January 12, 2025 • 38 mins
Welcome back to our podcast! Today we will be discussing the Fermi Paradox, aka, "Why haven't aliens talked to us yet?" Lexi goes into different theories as to why it's been radio silent.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/nasa-is-taking-a-new-look-at-searching-for-life-beyond-earth/https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a45034128/where-are-the-aliens-fermi/https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/how-far-from-earth-could-aliens-detect-our-radio-signalshttps://www.universetoday.com/147591/beyond-fermis-paradox-x-the-firstborn-hypothesis/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scalehttps://explainingscience.org/2017/05/27/the-zoo-hypothesis/https://medium.com/@Pragoz/theories-about-the-absence-of-contact-with-alien-life-where-is-everyone-part-ii-e3b50c75c536
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/nasa-is-taking-a-new-look-at-searching-for-life-beyond-earth/https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a45034128/where-are-the-aliens-fermi/https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/how-far-from-earth-could-aliens-detect-our-radio-signalshttps://www.universetoday.com/147591/beyond-fermis-paradox-x-the-firstborn-hypothesis/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scalehttps://explainingscience.org/2017/05/27/the-zoo-hypothesis/https://medium.com/@Pragoz/theories-about-the-absence-of-contact-with-alien-life-where-is-everyone-part-ii-e3b50c75c536
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
This podcast discusses true crime, which may tell violence, and
other material intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised. Hey,
it's Kayla and it's Lexi, and welcome back. It's been
oh my god, almost a year.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I always stop April.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I think so, yeah, because April was we stopped right
before I moved, and April was my last month of
the new place. So it's been since April to January.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Nine, ten months. So that went on longer than we expected.
But you know, a little break is needed sometimes, So sorry,
have you guys been waiting forever?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
It was long enough to gestate a new podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It really was.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Welcome this episode. This episode is birth.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Strap in everybody, Welcome to the miracle of life.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
We we're back, kicking, screaming, covered in someone else's blood.
Was that a vanilla berry red bull? No, that would
be a dream. Hell is this? Alani?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I thought it's like one of those vanilla ice vanilla
RedBerry berry red bulls. I'm like, I haven't seen one
of those in three months?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Why are they? Why are they naming red bulls like vapes? Like?
Are you like cherry berry icy? Surprise sugar? Baby, Like, Okay, I.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Don't know how I get like, like she found one
in the wild.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I'm glad you're not judging me for drinking a pre
workout at eight pm.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I was jealous.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I was like, man, she got an eye spinilla, berry,
red bull.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
That's so many flavors. What I love is when things
are like flavored like ice. Like they're like ice iced berry,
and I'm like, what's the ice flavor? Like what wetter?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It's what stripter?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
It tastes cold. Oh you know what, though some liquids
taste wetter than others, like cranberry is a particularly dry liquid.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I see that that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
I had to think about the last time I had
cranberry juice and it did not quench It was not
the quenchese it.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Won't you ever you ever had like cranberry sauce jelly
like straight out the can.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
No, because the texture looks like it would send me
over the edge.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Cool, that's just a me thing. I just cracked one
open and sat on the couch with I put two
spoons in it. Like I had a lot of faith
in the fact that my wife was just gonna be
like absolutely get into this together and She's like, what
the hell are you doing? And I'm like, I'm eating
cranberry sauce and she's like like that with a spoon
in the can and I was like, it's not a
safe space. Suddenly, Please tell me one of our listeners
(03:12):
also does this. Please tell me I'm not alone. There
has to be somebody else the missed connections.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Alrighty, So the last time many moons ago was me.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
So it is your turn.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It's my turn. Okay, So welcome back, Hi everyone. I
hope you're all excited for the return. After the long break,
We've been busy collecting new and improved mysteries, cryptids, myths
and legends, and finding more criminology to explore for you all.
So I didn't want to say we've been collecting new
and improved true crimes because that sounds wrong. So we've
(03:51):
been exploring more, yes, but all the others are new
and improved. We've also been busy surviving twenty twenty four,
probably like the rest of you. Kudos to you if
you made it this part. Fat yourself on the back.
