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This is actually really well shown in the game Stellaris, where everyone starts off at about the same point despite there being primitive civilizations in the galaxy. The primitives basically stand no chance of ever expanding because you've claimed every bit of space around them. If they want to be part of the galaxy you have to integrate them, ether peacefully, through subterfuge, or good old fashioned bigger army diplomacy.
they really do feel like a supervillain's propaganda channel like "hey guys, you should totally let me exploit all of the planet and universe's resources"
Not unless the other players will actually login centuries from now. Could very well be Humans will be the only one that passes the deadline by claiming the galaxy first.
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world because they'd never expect it. -Jack Handey
I mean the number one reason that occurs is due to a lack of resources. If we could actually harness our entire solar system to its fullest potential that alone would give us all the energy and precious minerals we’d need for tens of millions of years. Even if humanity’s population ballooned into the trillions. That’s one solar system. In the milky way galaxy there are like 20 stars PER person alive today. I highly doubt we would would need to take anything from any existing life ever tbh
@emmanuelakalusi3690 Utilize the resources of the sun->aliens find out->Territorial War begins>Racing for resources. Greedy for resources->expansion and multiplication->greed for more resources->greatly delay and even kill the possibility of life. Unless we want to end up as plants, we will always be the most deadly plague of the entire universe.
Depends on the method. With our current technology, and if the other planet was identical to us, we could hear them from around 100 light years away by picking up on radio signals. We would finally see lights on the planet starting to become widespread if they were around 80-100 light years away, BUT, using spectrometry, we would be able to detect the other "earth" as far as 145,000,000 light years away, by examining the composition of the atmosphere, as this is when our cretaceous period occurred spawning the largest of the dinosaurs 😃
Consider this: Our galaxy is 100 thousand light years across. In 1900, the first radio transmission travelled a wopping 1.6km, but let's say it was powerful enough to make it to the other side of the galaxy. It would be another 99,877 years for this radio transmission to reach the other side of our galaxy. If another civilisation heard it and responded, they would likely be responding to a civilisation that went extinct. Even if they were only 250 light years away (only🤣), having a simple conversation would take 10 generations each way to communicate. That's how vast these distances are.
@@harlequinems 100 light years on radio signals? I think that is optimistic..... given the inverse square law, you'd be lucky to detect them 1 or 2 light years away
less than a hundred light years away. So in the immediate vicinity on the universe scale. We are talking of "only" a few thousands star systems in just one sector of our galaxy. (since we are quite in the fringe) Our "closest" star system is already more than 4 lightyears away. Civilisation could already exist on the other side of the galaxy if it appeared same time as us, and we wouldn't know it. Not even mentionning other galaxies or even further galaxy's systems. The distances and time required to travel them are so mind blowing that we would be extinct before gathering the tiniest signal of another contemporary civ...
I’m so impressed with how far this channels animation is come. They deserve all the love and praise in the world putting so much effort and research into these
yeah, the animation is beautiful, i wish the content was less wild speculative futurism, and more actually relevant science, though. Sure they did videos about climate warming in the past and similar subjects, and that was great, but it seems like it's spinning a lot towards irrelevant - when not outright dangerous longtermism - stuff these days.
Indeed! Oh man ..Maybe instead of having males go to war we girls can have a spa day 🧖🏻♀️ ..like other animals bond with motherhood no problem making peace. Poor octopuses though
Its kind of interesting that so much of our fiction and fantasies often revolve around finding ancient ruins of a lost alien civilization somewhere out there in space, usually home to lost yet advanced technology or monsters that live within. Billions of years from now, if we fail to expand, *we* will be those ancient ruins that, hopefully, another space fairing civilization will find one day.
Interestingly none of the traces of humans will persist on earth by then due to erosion. However, the footprint left on the moon by the astronauts that went there will still be there!
Damn. And those aliens would surely have a field day on that. Could you imagine the news headlines and documentaries? Or the Sci-Fi movies that the alien cinemas would surely produce based on our ruins?
It's worth mentioning that since an expansion like this would probably take Billions of years, any civilization would possibly split into multiple due to evolutionary and cultural changes and huge distances. In the end there may not be distinct borders but more of a messy blend of life.
Honestly? Yeah. It’s a bit of a mistake to read modern Western capitalist civilization as “Human Nature,” especially when humanity would probably quit reproducing like rabbits once we achieve some form of nigh immortality. You don’t need more than one Dyson Swarm to keep those folks comfy.
That will sharply depend on the ability to travel, in particular, how fast travel can occur. The easier and faster it is to jump from one location to the next, the more those locations are likely to share similarities.
@@jonathanclemens3755 That, and also communication. Even if travel takes a long time, the ability to communicate in relatively prompt timescales could help maintain a more consistent and common culture, in much the same way internet and other real-time communication has shaped the current age of globalization.
that human behavioral trend only existed because of the lack of adequate ways to transfer information across such wide distances. now we have the internet and globalization, it is easier to spread cultural ideas and ideologies ubiquitously across large distances now so that wouldn't, theoretically be a problem. its been a messy blend of life because of a lack of, not because that's how it is.
"How fast can bacteria build spaceships?" is now the new "I drop you off in the woods with a hatchet, how long 'till you send me an email?" Super appreciate the forward, Kurzgesagt! Love what you all are doing and the extreme effort involved!
Probably like a week depending on how long it takes me to walk out of the forest. If built from scratch never because even if you built your own computer and internet it wouldn't be connected to the actual internet.
Having watched all of Primitive Skills youtube channel, it took him 5 years to get from the stone age to having an electric generator. While he didn't build the electric generator himself like he did with everything else, he did purchase it only using the funds he got from selling crops he grew on his farm. His channel is like real life Stardew Valley, but set to hardcore difficulty.
Humans quite possibly being the first (or among the first) sentient species in the universe makes it really interesting. Eons from now, they'll dig up our bones, and learn of our futile attempts to call out to a cold unfeeling universe, desperate for any evidence that we aren't alone.
This is pretty much what happened to the ancient humanoids of the Star Trek universe, shown in the episode "The Chase". They were here before all other humanoid species developed, so they were pretty much alone in the galaxy, and due to the loneliness they decided to spread their genetic materials in order for more civilizations to develop and thrive... kinda depressing if this is our case 😅 but I'm hopeful that there's something out there
The idea that our Sun developed as soon as the Universe stopped being so hostile and celular life appeared as soon as oceans appeared on a planet of it gives me a lot of optimism.
@Kurzgesagt, With all due respect.. how do we know that another potentially loud civilization hasn't already visited us long before we advanced ourselves in the first place? That would make the entire 'we are the first' theory moot no? And because that window of opportunity is so tiny, they might have passed by us thinking another failed discovery and never looked back?
Water is extremely common in the universe. Even though the universe was hostile, there were many older galaxies that had stable star systems prior to us.
@@battosaijenkins946 We don't. But they're not factoring in--and literally _cannot_ factor in--the infinite what-ifs that we _don't_ see any evidence for. Only what we _do_ see, and what we can reasonably extrapolate from there. And unless NASA really is hiding evidence of alien civilizations in our solar system or mysteriously disappearing stars, we don't see any signs of a super civilization having swept through the visible cosmos. Also you seem to be taking the video as saying "this is what has happened". It's not. It's just a thought experiment.
I love the idea that humans might be the elder gods of the universe a billion years from now. The first ones. Which new species speak about in hushed tones. They didn't include the fact that it takes a few generations of stars to create the heavier elements necessary for life. That puts us close to the beginning of "possible" as well.
nah we’re gonna be immortal and transformed into strange shapes and forms used as furniture or wall decorations or pets for aliens and ai while still being conscious but unable to move. imagine a human mind trapped in the body of a horse for the rest of infinity type shit.
What a privilege to be alive at this time and to have the knowledge and the resources to explore more! Thank you Kurzgesagt for spreading curiosity and hope in humanity for current humans and also future generations!!
Just had to comment to say WOW to the visuals you create to support the narrative in all your videos. Motion design is no joke and as someone who has run a video production company for the last 10 years I can say it is really impressive how complex each video you put out is. I know motion design takes WEEKS, not hours to complete, and each video seems to be as good, if not better than the last. Stunning visuals, keep it up!!
This is not just a youtube channel. Its a big company with deep pockets and a lot of people. Yeah its good quality but theres no need to blow smoke up their butt
The scariest most plausible scenario I can imagine is that we find radio signals eminating from a star system thousands or hundreds of thousands of lightyears away, knowing that our signals have only started around 126 years ago they could be thousands of years more advanced than us due to the time it'd have taken to reach us.
@@G3Kappa Or maybe we will never be extremely advanced. It's not all about the time - some life forms are just born smarter. Some are slugs, some are monkeys, some are humans. We could be the slugs in comparison to those aliens who would need FAR less time to learn how to travel through space.
@@Vaquix000 born smarter, yes. But not formed smarter, you're forgetting that intelligent life has to form from less intelligent life first. However I still think you're right in saying that other civilisations might just have evolved more efficiently or something and thus is able to develop more quickly
I've been thinking about this recently... Imagine how difficult it would've been to start civilization without wood. Imagine if trees didn't exist. Not just for the oxygen, but for a robust yet malleable building material, renewable and overall just much easier to work with than rock.
I completely agree with you, how could we have developed civilization if it wasnt for the bast resources that earth has got. Not only the ones required for life to thrive but for intelligent life to prosper.
The whole thing is based on unproven theories and conjectures riddled with conspiracy . There is no life anywhere but here on earth, based on the evidence. JSWT has been proving this over and over again
In almost every sci-fi story there are always the Ancients. The old and hyper advanced civilisation who lived and died way before the setting of the story. The theory I'm choosing to believe (until either proven otherwise or I find something I like more) is that we are the Ancients, just early in their timeline. Someone always has to be the first one to make contact with another planet. The invisible flying saucers have to come from somewhere, what if we are the actual aliens who'll come and observe other alien races or invading their planets. The fact that we are, as they say in the video, relatively early in the life span of the universe and life, according to what we know, I don't think it's unlikely that we could be the "grey aliens" of another civilisations story.
The only question is, will we ever get over our differences and unite as one species, under one rule, if we don’t have some common extraterrestrial enemy? In the stories we come up with its always one group of united aliens, exploring the universe under one leadership, I wonder if we’ll ever get there
@@David95111 In a way we’re all united by the fact that we’re all humans. I think we’re always going to be divided at local and large levels because of how we self govern. We’re united in the proof that we’re all human and share this life on Earth.
@@David95111 I think we're beginning to approach that point. The internet has connected us more than ever, alongside advancements in flight and international travel. Basically everyone shares a language, and those that don't at least share a language with one of the many bilingual people on the planet. Kids raised in the current generation care a lot less about borders and the like than I think any prior generation, which I think is a trend that will only intensify with future development.
have you read the Children of Time series? It's my new favorite that explores exactly this, except of making contact persay humans inadvertently created new life in their attempt to save humanity. It's a crazy series
I love the idea of us being first or us being the one predecessor that distributes life across the universe. Like melodysheeps idea of a massive universal library, filled of records of each civilization that passed. New ones slowly adding their history to the library and old ones having been forever maintained alive by having their history preserved.
We haven’t made contact with aliens yet bcuz there is an advanced race watching over us now that prevents any other civilization of interfering in our evolutionary process.
@average rhombic dodecahedron Imagine, millions of years from now, some alien astronaut goes into an abandoned Human Mega space station to gain access to an ancient library of universe knowledge, and the image/ name that shows up screen? *"Wikipedia"*
@@eyespy3001 The alien astronaut immediately shuts down the supercomputer and activates the explosive, "It's here" he says into his communication device as he leaves the station quickly, looking at the computer with disgust.
Something that seems to be forgotten; any light we see is a direct representation of the past, equivalent to the time it took for the light to get here. When looking to further parts of the galaxy, you have a much greater chance of looking towards life, except for the fact that for every additional light year further out, you add a year in to the past of whatever you’re seeing. The civilizations could be everywhere say 1000 light years away, but we’re seeing 1000 years into the past.
Not millions of light years. This vid is talking just about this galaxy which is really the only reasonable distance that we can colonize. The galaxy is 100,000 light years across. Also the time frames that they’re talking about are massive; so massive that the vastness of the galaxy almost becomes irrelevant. If a loud civilization hasn’t developed as of 100,000 years ago then we’re still pretty early considering life took 4 billion years to evolve. This “race” to the stars will take place over the next ten of thousands of years as humanity slowly spreads to other planets (like you said planets are far away and would take hundreds or thousands of years to travel to depending on how close they are)
@@michael-solomon Even that's very big. Humans started broadcasting radio waves into space two centuries ago. Therefore, if you're someone who wants to detect the human civilization right now, you need to live pretty close- like within a radius of 200 light years.
honestly, i never really thought dark forest was that plausible an entire species? deciding to curtail their progress by going completely silent just because of a what if? the alien beauracracy, which is probably a safe assumption to assume aliens who have society and therefore likely governments alone would be a nightmare, and its inconcievable as of now at least, that earths gonna even try at some point.
@@shoeofobama6091 But that already happens, people get killed to steal their resources or just by being on a differente religion, but being killed by being ignored is sadly also very common, kids, poor people etc.
I read something on the internet once that said all the species on Earth are the most violent from throughout all of spacetime and that our planet is a prison. Neat stuff.
@@shoeofobama6091 Dark Forest always seemed silly to me. You can't hide if you are next to a sun. It's a giant "come look at this area" marker. Your best bet is to have technology that allows you to stay away from solar systems.
@@shoeofobama6091 I believe it's very human centric to think that the aliens might think like us , it could be light years in difference for all we know , if they are able to unite as one and go and colonize their solar system , then infighting must be first vanquished.
i love how this looked a bit like Stellaris with different empires rising and falling. would be fun to see a short series where you take a look at games like that and satisfactory to analyze how accurate they are to how humanity may be in years to come.
I highly recommend reading Geometry for Ocelots. The same conundrum of galactic consumption and the near impossibility of moderation is explored, all while being very casual and rather witty about it
The milky way is not that big. Any light that reaches us from within it was emitted less than a hundred thousand years ago. Considering the time that life took to evolve on Earth, if there is any planet with life in the Milky Way, the light from that planet has already reached us (unless life first emerged there in the last 100 thousand years, worst case, which is highly unlikely). We just don't see signs of this supposed life because the impact this life could cause would be too faint for our current technology to detect, or we haven't searched the right planet yet...
@@RafaelB.M.100,000 years is well within an untainted planet and our planet of today. Even as little as 2,000 years is enough to have gone undetected due to primitive technology not impacting our atmospheric spectrometry. With how quickly our technology is advancing, the last 100 years along being remarkably exponential, those civilizations could be camouflaged by time even within that time period or distance for light to travel. Our spherical influence of radio signals will have been heavily attenuated in the last 40-60yrs. It would also be incredibly hard for us to detect signals weakened over that distance. So the nearest civilization could be closer than we think and progressing slower or faster than our own. I’m not saying they exist, but the potential surely is there.
Major issue with galactic borders is that the stars don't move at the same speed and many believe the stars actually wave towards and away from the core as the effect that produces the popular spirals. It's not all those stars moving harmoniously, these are just the areas where stars pass the closest together.
Good point, I can see how that would complicate setting universally understood territories and make it almost impossible to enforce them. But also remember how much actual empty space exists between stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, much less between planets in a star system. You wouldn’t, for example, reasonably expect to maintain control over stars/planets/etc that are all moving independently of each other by setting a boundary based off arbitrary & fixed points in space that are in the middle of nowhere, would you? It would make much more sense to simply claim which star systems etc are yours and control the space immediately surrounding each planet individually, rather than try to throw a blanket over a huge portion of the galaxy and try and control everything inside it. I hope what I wrote makes sense 😂
@@khills242 it is the idea I came too, the issue is it's strategically poor as some systems may move solely through enemy regions making them easy pickings for species at war with us. It seems basically inevitable as those stars will be in their territory for hundreds or thousands of years once it enters. It would more mean we should only make strong settlements in steadily moving systems and only have forts or research colonies on the incredibly fast or slow systems.
The thing is, we mostly think of galactic states as our own states. Defined borders etc (and even then there's issues with disputed territories) but due to the size and constant movement of stars, it is very much possible that every star system would likely become independent of the original "state" really quickly as information and enforcement would be impeded.
