Trailer

We humans could have a bright future ahead of us that lasts billions of years. But we have to survive the next 200 years first.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The more we humans look out into the sky, the
more it becomes apparent that there is nothing looking back
at us. We seem to be utterly alone. This is,
to say the least very weird. Our universe is big
enough and old enough that it should be teeming with life.
Lots of people have come up with answers. Perhaps the

(00:23):
aliens are hiding from something we don't know about, or
maybe we're being kept in a galactic zoo without our knowledge.
But maybe the simplest answer is the right one in
this case. Perhaps we humans really are the only intelligent
life in the universe. What if the only reason we
humans are alive is because of a series of flukes

(00:44):
and coincidences so improbable that they will never be repeated
again anywhere else. Well, that would make us pretty special,
and it would also put the entire future of intelligent
life in the universe squarely on our shoulders. One we

(01:06):
humans are on the eve of spreading out into the galaxy,
of freeing ourselves from the bonds of Earth. To settle
new planets and secure the future of intelligent life. All
we have to do is survived that long existential risks
are a distinctive Or maybe unique kind of risk in
that we're playing for everything. If we screw it up,

(01:29):
we screw it up for a large chunk of the universe.
One thing is certain is that there's a huge amount
of energy in it, and it's expanding it very question
the speed of light, and so you would have no
warning of it coming. And basically Earth will be sears
to pieces and we just don't know. So I just
don't think it's worth taking the chance. Join me. Stuff

(01:50):
you should know is Josh Clark for the End of
the World, a tempart podcast series that explores all the
ways humanity could come to an abrupt an untimely end. Sure,
we're all going to die someday, let's make sure it's
not on the same day. M