Are We Alone In The Universe? | Adam Frank

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

September 16, 2018

Duration

54m

Channel

Modern Wisdom

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Professor Adam Frank is an Astrophysicist at the University of Rochester, Author and a Founder of the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos and Culture. Get ready to blast your brain off into interstellar space as this badboy is my absolute favourite episode so far. Discover the likelihood of other alien civilisations in the universe, how we could colonise the galaxy in 700,000 years, where the future descendants of the human race are heading, the implications of global warming and an awful lot more. If you love this episode, share it with a friend! It would make me very happy. Further Reading: Adam's Website: http://www.adamfrankscience.com/ Adam's new book: Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth: http://amzn.eu/d/5J3oyly NPR Cosmos & Culture Blog: https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/ - Listen to all episodes online. Search "Modern Wisdom" on any Podcast App or click here: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/modern-wisdom/id1347973549 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XrOqvxlqQI6bmdYHuIVnr?si=iUpczE97SJqe1kNdYBipnw Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/modern-wisdom - I want to hear from you!! Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Email: modernwisdompodcast@gmail.com

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Chris Williamson

  host

• Adam Frank

  guest

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Chris Williamson and Adam Frank, Are We Alone In The Universe? | Adam Frank explores alien civilisations, climate change, and humanity’s cosmic coming-of-age moment Adam Frank explains why, using exoplanet data and a modified Drake Equation, it is overwhelmingly likely that technological civilizations have arisen elsewhere in the universe, unless nature is implausibly hostile to life. He distinguishes between the Fermi Paradox’s two questions—why we don’t see aliens here and why we don’t see them in our telescopes—arguing that our actual search has been vanishingly small. The conversation then pivots to how any planet-spanning civilization inevitably triggers climate change, reframing global warming as a universal developmental bottleneck rather than a uniquely human moral failing. Frank argues that our task is to navigate this high‑risk transition through systemic energy and infrastructure changes, not individual guilt, and that our success or failure will determine whether we become a long-lived cosmic civilization or one more collapsed experiment.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

21 Harsh Truths About Why You’re Still Lost - Mark Manson

How TikTok Hijacked the Future of Music - Nik Nocturnal

DEBATE: Why Do Gen Z Women Hate Men So Much?

A Blueprint for Mastering Every Conversation - Jefferson Fisher

The Endless Pain Of Emotionally Mature Partners - Mercedes Coffman

The Uber Eats to OnlyFans Pipeline