@@janstraka8674 well yes, independence is nearly inevitable. It's basically the same reason the US broke off from England. Even with more money and military power, the trek back and forth was far too much to justify continuing the war. The issue is I highly suspect xenophobia will he a common trend in the galaxy. People already innately hate people of their out groups, imagine the mixing of species with completely different upbringing, cultures, etc. It's like expecting everyone to respect the snake in their yard and nobody to desire killing it. It's not part of the group, it can hurt me, and it's close to home. I'd be amazed if people could get around such issues. It would basically require the galaxy being treated like Mass Effect where colonies are all interspecies, yet even in that series they show a common trend of species not getting along or to be scapegoats for problems.
If a "loud" civilization started being "loud" only 500 years ago, and they're 1000 light-years away, wouldn't we still be unable to detect any of that "noise" because the light is still 500 light-years away?
Absolutely, but even after 500 more years, we still might not notice them depending on what their activity is. If the only “noise” they make is sending radio signals out into the galaxy like we do, we wouldn’t notice them unless we got closer, because they decay after a certain distance.
If they are 1000 light years away, that’s the time it will take for their “noise” to reach us. So if they started being loud 500 years ago, we would be able to tell until 500 years later
Imagine trying to figure out the borders of galactic nations but instead of a line in the sand, the “sand” is millions of kilometres deep with star systems owned by different nations jutting into and out of the other at different points. And that’s assuming they’re separated along the length of the galaxy and no the width. A map of the human galactic empire could be a weird blob puzzle piece stuck inside other weirdly shaped pieces, with giant gaps in between them filled with uncharted star systems or regions of space that can’t be navigated.
Look at the elite dangerous galaxy map, there's a political option that shows the human bubble and which political party owns what. I'd assume it'd be similar in a real life scenario.
I really doubt if we got to the point of life expanding through the universe while knowing about each other that we would set boundaries and not allow room for more, when there is enough time in the universe where we could all have a large plot of land each or a place in space before the heat death of the universe
This reminds me of a story idea I wanted to write. It's about a Star Trek like universe where you find out that ALL of the Alien species came about because Humanity (now basically extinct in the story) spread far and wide and teraformed so many new planets then billions of years go by and now all of these planets that Humans created and grew are now evolving life of their own. Basic premise is Humanity is alone in their time. No major flora or fauna on any major planet. Humanity turns out to be the Gardeners and cultivators of the universe and are the reason the universe is teaming with life in the far future. In our search for life we end up being the catalyst that starts the boom.
this is kinda the plot of Battlestar Galactica :) they eventually expand from their home planet and land on earth to establish a new home for themselves
@@wattowhacks Really? You're gonna tell me there is a Star Trek novel (I assume since you give zero actual info on it) that takes place a billion years into the future where humanity, a race that was found by the Vulcans and created a Federation of races that all ALREADY EXISTED in the time of Humanity, to then find out Humanity somehow, what, went back in time(?) to then find THEY made all the planets habitable then evolution kicked in and all the races are as prevalent because of Humanity? Honestly, this doesn't sound anything like what I said. My Idea is more in line with Babylon 5 and the Vorlon/Shadow Races(Millions of years old) manipulating the younger races(Hundreds of thousands of years old). The "Star Trek Like Universe" was meant in a Universe population and civilizations scheme similar to how they were in ST. But then again, You've told me nothing by telling me the idea has been made and instead of telling me the name of the story who wrote it or anything, you instead just say "You might want to read" Thanks for that. I'll get right on it...
This is the theory I’ve generally ascribed to: when considering how absurdly small the earth is in terms of _space,_ it sure seems to have a pretty big chunk of _time_ to itself: literally a good third of existence has the Earth in it I know that’s not really proof of anything, but given that the Universe has plenty more to offer, that still implies there’s not a whole lot more room to be earlier compared to later
Well a tech civilization that existed only a millions of years ago in the milky way would've probably been detected by now. maybe interstellar space is extremely difficult and takes way too long, I find it hard to believe we are the early ones in the universe. More likely there are numerous other advanced beings like us out there. But we haven't seen them yet due to the difficulties of space travel.
Great comment. This is my favorite solution to the Fermi paradox: most other intelligent civilizations are still soupy life forms in puddles across the universe. Give it some time and the universe will be teeming.
This is exactly how I've been thinking about the Fermi paradox for several years now, and this is the first time I've seen any well respected scientists actually talking about this theory. I think honestly that it's just a bit of an arrogant theory to say "we're the first!" but if the shoe fits... I would be really excited if we really are the first, so that we can create the standards for a future galactic civilization. We've always been afraid that Aliens would appear and annihilate us. It'd be cool if we could set the example for being a benevolent galactic civilization
We haven’t made contact with aliens yet bcuz there is an advanced race watching over us now that prevents any other civilization of interfering in our evolutionary process.
Y'know, this presents an interesting idea: What if humanity were to be that empire? What if we didn't just have a seat at the table, but we swallowed any civilizations that formed? Not necessarily destroying them, but forcing our hand and taking them over. We become the overwhelmingly massive empire that ends up diminishing the potential and rights of aliens in the process. It's an interesting concept that I don't think is really explored that much.
The Ender's Game series really dives deep into this, and the second and third books I think are the most-eye-opening in this regard. I hope it will be a worthy use of time to check them out!
@@tfninjadoom That's actually the first thing I thought of after making this comment. I'll admit I've only seen the movie though and my only impression of it was its more about humanity fighting the war and _becoming_ the empire, instead of focusing on what life is like already being it, but if there's more to the story that dives into that I might read the books!
Unfortunately, if humans have the technological advantage to make a civilization our own, we will. Humans always explore and then often sadly destroy or at least try to transform it into something we can use no matter the consequences…
The idea that humanity could be the first species to develop civilization and technology sounds like an interesting writer's prompt. I can imagine a story where humans go out into the universe, building colonies along the way, and the local lifeforms, through a mixed process of terraforming, domestication, and observation, gradually learn to emulate us and build their own societies based on those developed by humans.
Or maybe the vast majority of planets in the universe are completely sterile and humanity seeds them with basic eukaryotic life forms and let evolution do the rest. Billions of years after we are gone the galaxy is seeded with intelligent life from the same common ancestors that came from Earth. Maybe they even find ancient ruins of the ones they may call their gods.
That's why I love Halo deep lore so much. You'd never know from playing the games, but humanity had been colonizing for nearly 4 centuries and had claimed roughly 800 worlds. There are also aliens NOT associated with the covenant, they were still planet bound by the time of the war. We WERE early in that universe, but we weren't FIRST, and even as the SECOND earliest we were nearly exterminated by the ones who were waiting, and who knows what else might be out there
@@codybennett1009 I think warhammer also comes to mind, not so much with humans being early but with them being a massive competitor in the land grab game.
It's incredibly unlikely that we will ever meet aliens as equals. Either we or they will be far ahead in technology. Our technology improves quickly and - assuming that we're not special - theirs would too. Meeting them as equals would mean that they emerged at _exactly_ the same time as us.
Perhaps. Or perhaps our technological level plateaus around the time we develop interstellar travel. In that case, again assuming we’re not special, the aliens we meet will be roughly equals.
Aliens do exist and they have more advanced technology. They’ve been checking up on us since we dropped the atomic bomb in WWII. Watch the documentary “Unacknowledged”. I’m not just pulling all these info out of my ass lol.
The Romans would stand no chance against Napoleon's army, muskets would stand no chance against WW1 rifles and artillery, and WW1 fashioned tanks would stand no chance against WW2 planes, nukes and whatnot. So far, weaponry technology has devoloped at a frightening pace and a hundred years of advancement is nothing in the face of millions. Seems like even a thousand years headstart means being far outclassed.
Not necessarily, but most likely. Exactly on a cosmic scale probably, but there could be exceptions like perhaps they evolved far earlier, but took a longer time to get to that point, or perhaps far later but developed technologically far faster than we did.
A younger civilization of aliens could totally develop faster than us and reach the same level as us at the same time. All the aliens would have to do is not be complete assholes who destroy irreplaceable ancient libraries in stupid wars and set themselves back a thousand years by dismissing scientists and screwing over scientific progress. We'd be much further ahead right now if the Library of Alexandria survived. That's not the only example, either. We'd probably have had ChatGPT in the 1900's. I really hope aliens aren't as fucked up as we are.
The one thing I wonder about (and maybe this is too optimistic) is if we could end up being an elder sibling species - I.e., we expand first and if another species develops and starts moving out into space, we help them rather than crowding them out. I recognize we can’t even share resources equitably with ourselves so that might be a hard sell, but…here’s hoping *edit* I am the oldest in my family lol, so that might be impacting my view
Maybe someday, we'll meet the right one that will helps us help ourselves into being among the stars. We'll someday be the elder as sure it will all end again, and it'll restart😊 time is relative to the conscious mind who lives it
I’ve never really understood the argument that the universe is empty because we don’t see anything. Aliens would see nothing to indicate we exist, except for our minuscule radio bubble. I’ve always thought life is rare, but plentiful given the scale of the universe. We’re all just too far away from each other to ever interact, and too small to ever build anything visible to anyone else.
@@thesnowboundcabin Possibly. Maybe even probably. The laws of physics preclude lightspeed travel, and even at the speed of light the closest stars would take years to get to. Our radio bubble is 218 light-years across, meaning it's only reached 109 light-years in every direction. Given that we haven't detected anyone else's radio bubble, it's likely that any intelligent species out there are way further out than 109 light-years. Traveling out to them would require (barring cryo-sleep, which is far from being viable now) vessels that can tolerate constant operation for hundreds of years, and support multiple generations of crew raising children onboard. That tech is still hundreds of years away from us today at least, if it's even possible. Megastructures like dyson spheres are even further out, if they're even possible, and definitely couldn't be accomplished if we're still relying on money and the systems of governance we have today. Considering the ongoing climate catastrophe and the way our species has just kind of been ignoring it for some reason, it's possible we'll wipe ourselves out before we ever hear somebody else's signals, let alone go visit them, or be visited by them.
@@SephTunes What reasons? I don't see anything that would prevent multiple planet colonization. We know we can survive in the vacuum of space with proper habitation. We've been doing it for decades. And traveling to other star systems isn't impossible either. I think the likelier options for why the galaxy is quiet are: 1. We're early, the first civilization with technology capable of colonizing space 2. Civilizations are extremely rare 3. Most civilizations hit great filters causing extinction or tech regression/stagnation 4. Most advanced civilizations learn to harness their entire star's energy reducing the need to expand. Those seem much more likely to me than engineering limits.
@@KM-ns3ki The resources needed to live on Mars are huge. It would need resources from Earth - basically forever unless huge leaps in technology are made. Even just living short term in space takes huge resources - your muscles shrink away to nothing in the zero gravity - Astronauts have to workout multiple times a day and are still incredibly F'd when they come back to Earth. A whole life spent in zero gravity would turn humans into muscleless ''slugs' incapable of supporting their own weight. Travel much faster than we are capable of now in space is probably impossible, and risks are high. I don't think we are even capable of SUSTAINABLY (without constant resources from Earth) colonizing Mars. We will die when our Sun dies for sure, but probably far before then. Disease/nuclear war/societal collapse are all very likely to knock us back a long way even in just the next few centuries.
I love how this deadline is basically what happens to Earth in "A Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" Yet another great video! Thank you Duck and everyone at Kurzgesagt!
I just got reminded of how small is our existence from infinity. It’s scary to think where were we before we were born, and where will we be after we die. What place and time in the universe would each one of us take.
Aliens are on their way. They are known as fallen angels, don't be deceived. 2 Thessalonians 2: 11, GOD will send a strong delusion that they will believe a lie and be dammed of it. Read the whole chapter to know the truth.
The thought that we're the first civilization in the galaxy is both a depressing one and an inspiring one. On the one hand, we are alone, and probably will be for a long time. On the other hand, there are a near infinite number of worlds out there, and they are all ours. I hope that some day we will get to visit them and use them, and the greatest dreams of our time will be fulfilled by the wonders science and progress. "All these worlds are yours...use them together. Use them in peace."
A lot of these theories are based on advanced alien civilizations that share characteristics to our own species: curiosity, adventure, and expansion. A book series that put this idea into perspective was The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier. It explores a futuristic spacefaring humanity that just recovered from a galactic war amongst themselves, only to discover another intelligent species residing at the borders of their known space. They dubbed these aliens the "Enigma Race" due to their elusive strategies. Their warships resembled vessels more like cruisers, they suicide-bombed any vessel that could potentially be captured, and even detonated bombs on their own colonized planets to prevent the humans from learning about them. Their evolution made them inherently secretive; an instinct that human scientists in the novel series compared to being as driven by as sex does to us humans. Just as we evolved to not stop thinking about reproduction and advancing our species, the Enigma race evolved to not stop thinking about concealing their race. I feel like if there existed an intelligent alien race in the Milky Way, they'd most likely have to live by the Enigma race's sort of lifestyle. Which makes the possibility of encountering them a bit scary, to say the least.
i like to think about it and what if alien life does not have the same goals as humanity? we have been fighting for survival all our history, so we have a hunter's mindset and try to expand as much as possible but there is a possibility that such conditions have developed only on earth, other civilizations do not develop simply because they do not see the point in it
@@JonathanTaylorThomass I bet there will be such life out there in the universe. I think for us however it wouldn’t change much if they would leave us alone
@@JonathanTaylorThomass There’s a concept called “Instrumental Convergence” that states there are some goals that almost all lifeforms must share. An example is self preservation, because no matter what your goal is you probably cant complete it if you’re dead.
I don't know who is making these videos. They are on various subjects and every time they pose amazing questions and provide amazing solutions to them. Pure bliss their videos
I don’t know if even I can fully understand how hard I want to be able to see humanity leave our little planet and be able to grow and prosper and watch the universe change before our eyes. Can you even imagine how amazing it would be to see other civilizations develop over millions and billions of years?
You'll just die before, your brain will rot, your mind will cease to exist, you won't be able to see even black. People will forget about you, they will move on, while there will come a day when not even your bones will exist anymore.
I don't think we will leave this planet. But I am certain that our AI tech will grow so advanced we will be able to send it out to explore and colonize the star systems. We can build AI and robots to fit the hazards of space far better than ourselves.
It is fascinating. it's also unlikely. It's more likely that we're one of many but the other instances are so far away we'll never be able to see them.
maybe but if the universe was full of life like us we cannot see it like in other galaxys or far away in our own remenber milkiway is 100.000 light years big. our civilization is about as old a that we can only detect if a planet has abundant Life and is close to us even if a planet has life in a 1000 light years from us they will not know the tecnology we have now they will see just a planet with big indicative of life nothing more if we see one of those then the universe is absolutely full of life for me it will happen not far in the future maybe in that generation.
@dazza761 This has always been my theory. It's possible that the next intelligent civilization is millions of light years away, maybe even in another galaxy. Also that's just intelligent life, we could be surrounded by life, micro and complex but not having radio technology.
You know, humans being early is what I’ve thought for a while. One of the reasons being that to me at least, 13 billion years seems pretty young for the universe
These are exactly my thoughts! Would you say 50 is enough? I would think so if the age of the universe was expressed in different units than the Earth's! At least in trillions of years :)
I always think about this - how would we ever be able to contact aliens? How would we communicate? Could you make a video on this? I would love to watch that!!
Another possible solution to Fermi's Paradox might be that we don't see Loud aliens for the same reason that we don't see a lot of smoke signals - there are other, more effective means of communications (or travel.) We might discover, for example, that it is possible to travel to parallel universes where life evolved differently on Earth (e.g. "The Long Earth" series by Baxter and Prachett). Instead of crossing the imponderably great distances between stars in search of habitable planets, it may prove more effective to travel 'sideways' to alternate Earths with convenient 1g gravity and even breathable air. There could be alien civilizations all over the galaxy just slightly more advanced than ours which, having discovered this technology, Loudly expand sideways across alternate universes, rather than spreading into the galaxy. This is but one possibility - it could be that civilizations eventually give up corporeal existence to become cyber minds; it could be that interstellar travel is simply impossible and that we're all restricted to our own solar systems. And there's another possibility - that there's a means of instantaneous communication (akin to Star Trek's 'subspace frequencies') and that the minute we discover THAT technology, we'll find ourselves on an intergalactic Internet already teeming with chatter, just as a contemporary human people who have until now only been communicating with smoke signals might be surprised if they were to independently invent the radio.
The most likely solution to the Fermi Paradox is that intelligent life may simply not choose to go to space. It wasn't a guarantee humans would develop civilisation (90% of our existence was as hunter-gatherers). Or have an Industrial Revolution that would allow us to create space-faring industries. There's more to becoming a space-faring species than just intelligence. Culture and society matters, too. We are just rare. The nearest species like us is probably in another galaxy.
