:02]Today, as you can see, I am standing up and we have a green screen. Um, I don't know where I'm at. My editor is going to be in control of that. So, hopefully he puts me somewhere somewhere nice and and appropriate and and good and and you put me somewhere bad, didn't you? I thought we would try something a little different today. For those of you that have thought that I' I've been at a green screen, I I actually haven't been.

[00:00:28]That was that's that's a real fireplace and a real chair and a real room in my actual house. And as much as I love that spot, these take depends on the video, but they can take upwards of like an hour and a half to record. So, an hour and a half being like a half a foot away from a fireplace, it gets it gets a little toasty. So, I'm going to try green screen. If I don't like it or if you guys don't like it, we'll move back.

[00:00:53]No big deal. But, we're going to try something out today. Okay, cool. And I don't have to hold a mic. I can I'm free to, you know, maneuver and stuff. I feel like I did a there was it that was So, I also wanted to try something different for this video. Usually with these videos, I pick the topic, I decide what I want to talk about, and I make a video on it. But I decided to kind of switch it up for this one. I've been away for a while. My apologies on the lack of uploads. It's not due to lack of inspiration or lack of wanting to work on this channel. In fact, it's the opposite. We're actually uh adding some people to the team to help get videos out faster for you guys, but I unfortunately got streped throat uh really bad, which had me on the mend for like a week and a half, 2 weeks, and then I was in Japan for 2 weeks. So, I was pretty much gone the last month, unable to make videos. But, we are back and we are at it. And uh we are going to be going full steam ahead. So, my apologies for the delay in uploads. As I was saying, I normally am the one that curates these videos, but I decided that who better than to let pick the topic of the videos than to be you guys. So, I asked you on my YouTube community page, which is news to me that that existed up until I found it to ask the question. I asked you guys to ask me essentially a a scientific, historic, philosophical style of Q&A. you ask me anything and I will be the one to research it and make myself a pseudo expert on it in order to report back to you guys. So, that is exactly what we did. And if you guys do happen to enjoy this style of video, I'm more than happy to do a Q&A style video basically whenever you guys want. I had a ton of fun making this and it's kind of nice to just like switch up and do random topics that I normally wouldn't really cover. My apologies for the long-winded intro. Let's get into it.

[00:02:44]The first one comes from someone named the high octane and they asked, "Hey Blur, is quantum physics realistically useful for modern-day technology or for theoretical practices only?" That is a very interesting question. The very short answer is yes. Quantum physics is used on the very piece of technology that you use to ask me this question.

[00:03:06]It's used in microchips for smartphones, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, MRIs, and it's even the reason that your meat will go bad if you leave it on the counter, even if there's no bacteria present. That to me is one of the more interesting parts of quantum physics, and it's called quantum tunneling. Let's say you have yourself a big juicy ribeye. As you know, if you leave it on your countertop unrefrigerated, it will go bad due to bacteria. But let's pretend that you have sterilized your steak using some UVC and then immediately vacuum sealed it so no more bacteria could get to it. Would your steak in theory last forever? In the typical sense, yes, your steak will absolutely never go bad due to bacteria, but it will get weird. The reason for that is due to quantum tunneling.

[00:03:54]Molecules that make up everything are typically pretty happy being the way that they're made. But if there is a lower form of energy that they can take, they will eventually try to reach it.

[00:04:05]I'm going to pull out y old art skills for you on this next one. And I'm going to draw a diagram for you for the very first time on the cozy corner. So, so don't say that. I I don't put a lot of work into this channel. All right.

[00:04:16]Anybody that's ever watched one of my Scribblio videos know exactly how this is going to go. All right. So, imagine that your molecule is in a ditch, but there is a lower ditch nearby. But the molecule will have to climb up its ditch first in order to reach the other ditch.