(04:12):
So I recently found myself going down a rabbit hole
thanks to an Instagram video on the Fermi paradox. Have
you heard of this?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Mm hmm woo.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So, for those of you that do not know, like Kayla,
the Fermi paradox are first to the phenomenon in which
we have yet to actually have any conclusive evidence of
communication with extraterrestrial life forms in spite of the overwhelming
likelihood of its existence. So the Fermi paradox is also
called the Great Silence, and it's named after an Italian
(04:45):
American physicist by the name of Enrico Fermi, who reportedly,
while discussing UFO reports, space radiocoms, and other astrophysics related
sorts of things over lunch one day with colleagues in
the summer of nineteen fifty with his fellow astrophysicists Edward Teller,
Herbert Yorke, and Emil Konopinski, said something along the lines
(05:07):
of but where is everybody? In reference to our lack
of communication from these life forms that statistically should exist
to an advanced enough level to be able to communicate
with us. This keeps me up at night. I'm not
gonna lie in. This episode didn't help.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
I mean, I never really thought about it, because you have,
like all these people saying they've seen things. They've seen things,
they've experienced things, but like there's no actual communication.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I know, like nothing like confirmed, like nothing set in stone.
That is like this alien from the universe couple of
you know, and we name universe like we name other universes,
like maybe they'll have nicknames, but we name them, like
when you're given just a random generated username on TikTok,
like they're like, this is universe user five seven two
(06:01):
six eight nine two two five six seven three, Like
that's how we name universes. Universe I, universe I, universes universes.
I don't really know someone better than better at me
than grammar, better than Jesus Christ. So someone better at
grammar than me, tell me what the correct plural of
(06:26):
universe is. Ooh, alright. So in nineteen seventy one, NASA
began officially searching for techno signatures of alien life forms
throughout the universe, using primarily radio and satellite waves in
space to try and reach out to possible alien forms
of life while simultaneous while simultaneously searching for responses back
(06:49):
from said life forms, which was a project called SETI,
which is an acronym for search for extraterrestrial intelligence. And
while the program has had a few interesting unexplained like
pickups and blips here and there, nothing like really firmly
conclusive has been discovered yet. So NASA did get some
interesting light fluctuations back in twenty fifteen, but unfortunately it
(07:13):
ended up being a little too inconclusive, with too many
possible sources of alternative explanations or interferences to be considered
solid proof of alien life. The good news is, however,
is that as of twenty eighteen, NASA has expanded the
SETI program to be more advanced by updating the technology
used to search for a wider array of indicators of
alien life. And as a technology continues to expand in advance,
(07:36):
so do our possibilities of diffinity definitively contacting extra ex Girl,
it's been a while, so have I'm better on paper
than I am speaking, And I say this to everyone
all the time, especially to my wife. I'm like, sweetheart,
(07:58):
if I have something that I have to get across
that it's either romantic or important, I'm going to write
it to you in a letter because it's going to
come out of my mouth like a caveman. So the
me that is typing these podcast scripts is different than
the me that is speaking them. Just keep that in mind.
I'm smarter on paper. I think I was trying to
(08:19):
say possibilities of definitively contacting extraterrestrial life. That wasn't even
that hard, all right. So now that I've got the
light happy stuff out of the way, I'm going to
dive into the various theories and explanations for the Fermi
paradox that get increasingly more disturbing as I go down
the list.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Okay, I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It keeps getting weirder. We haven't said that in a while.
It's going to keep getting weirder. So the first one
is kind of like pleasant. It's called different kind of
life theory. So the first theory is still fairly light
and fluffy, and it's just that alien life forms out
there are simply evolving in a different way. We're at
a different pace. Take Mars, for example, we know that
(08:59):
our closest planet, Terry neighbor, actually does have signs of life.
That life is just rudimentary, bacterial adjacent life forms that
are far from what we would consider intelligent alien life.
And mind you, the Drake equation which is an equation
by which the statistical possibility of intelligent alien life forms
beyond Earth, by taking into account the number of stars, galaxies,
(09:22):
planets with favorable conditions, and the likelihood of spontaneous organic
and biological material, and the subsequent likelihood of advanced and
intelligent life forms from that biological material, was all calculated.
So the Drake equation has taken that evolutionary process into account.
But there's still the possibility that we either got it
wrong or we just aren't being creative enough with our
(09:45):
current biomarkers in our search for a life. So the
Drake equation is pretty fascinating. I really like physics, I
don't understand it as well as I once did, and
I really don't understand astrophysics. So we're going to muscle
through this together. The Drake equation is as follows. To
paint you a word picture, N equals r asterix times
FP times n e little n different n times f
(10:09):
one times f I times f c times l. All
of those are variables. There's not a single number in
that entire equation. Here's what they all stand for. So
N the you know, e, the the the big, the big,
the big Khuna. The important part of that equation ends
up being the number of civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy,
(10:31):
specifically with which communication might be possible i e. Which
are on the current past light cone. I actually did
not realize that this only encapsulated the Milky Way galaxy.