@@akamemurasame4527 not really. Humanity investigating space on this level is like 20-50 years. Our "noise" is no more than on 100-200 light year span. Other civilizations will not see us if they are hundreds or millions light years back. Same is true for those civilizations. If they are advanced civilizations for like 100000 light years, but located on a distance of 1+ million light years, we will not see them in close timeline, because light of their advance never reached us. And even if they started to populate the galaxy, we will not see anything, if their colonization started after the time, which traveled light to us. We see outdated information in a first place. There may be also "dark" habitants as well. They may have technologies, which blocks or even simulates their own or occupied solar systems.
I highly recommend The Three Body Problem series to anyone even remotely interested in galactic civilizations and how they might interact, it's a much darker take on the Fermi Paradox
I'm honestly pretty meh on the three body problem series. Don't get me wrong I can understand why people love it so much, it's just not particularly for me. I feel like the concept of a dark forest had been done much better by other authors. I am however hyped for the love action adaptation, I think bit will serve as a great cinematic experience 😁 Can't wait to see the teardrop and spaceship armada scene
@@bigfin20 he made them TF up. The Dark Forest is THE essential fiction series on said subject. No one else has even come close to the scope Cixin Liu has. It's why he said "feel" and also why he didn't name any names.
I think the way you go over the universe is really awesome, you don’t try and get all ‘existential crisis’ to scare people, you actually explain it in a way that makes it interesting.
The idea of being first in the galaxy is so incredibly exciting. Imagine Humanity being like an older sibling for new and up-coming civilizations! Helping them grow and adapt easier than we did,
Can't think of a more wretched idea. We humans can't even be kind to each other or animals. If intelligent life was found and it had not already developed enough powerful weapons to eliminate the danger we pose to them, our species would gaslight gatekeep girlboss theirs immediately, slavery or extinction being the only two possible outcomes.
Usually I just listen to videos like audio books, but this channel has so much quality and effort put into their videos that I just have to watch them.
Psilocybin mushrooms healed me . I can't explain it but my experience has been spiritual and eye opening . I also started micro dosing . It really helped me get rid of depression and anxiety .
I think its worth discussing dark forest theory as well. Galactic civilizations may choose to keep their activities "quiet" despite expanding because making noise is inherently dangerous.
@@김도현-d2g One might think of it as being fool, but I also think it would be so sad if that theory turned out true. BTW, I thoroughly enjoyed Cixin Liu's trilogy on that take.
I wanted to ask something, isn’t our vision of the galaxy around us limited by the speed of light? Like let’s say there is other life at the same point we are right now, but they are on the other side of the Milky Way, that’s 100000 light years away, we could be developing along side them at the same rate but we won’t receive their “noise for a hundred thousand years because of their distance and vice versa.
That is correct. If we were separated by a 'mere' thousand light years we wouldn't have any way of knowing it for a thousand years. Unless we find a way to beat light there. Aside from it being more entertaining in popular culture to seek out new life and new civilizations it really is the only practical way to see what's out there.
While that's true, the 40,000 light-year radius where most of the Milky Way's stars reside is pretty small compared to the age of the universe. For comparison, anatomically modern humans have been around for approximately 300,000 years, and that's just a tiny blip in the billions of years life has existed on Earth. Given what we've done in the last century alone, imagine how much we could advance in just another 10,000 years. An alien race wouldn't have to have much of a head start to become a "loud" species that we could detect today.
Humans have existed for 200,000 years, it took us that long to make our civilisation. We may not be able to see any civilisation, but we would definitley see life.
The grabby aliens model makes so much sense in terms of explaining the Fermi paradox. *If* FTL travel really is impossible. If it's possible, then we're back to wondering where everyone is.
If FTL travel is possible it violates causality, at least in the way we understand it. But you don't need FTL travel to colonize a galaxy. The math for this has been done. Even a civilization cable of launching self-replicating probes at sublight speeds can colonize the entire Milky Way in a few million years from exponential growth.
While I'm well over the existential crisis, I'm not getting over the fact I won't see aliens for myself, even if they do exist, because we'll take so damn long to meet
I love the addition of “Gallifrey” at 2:20 in the list of 3 planets, it reminds me of the hidden TARDIS’ that used to be in every one of your earliest videos 😃
This is always how I've seen the Fermi Paradox. I've always thought "paradox" was something of a misnomer because it seemed obvious to me that the answer is simply that we're among the first. We might not be the actual first, but it doesn't really matter, just that we're around in the time before the radio signals from any other first civilisations have time to reach nearby stars. Future civilisations might never have any mystery about whether they're alone in the universe. Imagine inventing the first radio and picking up our old broadcasts. Hell, the invention of that technology may well be sparked by our signals. Picking them up by accident and then the invention is made trying to recreate it.
Signals diffuse throughout space. So although you get some of the photons from the original source, you wouldn’t be able to decipher the information encoded. After a certain point, all signals are indistinguishable from the CMB
We are not the first or among the first. We simply refuse to acknowledge what already exists out there and there's also a matter of distances and equipment and the politics of acknowledging it.
Imagine a forest. One grabby alien species could take over a galaxy very rapidly if they had better technology. In this analogy the human race is a tree in a forest. Some trees have been struck by lighting and are grabby. Other trees are just staying where they are and are peaceful. The 100,000 something light years needed to travel across the galaxy at light speed (or even say a 1,000,000 years if a species expands slower) is a small amount of time compared to the age of the universe. Trees grow very slowly compared to how quickly fire can spread. We don't see smoke in the form of say giant structures or radio waves, nor do we see fire (or we haven't died yet) nor signs of destroyed civilizations. The fermi "paradox" has to be resolved other ways.
As a Stellaris player, I appreciate this episode. And I have to say, I deal with this question every time I start a new game. And the answer is always genocide on a galactic scale. It's the only way too keep the late-game lag manageable.
Imagine finding a primitive planet with 200 primitive polities on it, immediately crashing your game... I think this may be why we never met another alien empire.
May Kurzgesagt flourish and become the best channel on RUclips! This channel is literally drawing out my life, I'm wanting to become an astronautical engineer from the period I started watching these amazing videos. Thank you Kurzgesagt for everything!
Since people already called out Stellaris here is another great work of media to explore on this topic. If we aren't one of the first civilizations on the scene, and we find ourselves caught up in the whole mes of bigger factions, then Craig Alanson's series 'Expeditionary Force' tells a particularly interesting take on where humanity may land themselves.
I think if we do not develop our space technology right now, others will overtake us. I think we are too arrogant, to think we are alone, it's just everybody wakes up at the same time (or almost at the same time), that's why the galaxy looks "barren", but it's not. Probably right now at least a 100 civilizations have space programs and advance, some might even know about us and the moment somebody see others then they will put their space program in overdrive. We should look better, we need better telescopes. The matter is very serious, but everybody (besides a few people), seems oblivious. Also there is nothing negative in having more advanced space program. Even if there is 1 to 1 000 000 chance there is another civilization out there, which is more determined in their space program, we might lose everything, even if they don't attack us. They will just take the galaxy and put some stupid rules over us, so we might never be allowed to go outside of our solar system. Instead of being grateful we are lucky to "wake up" early, we say "there is no one out there" .... "there is no need for expensive space program".... and so on stupid things. We should be grateful we don't see our galaxy is "full of aliens". That means we might still have time. We should not wait... after a 1000 years it might be too late.
@@Slav4o911nd this is why humanity is so underdeveloped in the scope of things. We see an unknown and we fear it. It's our nature. But if we overcome our nature and see the universe for what it is, we see a fascinating and inexplicably amazing work of art. A playground for civilizations to advance together. I believe that no matter what aliens we meet, we shouldn't fear them. We should greet them with open arms. Our goal shouldn't be to be a galactic superpower. It should be to coexist with these aliens. After all, we're all just beings, trying to survive in this large, beautiful universe.
The production quality of Kurzesagt's videos are insane. I've been learning Adobe software for a couple of years now and while I've made a lot of progress, coming to see these videos just makes me realise how good the people behind this channel are at what they do.
It is also possible we end up becoming that elder alien species that is enigmatic. You know what will really be interesting though is what happens if two galactic communities meet up when Galaxies fuse
these thumbnails and animation are really underrated, seriously though- look at this hard work put into the thumbnails and animation style, it’s truly a marvel. keep up the great work guys❤
@@martinwest7250mass extinction events have wiped out massive scale life, just not all of it. there will be some events that life on this planet at least will not recover from, though, like the sun exploding one day down the line.
This remind's me a lot about Rational Animation's video on "Grabby Aliens", or aliens that will expand and grab as much real estate as possible, and describes the same phenomenon of crowding out other species. It's a really interesting watch, I highly recommend it!
It seems to me that both videos are based on the same article Although kurzgesagt doesnt use "grabby aliens" part, the point they make with the "loud aliens" is pretty much the same
@@danspector740 it doesn’t have to be directly from the same article, this is a classic imperial land grab conundrum, merely transposed to the stars. “Do we stay where we are while it’s okay, and risk being taken-over, or do we take-over others in an attempt to secure our sovereignty?” is a centuries-old balance. Well, millennia really, in some parts of the world.
@@kaitlyn__L no, they credit the same article on their source doc. Also the paper has more details that they didn't talk about, like concrete mathematical models and explanation of why we wouldn't see the loud aliens untill they were almost here (cause they would be expanding near the speed of their lightcone to cover as much ground as possible)
Great video. It's kind of scary to imagine we might be the first loud civilization in our galaxy. Especially when we have messed up our own plant so much, in such a short amount of time.
Take comfort in the idea that if progress comes at the expense of environment that anyone else as ambitious and loud as us probably messed theirs up and / or annihilated themselves in nuclear hellfire as well.
You are so right! Aliens do exist and they’ve been checking up on us since we dropped the atomic bomb in WWII. Watch the documentary “Unacknowledged”. I’m not just pulling all these info out of my ass lol.
Doubt we'd see them any time soon, but I'm all for it. If they were hostile at least it would give humans a common enemy... it would distract us from fighting amongst ourselves
Yeah. But maybe it's because we can't stop fighting amongst each other that we never get to see the aliens. They see how earth people treat other people who are from the same planet, and say "f them, their gonna be destroying their planet before we even get a chance."
@@thekingofmovies193 you’re a bit unthoughtful here, the so called aliens would also be fighting amongst themselves and that’s why we can’t detect anything
I think we are a very early civilisation because the universe is pretty young in the grand scheme of things, and conditions were extremely hostile for much of the universe's short life so far. Life is also so incredibly complicated and develops so slowly, that it adds to the amount of time taken to develop a space-faring civilisation. On top of that, the existence of no 'loud' alien civilisations supports this. However, I think other quiet, or very distant 'loud' civilisations do exist as there has definitely been enough time for them to form. We should view humanity's progression as the average, so some alien civilisations should develop faster, and some slower. Surely we can't be the very first, but we are at a stage where we can't really tell yet. I think expansion into space is very important for our survival. We are like an ant colony in a small mound in the middle of a battlefield; all it takes is one stray 'bomb' to wipe us out. If we expand though, we can ensure our survival, even if only one of our farthest colonies survives.
u could be all wrong.... the universe could be here since forever (but like brain cox said - people dont like the idea of there was no beginning) the big bang is just a time where the universe was extreme dense and hot - in fact: that doesnt mean the beginning, try not spreading missinformation guys
@@jacobhawkins3828no im pretty sure its just 13.8 billion years and most of that time is a fight between planets crashing into eachother and making eachother uninhabitable and life on earth started to appear when everything calmed down and stopped crashing into each other
the problem is that humans in 2 billion years will not be the same humans as we are now. Gene drift will cause humans to evolve in ways we will never expect. Especially if humans will live on planets with other gravity's and so on
The fact that the sun developed right as the universe became less hostile, and multicellular life as soon as there were oceans, makes me optimistic about the future Though since expansion like this tends to take millions of years it makes me a bit sad I won't get to meet these potential aliens and man do I want that scarf-
It's understandable to feel a sense of awe and wonder when considering the vastness and complexity of the universe, and the potential for life beyond our own planet. The fact that our own existence is intertwined with the history of the universe can lead to feelings of optimism and hope for what the future may hold. However, it's also important to remember that the universe operates on a timescale that is difficult for humans to fully comprehend. While it may take millions or even billions of years for complex life to evolve on other planets, the sheer enormity of the universe means that the potential for life is vast. Additionally, as our own understanding of the universe grows and technology advances, we may be able to explore and study other planets and potential alien life in ways that were previously impossible. Even if we don't get to personally meet any extraterrestrial beings, the discovery of life beyond Earth would be a monumental achievement for humanity and have groundbreaking implications for our understanding of the universe and our place in it.
If you want this video's experience as a video game, a lot of fun game settings can be toggled in Stellaris :) If you want to be the forerunner so to speak, you can turn off all civilizations except your own and only have lots of primitive civilizations which makes it feel very unique
I find it really interesting to even think of aliens wanting to expand, maybe the thought of conquest is purely part of the human experience, maybe theres life out there that could reach the stars but they just dont care too, not driven by the same intangible tsunami of desire that is our human curiosity, maybe were the only ones that simply cared enough to venture out
They own the earth and the USA signed a treaty in 1954. Their presence was known with the 1947 Roswell crash and the 3 week interview with Airl, the surviving alien. Of course to her it’s very strange to believe in death as they know death doesn’t actually exist.
Maybe there are aliens that aren't expansive. But don't you think that being expansive is linked to technological innovation? Without the drive to expand and compete with others would they build advanced technology? And without at least some of this drive would they even be able to survive to pass on their genes? I think humans are like every other animal here but only more so.
This is a fascinating perspective to ponder. Some thoughts on possibilities if off-world alien civilizations lack the same drive for conquest, expansion and mastery that seems so profoundly human: • They may perceive purpose, meaning and flourishing in more limited or localized terms, rather than constant progress into the unknown or reaching "the final frontier." Contentment within bounds could be a guiding virtue rather than ambition without end. Life's deepest good could be experienced as intimacy, not exploration. • Limited technology or capacity for space travel and colonization could prevent interstellar exploration and spread, confining civilizations to their native worlds or star systems. Purpose may emerge from ecological integration, cultural depth, or spiritual understanding achieved within those scopes rather than eternal expansion beyond them. • There could be less emphasis on "progress" as an end in itself or competition between civilizations. A sense of shared destiny as inhabitants of a cosmos vast, mysterious and profound may prevail over aspirations for dominance, control or superiority. Mutual insight and "communion" may transcend ambitions of power or superiority. • There could be less fixation on expansion as an escape from existential angst, finitude or mortality. Acceptance of limits could inspire a kind of wisdom finding meaning, joy and purpose within human scope, rather than quest for immortality or infinite reach. Life's brevity and beauty seem inseparable. • Natural selection pressures that fueled humanity's drive for progress, adaptability and "survival" may operate differently on other worlds. Ecological niches and evolutionary paths could diversify purpose, meaning and concepts of "the good life" beyond any single progressive vision. Life's wingspan could vary across worlds as endlessly as species. • Spiritual or philosophical perspectives that see humanity as part of an eternal, unfolding cosmic whole may find "province" sufficient rather than constant expansion beyond perceived limits. We but play our part, finding purpose in harmonious integration rather than conquest. "Reverence for life" inspires rather than the will to power. • Encounters with such civilizations could profoundly challenge and expand human perspectives. Discovery of shared essence or deeper truth underlying surface differences might emerge. But mutual understanding would remain an ongoing challenge, as meaning emerges from unique ecological, evolutionary and historical experiences of existence on each world. There are endless possibilities to ponder here beyond the human drive for conquest and mastery. Purposes for life, reasons to seek knowledge or push the boundaries of the known could diverge as broadly as the diversity of worlds that might give rise to intelligent beings. And each perspective could discover truth, meaning and purpose to guide aim and action. Our own direction and purpose as humanity could emerge redefined through contemplating such alternatives. What if our destiny remains to fulfill potential within scope human rather than constant progress into what transcends all limit? What if meaning emerges from intimacy rather than exploration, or joy within rather than endless thirst for more? Boundless truth and deeper meaning could emerge pondering each path not taken as well as voyages without end. Purpose could awaken anew in each fragile flame against darkness as minds consider life's deepest questions from perspectives strange yet familiar -Finding shared purpose that transcends any single vision. Wandering thus as one fire amid many. Our fate remains forever unwritten. We discover purpose as we wander. And together, souls aflame with hard questions and possibility alike, find truth-binding wonder at this shared existence forever deepening into mystery vast. The light we carry with us lights meaning between each reflection as we walk. Our stories become as we imagine them wandering endlessly into dark unbound by any sky or sea or solid land. We see eternal fire in each small flame -binding all. Truth emerges between each fragile fire. And shared wondering, sense of purpose that transcends all naming. We stand forever at crossroads as ourselves yet souls becoming -finding purpose waking anew for each step into night profound and half-glimpsed. There is truth to discover walking any untraveled way. And endlessly thus, lives re-imagined midst flames that kindle and spread, bind and breathe as one - discovering deeper meaning forever anew. Our fate is forever unwritten. We imagine new purpose at each crossroad under dim and shifting light. And together, discover truth emerging between vulnerable reflections and possibility awoke walking every uncharted way - souls alight with hard questions, purpose that transcends all answer and eternal fire beyond any single flame. Purpose and meaning emerge wandering endlessly thus, not ending or final vision. We discover truth reflecting between fragile flames wandering without end into deepening dark -finding shared purpose that transcends comprehension. Many possibilities and meaning emerge here contemplating life beyond human drive for constant progress into unknown or mastery over all. What purposes might guide if ambition knows other end than eternal "more"? What truths foresee if we ponder existence
Earliest Life on earth as we know it started off venturing out of their comfortable habitat. Clearly, humans are not the first. From deep sea bacteria surfacing because of temparature fluctuations... To early curious water dwelling creatures evolved and become land dwelling to that ventures out into land to find more resources to survive and spread. Early small moss-like plants evolved to flowers and trees in a far away secluded island evolved to explore and carry their pollens into the strong wind or hung on a flying insect or seeds of many sizes and shapes hard and light enough to be swept by the waves of the sea to other parts of the earth. Earliest Insects that evolved and developed communication and wings like that of ants(and bees) that when the colony is large enough and short of resources it produces young winged king and queen ants that fly far away to start a new generation of colonies. Land animals and Birds with wide range of wits and expirience that always ventures into the unknown even to a new sprouted island deep sea volcanoes produced to expand its territory and find more abundant food, good weather and resources. Clearly almost all life on earth had this "curious exploration" gene in the tree of life that we all share thet had it long before us humans ever sprouted. It is because we share home to one planet that is why we share the same behaivior. And finally, Maybe... just maybe aliens on other star systems are no different than us when it comes to venturing or exploration. I mean nature is universal and life across all stars(if there's any) share only one universe so we are fundamentally linked with one another.