[00:04:32]In classical physics, they shouldn't be able to climb over this barrier. So, it's stuck being the molecule that it is. But in quantum physics, particles take on a wave function with a probability distribution along that wave. A portion of that wave function exists down across this barrier into the lower energy ditch. If we measure this particle, it will no longer take on the wave function and will behave like a particle that stayed roughly where it was before. But there is a small chance that when we measure this particle and its wave function collapses, it will have appeared and seemingly teleported to the other side of this ditch and is now in a lower energy state. This is of course an extremely simplified version of quantum tunneling, but the gist is that your complex protein molecules that make up your stake will over the years and years eventually degrade and leave your stake as sort of a gelatinous glob.

[00:05:30]Quantum tunneling is also the only thing that causes modern SSDs to eventually degrade and need to be replaced. Unlike a typical disc drive, there is no disc or moving parts that eventually wear out. So, in this case, it's quantum tunneling that causes them to go bad. If some electrons have seemingly disappeared from your SSD, it will lose bites in the process. So yeah, quantum physics is a very real thing that we deal with in everyday life that you just probably have never noticed. This next one was asked too many times by too many people to ignore it. Uh so I will give a relatively quick answer on this. Do I believe that alien life exists?

[00:06:08]This is honestly a very tricky one for me and I'm pretty split on it. On one side, I'm thinking about the absolute vastness of the universe and the essentially infinite possibilities that could happen. As somebody who is not an expert or qualified in any way on the subject, the probability of the universe being completely empty aside from us in terms of life seems unfathomably low to me. But on the other hand, I also think about the countless things that had to go right on Earth for it to even harbor the most basic life forms, let alone intelligent life. You can watch my Thea video for a little bit more of a breakdown on that. Also, that's just a really cool video. Probably my favorite I've ever uploaded. So, really, you should just go watch the Thea video.

[00:06:51]Anyway, in order for the most basic life to even have a chance of showing up, you have to go through a checklist of things that have to happen. You have to hope that a planet is roughly in the Goldilock zone. A planet has a stable ellipse. A planet that has a stable tilt to prevent hot and cold swings. A core that generates an electromagnetic field to protect against the brutal radiation from space. An atmosphere to ensure stable levels of whatever it is that these alien life forms would breathe as well as to maintain pressure. It would need some sort of liquid solvent, organic material to build from, a stable sun. Hell, two of the planets in our own solar system don't even have a surface for life to live on. And yes, you need a surface no matter what kind of alien life it would be. You would have to hope for all of those things while also crossing your weird little alien tendrils that an asteroid, volcano, gammaray burst, rogue planet, black hole, or solar flare don't wipe you out before you even develop a sex organ. I think the idea of some sort of bacteria or single cell organism being out there is extremely plausible. But intelligent space fairing species seems to be something that's nearly impossible to recreate. I mean, even looking at the life that's available on Earth among the millions of intelligent species that we have here on Earth, we are at a total whopping number of one species that have ever made an attempt to go to space. I mean, I guess nobody has really checked in with the analopes regarding their uh their efforts towards space travel, but you get what I'm saying. I think another interesting thing to think of is that if there was this hyper intelligent alien species that could travel to us, if they're that far ahead of us, they have that much of a technological jump on us, would they even be interested in communicating with us? I know this comparison is pretty cliche, but like you wouldn't go out of your way to go look at a pile of ants on the ground unless you're really really interested in ants, I guess. But if they were so much more advanced than us and able to essentially play God, uh, would they even gain anything? Or are we even unique? And is there a ton of other species like us out there? The long story short is I have absolutely no idea. I hope that if there is some sort of alien species out there, uh, I hope they're doing a little better than we are down here. This is another one that got asked by far too many people to point out one specific comment for it.

[00:09:12]So, everybody that asked it, good job.