That is going to be relevant later. So and here
are the following So the R asterix is the average
rate of star formation in our galaxy. The FP is
(10:54):
the fraction of those stars that have planets. The n
E is the average number of planets that can potentially
support life per star that has planets. F one is
the fraction of planets that could support life that actually
develop at some point. The FI is the fraction of
planets with life that go on to develop intelligent life
and civilizations. The FC is the fraction of civilizations that
(11:15):
develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence
into space. And L is the length of time for
which such civilizations release detectable signals into space. This first
appeared in nineteen sixty five. Now, mind you, every single
piece of this, it's theoretical, and at the end of
(11:36):
the day, we don't know n and if any one
of those numbers is astronomically small, then n by default
ends up being astronomically small, and it only covers the
Milky Way galaxy. There's how many galaxies out there that
this doesn't even apply to, Well, it could apply to
if we expanded it.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
How's we can say, like the Milky Way, like it's
obviously large, but like there's other galaxies that are larger
exactly but potentially have more life.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Exactly exactly exactly. Like even if we were the only
intelligent life in the Milky Way, I'd be like, man,
that would be crazy, but I'd be willing to like
buy that. I, however, am not willing to buy that
we are the only intelligent life in the universe. I
simply don't believe it. I just learned I can adjust
my volume on my microphone by accident. That's really fun.
(12:28):
Thank you all for being there for me during that
moment of discovery. So that's basically the different kind of
life theory is that basically we got something wrong and
the life is evolving, perhaps in a you know, who's
to say that the life that evolves evolves in the
(12:49):
same way that they're using the same radio signals, the
same satellite signals that they have anywhere near the same
type of technology we do, so they could be sending
out the same signals but with technology that we couldn't
even dream and we're potentially doing the same who knows.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Yeah, it's kind of like we're using AM and they're
using FM, like literally the same.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
It's going to match up exactly exactly. That's a great
way to explain it. That was much simpler than anything
I had written down. This episode is now kateless, so
the next one is also light and fluffy. It's the
far away theory. That's exactly what it sounds. The theory
is really simple and it's contested, and while it's disappointing,
(13:30):
it's really not terribly dark. It boils down to the
fact that even though in theory, much of our space
communication technology involving radio waves can reach many many light
years away from Earth And for those that don't know,
a light year is how far light can travel in
one year, which is an extremely long time. It's an
extremely long time lights very fast, so the ailing communications
(13:55):
may still simply be just too far away. Our universe
is huge, it's massive, it is expanding. So, according to
an article from science focus. The military grade waiter radio
waves used for the SETI project can broadcast signals to
aliens up to sixty light years away from Earth without
being significantly interrupted by radio waves and interference from our
Sun or other surrounding stars or cosmic bodies. At least
(14:18):
in theory. It's not like we have, you know, a
receiver sixty light years away. That's like yep, got it. Yeah.
But while theoretically these radio waves should be able to
reach up to sixty light years away before degrading or
being interrupted with space interference caused by massive cosmic bodies,
maybe the aliens are just outside of that sixty light
(14:39):
year range, you know, or that the interference from black holes, singularities,
or massive stars doesn't suck them in before they reach
our extraterrestrial friends. So, like, you know, that theory one
that makes sense to me, Like the aliens are just
a little too far away to get our messages.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I mean that makes sense, Like they're just all obviously
not close.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yes, they're already here.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Unless they're all right here, I will get into that.
There are a couple of they're already here theories. So
the next one is the early bird theory. This. This
one is probably my first introduction to the Fermi paradox
because I remember seeing something about this like on a
science TV show when I was like a kid. So
the early bird theory is also called the firstborn hypothesis,
(15:25):
states that the reason we just haven't made contact with
other intelligent life forms throughout space yet is because we
just happen to be the first So avileb is the
astrophysicist that first suggested this theory as a possible explanation
for the Fermi paradox and describes that the theory described nope,
and describes that the discovery of other intelligent life forms
(15:45):
is time dependent and that us humans just happen to
be ahead of the curve, whereas other will later become
intelligent life forms are still in like their amba stage.