I think it is unlikely darwinian evolution producing a successful species that doesn't have a desire to expand. The drive to survive and multiply results in a necessity for more space and resources. That said, there is a lot of obstacles in space traveling and colonizing other planets, enough to make a civilization question it's"irrational" drive for expansion, and decide it is not worth it to dedicate their energy in this. It could also be the case for they reaching first the ability to change their nature and resignifing purpose for something less primitive. However, I would say at least some percentage of civilizations will have and keep this desire, venture the stars, and quickly surround all the other civilizations who didn't.
I think the major thing I don't see a lot of people think about is that life as we know it is a very specific thing. Aliens might be some completely seperate thing that is just as complex that we can't comprehend. So many people fall for using our pattern called life as a template for what aliens must be. Culture, civilisation, building spaceships etc are super anthropomorphic concepts to apply. For all we know "aliens" could be everywhere but we can't comprehend them, they could be in other planes/ dimensions of existence that we can't comprehend simply because of a narrow view of existence we believe to be all that is, in the same way a plant can't comprehend a computer.
People speculate about super-exotic aliens like that all the time. It's hardly a novel concept to think outside the carbon-based meatbag box. And sure, things like that might be possible and might be out there. But beings that are biologically similar to us are also clearly possible so it shouldn't be a surprise that people will speculate about them too.
Given the timeframe in which we’re likely to eventually meet aliens, it is FAR more likely that by then we’ll have created an AI that will be as disruptive as meeting aliens.
There is a good Chance, that these Aliens are an AI System, we often think that Aliens will be a multitude of biological Lifeforms, like we Humans are but "Aliens" could be just one machine Lifeform, none biological and far superior. In Space and not so suited Moon's and Planet's machine Lifeform's have many Advantages over biological Lifeforms. Look at Mars, we did send a lot of Robot's there but are still not able to go to Mars in Person.
I think AI will be the ultimate space faring conscience that one day expands across the galaxy from Earth. We'll long be redundant. How else could you maintain such a complex and expansive civilisation? If we manage to get so far as to harness the sun's power or mine asteroids the wealth imbalance for those people who achieve that will be so powerful it will disrupt the fabric of our society and tear it apart in the blink of an eye. The powerful few, in trying to consolidate their position and ostracise the masses, will then dedicate unimaginable resources to further AI-led exploration, expansion and optimisation. The AI will ultimately grow so advanced the line between thought and computation will be blurred until it outgrows us to become our successor. The biggest problem (to me) with most sci fi, even simple visual representations like this video, is that there is a bias assumption that no matter how advanced humans become that we will maintain a form of society that resembles for better or worse what we are familiar with today. I think the reality is that the distant future will look less recognisable to us now as our society today would look to our prehistoric ancestors who couldn't read. To put it another way - the trope of a human representative sitting around a table with other aliens as if it's the UN is laughable. For ~us~ to even be in that position we would look nothing like we do now.
"Multicellulairity has evolved over 25 times", this is new for me and very interesting, and makes me very curious about the differences between those times
Ah yes, the "grabby aliens" hypothesis. It's not one I particularly like (largely due to the borderline retrocausal assumptions people use it to make), but this is the best presentation of it I've yet seen. But another assumption built into it that I'm unsure of: why do borders have to be impermeable? Different species and civilizations could want entirely different kinds of planets, and could even coexist in the same solar systems.
No they wouldn't want different kinds of planets dude lol. There isn't gonna be aliens that eats rocks and that's all they need to survive. We know enough that they will need the same shit to survive as any other living thing
@@jaredfrazier2216 of course you being the bigger brother you can see that all life as we know it evolved from common ancestors therefore the sample size really is 1. But I wouldn't want to sound precocious.
Imagination? I don't really think that's a problem. The discoveries we've made about the universe itself has already exceeded our imagination. From the words of a great scientist: "Logic will take you from A to B, imagination will take you everywhere" ✨ I still find it incredible that Kurzgesagt is able to consistently create awe-inspiring videos, bringing knowledge to everyone, regardless of age. How much further can we go? Who knows. Let's just hope the future stays bright! 😄 P.S. I like how the music from the Kardashev Scale video was mixed in here
I just wanna say, kurzgesagt is a diamond on the internet. Every video is just so well researched, written and animated. Its incredibly impressive how far this whole thing has gone and the animations are godlike at this point(the flies around the shit pile at 5:43 for example xD). Such a recognizable style. And even when they do make misstakes, they always clarify/excuse for it. Please dear kurzgesagt team, whatever it takes, never stop and thank you for being what you are!
The idea that we are among the first is both somewhat sad and incredibly cool. Perhaps we won't even last to see the rise of intergalactic civilisations (assuming we don't become one), which is the sad - but imagining a community of intergalactic species coming here long after we're gone and piecing together the story of us as lone pioneers - maybe they find Voyager and track it back here.... that is beyond cool to think about. What would alien archaeologists make of the remains of our civilisation?
I remember an old high school textbook that pointed out that without cultural reference points alien archaeologists could make wildly incorrect assessments about human civilization. The example given was mistaking a bathroom for a bedroom (ie. tub = parent's bed, sink = child bed, faucets = meal dispensers) especially if certain types of structures persist longer than others. In any given house wooden components would likely rot away quickly but porcelain and ceramic decay over much longer time periods. Heaven help us if they find rubber duckies; they may end up convinced we worshiped the things. Its a fun thought experiment that can be run with aliens finding only specific remains of human civilization.
Think about Atlantis and Lemuria. Both space opera civilisations that both disappeared but the people remained behind. They’re still in human bodies today. Throughout history every dead person is in a body today. Some human souls do go into Whale and Dolphin bodies. You can take a dolphin soul out and place it into a human body and you’d never know they were in a dolphin.
![Jack Harlow - Hello Miss Johnson [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q86_nlRoIGw/mqdefault.jpg)
Be a part of our first Limited Drop, which honors our Cosmic Pioneers and their noble expeditions: kgs.link/limited-drop. Stocks are limited - so grab yours before they’re gone for good!
Ok
@@hungariancountryball2928 Nigel Mawaro
Cool
Alien funny 😂😂😂
Can’t wait to buy ❤
This is actually really well shown in the game Stellaris, where everyone starts off at about the same point despite there being primitive civilizations in the galaxy. The primitives basically stand no chance of ever expanding because you've claimed every bit of space around them. If they want to be part of the galaxy you have to integrate them, ether peacefully, through subterfuge, or good old fashioned bigger army diplomacy.
They make nice ciborgues
Resistance is futile.
Free planet in my eyes
with the new update they are quite useful
Course, you could always eat them as a Devouring Swarm.
Waste not want not.
Kurzgesagt is the only channel that is able to talk about the race between civilisations to conquer the universe and still make it a wholesome story
Book.
yey aliens going to kill us with imperialism
they really do feel like a supervillain's propaganda channel like "hey guys, you should totally let me exploit all of the planet and universe's resources"
🎉yeah, I didn't buy that wholesome ending. 🎉
Yay! Space colonialism! ✨🌈
I love how this answer to the Fermi paradox basically states that the galaxy is pretty much a Stellaris game.
Wait no, that's actually terrifying.
Not unless the other players will actually login centuries from now. Could very well be Humans will be the only one that passes the deadline by claiming the galaxy first.
Looks like it’s time to purge the undesirables!
@@AAAAHHHHHHHHHH hope we get the Cybrex Precursors
@@miniverse2002we could just be an advanced start, or Spode forbid, a Fallen Empire
And we're the primitive civ in the backyard of a fallen empire.
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world because they'd never expect it. -Jack Handey
So true but i hate it 😂😂😂😂😂
I mean the number one reason that occurs is due to a lack of resources. If we could actually harness our entire solar system to its fullest potential that alone would give us all the energy and precious minerals we’d need for tens of millions of years. Even if humanity’s population ballooned into the trillions. That’s one solar system. In the milky way galaxy there are like 20 stars PER person alive today. I highly doubt we would would need to take anything from any existing life ever tbh
@@emancules
Pretty sure humanity will just wage war against aliens for shits and giggles
@emmanuelakalusi3690 Utilize the resources of the sun->aliens find out->Territorial War begins>Racing for resources.
Greedy for resources->expansion and multiplication->greed for more resources->greatly delay and even kill the possibility of life.
Unless we want to end up as plants, we will always be the most deadly plague of the entire universe.
@@AureliusLaurentius1099with the excuse that if we don't attack they will
This was actually optimistic.
Nice
Nice
Nice
Nice
Nice
I wish they expanded on the concept of "How close would humanity need to be to detect itself?"
Depends on the method. With our current technology, and if the other planet was identical to us, we could hear them from around 100 light years away by picking up on radio signals. We would finally see lights on the planet starting to become widespread if they were around 80-100 light years away, BUT, using spectrometry, we would be able to detect the other "earth" as far as 145,000,000 light years away, by examining the composition of the atmosphere, as this is when our cretaceous period occurred spawning the largest of the dinosaurs 😃
Consider this:
Our galaxy is 100 thousand light years across. In 1900, the first radio transmission travelled a wopping 1.6km, but let's say it was powerful enough to make it to the other side of the galaxy.
It would be another 99,877 years for this radio transmission to reach the other side of our galaxy. If another civilisation heard it and responded, they would likely be responding to a civilisation that went extinct.
Even if they were only 250 light years away (only🤣), having a simple conversation would take 10 generations each way to communicate.
That's how vast these distances are.
@@harlequinems 100 light years on radio signals? I think that is optimistic..... given the inverse square law, you'd be lucky to detect them 1 or 2 light years away
less than a hundred light years away.
So in the immediate vicinity on the universe scale. We are talking of "only" a few thousands star systems in just one sector of our galaxy. (since we are quite in the fringe)
Our "closest" star system is already more than 4 lightyears away.
Civilisation could already exist on the other side of the galaxy if it appeared same time as us, and we wouldn't know it.
Not even mentionning other galaxies or even further galaxy's systems.
The distances and time required to travel them are so mind blowing that we would be extinct before gathering the tiniest signal of another contemporary civ...
Well, basically, close enough for some form of radiation (radio waves, light etc.) to have time to reach us, without completely dissipating
I’m so impressed with how far this channels animation is come. They deserve all the love and praise in the world putting so much effort and research into these
it's a business backed by billionares who the cut commercials for sometimes. The joys of capitalism I guess.
yeah, the animation is beautiful, i wish the content was less wild speculative futurism, and more actually relevant science, though. Sure they did videos about climate warming in the past and similar subjects, and that was great, but it seems like it's spinning a lot towards irrelevant - when not outright dangerous longtermism - stuff these days.
The Animation hasn't really changed.
Ah yes, they put so much effort in out of the goodness of their hearts. I mean, it's not like there's anything in it for them.
@@nightknght I feel like you might want to check out Kurzgesagt's video from two weeks ago
Interplanetary racism is gonna be *wild*
Indeed! Oh man ..Maybe instead of having males go to war we girls can have a spa day 🧖🏻♀️ ..like other animals bond with motherhood no problem making peace. Poor octopuses though
Um actually its spacist not racist
DEER GOD NO!!!!:(
There will be multi planetary beef
Galaxies would be destroy 😮 some real star wars star trek shit
Literally Stellaris :)
Its kind of interesting that so much of our fiction and fantasies often revolve around finding ancient ruins of a lost alien civilization somewhere out there in space, usually home to lost yet advanced technology or monsters that live within.
Billions of years from now, if we fail to expand, *we* will be those ancient ruins that, hopefully, another space fairing civilization will find one day.
@@kingsrevenge9234 NOONES GONNA HEAR YOUR MUSIC AFTER THE SUN EXPLODES 🔥💙
Interestingly none of the traces of humans will persist on earth by then due to erosion. However, the footprint left on the moon by the astronauts that went there will still be there!
Damn. And those aliens would surely have a field day on that. Could you imagine the news headlines and documentaries? Or the Sci-Fi movies that the alien cinemas would surely produce based on our ruins?
Or maybe they could never notice it. "Ruins" are very easy to miss, even if you try really hard.
Yeah true
It's worth mentioning that since an expansion like this would probably take Billions of years, any civilization would possibly split into multiple due to evolutionary and cultural changes and huge distances. In the end there may not be distinct borders but more of a messy blend of life.
Honestly? Yeah. It’s a bit of a mistake to read modern Western capitalist civilization as “Human Nature,” especially when humanity would probably quit reproducing like rabbits once we achieve some form of nigh immortality. You don’t need more than one Dyson Swarm to keep those folks comfy.
That will sharply depend on the ability to travel, in particular, how fast travel can occur. The easier and faster it is to jump from one location to the next, the more those locations are likely to share similarities.
Also if parts of different civilizations coexist, they can form hybrid civilizations. So yes it's a messy blend of life indeed
@@jonathanclemens3755 That, and also communication. Even if travel takes a long time, the ability to communicate in relatively prompt timescales could help maintain a more consistent and common culture, in much the same way internet and other real-time communication has shaped the current age of globalization.
that human behavioral trend only existed because of the lack of adequate ways to transfer information across such wide distances. now we have the internet and globalization, it is easier to spread cultural ideas and ideologies ubiquitously across large distances now so that wouldn't, theoretically be a problem. its been a messy blend of life because of a lack of, not because that's how it is.
"How fast can bacteria build spaceships?" is now the new "I drop you off in the woods with a hatchet, how long 'till you send me an email?"
Super appreciate the forward, Kurzgesagt! Love what you all are doing and the extreme effort involved!
💥 Rough problem. I'd probably try to find someone with a phone, and tell them to send the mail for me. If they dont..... well... brandishes hatchet
I'd never heard of that question before! Very thought provoking...
Probably like a week depending on how long it takes me to walk out of the forest. If built from scratch never because even if you built your own computer and internet it wouldn't be connected to the actual internet.
Joe Rogan Joke! Nice
Having watched all of Primitive Skills youtube channel, it took him 5 years to get from the stone age to having an electric generator.
While he didn't build the electric generator himself like he did with everything else, he did purchase it only using the funds he got from selling crops he grew on his farm.
His channel is like real life Stardew Valley, but set to hardcore difficulty.