[00:09:14]I'll get participation marks. Uh, great work. This one's a little bit more of a philosophy style question. And I don't really consider myself a a man of philosophy. I believe you either have to be extremely intelligent or believe that you're extremely intelligent uh to be a a sort of philosopher. And uh I don't really think I fall under either of those categories. Um, but I do think approaching philosophical questions with a scientific outlook can be pretty interesting and fun to do. So, I guess this is my small attempt at that. The question was, what do I think the meaning of life is? I know that's a very big question. The short answer is I don't think that there is a set meaning, at least not anymore. I think we have moved past our biological meaning of just surviving and then making babies, which is great for the long-term survival of our species, but it's also quite daunting because it puts us in a position where we feel like we have to find extra meaning when you're not in this state of survive and that's it. You have to go out of your way to find yourself a greater purpose. And I really think that greater purpose is just finding things that fulfill you. I think the best way to do those are to do things that challenge us, that make us happy, and that most importantly improve the lives of people around us. With the age of social media, we have a lot of pressure on us to be wealthier, to be skinnier, to be more popular. And those things are not without value. But a lot of it is just noise. Those things will feel completely empty without actual life fulfillment. I think a great way to chase that fulfillment is to learn something new. Whether it's a new skill, language, instrument, hobby, or just general information about the universe that you've been placed into. Go spend some time with friends, family, or just go touch some good old-fashioned plain grass. That to me is the main meaning of life. I know that's kind of a copout answer, but that is an extremely complex question, and I'm just a silly >> little guy on the internet, so I don't know what to tell you. This next question is a really cool one and you guys seem to agree because this one had quite a lot of thumbs up. Near xi8904 asked, "Is placebo effect fake if it actually works?" The answer is yes.

[00:11:32]Placebo does absolutely work in a sense, not in the way that it can shrink a tumor or prevent a disease from happening. A study published by Science Translational Medicine had three groups of people take three different migraine medications. Group one was given actual migraine medication. Group two was given a pill labeled as placebo. And group three was given the short end of the stick. They they got nothing. The craziest part was that group two that was given the pill labeled as placebo was 50% as successful as the actual migraine medication at curing migraines.

[00:12:08]It's believed that the simple ritual of taking a pill is enough for your brain to send hormones to actually manage and relieve you of the pain. So I would say yes, placebo absolutely works, which I guess in turn makes it not placebo. This next question by uh the cheese council also kind of falls under the philosophy umbrella a little bit, but I will try to make it as scientifically accurate as possible. They asked, "Do you think it's possible to have a truly neutral position on a certain issue or will you always have some kind of bias?" I think it's possible to be completely neutral about something that's objective, like a math equation. But when it comes to more subjective things, personally, from my experience, I think being completely neutral on a subject comes from a place of ignorance. When you don't have enough of an interest or know enough about a topic to have a feeling one way or the other, even on a subconscious level, I think that's the only way to truly be neutral. But in terms of politics, opinions on people, media, food, music, anything else that's subjective, I think that we all harbor some sort of personal bias. Even if we try to be completely objective about a topic, our past experiences shape our perception of future experiences. So, even if you have two people who are trying to be completely objective about something, they might have vastly different opinions by the end of it due to their past experiences. I may have framed that in a more negative way than it was intended to be because I really do think it's important that we all have some sort of bias. I mean, that's our personal morals. That's our experience of life that brings us to be the person that we are today. I've also always been in the camp of surrounding yourself with people that you disagree with. It leads to absolutely wonderful drunken debates, a little bit of throwing, and you might even pick up a few of their arguments and actually agree with them on certain topics, which I personally think gives you a more broad outlook on the world around you. I should add a little disclaimer here that this is like disagreeing with people on like economics or media or hobbies or something along those lines. It doesn't mean that you should go like hang out with a racist dude or something like that. So again, long story short, yes, we absolutely all have personal biases that you can't avoid, but lean into them. They make you who you are. Just remember to also be open-minded and listen to those around you. I will try to look for the screenshot, but I've somehow managed to lose the username of the person that asked this question, but it was a very interesting question that led into something that I've actually wanted to talk about for quite a while on this channel. But somebody asked, do I think consciousness can be transferred into a machine?

[00:14:54]>> No.