And another side note to this theory is that information
radio waves, light, et cetera. They take a very very
long time to properly travel vast distances through space multiple
light years. So the way it was explained to me,
(16:07):
and I apologize for my lack of source on this one,
this was just an insanely interesting tidbit that I remember
from a cable science show when I was a kid,
and it's just stuck in my marine. Is that even
if there were another civilization equally advanced as humans, if
they were far enough away from us, like I don't know,
fifty plus light years, I'm making that number up. I
don't know if that's accurate. That by the time we
could get like radio or video footage of their planet
(16:30):
sent to us that we would they would just still
be in the dinosaur stage. Because just taking that information
that long to reach us, HM, that's crazy to me. Yeah,
So like fucking think about exactly. So like if they
sent out like a video transmission the same time we did,
like we're not going to get it for another like
(16:50):
a couple million years.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I don't want to think.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
But I don't want to think about that either. I
don't think about that. That's not for me to comprehend.
That's not my business. So the next one, this is
where things get hairy, is the self destruction theory. The
self destruction theory is basically the exact opposite of the
early bird theory. This theory states that other intelligent life
forms did exist, but drove themselves to extinction in one
(17:18):
way or another. The self destruction theory can range from
unavoidable cosmic events such as an exploding sun causing the
inevitable death of the Solar system, which will one day
happen to us billions of years down the line, or
so to disturbingly relatable civilization caused events such as nuclear
war or extreme climate change. This theory, in my opinion,
is where things start to get really dark, because it
insinuates that the universe is a scattered graveyard and that
(17:40):
our headstone may only be half engraved.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
It's just making me think of all the weird climate
things we have going on right now, you know, the
ways we've had. Yeah, we're just yeah, prophesizing guys, future.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
We got to reel it in, Like, as a planet,
we got to reel this shit in or we're not
going to have long And I feel like we've been
saying that for decades now.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
So this next theory, the Great Filter. Honestly, the Great
Filter probably could have gone before the self destruction theory,
but its plausibility made it a little more disturbing to me.
So the Grape filter is one that states, in spite
of the Drake calculations conclusion, that there should be other
contactable alien intelligent you know, and technologically advanced life forms
(18:34):
in space. That one of the major factors needed for
intelligent extraterrestrial life to develop acts as a total blockade
from allowing life forms to advance forward. So the gray
filter states that there's nine primary necessary factors that must
fall into place for an intelligent and advanced civilization to develop.
And as a side note, there was an interesting theory
that discussed the potential like quote unquote peak advancements of
(18:57):
an intelligent alien civilization, and these advancements have never been
achieved by humans. The mid century astrophysicists had extremely high
expectations for aliens. The level advancement of the civilation. Civilization
is measured by something called the Kardashev scale, which is
coined by a Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev in nineteen sixty four. So,
(19:18):
according to the Wikipedia article on the subject, the Kardashev
scale has three major tiers. Tier one is type one
civilizations and they're able to access all the energy available
on its planet and store it for consumption. Hypothetically, it
should also be able to control natural events such as earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, etc. Type two civilization can directly consume a
(19:39):
star's energy, most likely through the use of a Dyson sphere.
Do you remember the dis in ball vacuum. I don't
think that's what they mean, but I forgot to google
what a Dyson sphere was, So that's all I can
picture is someone sucking up the sun with a fucking bag.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
That's like, I know that's not what they meant, but
that's what the image in my head was too, was
a vacuue.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yep, it's accellently you know, like when you actually like
roll over like the cord and you're like, oh no,
Like that's like, you know, they're like, ah fuck, sucked
up this on again, Gotta go open the filter. So,
and a type three civilization is able to capture all
the energy emitted by its galaxy and every object within it,
such as every star, black hole, et cetera. Again, very
(20:32):
high expectations for these alien civilizations. They're just like, oh yeah,
there's other intelligent life forms out there, and they're able
to eat black holes, Like are you kidding me?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Like that's terrifying.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
They can stay wherever they are if they're eating black hole.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Like they're eating black holes and I couldn't get my
car out of like three inches of snow on Monday.
Oh my god, this is what like this like this
feels like cosmic imposter syndrome, Like all these astrophysicists had
the cosmic imposter syndrome. Like they're like, we're not good
enough for having been on the moon and space travel
(21:11):
before we even invented computers and calculators, because all these
other alien life forms that could exist might be harnessing
black holes and singularities, like sastro physicist said, low, was
that hell self esteem?