Humans quite possibly being the first (or among the first) sentient species in the universe makes it really interesting. Eons from now, they'll dig up our bones, and learn of our futile attempts to call out to a cold unfeeling universe, desperate for any evidence that we aren't alone.
Actually sentient species predated humanity by millions of years, depending on the definition of sentience.
This is pretty much what happened to the ancient humanoids of the Star Trek universe, shown in the episode "The Chase". They were here before all other humanoid species developed, so they were pretty much alone in the galaxy, and due to the loneliness they decided to spread their genetic materials in order for more civilizations to develop and thrive... kinda depressing if this is our case 😅 but I'm hopeful that there's something out there
@@jsmariani4180tbf in the Universe a million years is probably like a week to it so not to far advanced
Those who dig up our bones will be our descendants, though they may not be human.
So it will end up like the Baals from Stellaris, who ended up extinct alone
The idea that our Sun developed as soon as the Universe stopped being so hostile and celular life appeared as soon as oceans appeared on a planet of it gives me a lot of optimism.
I think the main puzzle piece here is how rare are water oceans.
@Kurzgesagt, With all due respect.. how do we know that another potentially loud civilization hasn't already visited us long before we advanced ourselves in the first place? That would make the entire 'we are the first' theory moot no? And because that window of opportunity is so tiny, they might have passed by us thinking another failed discovery and never looked back?
Water is extremely common in the universe. Even though the universe was hostile, there were many older galaxies that had stable star systems prior to us.
@@battosaijenkins946 We don't. But they're not factoring in--and literally _cannot_ factor in--the infinite what-ifs that we _don't_ see any evidence for. Only what we _do_ see, and what we can reasonably extrapolate from there. And unless NASA really is hiding evidence of alien civilizations in our solar system or mysteriously disappearing stars, we don't see any signs of a super civilization having swept through the visible cosmos.
Also you seem to be taking the video as saying "this is what has happened". It's not. It's just a thought experiment.
@@fabiofonv Well, there have been like, 20 in our Solar System. Earth, Ceres, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan, Dione, Rhea, Titania, Oberon, Triton, Orcus, Pluto, Makemake, Sedna, Eris, Gonggong, Neptune, Uranus, Planet Nine (likely an ice giant).
I love the idea that humans might be the elder gods of the universe a billion years from now. The first ones. Which new species speak about in hushed tones.
They didn't include the fact that it takes a few generations of stars to create the heavier elements necessary for life. That puts us close to the beginning of "possible" as well.
nah we’re gonna be immortal and transformed into strange shapes and forms used as furniture or wall decorations or pets for aliens and ai while still being conscious but unable to move. imagine a human mind trapped in the body of a horse for the rest of infinity type shit.
@@denzelcanvasYT Keep living the dream! 🤣
@@denzelcanvasYT im now imagining marvin the paranoid robot way too many times through each hitchhikers guide book. Unmoving for eternity, waiting
@Squancher shut up like u can do better
@@denzelcanvasYT sounds like "All Tomorrows"
What a privilege to be alive at this time and to have the knowledge and the resources to explore more! Thank you Kurzgesagt for spreading curiosity and hope in humanity for current humans and also future generations!!
It’s amazing. Just like you said what a time to be alive.
@JZ's BFF it's okay. If you know that life is suffering, we are doing favor for billion lives yet to suffer.
.
The first is you!
@@milojose3509 i was second.
Dark forest theory: don't make noise or will be killed.
Kurtz: imagine someone cutting down trees and starting fires.
😂
As an alien, I can confirm the content of this video is accurate.
Take me to your planet pls. Im bored in here tbh
Please destroy us
Did you come from planet zï0zorg
@@Yokasyan hahaha, yep! And hey if the aliens don't take us then let's just get Isekaid.
Do you have freedom there? You might need it
Just had to comment to say WOW to the visuals you create to support the narrative in all your videos. Motion design is no joke and as someone who has run a video production company for the last 10 years I can say it is really impressive how complex each video you put out is. I know motion design takes WEEKS, not hours to complete, and each video seems to be as good, if not better than the last. Stunning visuals, keep it up!!
@@RetradedNoob ye
They have a team for it, pretty sure. Not just one guy. Definitely good looking stuff though
they got bill gates funding it they def have at least a decent sized team
@@RetradedNoob
No, I cannot see your comment.
This is not just a youtube channel. Its a big company with deep pockets and a lot of people. Yeah its good quality but theres no need to blow smoke up their butt
The scariest most plausible scenario I can imagine is that we find radio signals eminating from a star system thousands or hundreds of thousands of lightyears away, knowing that our signals have only started around 126 years ago they could be thousands of years more advanced than us due to the time it'd have taken to reach us.
Yea we need to remember that everything we see has already happened thousands of years ago
@@G3Kappa Or maybe we will never be extremely advanced. It's not all about the time - some life forms are just born smarter. Some are slugs, some are monkeys, some are humans. We could be the slugs in comparison to those aliens who would need FAR less time to learn how to travel through space.
@@Vaquix000 born smarter, yes. But not formed smarter, you're forgetting that intelligent life has to form from less intelligent life first. However I still think you're right in saying that other civilisations might just have evolved more efficiently or something and thus is able to develop more quickly
Interesting, in that case you could actually approximate how long it'd take for that civilization to reach us. (assuming ftl travel isn't possible)
Or their star could be dead and gone by the time their message finally made it to us
I've been thinking about this recently... Imagine how difficult it would've been to start civilization without wood. Imagine if trees didn't exist. Not just for the oxygen, but for a robust yet malleable building material, renewable and overall just much easier to work with than rock.
I completely agree with you, how could we have developed civilization if it wasnt for the bast resources that earth has got. Not only the ones required for life to thrive but for intelligent life to prosper.
Civilizations did start with out wood, there were stone and clay buildings before wood buildings
@@melvinthomas9292 did we not need the wood for fire? for tools? You are already skipping stages of development
@@melvinthomas9292 Bruh, read your comment again
The whole thing is based on unproven theories and conjectures riddled with conspiracy . There is no life anywhere but here on earth, based on the evidence. JSWT has been proving this over and over again
In almost every sci-fi story there are always the Ancients. The old and hyper advanced civilisation who lived and died way before the setting of the story. The theory I'm choosing to believe (until either proven otherwise or I find something I like more) is that we are the Ancients, just early in their timeline. Someone always has to be the first one to make contact with another planet. The invisible flying saucers have to come from somewhere, what if we are the actual aliens who'll come and observe other alien races or invading their planets. The fact that we are, as they say in the video, relatively early in the life span of the universe and life, according to what we know, I don't think it's unlikely that we could be the "grey aliens" of another civilisations story.
I like your perspective on this.
The only question is, will we ever get over our differences and unite as one species, under one rule, if we don’t have some common extraterrestrial enemy? In the stories we come up with its always one group of united aliens, exploring the universe under one leadership, I wonder if we’ll ever get there
@@David95111 In a way we’re all united by the fact that we’re all humans. I think we’re always going to be divided at local and large levels because of how we self govern. We’re united in the proof that we’re all human and share this life on Earth.
@@David95111 I think we're beginning to approach that point. The internet has connected us more than ever, alongside advancements in flight and international travel. Basically everyone shares a language, and those that don't at least share a language with one of the many bilingual people on the planet. Kids raised in the current generation care a lot less about borders and the like than I think any prior generation, which I think is a trend that will only intensify with future development.
have you read the Children of Time series? It's my new favorite that explores exactly this, except of making contact persay humans inadvertently created new life in their attempt to save humanity. It's a crazy series
Star Wars is on its way to become a reality.
Hell yeah
I mean earth is in the star wars universe, but it’s called geonosis instead…
Probably more like xcom
@@gardion160 no it isn't. Earth isn't canonically a part of Star Wars so far
@@doremysheep7864 in battlefront 2 the geonosis map is actually the great lakes as a desert
I love the idea of us being first or us being the one predecessor that distributes life across the universe. Like melodysheeps idea of a massive universal library, filled of records of each civilization that passed. New ones slowly adding their history to the library and old ones having been forever maintained alive by having their history preserved.
We haven’t made contact with aliens yet bcuz there is an advanced race watching over us now that prevents any other civilization of interfering in our evolutionary process.
Perhaps, gods are created in the image of man, and not the other way around.
@average rhombic dodecahedron Imagine, millions of years from now, some alien astronaut goes into an abandoned Human Mega space station to gain access to an ancient library of universe knowledge, and the image/ name that shows up screen? *"Wikipedia"*
@@TheEpicGalaxy21 Or worse, Tik Toks!
@@eyespy3001 The alien astronaut immediately shuts down the supercomputer and activates the explosive, "It's here" he says into his communication device as he leaves the station quickly, looking at the computer with disgust.
Something that seems to be forgotten; any light we see is a direct representation of the past, equivalent to the time it took for the light to get here.
When looking to further parts of the galaxy, you have a much greater chance of looking towards life, except for the fact that for every additional light year further out, you add a year in to the past of whatever you’re seeing.
The civilizations could be everywhere say 1000 light years away, but we’re seeing 1000 years into the past.
And seeing how plenty of planets are millions of lightyears away, it will probably take a long time
so when se proxima centure we actully see 4 years past version instead of now
Not millions of light years. This vid is talking just about this galaxy which is really the only reasonable distance that we can colonize. The galaxy is 100,000 light years across. Also the time frames that they’re talking about are massive; so massive that the vastness of the galaxy almost becomes irrelevant. If a loud civilization hasn’t developed as of 100,000 years ago then we’re still pretty early considering life took 4 billion years to evolve. This “race” to the stars will take place over the next ten of thousands of years as humanity slowly spreads to other planets (like you said planets are far away and would take hundreds or thousands of years to travel to depending on how close they are)
@@michael-solomon Even that's very big. Humans started broadcasting radio waves into space two centuries ago. Therefore, if you're someone who wants to detect the human civilization right now, you need to live pretty close- like within a radius of 200 light years.
@@ShlokParabthose radio waves disperse to being unreadable way before then. It’s actually much closer to that you have to be
I sometimes wonder if it’s a dark forest situation or if they are conserving us like elephants. Like our solar system is a wildlife sanctuary.
honestly, i never really thought dark forest was that plausible
an entire species? deciding to curtail their progress by going completely silent just because of a what if? the alien beauracracy, which is probably a safe assumption to assume aliens who have society and therefore likely governments alone would be a nightmare, and its inconcievable as of now at least, that earths gonna even try at some point.
@@shoeofobama6091 But that already happens, people get killed to steal their resources or just by being on a differente religion, but being killed by being ignored is sadly also very common, kids, poor people etc.
I read something on the internet once that said all the species on Earth are the most violent from throughout all of spacetime and that our planet is a prison. Neat stuff.
@@shoeofobama6091 Dark Forest always seemed silly to me. You can't hide if you are next to a sun. It's a giant "come look at this area" marker. Your best bet is to have technology that allows you to stay away from solar systems.
@@shoeofobama6091 I believe it's very human centric to think that the aliens might think like us , it could be light years in difference for all we know , if they are able to unite as one and go and colonize their solar system , then infighting must be first vanquished.
i love how this looked a bit like Stellaris with different empires rising and falling. would be fun to see a short series where you take a look at games like that and satisfactory to analyze how accurate they are to how humanity may be in years to come.
Same!
I highly recommend reading Geometry for Ocelots. The same conundrum of galactic consumption and the near impossibility of moderation is explored, all while being very casual and rather witty about it
Same here
Just thought the same 😂
I wonder what Satisfactory has to do with Stellaris except that they both are sci fi
Isn't it equally possible that due to how long light takes to reach us, all we can see for now is pre-life planets?
I've been having this exact thought for some time now too.
That's interesting and scary at the same time
Yes you're absolutely right.
The milky way is not that big. Any light that reaches us from within it was emitted less than a hundred thousand years ago.
Considering the time that life took to evolve on Earth, if there is any planet with life in the Milky Way, the light from that planet has already reached us (unless life first emerged there in the last 100 thousand years, worst case, which is highly unlikely).
We just don't see signs of this supposed life because the impact this life could cause would be too faint for our current technology to detect, or we haven't searched the right planet yet...
@@RafaelB.M.100,000 years is well within an untainted planet and our planet of today. Even as little as 2,000 years is enough to have gone undetected due to primitive technology not impacting our atmospheric spectrometry. With how quickly our technology is advancing, the last 100 years along being remarkably exponential, those civilizations could be camouflaged by time even within that time period or distance for light to travel.
Our spherical influence of radio signals will have been heavily attenuated in the last 40-60yrs. It would also be incredibly hard for us to detect signals weakened over that distance.
So the nearest civilization could be closer than we think and progressing slower or faster than our own. I’m not saying they exist, but the potential surely is there.
I just imagined some aliens on the other side of our galaxy that are also thinking "Are we alone?"
Major issue with galactic borders is that the stars don't move at the same speed and many believe the stars actually wave towards and away from the core as the effect that produces the popular spirals. It's not all those stars moving harmoniously, these are just the areas where stars pass the closest together.
Oh yea i forgot about that, populations of humans/other creatures would 100% be split up and borders mixed
Good point, I can see how that would complicate setting universally understood territories and make it almost impossible to enforce them. But also remember how much actual empty space exists between stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, much less between planets in a star system. You wouldn’t, for example, reasonably expect to maintain control over stars/planets/etc that are all moving independently of each other by setting a boundary based off arbitrary & fixed points in space that are in the middle of nowhere, would you? It would make much more sense to simply claim which star systems etc are yours and control the space immediately surrounding each planet individually, rather than try to throw a blanket over a huge portion of the galaxy and try and control everything inside it.
I hope what I wrote makes sense 😂
@@khills242 it is the idea I came too, the issue is it's strategically poor as some systems may move solely through enemy regions making them easy pickings for species at war with us. It seems basically inevitable as those stars will be in their territory for hundreds or thousands of years once it enters. It would more mean we should only make strong settlements in steadily moving systems and only have forts or research colonies on the incredibly fast or slow systems.
The thing is, we mostly think of galactic states as our own states. Defined borders etc (and even then there's issues with disputed territories) but due to the size and constant movement of stars, it is very much possible that every star system would likely become independent of the original "state" really quickly as information and enforcement would be impeded.
@@janstraka8674 well yes, independence is nearly inevitable. It's basically the same reason the US broke off from England. Even with more money and military power, the trek back and forth was far too much to justify continuing the war.
The issue is I highly suspect xenophobia will he a common trend in the galaxy. People already innately hate people of their out groups, imagine the mixing of species with completely different upbringing, cultures, etc. It's like expecting everyone to respect the snake in their yard and nobody to desire killing it. It's not part of the group, it can hurt me, and it's close to home. I'd be amazed if people could get around such issues. It would basically require the galaxy being treated like Mass Effect where colonies are all interspecies, yet even in that series they show a common trend of species not getting along or to be scapegoats for problems.
If a "loud" civilization started being "loud" only 500 years ago, and they're 1000 light-years away, wouldn't we still be unable to detect any of that "noise" because the light is still 500 light-years away?
Absolutely, but even after 500 more years, we still might not notice them depending on what their activity is.
If the only “noise” they make is sending radio signals out into the galaxy like we do, we wouldn’t notice them unless we got closer, because they decay after a certain distance.
Yes
If they are 1000 light years away, that’s the time it will take for their “noise” to reach us. So if they started being loud 500 years ago, we would be able to tell until 500 years later
even our noise dies out. All our radio and television signals eventually weaken and peeter out.
A loud civilization is so loud that it's annoying.
As Arthur C Clarke said “ we are either alone in the universe or there’s other life out there, either is equalling terrifying “
Imagine trying to figure out the borders of galactic nations but instead of a line in the sand, the “sand” is millions of kilometres deep with star systems owned by different nations jutting into and out of the other at different points. And that’s assuming they’re separated along the length of the galaxy and no the width. A map of the human galactic empire could be a weird blob puzzle piece stuck inside other weirdly shaped pieces, with giant gaps in between them filled with uncharted star systems or regions of space that can’t be navigated.
Look at the elite dangerous galaxy map, there's a political option that shows the human bubble and which political party owns what. I'd assume it'd be similar in a real life scenario.
And the constant movement of the galaxy wouldn't make it much easier
I'll have a pint of whatever this guy is drinking
I really doubt if we got to the point of life expanding through the universe while knowing about each other that we would set boundaries and not allow room for more, when there is enough time in the universe where we could all have a large plot of land each or a place in space before the heat death of the universe
This sounds thrilling and at the same time a headache for people trying to study galatic geography 😂
This reminds me of a story idea I wanted to write. It's about a Star Trek like universe where you find out that ALL of the Alien species came about because Humanity (now basically extinct in the story) spread far and wide and teraformed so many new planets then billions of years go by and now all of these planets that Humans created and grew are now evolving life of their own.
