Episode 11: Cosmic Musings – Where are all our neighbours?

Given the sheer number of stars in the universe — over 200 billion in our galaxy alone, in a universe of two trillion galaxies — chances are, we are not alone. And yet, we have yet to see a shred of credible evidence for life outside our little cosmic corner, let alone intelligent life. The silence is deafening. Are we really alone?

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Show Notes

  1. The Man Who Introduced the World to Flying Saucers, The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/the-man-who-introduced-the-world-to-flying-saucers/372732/
  2. What is the origin of the term ‘UFO’?, Oxford University Press: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/what-is-the-origin-of-the-term-ufo/
  3. The curious case of the alien in the photo, and the mystery that took years to solve, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/30/alien-photo-roswell-new-mexico-mystery
  4. Of Aliens And UFOs ‒ Sri Lanka’s Strangest Sightings, Roar Media: https://roar.media/english/life/srilanka-life/of-aliens-and-ufos-e28092-sri-lankas-strangest-sightings/
  5. UFOs in Sri Lanka, LankaLibrary: http://www.lankalibrary.com/myths/ufo.htm
  6. Mutual UFO Network (MUFON): https://www.mufon.com/
  7. Why Do We Imagine Aliens as ‘Little Green Men’?, LiveScience: https://www.livescience.com/55370-why-are-aliens-little-green-men.html
  8. Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/
  9. Prometheus (2012), directed by Ridley Scott: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446714/
  10. Xenomorph, Alien Species Wiki: https://aliens.fandom.com/wiki/Xenomorph
  11. Arrival (2016), directed by Denis Villeneuve: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/
  12. Stories of Your Life and Others, written by Ted Chiang: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223380.Stories_of_Your_Life_and_Others
  13. Ted Chiang’s Soulful Science Fiction, The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/ted-chiangs-soulful-science-fiction
  14. Non-Biological Extraterrestrial, Transformers Wiki: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Non-Biological_Extraterrestrial
  15. District 9 (2009), directed by Neill Blomkamp: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/
  16. Independence Day (1996), directed by Roland Emmerich: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/
  17. Rendezvous with Rama, written by Arthur C. Clarke: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112537.Rendezvous_with_Rama
  18. 2001: A Space Odyssey, written by Arthur C. Clarke: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70535.2001
  19. Childhood’s End, written by Arthur C. Clarke: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/414999.Childhood_s_End
  20. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), directed by Stanley Kubrick: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/
  21. Hyperion Cantos Series, written by Dan Simmons: https://www.goodreads.com/series/40461-hyperion-cantos
  22. Drake Equation: Estimating the Odds of Finding E.T., Space.com: https://www.space.com/25219-drake-equation.html
  23. At Last, How Many Alien Civilization Are There?, Astrobiology Magazine: https://www.astrobio.net/alien-life/at-last-how-many-alien-civilizations-are-there/
  24. The Fermi Paradox, Wait But Why: https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html
  25. The Fermi Paradox — Where Are All The Aliens? and The Fermi Paradox II — Solutions and Ideas — Where Are All The Aliens?, Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell: https://youtu.be/sNhhvQGsMEc
  26. Joe Rogan Experience #1233 — Brian Cox, PowerfulJRE: https://youtu.be/wieRZoJSVtw
  27. The Great Filter Might Be What’s Preventing Aliens From Reaching Us, Curiosity.com: https://curiosity.com/topics/the-great-filter-might-be-whats-preventing-aliens-from-reaching-us-curiosity/
  28. Why Alien Life Would be our Doom — The Great Filter, Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell: https://youtu.be/UjtOGPJ0URM
  29. Search for extraterrestrial intelligence: https://www.seti.org/
  30. Wow! signal, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal
  31. Carl Sagan — Pale Blue Dot, carlsagandotcom: https://youtu.be/wupToqz1e2g
  32. A Pale Blue Dot, The Planetary Society: http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/earth/pale-blue-dot.html
  33. Voyager: https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/
  34. What Happens to Religion When We Find Aliens?, Shannon Stirone on Medium: https://medium.com/s/space-time/what-happens-to-religion-when-we-find-extraterrestrial-life-742146170c27

Photo by Dino Reichmuth on Unsplash

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