[00:14:54]>> As somebody who is very ignorant and underqualified to speak about this, uh it does sound pretty possible to me. And let me explain why I do think that. But first, let's start with the difficult part. Uh the first and foremost would be transferring over the 86 billion neurons that make you you. Also, a brain on its own isn't exactly conscious in the same way that a pile of bricks on the ground isn't a house. Your brain relies on hormones and electrochemical signals sent from all sorts of different organs and nerves across your body. This is what helps our brain operate and function in the way that it does now.

[00:15:33]But it's really interesting because let's pretend that you can make an exact copy of your brain and put it on a computer program. Would it carry your memories, your opinions? Would it be stunted in the sense that it can no longer learn any new information or gain any new memories? Or on the flip side, would it be easier to teach something like a new language by just simply installing it like a new program? It is really interesting and I can see a lot of practical uses for it despite there being quite a lot of obvious drawbacks.

[00:16:02]It would of course still be at the mercy of entropy over a very very long time.

[00:16:07]But our biological clock would no longer be an issue. And our brains would be a lot more resistant to things that would hurt a human body, but not a computer. I mean, in theory, we could send somebody out to deep space on a satellite and give them all the tools that they would need to study the galaxy and the universe around us. Or we could send them into the very deepest crevices of our oceans. So, I do think it would be prettying awesome if it was possible.

[00:16:33]And I'm sure scientists could probably do it already or close to maybe with something like a fruitfly brain, but to do it with an entire human brain would be pretty damn interesting. Is this actually conscious or is this just a program emulating what this person would think? It would be a ton of weird crazy hoops to jump through. But honestly, it would be super super cool. This is kind of a side note, but it's something that I found extremely interesting that I learned a couple years back and I've been kind of looking for an excuse to bring it up on this channel. So let's dive into this as well. There's a lab out in Melbourne, Australia called Cortical Labs. They are on the absolute forefront of blending man and machine in a similar process as to what this question asked, minus the consciousness, they think. Anyway, they are essentially making an organic version of artificial intelligence. They do this by using nearly 800,000 living brain cells on a silicon chip. A natural question you're probably asking is why the And you're also probably wondering if it's alive. We'll back up a little bit and explain how this even works. They actually get the brain cells from the blood of one of the founders of Cortico Labs. They take roughly 10 milliliters of blood and are able to get around 100 white blood cells from it.

[00:17:47]From that, they are able to be reprogrammed into stem cells and then from there into brain cells. Because our brains and computers both function off forms of electricity, the cells match with the chip seamlessly. The why actually makes quite a lot of sense after they explain it. So for this, we'll compare it to a standard AI model that we have on the internet. Now, for a standard AI model, they're only able to learn what is input into them. They never actually learn a skill or understand any of the information that they're given. I'll give a simple but slightly strange example that they give on their website. Let's say for this example, me, you, or this petri dish full of brain cells enters somebody's house that we have never been to. Say you would like to have a cup of tea.

[00:18:31]Although we have never been to this person's house, because of our natural problem solving from our brains, we would probably with a little bit of rumaging be able to eventually make ourselves a cup of tea. But with a standard AI model, it would severely struggle to do this even simple task in an unfamiliar environment. That is the main perk of an AI model that actually learns something like our brain does rather than just regurgitate information. Another great example that the founder gave on Star Talk podcast was that let's pretend you have a ball.

[00:19:02]If you were to show even a stupid little child a basketball, a baseball, and a bouncy ball, it would then probably be able to identify any other ball as a ball. Even if it was a dodgeball, something that it had never seen before, it would be able to point at it, look at it, and go, "That's a ball." If you did the exact same experiment with a digital AI, because it was never fed the input of a dodgeball, it would have absolutely no idea what a dodgeball is. I think one of the most interesting things, though, is that they taught it a simplified version of Pong when it was young. At first, they tried to get it to play, but it didn't really understand what the point was, nor did it really care to learn what the point was. But that's when they decided to start trying to teach it. When it would hit the ball and keep the game going, they would reward it with a nice organized little burst of electrical activity. But when it would lose the game, they would send a burst of unorganized electrical white noise at it. Obviously, much like the neurons in our head, it preferred the organized predictable energy. So going forward with this system, its brain was actually able to learn how to play Pong. They even released a video of its gameplay.