Basic premise is Humanity is alone in their time. No major flora or fauna on any major planet. Humanity turns out to be the Gardeners and cultivators of the universe and are the reason the universe is teaming with life in the far future. In our search for life we end up being the catalyst that starts the boom.
this is kinda the plot of Battlestar Galactica :) they eventually expand from their home planet and land on earth to establish a new home for themselves
Kind of like all tomorrows?
@@RixesPuffs bro that story is some nightmare fuel
You might want to read because your idea is basically what happened in that universe hahaha
@@wattowhacks Really? You're gonna tell me there is a Star Trek novel (I assume since you give zero actual info on it) that takes place a billion years into the future where humanity, a race that was found by the Vulcans and created a Federation of races that all ALREADY EXISTED in the time of Humanity, to then find out Humanity somehow, what, went back in time(?) to then find THEY made all the planets habitable then evolution kicked in and all the races are as prevalent because of Humanity?
Honestly, this doesn't sound anything like what I said. My Idea is more in line with Babylon 5 and the Vorlon/Shadow Races(Millions of years old) manipulating the younger races(Hundreds of thousands of years old). The "Star Trek Like Universe" was meant in a Universe population and civilizations scheme similar to how they were in ST.
But then again, You've told me nothing by telling me the idea has been made and instead of telling me the name of the story who wrote it or anything, you instead just say "You might want to read"
Thanks for that. I'll get right on it...
This is the theory I’ve generally ascribed to: when considering how absurdly small the earth is in terms of _space,_ it sure seems to have a pretty big chunk of _time_ to itself: literally a good third of existence has the Earth in it
I know that’s not really proof of anything, but given that the Universe has plenty more to offer, that still implies there’s not a whole lot more room to be earlier compared to later
Well a tech civilization that existed only a millions of years ago in the milky way would've probably been detected by now.
maybe interstellar space is extremely difficult and takes way too long, I find it hard to believe we are the early ones in the universe. More likely there are numerous other advanced beings like us out there. But we haven't seen them yet due to the difficulties of space travel.
Great comment. This is my favorite solution to the Fermi paradox: most other intelligent civilizations are still soupy life forms in puddles across the universe. Give it some time and the universe will be teeming.
This is exactly how I've been thinking about the Fermi paradox for several years now, and this is the first time I've seen any well respected scientists actually talking about this theory.
I think honestly that it's just a bit of an arrogant theory to say "we're the first!" but if the shoe fits... I would be really excited if we really are the first, so that we can create the standards for a future galactic civilization. We've always been afraid that Aliens would appear and annihilate us. It'd be cool if we could set the example for being a benevolent galactic civilization
We haven’t made contact with aliens yet bcuz there is an advanced race watching over us now that prevents any other civilization of interfering in our evolutionary process.
We started a Stellaris game but forgot to add other empires around the galaxy smh...
Y'know, this presents an interesting idea: What if humanity were to be that empire? What if we didn't just have a seat at the table, but we swallowed any civilizations that formed? Not necessarily destroying them, but forcing our hand and taking them over. We become the overwhelmingly massive empire that ends up diminishing the potential and rights of aliens in the process. It's an interesting concept that I don't think is really explored that much.
The Ender's Game series really dives deep into this, and the second and third books I think are the most-eye-opening in this regard. I hope it will be a worthy use of time to check them out!
@@tfninjadoom That's actually the first thing I thought of after making this comment. I'll admit I've only seen the movie though and my only impression of it was its more about humanity fighting the war and _becoming_ the empire, instead of focusing on what life is like already being it, but if there's more to the story that dives into that I might read the books!
Unfortunately, if humans have the technological advantage to make a civilization our own, we will. Humans always explore and then often sadly destroy or at least try to transform it into something we can use no matter the consequences…
This is just the Imperium of Man from Warhammer. Though they took the genocide route
@@gabrielespana319 Humanity first
The idea that humanity could be the first species to develop civilization and technology sounds like an interesting writer's prompt. I can imagine a story where humans go out into the universe, building colonies along the way, and the local lifeforms, through a mixed process of terraforming, domestication, and observation, gradually learn to emulate us and build their own societies based on those developed by humans.
Or maybe the vast majority of planets in the universe are completely sterile and humanity seeds them with basic eukaryotic life forms and let evolution do the rest. Billions of years after we are gone the galaxy is seeded with intelligent life from the same common ancestors that came from Earth. Maybe they even find ancient ruins of the ones they may call their gods.
I think I’ve head a hfy story similar to that
That's why I love Halo deep lore so much.
You'd never know from playing the games, but humanity had been colonizing for nearly 4 centuries and had claimed roughly 800 worlds.
There are also aliens NOT associated with the covenant, they were still planet bound by the time of the war.
We WERE early in that universe, but we weren't FIRST, and even as the SECOND earliest we were nearly exterminated by the ones who were waiting, and who knows what else might be out there
@@capitalianmonarchy4091 link?
@@codybennett1009 I think warhammer also comes to mind, not so much with humans being early but with them being a massive competitor in the land grab game.
It's incredibly unlikely that we will ever meet aliens as equals. Either we or they will be far ahead in technology. Our technology improves quickly and - assuming that we're not special - theirs would too. Meeting them as equals would mean that they emerged at _exactly_ the same time as us.
Perhaps. Or perhaps our technological level plateaus around the time we develop interstellar travel. In that case, again assuming we’re not special, the aliens we meet will be roughly equals.
Aliens do exist and they have more advanced technology. They’ve been checking up on us since we dropped the atomic bomb in WWII. Watch the documentary “Unacknowledged”. I’m not just pulling all these info out of my ass lol.
The Romans would stand no chance against Napoleon's army, muskets would stand no chance against WW1 rifles and artillery, and WW1 fashioned tanks would stand no chance against WW2 planes, nukes and whatnot. So far, weaponry technology has devoloped at a frightening pace and a hundred years of advancement is nothing in the face of millions. Seems like even a thousand years headstart means being far outclassed.
Not necessarily, but most likely. Exactly on a cosmic scale probably, but there could be exceptions like perhaps they evolved far earlier, but took a longer time to get to that point, or perhaps far later but developed technologically far faster than we did.
A younger civilization of aliens could totally develop faster than us and reach the same level as us at the same time. All the aliens would have to do is not be complete assholes who destroy irreplaceable ancient libraries in stupid wars and set themselves back a thousand years by dismissing scientists and screwing over scientific progress. We'd be much further ahead right now if the Library of Alexandria survived. That's not the only example, either. We'd probably have had ChatGPT in the 1900's. I really hope aliens aren't as fucked up as we are.
The one thing I wonder about (and maybe this is too optimistic) is if we could end up being an elder sibling species - I.e., we expand first and if another species develops and starts moving out into space, we help them rather than crowding them out. I recognize we can’t even share resources equitably with ourselves so that might be a hard sell, but…here’s hoping
*edit* I am the oldest in my family lol, so that might be impacting my view
We can dream
Maybe someday, we'll meet the right one that will helps us help ourselves into being among the stars. We'll someday be the elder as sure it will all end again, and it'll restart😊 time is relative to the conscious mind who lives it
Read the Three Body Problem
We most likely would point our space guns at them and demand their resources/homage.
Knowing humanity, that's a hard pass.
I appreciate the way they approach frightening subjects and make sure we know that they most likely won't happen in our lifetimes.
I’ve never really understood the argument that the universe is empty because we don’t see anything. Aliens would see nothing to indicate we exist, except for our minuscule radio bubble. I’ve always thought life is rare, but plentiful given the scale of the universe. We’re all just too far away from each other to ever interact, and too small to ever build anything visible to anyone else.
Too small to EVER build anything visible to anyone else, or just too small right now?
@@thesnowboundcabinthere's very good reasons to believe there are caps to science and engineering. We may never be a multi planet species.
@@thesnowboundcabin Possibly. Maybe even probably. The laws of physics preclude lightspeed travel, and even at the speed of light the closest stars would take years to get to. Our radio bubble is 218 light-years across, meaning it's only reached 109 light-years in every direction. Given that we haven't detected anyone else's radio bubble, it's likely that any intelligent species out there are way further out than 109 light-years. Traveling out to them would require (barring cryo-sleep, which is far from being viable now) vessels that can tolerate constant operation for hundreds of years, and support multiple generations of crew raising children onboard. That tech is still hundreds of years away from us today at least, if it's even possible. Megastructures like dyson spheres are even further out, if they're even possible, and definitely couldn't be accomplished if we're still relying on money and the systems of governance we have today. Considering the ongoing climate catastrophe and the way our species has just kind of been ignoring it for some reason, it's possible we'll wipe ourselves out before we ever hear somebody else's signals, let alone go visit them, or be visited by them.
@@SephTunes What reasons? I don't see anything that would prevent multiple planet colonization. We know we can survive in the vacuum of space with proper habitation. We've been doing it for decades.
And traveling to other star systems isn't impossible either.
I think the likelier options for why the galaxy is quiet are:
1. We're early, the first civilization with technology capable of colonizing space
2. Civilizations are extremely rare
3. Most civilizations hit great filters causing extinction or tech regression/stagnation
4. Most advanced civilizations learn to harness their entire star's energy reducing the need to expand.
Those seem much more likely to me than engineering limits.
@@KM-ns3ki The resources needed to live on Mars are huge. It would need resources from Earth - basically forever unless huge leaps in technology are made. Even just living short term in space takes huge resources - your muscles shrink away to nothing in the zero gravity - Astronauts have to workout multiple times a day and are still incredibly F'd when they come back to Earth. A whole life spent in zero gravity would turn humans into muscleless ''slugs' incapable of supporting their own weight.
Travel much faster than we are capable of now in space is probably impossible, and risks are high.
I don't think we are even capable of SUSTAINABLY (without constant resources from Earth) colonizing Mars. We will die when our Sun dies for sure, but probably far before then. Disease/nuclear war/societal collapse are all very likely to knock us back a long way even in just the next few centuries.
“How fast can bacteria build spaceships?”
That should be the title of the video. Great work.
They don't need to build spaceships. They can hitch a ride on interstellar asteroids! They can hit some speed
ok
ok
ok
ok
I love how this deadline is basically what happens to Earth in "A Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
Yet another great video! Thank you Duck and everyone at Kurzgesagt!
I just got reminded of how small is our existence from infinity. It’s scary to think where were we before we were born, and where will we be after we die. What place and time in the universe would each one of us take.
Deep… 💀
I love the line: How Fast Can Bacteria Build Spaceships?
The timeline logic is compelling.
Anybody who was thrilled by this kind of thing should read blindsight by petter watts like right now.
*makes clicking noises*
Aliens are on their way. They are known as fallen angels, don't be deceived.
2 Thessalonians 2: 11, GOD will send a strong delusion that they will believe a lie and be dammed of it.
Read the whole chapter to know the truth.
Read the Three Body Problem
@@Outlier-db8sq existential dread intensifies
The thought that we're the first civilization in the galaxy is both a depressing one and an inspiring one. On the one hand, we are alone, and probably will be for a long time. On the other hand, there are a near infinite number of worlds out there, and they are all ours. I hope that some day we will get to visit them and use them, and the greatest dreams of our time will be fulfilled by the wonders science and progress.
"All these worlds are yours...use them together. Use them in peace."
"Except Europa" 😆
@@jsquared1013 A T T E M P T N O L A N D I N G T H E R E.
@@jsquared1013 Ah you recognize the quote lol
thats an arrogant perspective. It will take seconds for nature to wipe out humanity and i hope it does.
@@anirudhmitra4232 How is it arrogant? And why do you want humanity to be wiped out, exactly?
A lot of these theories are based on advanced alien civilizations that share characteristics to our own species: curiosity, adventure, and expansion.
A book series that put this idea into perspective was The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier. It explores a futuristic spacefaring humanity that just recovered from a galactic war amongst themselves, only to discover another intelligent species residing at the borders of their known space.
They dubbed these aliens the "Enigma Race" due to their elusive strategies. Their warships resembled vessels more like cruisers, they suicide-bombed any vessel that could potentially be captured, and even detonated bombs on their own colonized planets to prevent the humans from learning about them. Their evolution made them inherently secretive; an instinct that human scientists in the novel series compared to being as driven by as sex does to us humans. Just as we evolved to not stop thinking about reproduction and advancing our species, the Enigma race evolved to not stop thinking about concealing their race.
I feel like if there existed an intelligent alien race in the Milky Way, they'd most likely have to live by the Enigma race's sort of lifestyle. Which makes the possibility of encountering them a bit scary, to say the least.
Read the Three Body Problem
i like to think about it
and what if alien life does not have the same goals as humanity?
we have been fighting for survival all our history, so we have a hunter's mindset and try to expand as much as possible
but there is a possibility that such conditions have developed only on earth, other civilizations do not develop simply because they do not see the point in it
@@JonathanTaylorThomass I bet there will be such life out there in the universe. I think for us however it wouldn’t change much if they would leave us alone
That's a novel idea. Doesn't seem like being secretive would fare well in regards to collaboration, advertisement, or reproduction.
@@JonathanTaylorThomass There’s a concept called “Instrumental Convergence” that states there are some goals that almost all lifeforms must share. An example is self preservation, because no matter what your goal is you probably cant complete it if you’re dead.
I don't know who is making these videos. They are on various subjects and every time they pose amazing questions and provide amazing solutions to them. Pure bliss their videos
I don’t know if even I can fully understand how hard I want to be able to see humanity leave our little planet and be able to grow and prosper and watch the universe change before our eyes. Can you even imagine how amazing it would be to see other civilizations develop over millions and billions of years?
You'll just die before, your brain will rot, your mind will cease to exist, you won't be able to see even black. People will forget about you, they will move on, while there will come a day when not even your bones will exist anymore.
Hope we get a spectator mode post mortem
I just want to see Lebron win another title
I don't think we will leave this planet. But I am certain that our AI tech will grow so advanced we will be able to send it out to explore and colonize the star systems. We can build AI and robots to fit the hazards of space far better than ourselves.
That will never happen, we have chosen Netflix and easy transportation, unfortunately planet will be consumed before we can escape from it.
The idea that we're one of the first instances of life is pretty fascinating
We're probably just the middle child galactic-wise
It is fascinating. it's also unlikely. It's more likely that we're one of many but the other instances are so far away we'll never be able to see them.
With what we can observe, logically and statistically we are actually more likely to be early.
maybe but if the universe was full of life like us we cannot see it like in other galaxys or far away in our own remenber milkiway is 100.000 light years big. our civilization is about as old a that we can only detect if a planet has abundant Life and is close to us even if a planet has life in a 1000 light years from us they will not know the tecnology we have now they will see just a planet with big indicative of life nothing more if we see one of those then the universe is absolutely full of life for me it will happen not far in the future maybe in that generation.
@dazza761 This has always been my theory. It's possible that the next intelligent civilization is millions of light years away, maybe even in another galaxy.
Also that's just intelligent life, we could be surrounded by life, micro and complex but not having radio technology.
You know, humans being early is what I’ve thought for a while. One of the reasons being that to me at least, 13 billion years seems pretty young for the universe
Ye I see what you mean
how much years would be old enough for universe?
@@eliteknight213750 billion in my opinion
These are exactly my thoughts! Would you say 50 is enough? I would think so if the age of the universe was expressed in different units than the Earth's! At least in trillions of years :)
@@el_jupiterito4832 ye maybe
Imagine we get a signal from aliens and they say 'shh they'll here you'
I always think about this - how would we ever be able to contact aliens? How would we communicate? Could you make a video on this? I would love to watch that!!
I think he did but I could be mistaken
They already made a video covering this
We can communicate through mathematics
I highly recommend watching the movie "Arrival". It shows a fascinating concept of how aliens would communicate
@@tinienteabanil2922 lol assuming that they would do math
Another possible solution to Fermi's Paradox might be that we don't see Loud aliens for the same reason that we don't see a lot of smoke signals - there are other, more effective means of communications (or travel.) We might discover, for example, that it is possible to travel to parallel universes where life evolved differently on Earth (e.g. "The Long Earth" series by Baxter and Prachett). Instead of crossing the imponderably great distances between stars in search of habitable planets, it may prove more effective to travel 'sideways' to alternate Earths with convenient 1g gravity and even breathable air. There could be alien civilizations all over the galaxy just slightly more advanced than ours which, having discovered this technology, Loudly expand sideways across alternate universes, rather than spreading into the galaxy. This is but one possibility - it could be that civilizations eventually give up corporeal existence to become cyber minds; it could be that interstellar travel is simply impossible and that we're all restricted to our own solar systems. And there's another possibility - that there's a means of instantaneous communication (akin to Star Trek's 'subspace frequencies') and that the minute we discover THAT technology, we'll find ourselves on an intergalactic Internet already teeming with chatter, just as a contemporary human people who have until now only been communicating with smoke signals might be surprised if they were to independently invent the radio.