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:24):
They did.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
So the Great Filter insists effectively the opposite of the
Kardashev scale, stating that humans are the most or possibly
only advanced civilization in the galaxy because we've been the
only ones lucky enough to somehow avoid every part of
the Great Filter and achieve the ninth level of intelligent
organized life. Actually, technically the eighth level. The ninth level
(21:50):
is once again theoretical. So Robin Hanson is a scientist
who appeared to be a believer in other alien civilizations,
but was critical of the arguments that lack of ability
to confirm contact with extraterrestrial species must mean we're alone
in the universe. Had created a list of the nine
major evolutionary steps necessary to get us from a complete
(22:10):
lack of life to a flourishing, intelligent, global civilization. The
first one is the right star system, including organics and
potentially habitable planets. The second is reproductive molecules such as
RNA and DNA. The third is simple prokaryotic single cell life,
think like bacteria. The fourth is complex eukaryotic single cell life.
(22:33):
That's your amibas. The fifth is sexual reproduction. The amibas
are getting freaky. The sixth is multi cell life. There
we go. We have sponges. It be sponges and plants, algae, mushrooms.
Even the seventh we have a tool using animals with intelligence. Otters, Yeah, otters, chimpanzees, dolphins, ye, crows.
(23:01):
And then the eighth is a civilization advancing towards the
potential for a colonization explosion. That's where we are now.
We are pre colonization explosion. Ninth is colonization explosion, which
basically doesn't encompass the whole world. Colonization explosion was used
to refer to effectively having intergalactic communication with other intelligent
life forms throughout the galaxy. So this ninth step, like
(23:24):
the kardashevs. Scale, indicates a potential future advancement that we
just haven't yet reached. The Great Filter theory states that
if we haven't been able to reach step nine yet,
that other intelligent civilizations out there would also be running
into the same limits or limits in earlier steps on
Hanson's list. This theory frustrates me because it just makes
so much sense, but because I not only want to
believe that aliens exist, I also kind of want to
(23:47):
believe that they've tried to make contact and may even
be more advanced than us. So I'm going to move
on to the really bizarre yet more disturbing theories, and
then you can all tell me which ones are your
favorites at the end of the podcast. Welcome to the
zoo hypothesis. So this is almost exactly how it sounds
that Earth in our Solar system is a zoo. So
(24:08):
the theory states that humans are significantly less advanced than
other species and that the lack of contact is entirely intentional.
The zoo hypothesis insists that there are other in fact,
intelligent life forms observing humans but not making contact because
they're observing us from afar for one reason or another.
It could be that they're studying us for some reason,
or perhaps we're just entertaining to watch like a galaxy
(24:30):
wide Truman show. This theory is unpopular among astrophysicists, but
shockingly originates in the mid century. Even though it sounds
like a really modern.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Conspiracy theory, I feel like I've heard this before.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
I'm kind of willing to be that one. Like do
you think when aliens make contact, that's like when you
get the cup of food at the petting zoo.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
That's probably what's gonna happen, Like right now, a son says,
do not feed the creatures.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
That's like when people get it abducted. It's like when
the baby alien like picks one up and it's like
put the chicken back, like, can't take it all.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
It's a zoo, not a petting zoo.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So the next one is called the incubation hypothesis. So
this is an extension of the zoo theory, but it's
a little less passive. The incubation hypothesis states that Earth
is an up and coming civilization that is not just
being watched by more advanced alien species, but that it's
actively being observed, controlled, and well incubated until our civilization
(25:36):
reaches a high enough level of maturity to be allowed
to hatch and be give an enlightenment to join the
ranks of the more advanced civilizations. Some versions of the
theory suggest that Earth has the potential to be abandoned
or terminated if we fail to reach the level of
global social maturity required to handle the responsibility of joining
an intergalactic federation.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I I feel like they're going to give up on
my us.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
They might have already.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
I'm just gonna say they're like what are they called? Oh,
they created furries.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Like we gotta go to the next one.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
It's very like Pittsburgh to bring up like the furries. Yeah,
I forgot, Like I haven't lived there in like a
few years. I'm like, right, right, I forgot. That's the
furry capital of the world.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Like I'm not not to be a furry hater, Like,
don't be mad at me, but like it is a
strange cultural phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Like you guys have got to admit that.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Furries are statistically common enough that our our listening base
definitely has some furries, do you know?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
No, I don't doubt it.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I feel like massive swaths of like our our technological, financial,
and medical infrastructure would like if you could snap your
fingers and all furries disappeared overnight, like I feel I
feel like genuinely our civilization would crumble. Like burst suits
are so expensive. These people have big money jobs. M
oh yeah, these people are not working, you know, part
time at the family dollar like we're talking heart surgeons.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I know, like those suits, like the hardcore ones like that,
they're impressive. I'm not gonna lie, like do you have
to be like confident in yourself to wear that in public?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Like I'm not that confident, right, I'm.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Never going to reach Do you remember the Blue Fox
that would sometimes come and bum cigarettes off us in college?