[00:20:14]It is obviously not the best at Pong, but I think what makes it most impressive is that it has less brain cells than a cockroach. And I'm sure if you saw somebody taught a cockroach how to play Pong, you'd be pretty damn impressed.

[00:20:43]All right, so it's actually a little bit later. Um, I went to go look this up again so that I could source it for my editor so he could get all the information that he needs. Um, and apparently it it it plays Doom now. It obviously can't see the game of Doom happening in front of it, seeing as it has no eyeballs. They feed it all the info it needs, like enemies on screen, health, and bullets remaining through a process called encoding. It will then record the cell's input and send it back to the game and the cycle repeats from there. It would be a rational fear to think that it is now sentient. Put those fears aside because they think it isn't. It never has any sort of conscious thought. It only thinks when it's electronically told to do so. Even then, it's in a strict environment with a singular goal in mind. And it has no interest in doing anything aside from that goal. So, I don't think it's having sentient thoughts, at least yet. Even if it does become sentient one day. Uh, I really don't think we need to worry about it like taking over the world or becoming, you know, a problem because it's just a petri dish. You just put into a big old vat of bleach. Just empty the little sucker out. Um, probably squash that threat pretty quickly.

[00:21:58]Sorry, I know that was kind of a complete tangent. had nothing to really do with the question, but I found it extremely interesting and I've been looking for an excuse. Like I said, I'm going to link their website down below.

[00:22:07]I would 100% recommend keeping tabs on them because they are doing absolutely insane work over there. Um, and I'm sure this will not be the last time we talk about them on the channel. To round it off, we have one more question here from Ben Turner. Ben asks, "What do you personally think that the world will be like in year 3000 lifestyle-wise?" He also threw in a very nice compliment at the end. So, thank you so much, Ben. I think this is getting to be a trickier question as time goes on. If we look back right now at life 1,000 years ago, it is of course a massive change. Yet, so many things about how we'd interact with one another are so familiar. Much of our socializing and interacting with one another was pretty much untouched from as early as humans were living in colonies. I mean, we would eat together, drink together, work together, play sports, games, or activities with one another, gossip privately with one another. All of these things we would do in person. Of course, the types of food, drinks, activities, and gossip we would talk about over the last thousand years have changed drastically, but the premise has remained the same. But in the age of the internet, especially postco, there is less of a need now more than ever to socialize amongst friends in person and more importantly amongst strangers. I think that will continue to push our society in more of a paranoid, shutin, and less connected way than ever. We only have to interact with people that we like and agree with, causing a snowball effect of echo chambers and division. I think another thing that makes this question a little bit more tricky is that we've cracked a metaphorical nut of technology. The amount computers and autonomy have progressed, even in the last 100 years, is hard to fathom, let alone the next 1,000 years. But I really do hope that technology continues to progress and push humans towards not only saving the very home that we have now, but also allowing us to be a transplanetary society. I also hope that within the next thousand years, we're able to officially become a type 1 civilization, which would mean that we have complete access, control, and storage of all the energy available on planet Earth. For context, about 10 to the power of 16 watts of energy reaches Earth on average. And we currently use about 10 the^ of 13 watts of energy, which puts us around 70% of the way there. This really is an interesting question right now specifically because I feel like we're at a bit of a crossroad where we could go the Wall-E route or we could become the very thing we think of when we think of advanced alien species. Our technology in our species is progressing at a exponential rate. As long as that progress trends in the right direction, I think that we're going to be okay. I know there's a lot of doomers out there who rightfully believe that we will destroy ourselves far before the next thousand years happens, but I think it's a choice that we can make to be hopeful and believe that we will get it together before then. That's really all I have for this video. Sorry, I know it's a bit of a shorter one, but I promise we will get back to uploading. I am more motivated and more excited for this channel than ever, and uh I really appreciate you guys sticking around and supporting it as much as you guys have.

[00:25:06]Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next