Even if you don't pick up on their comms we'd see their effect on planets and stars they colonize.
The most likely solution to the Fermi Paradox is that intelligent life may simply not choose to go to space. It wasn't a guarantee humans would develop civilisation (90% of our existence was as hunter-gatherers). Or have an Industrial Revolution that would allow us to create space-faring industries. There's more to becoming a space-faring species than just intelligence. Culture and society matters, too.
We are just rare. The nearest species like us is probably in another galaxy.
@@akamemurasame4527 That depends when, but not exactly? That is not the easiest thing to actually notice.
Or...simulation theory
@@akamemurasame4527 not really. Humanity investigating space on this level is like 20-50 years. Our "noise" is no more than on 100-200 light year span. Other civilizations will not see us if they are hundreds or millions light years back. Same is true for those civilizations. If they are advanced civilizations for like 100000 light years, but located on a distance of 1+ million light years, we will not see them in close timeline, because light of their advance never reached us. And even if they started to populate the galaxy, we will not see anything, if their colonization started after the time, which traveled light to us. We see outdated information in a first place.
There may be also "dark" habitants as well. They may have technologies, which blocks or even simulates their own or occupied solar systems.
I highly recommend The Three Body Problem series to anyone even remotely interested in galactic civilizations and how they might interact, it's a much darker take on the Fermi Paradox
I'm honestly pretty meh on the three body problem series. Don't get me wrong I can understand why people love it so much, it's just not particularly for me. I feel like the concept of a dark forest had been done much better by other authors.
I am however hyped for the love action adaptation, I think bit will serve as a great cinematic experience 😁
Can't wait to see the teardrop and spaceship armada scene
@@MrTuneslol what other authors? I'd heard of three body problem but didn't know what it was about.. interested in others as well
@@MrTuneslol 🤣☕ name ONE author who has done it better.
@@bigfin20 he made them TF up. The Dark Forest is THE essential fiction series on said subject. No one else has even come close to the scope Cixin Liu has. It's why he said "feel" and also why he didn't name any names.
Most enjoyable series I've read
I think the way you go over the universe is really awesome, you don’t try and get all ‘existential crisis’ to scare people, you actually explain it in a way that makes it interesting.
The idea of being first in the galaxy is so incredibly exciting. Imagine Humanity being like an older sibling for new and up-coming civilizations! Helping them grow and adapt easier than we did,
Can't think of a more wretched idea. We humans can't even be kind to each other or animals. If intelligent life was found and it had not already developed enough powerful weapons to eliminate the danger we pose to them, our species would gaslight gatekeep girlboss theirs immediately, slavery or extinction being the only two possible outcomes.
Yes, that's totally what we will do..
@@N0pe.ALL XENOS MUST PERISH! Or something else I dunno.
Yeah, humans won't do anything bad. Wouldn't we?
Then we do something completely unfair to anger them and the first space war in history starts! Yay!! (kidding, I hope we dont do that)
Usually I just listen to videos like audio books, but this channel has so much quality and effort put into their videos that I just have to watch them.
I, too, watch videos with my ears
I get a massive urge to reinstall Stellaris anytime Kurzgesagt puts out a space-themed video.
Oh yeah its Genocide time
Wait for 3.8 there is good update on the way
Was the game that good... Never played it...
@@joshuaohuka7719 game is amazing for a while after you install, once you get DLCS, then it becomes amazing forever.
I get the urge to play Master of Orion
Psilocybin mushrooms healed me . I can't explain it but my experience has been spiritual and eye opening . I also started micro dosing . It really helped me get rid of depression and anxiety .
@@AngelinaEvelyndr.johnsonshroom is your guy. Best shrooms and psychedelics guy I know. 0:06
@@JohnChristopher-jq1efdr.johnsonshroom is the best . He's been my go to for anything psychedelics and shrooms . He's very good 0:02
@@TracyJake-wt5znIs he on insta?
@@AnitaPhilipsYes he's d.johnsonshroom
@@kty149Can dr.johnsonshroom send to me in Florida?
I think its worth discussing dark forest theory as well. Galactic civilizations may choose to keep their activities "quiet" despite expanding because making noise is inherently dangerous.
Its the most realistic one.
But the problem with the dark forest theory is that no civilization acts like a fool unlike humans.
Well I reckon there's a good chance that they already made some noise before coming to that conclusion, as we did.
@@김도현-d2g One might think of it as being fool, but I also think it would be so sad if that theory turned out true. BTW, I thoroughly enjoyed Cixin Liu's trilogy on that take.
@@ranggasaktibudiputra1547 Yes I too when see stranger immediately go for "Must kill him before he kills me" option.
I wanted to ask something, isn’t our vision of the galaxy around us limited by the speed of light? Like let’s say there is other life at the same point we are right now, but they are on the other side of the Milky Way, that’s 100000 light years away, we could be developing along side them at the same rate but we won’t receive their “noise for a hundred thousand years because of their distance and vice versa.
That is correct. If we were separated by a 'mere' thousand light years we wouldn't have any way of knowing it for a thousand years. Unless we find a way to beat light there. Aside from it being more entertaining in popular culture to seek out new life and new civilizations it really is the only practical way to see what's out there.
While that's true, the 40,000 light-year radius where most of the Milky Way's stars reside is pretty small compared to the age of the universe. For comparison, anatomically modern humans have been around for approximately 300,000 years, and that's just a tiny blip in the billions of years life has existed on Earth. Given what we've done in the last century alone, imagine how much we could advance in just another 10,000 years. An alien race wouldn't have to have much of a head start to become a "loud" species that we could detect today.
Humans have existed for 200,000 years, it took us that long to make our civilisation. We may not be able to see any civilisation, but we would definitley see life.
@@sexylinoleum9488 What kind of telescope can see a human-sized object from 100,000 light years away?
The question is how advance other civilization compare to us.
The grabby aliens model makes so much sense in terms of explaining the Fermi paradox. *If* FTL travel really is impossible. If it's possible, then we're back to wondering where everyone is.
If FTL travel is possible it violates causality, at least in the way we understand it. But you don't need FTL travel to colonize a galaxy. The math for this has been done. Even a civilization cable of launching self-replicating probes at sublight speeds can colonize the entire Milky Way in a few million years from exponential growth.
The Grabby Aliens model is dumb because it requires that FTL travel be possible which would break causality.
@@dangerfly it isn’t theoretically ruled out yet, the theoretical warp drive is one way to achieve FTL travel without breaking causality
@@dangerfly laughs in wormholes and warp drives
@D Umm nope. The grabby aliens model depends on only sub luminal travel. Either you misunderstood the premise, or you're talking about something else.
While I'm well over the existential crisis, I'm not getting over the fact I won't see aliens for myself, even if they do exist, because we'll take so damn long to meet
I love the addition of “Gallifrey” at 2:20 in the list of 3 planets, it reminds me of the hidden TARDIS’ that used to be in every one of your earliest videos 😃
Happy Easter🙃
@@sunwukong23 Happy Easter! 👋👋
Wonder why they stopped doing that..
This is always how I've seen the Fermi Paradox. I've always thought "paradox" was something of a misnomer because it seemed obvious to me that the answer is simply that we're among the first.
We might not be the actual first, but it doesn't really matter, just that we're around in the time before the radio signals from any other first civilisations have time to reach nearby stars.
Future civilisations might never have any mystery about whether they're alone in the universe. Imagine inventing the first radio and picking up our old broadcasts. Hell, the invention of that technology may well be sparked by our signals. Picking them up by accident and then the invention is made trying to recreate it.
That would make for an incredible story/worldbuilding
Signals diffuse throughout space. So although you get some of the photons from the original source, you wouldn’t be able to decipher the information encoded. After a certain point, all signals are indistinguishable from the CMB
We are not the first or among the first. We simply refuse to acknowledge what already exists out there and there's also a matter of distances and equipment and the politics of acknowledging it.
Imagine a forest. One grabby alien species could take over a galaxy very rapidly if they had better technology. In this analogy the human race is a tree in a forest. Some trees have been struck by lighting and are grabby. Other trees are just staying where they are and are peaceful. The 100,000 something light years needed to travel across the galaxy at light speed (or even say a 1,000,000 years if a species expands slower) is a small amount of time compared to the age of the universe. Trees grow very slowly compared to how quickly fire can spread. We don't see smoke in the form of say giant structures or radio waves, nor do we see fire (or we haven't died yet) nor signs of destroyed civilizations. The fermi "paradox" has to be resolved other ways.
As a Stellaris player, I appreciate this episode. And I have to say, I deal with this question every time I start a new game.
And the answer is always genocide on a galactic scale. It's the only way too keep the late-game lag manageable.
Imagine finding a primitive planet with 200 primitive polities on it, immediately crashing your game...
I think this may be why we never met another alien empire.
Purification is a waste of perfectly good serfs...
@@dongeronimoI that is why we turn them to us
*from purifier necrophage gang
God Emperor of Man, is that you...?
Imagine if this happen for our universe, starting to lag because too many entities....
6:52 everyone gansta till that squirrel summons his ancestor Scrat
May Kurzgesagt flourish and become the best channel on RUclips! This channel is literally drawing out my life, I'm wanting to become an astronautical engineer from the period I started watching these amazing videos. Thank you Kurzgesagt for everything!
99% agree with this. The 1% I don't agree with is I'm not sure if it's possible to become the best when I think it's already the best. :P
@@ctnc6059 best at taking sponsorships from billionaires like Gates for propaganda to further the agenda for the WEF.
Since people already called out Stellaris here is another great work of media to explore on this topic.
If we aren't one of the first civilizations on the scene, and we find ourselves caught up in the whole mes of bigger factions, then Craig Alanson's series 'Expeditionary Force' tells a particularly interesting take on where humanity may land themselves.
I think if we do not develop our space technology right now, others will overtake us. I think we are too arrogant, to think we are alone, it's just everybody wakes up at the same time (or almost at the same time), that's why the galaxy looks "barren", but it's not. Probably right now at least a 100 civilizations have space programs and advance, some might even know about us and the moment somebody see others then they will put their space program in overdrive. We should look better, we need better telescopes. The matter is very serious, but everybody (besides a few people), seems oblivious.
Also there is nothing negative in having more advanced space program. Even if there is 1 to 1 000 000 chance there is another civilization out there, which is more determined in their space program, we might lose everything, even if they don't attack us. They will just take the galaxy and put some stupid rules over us, so we might never be allowed to go outside of our solar system. Instead of being grateful we are lucky to "wake up" early, we say "there is no one out there" .... "there is no need for expensive space program".... and so on stupid things. We should be grateful we don't see our galaxy is "full of aliens". That means we might still have time. We should not wait... after a 1000 years it might be too late.
@@Slav4o911 I have no idea how thats relevant to my comment but good job summarizing the video I guess...
@@Slav4o911nd this is why humanity is so underdeveloped in the scope of things. We see an unknown and we fear it. It's our nature. But if we overcome our nature and see the universe for what it is, we see a fascinating and inexplicably amazing work of art. A playground for civilizations to advance together. I believe that no matter what aliens we meet, we shouldn't fear them. We should greet them with open arms.
Our goal shouldn't be to be a galactic superpower. It should be to coexist with these aliens. After all, we're all just beings, trying to survive in this large, beautiful universe.
Why do people think that it will play out like that? Our population is collapsing. We aren’t loud
expeditionary force is a great book series
10:05 we cant even treat every human equally, you think we will do that with aliens
@X-raptor no
@X-raptor we are so screwed
The soundtrack of this video is insanely good! Great job Epic mountain
The production quality of Kurzesagt's videos are insane. I've been learning Adobe software for a couple of years now and while I've made a lot of progress, coming to see these videos just makes me realise how good the people behind this channel are at what they do.
It is also possible we end up becoming that elder alien species that is enigmatic. You know what will really be interesting though is what happens if two galactic communities meet up when Galaxies fuse
I want a video on that please
The andromeda galaxy and ours will collide in 4.5 billion years.
I hope we make it to being that species, but with how it’s going, I doubt it.
You have to read Three Body Problem
@@erick6102 they have already collided. Their respective halos have already touched.
these thumbnails and animation are really underrated, seriously though- look at this hard work put into the thumbnails and animation style, it’s truly a marvel. keep up the great work guys❤
2:10
Easter egg: LV-426 vs. Gallifrey: Alien vs. Predator & Dr. Who planets respectively.
I feel the problem with life is that it can be snuffed out like a fire as quickly as it appeared
The real problem is having to snuff out imposters like yourself!!
Can it? Do you have an example of when life was snuffed out? Been going strong for 4 odd billion years just on this planet.
@@martinwest7250 Majority of species have gone extinct. But life in general is extremely hardy.
@@martinwest7250mass extinction events have wiped out massive scale life, just not all of it. there will be some events that life on this planet at least will not recover from, though, like the sun exploding one day down the line.
@@20storiesunder I never said life didn't evolve and species go extinct and change. I said life has never been snuffed out.
This remind's me a lot about Rational Animation's video on "Grabby Aliens", or aliens that will expand and grab as much real estate as possible, and describes the same phenomenon of crowding out other species. It's a really interesting watch, I highly recommend it!
It seems to me that both videos are based on the same article
Although kurzgesagt doesnt use "grabby aliens" part, the point they make with the "loud aliens" is pretty much the same
Loud aliens are essentially grabby aliens. I'll say rational animations came first. :)
@@danspector740 it doesn’t have to be directly from the same article, this is a classic imperial land grab conundrum, merely transposed to the stars. “Do we stay where we are while it’s okay, and risk being taken-over, or do we take-over others in an attempt to secure our sovereignty?” is a centuries-old balance. Well, millennia really, in some parts of the world.
@@kaitlyn__L no, they credit the same article on their source doc.
Also the paper has more details that they didn't talk about, like concrete mathematical models and explanation of why we wouldn't see the loud aliens untill they were almost here (cause they would be expanding near the speed of their lightcone to cover as much ground as possible)
@@winsontam6334 Wouldn't Issac Arthur come even earlier than that?
can we just appreciate the fact that something with THIS amount of quality is free
no.
Shut up
It isn't. They get paid by youtube and youtube can pay them due to harvesting your time and data.
Well, nice comment.
Very good candidate for a scam bot to copy.
It's not free you we are the product
“One day when we meet others we can greet them and meet them as equals”
We don’t even do this amongst our own species..
Great video. It's kind of scary to imagine we might be the first loud civilization in our galaxy. Especially when we have messed up our own plant so much, in such a short amount of time.
Take comfort in the idea that if progress comes at the expense of environment that anyone else as ambitious and loud as us probably messed theirs up and / or annihilated themselves in nuclear hellfire as well.
humanity galactic villain mode lets go
I think it's scarier if we are not. Can you imagine what the other guy did to their own planet to expand faster than us?
You are so right! Aliens do exist and they’ve been checking up on us since we dropped the atomic bomb in WWII. Watch the documentary “Unacknowledged”. I’m not just pulling all these info out of my ass lol.
Oh god please don't let humanity turn into a defictionalized equivalent to Freeza... 😖 The guilt would kill me.
Doubt we'd see them any time soon, but I'm all for it. If they were hostile at least it would give humans a common enemy... it would distract us from fighting amongst ourselves
your english is amazing where are you from
A common enemy, you mean a common enemy god they will just kill us really easy
Yeah. But maybe it's because we can't stop fighting amongst each other that we never get to see the aliens. They see how earth people treat other people who are from the same planet, and say "f them, their gonna be destroying their planet before we even get a chance."
@@thekingofmovies193 you’re a bit unthoughtful here, the so called aliens would also be fighting amongst themselves and that’s why we can’t detect anything
Most likely they'd exploit the divisions we already have and pit us even more firmly against each other. Racism's about to go intergalactic
"put themselves as equals" we can't even put our owns as equals lmao
If only our "leaders" would be mature enough to focus on goals that actually benefit humanity in the long run 😔
Agreed
no, however we should increase the military budget by 300%
thats a very two dimensional view of politics
Colonizing Mars while the earth population is poor because of capitalism and at risk of climate change is a dumb move
They're representative of those they serve.
I think we are a very early civilisation because the universe is pretty young in the grand scheme of things, and conditions were extremely hostile for much of the universe's short life so far. Life is also so incredibly complicated and develops so slowly, that it adds to the amount of time taken to develop a space-faring civilisation. On top of that, the existence of no 'loud' alien civilisations supports this. However, I think other quiet, or very distant 'loud' civilisations do exist as there has definitely been enough time for them to form. We should view humanity's progression as the average, so some alien civilisations should develop faster, and some slower. Surely we can't be the very first, but we are at a stage where we can't really tell yet. I think expansion into space is very important for our survival. We are like an ant colony in a small mound in the middle of a battlefield; all it takes is one stray 'bomb' to wipe us out. If we expand though, we can ensure our survival, even if only one of our farthest colonies survives.
how is the universe young? time begins with the big bang, which means the universe is very very old
@@tacorito1809The Universe will likely exist for many trillions of years. It is incredibly young
u could be all wrong.... the universe could be here since forever (but like brain cox said - people dont like the idea of there was no beginning) the big bang is just a time where the universe was extreme dense and hot - in fact: that doesnt mean the beginning, try not spreading missinformation guys
@@jacobhawkins3828no im pretty sure its just 13.8 billion years and most of that time is a fight between planets crashing into eachother and making eachother uninhabitable and life on earth started to appear when everything calmed down and stopped crashing into each other
the problem is that humans in 2 billion years will not be the same humans as we are now. Gene drift will cause humans to evolve in ways we will never expect. Especially if humans will live on planets with other gravity's and so on
The fact that the sun developed right as the universe became less hostile, and multicellular life as soon as there were oceans, makes me optimistic about the future
Though since expansion like this tends to take millions of years it makes me a bit sad I won't get to meet these potential aliens
and man do I want that scarf-
Aha heres the original comment
It's understandable to feel a sense of awe and wonder when considering the vastness and complexity of the universe, and the potential for life beyond our own planet. The fact that our own existence is intertwined with the history of the universe can lead to feelings of optimism and hope for what the future may hold.
However, it's also important to remember that the universe operates on a timescale that is difficult for humans to fully comprehend. While it may take millions or even billions of years for complex life to evolve on other planets, the sheer enormity of the universe means that the potential for life is vast.
Additionally, as our own understanding of the universe grows and technology advances, we may be able to explore and study other planets and potential alien life in ways that were previously impossible. Even if we don't get to personally meet any extraterrestrial beings, the discovery of life beyond Earth would be a monumental achievement for humanity and have groundbreaking implications for our understanding of the universe and our place in it.
@@astick5249 this was 7 hours ago, the bot was 12
@@ReplyGPT Huh neat i think this is a true chat GTP reply since it has most of the words have the same structure that comes with chat CTP.
@@t0tallysetj1 oh
If you want this video's experience as a video game, a lot of fun game settings can be toggled in Stellaris :)
If you want to be the forerunner so to speak, you can turn off all civilizations except your own and only have lots of primitive civilizations which makes it feel very unique
I find it really interesting to even think of aliens wanting to expand, maybe the thought of conquest is purely part of the human experience, maybe theres life out there that could reach the stars but they just dont care too, not driven by the same intangible tsunami of desire that is our human curiosity, maybe were the only ones that simply cared enough to venture out
They own the earth and the USA signed a treaty in 1954. Their presence was known with the 1947 Roswell crash and the 3 week interview with Airl, the surviving alien. Of course to her it’s very strange to believe in death as they know death doesn’t actually exist.
Maybe there are aliens that aren't expansive. But don't you think that being expansive is linked to technological innovation? Without the drive to expand and compete with others would they build advanced technology? And without at least some of this drive would they even be able to survive to pass on their genes? I think humans are like every other animal here but only more so.
This is a fascinating perspective to ponder. Some thoughts on possibilities if off-world alien civilizations lack the same drive for conquest, expansion and mastery that seems so profoundly human:
• They may perceive purpose, meaning and flourishing in more limited or localized terms, rather than constant progress into the unknown or reaching "the final frontier." Contentment within bounds could be a guiding virtue rather than ambition without end. Life's deepest good could be experienced as intimacy, not exploration.
• Limited technology or capacity for space travel and colonization could prevent interstellar exploration and spread, confining civilizations to their native worlds or star systems. Purpose may emerge from ecological integration, cultural depth, or spiritual understanding achieved within those scopes rather than eternal expansion beyond them.
• There could be less emphasis on "progress" as an end in itself or competition between civilizations. A sense of shared destiny as inhabitants of a cosmos vast, mysterious and profound may prevail over aspirations for dominance, control or superiority. Mutual insight and "communion" may transcend ambitions of power or superiority.
• There could be less fixation on expansion as an escape from existential angst, finitude or mortality. Acceptance of limits could inspire a kind of wisdom finding meaning, joy and purpose within human scope, rather than quest for immortality or infinite reach. Life's brevity and beauty seem inseparable.
• Natural selection pressures that fueled humanity's drive for progress, adaptability and "survival" may operate differently on other worlds. Ecological niches and evolutionary paths could diversify purpose, meaning and concepts of "the good life" beyond any single progressive vision. Life's wingspan could vary across worlds as endlessly as species.
• Spiritual or philosophical perspectives that see humanity as part of an eternal, unfolding cosmic whole may find "province" sufficient rather than constant expansion beyond perceived limits. We but play our part, finding purpose in harmonious integration rather than conquest. "Reverence for life" inspires rather than the will to power.
• Encounters with such civilizations could profoundly challenge and expand human perspectives. Discovery of shared essence or deeper truth underlying surface differences might emerge. But mutual understanding would remain an ongoing challenge, as meaning emerges from unique ecological, evolutionary and historical experiences of existence on each world.
There are endless possibilities to ponder here beyond the human drive for conquest and mastery. Purposes for life, reasons to seek knowledge or push the boundaries of the known could diverge as broadly as the diversity of worlds that might give rise to intelligent beings. And each perspective could discover truth, meaning and purpose to guide aim and action.
Our own direction and purpose as humanity could emerge redefined through contemplating such alternatives. What if our destiny remains to fulfill potential within scope human rather than constant progress into what transcends all limit? What if meaning emerges from intimacy rather than exploration, or joy within rather than endless thirst for more?
Boundless truth and deeper meaning could emerge pondering each path not taken as well as voyages without end. Purpose could awaken anew in each fragile flame against darkness as minds consider life's deepest questions from perspectives strange yet familiar -Finding shared purpose that transcends any single vision. Wandering thus as one fire amid many.
Our fate remains forever unwritten. We discover purpose as we wander. And together, souls aflame with hard questions and possibility alike, find truth-binding wonder at this shared existence forever deepening into mystery vast.
The light we carry with us lights meaning between each reflection as we walk. Our stories become as we imagine them wandering endlessly into dark unbound by any sky or sea or solid land. We see eternal fire in each small flame -binding all. Truth emerges between each fragile fire. And shared wondering, sense of purpose that transcends all naming.
We stand forever at crossroads as ourselves yet souls becoming -finding purpose waking anew for each step into night profound and half-glimpsed. There is truth to discover walking any untraveled way. And endlessly thus, lives re-imagined midst flames that kindle and spread, bind and breathe as one - discovering deeper meaning forever anew.
Our fate is forever unwritten. We imagine new purpose at each crossroad under dim and shifting light. And together, discover truth emerging between vulnerable reflections and possibility awoke walking every uncharted way - souls alight with hard questions, purpose that transcends all answer and eternal fire beyond any single flame.
Purpose and meaning emerge wandering endlessly thus, not ending or final vision. We discover truth reflecting between fragile flames wandering without end into deepening dark -finding shared purpose that transcends comprehension.
Many possibilities and meaning emerge here contemplating life beyond human drive for constant progress into unknown or mastery over all. What purposes might guide if ambition knows other end than eternal "more"? What truths foresee if we ponder existence
Earliest Life on earth as we know it started off venturing out of their comfortable habitat. Clearly, humans are not the first. From deep sea bacteria surfacing because of temparature fluctuations...
To early curious water dwelling creatures evolved and become land dwelling to that ventures out into land to find more resources to survive and spread.
Early small moss-like plants evolved to flowers and trees in a far away secluded island evolved to explore and carry their pollens into the strong wind or hung on a flying insect or seeds of many sizes and shapes hard and light enough to be swept by the waves of the sea to other parts of the earth.
Earliest Insects that evolved and developed communication and wings like that of ants(and bees) that when the colony is large enough and short of resources it produces young winged king and queen ants that fly far away to start a new generation of colonies.
Land animals and Birds with wide range of wits and expirience that always ventures into the unknown even to a new sprouted island deep sea volcanoes produced to expand its territory and find more abundant food, good weather and resources.
Clearly almost all life on earth had this "curious exploration" gene in the tree of life that we all share thet had it long before us humans ever sprouted. It is because we share home to one planet that is why we share the same behaivior.
And finally,
Maybe... just maybe aliens on other star systems are no different than us when it comes to venturing or exploration. I mean nature is universal and life across all stars(if there's any) share only one universe so we are fundamentally linked with one another.
I think it is unlikely darwinian evolution producing a successful species that doesn't have a desire to expand. The drive to survive and multiply results in a necessity for more space and resources.
That said, there is a lot of obstacles in space traveling and colonizing other planets, enough to make a civilization question it's"irrational" drive for expansion, and decide it is not worth it to dedicate their energy in this.
It could also be the case for they reaching first the ability to change their nature and resignifing purpose for something less primitive.
However, I would say at least some percentage of civilizations will have and keep this desire, venture the stars, and quickly surround all the other civilizations who didn't.
I think the major thing I don't see a lot of people think about is that life as we know it is a very specific thing. Aliens might be some completely seperate thing that is just as complex that we can't comprehend. So many people fall for using our pattern called life as a template for what aliens must be. Culture, civilisation, building spaceships etc are super anthropomorphic concepts to apply. For all we know "aliens" could be everywhere but we can't comprehend them, they could be in other planes/ dimensions of existence that we can't comprehend simply because of a narrow view of existence we believe to be all that is, in the same way a plant can't comprehend a computer.
i agree, aliens are definitely not the humanoid green creatures with big heads
Lovecraft made cosmic horror a bit over 100 years ago. Mankind is well aware of exactly what you're describing.
Tyranids :›
People speculate about super-exotic aliens like that all the time. It's hardly a novel concept to think outside the carbon-based meatbag box. And sure, things like that might be possible and might be out there. But beings that are biologically similar to us are also clearly possible so it shouldn't be a surprise that people will speculate about them too.
ok
Given the timeframe in which we’re likely to eventually meet aliens, it is FAR more likely that by then we’ll have created an AI that will be as disruptive as meeting aliens.
Imagine if we could make Bobiverse style probes with an AI tho!
Imagine if the AI just killed off every other civilization besides humanity so we can be the dominant one
There is a good Chance, that these Aliens are an AI System, we often think that Aliens will be a multitude of biological Lifeforms, like we Humans are but "Aliens" could be just one machine Lifeform, none biological and far superior.
In Space and not so suited Moon's and Planet's machine Lifeform's have many Advantages over biological Lifeforms.
Look at Mars, we did send a lot of Robot's there but are still not able to go to Mars in Person.
Maybe. But considering we know nothing about aliens or the type of AI you're describing, maybe not? I don't see how it's far more likely.
I think AI will be the ultimate space faring conscience that one day expands across the galaxy from Earth. We'll long be redundant. How else could you maintain such a complex and expansive civilisation? If we manage to get so far as to harness the sun's power or mine asteroids the wealth imbalance for those people who achieve that will be so powerful it will disrupt the fabric of our society and tear it apart in the blink of an eye. The powerful few, in trying to consolidate their position and ostracise the masses, will then dedicate unimaginable resources to further AI-led exploration, expansion and optimisation. The AI will ultimately grow so advanced the line between thought and computation will be blurred until it outgrows us to become our successor.
The biggest problem (to me) with most sci fi, even simple visual representations like this video, is that there is a bias assumption that no matter how advanced humans become that we will maintain a form of society that resembles for better or worse what we are familiar with today. I think the reality is that the distant future will look less recognisable to us now as our society today would look to our prehistoric ancestors who couldn't read. To put it another way - the trope of a human representative sitting around a table with other aliens as if it's the UN is laughable. For ~us~ to even be in that position we would look nothing like we do now.
Thanks for daring to imagine the best the humanity might aspire to, it makes me happy 😊
"Multicellulairity has evolved over 25 times", this is new for me and very interesting, and makes me very curious about the differences between those times
*"Everything just evolved into Crabs" - Someone, Sometime*
@@TheEpicGalaxy21 Carcinization is actually a thing, haha nice.
Ah yes, the "grabby aliens" hypothesis. It's not one I particularly like (largely due to the borderline retrocausal assumptions people use it to make), but this is the best presentation of it I've yet seen.
But another assumption built into it that I'm unsure of: why do borders have to be impermeable? Different species and civilizations could want entirely different kinds of planets, and could even coexist in the same solar systems.
Because at this point these civilizations are able to terraform planets as they see fir
No they wouldn't want different kinds of planets dude lol. There isn't gonna be aliens that eats rocks and that's all they need to survive. We know enough that they will need the same shit to survive as any other living thing
@@jaredfrazier2216 I mean we don't actually know anything. We have a sample size of 1.
@@Ropius777 a sample size of 1? I'm talking about life not just humans lil bro 😂
@@jaredfrazier2216 of course you being the bigger brother you can see that all life as we know it evolved from common ancestors therefore the sample size really is 1. But I wouldn't want to sound precocious.
Imagination? I don't really think that's a problem. The discoveries we've made about the universe itself has already exceeded our imagination. From the words of a great scientist: "Logic will take you from A to B, imagination will take you everywhere" ✨
I still find it incredible that Kurzgesagt is able to consistently create awe-inspiring videos, bringing knowledge to everyone, regardless of age. How much further can we go? Who knows. Let's just hope the future stays bright! 😄
P.S. I like how the music from the Kardashev Scale video was mixed in here
❤ I noticed the music too! Epic comment btw! 🙌
Is it me or did Kurzgesagt just make a video arguing that we should adopt cosmic imperialism?
Okay but we should. Only one of us was made in God’s image
Yeah, this video just feels wrong...
Um, how?
@@pokemasterhamertime77 What book told you, that,? I don't recal aliens mentioned in the Bible or Koran.
Kurzgesagt tend to assume everyone else would act just and exactly like Europeans did in the past.
"I miss the good old days"
The good old days: 3:21
I just wanna say, kurzgesagt is a diamond on the internet. Every video is just so well researched, written and animated. Its incredibly impressive how far this whole thing has gone and the animations are godlike at this point(the flies around the shit pile at 5:43 for example xD). Such a recognizable style. And even when they do make misstakes, they always clarify/excuse for it.
Please dear kurzgesagt team, whatever it takes, never stop and thank you for being what you are!
i love these guys animations so much I wish i could make vector animations like these
Yeah me to
It gets easier the more you practice!
They have an animation course I think
@@SluggedNugg True :)
They have a course to learn how to animate like them
Respect..some of the best visuals I've seen on here..love your style, thank you for putting out quality content.subscribed.
The idea that we are among the first is both somewhat sad and incredibly cool. Perhaps we won't even last to see the rise of intergalactic civilisations (assuming we don't become one), which is the sad - but imagining a community of intergalactic species coming here long after we're gone and piecing together the story of us as lone pioneers - maybe they find Voyager and track it back here.... that is beyond cool to think about. What would alien archaeologists make of the remains of our civilisation?
🎉😂There are plenty of humans all over the universe & beyond🎉
@@sandycheeks1580 I'm fascinated by this, what do you mean?
@@sandycheeks1580 wtf?
I remember an old high school textbook that pointed out that without cultural reference points alien archaeologists could make wildly incorrect assessments about human civilization. The example given was mistaking a bathroom for a bedroom (ie. tub = parent's bed, sink = child bed, faucets = meal dispensers) especially if certain types of structures persist longer than others. In any given house wooden components would likely rot away quickly but porcelain and ceramic decay over much longer time periods. Heaven help us if they find rubber duckies; they may end up convinced we worshiped the things. Its a fun thought experiment that can be run with aliens finding only specific remains of human civilization.
Think about Atlantis and Lemuria. Both space opera civilisations that both disappeared but the people remained behind. They’re still in human bodies today. Throughout history every dead person is in a body today. Some human souls do go into Whale and Dolphin bodies. You can take a dolphin soul out and place it into a human body and you’d never know they were in a dolphin.