Not like off of you know me, because like I
don't smoke, but like I would hang out some of
my friends who were smokers, and he'd like come by,
like take off his fox head and he's like, you
guys got a spare cigarette.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
We'd be like, yeah, dude, I don't remember him.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, I wonder what he's up to nowadays. Shout out
to you, Blue Fox guy. Oh man, it's always fun.
You have to warn people if they're visiting like Pittsburgh
in the summer. You're like, if you happen to go
in a specific week, there's gonna be a lot of furries.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Don't panic.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
It's just anthrocon, you know, July. Don't bother them.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
My husband and his friends and I all went to
the casino and we drove through. I think it was
like it was like near the strip and there was
like all furries and they're making fun of them. And
I'm like, you guys can make fun all you want,
but you're not that confident either, right, Like they're living
their truth, Like they're living their their dream and their
truth right now.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Oh. Do you know how often I just like observe
social phenomenas that I don't understand, and I'm just like,
I don't know if it's an age thing or what
or life experience, and I'm just like I just kind
of look on I'm like cool me all right, Yeah,
Like I don't know what's going on, but like I
don't care enough to form an opinion on it. So
like y'all have fun.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Yeah, yeah, I never have context for anything ever, And
life is very enjoyable that way.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Like AWAYS tell people, I'm like, I never know what's
going on. My wife is the opposite. I think she
knows more about me than I know about me, and
like I I don't know anything. I found out one
of my close relatives got divorced over like Facebook one time.
I was like, oh I missed that one.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Just LEXI living in a bubble?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
I yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like combination, like chronically online
enough to like know all the memes, but like I
don't ever know anything else. That's it. Like I stick
to my memes and it keeps me sane, keeps me
HP with the kids.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Brain only downloads memes, not info. Sorry.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Next, I'm like, I can do I can do really
well at my job, and I can do really well
at be funny and everything else is everything else just
falls out. I don't have room for it. I can't
remember where it was. Oh yeah, being terminated or abandoned
if we aren't up to the level of an intergalactic federation.
(29:49):
And this last one. I hate this one. I hate
it so much. It's called the dark Forest hypothesis. It
is depressing as it is disturbing. Dark Forest hypothesis is
a newer theory whose name originates from a two thousand
and eight novel by Liu Setin bearing the same title.
The Dark Forest hypothesis states that the galaxy is actually
(30:11):
rich with intelligent life that is intentionally silent, opting to
stay hidden from each other or humans at the very
least out of fear of intergalactic colonialism. This theory states
that the aliens remain uncontactable to protect themselves from attack, war,
or capture. Humans, of course, have a pretty terrible history
(30:31):
for about as long as we have recorded history of
capturing enslaving, conquering, warring with, and killing each other. It
would make sense why a peaceful, technologically advanced society would
avoid humans or other extraterrestrial civilizations that have a similar
track record.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Which makes sense because you know, you know very well
that if we come into contact with aliens, Elon Musk
would be funding the battalion to overtake them.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Oh my god, he's one of the world that could
afford it, and it would be him. Specifically, he'd be
sending cyber trucks to galaxy. User four two six five
seventy nine four five ozho.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I know, but like that theory.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
The way like it was worded, like made me think
of like all these like planets like around us, like
are like watching us, just like eyes on us.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yeah that do not like that? Yeah, Yeah, they're like
don't touch that one.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
That's kind I'm surprised there. I'm surprised there was.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
It one where it was like, at least in the
incubator theory where it was like harvesting us, like growing
us in to plan to harvest us. Like I feel
like that's also kind of goes into the dark forest
theory where they just kind of stay silent on purpose
for maybe a bad reason.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
I think you might have invented a new one. Welcome
to Welcome to my final theory, the harvest theory, like
like for snatlake, like do we taste good? Or maybe
just for like studying, Yeah, like we're lab rats the
(32:24):
lat the labrat theory, yeah, or or the frog and
the frog dissection lab. Honestly, some days, some days it
feels like the frog and the frog disection lab. Current
current mood, frog being actively dissected bite eighth grader from
(32:46):
an unstable home. That's that's the other theory. That's new theory.
I like that one the best and also the least
somehow simultaneously. Oh and that concludes our first episode back.
I'm excited to hear what y'all think, if I missed any,
(33:09):
if you guys have any new ones, and uh, you know,
I'm happy to be back in the saddle, bringing in
our listeners more strange and unusual content and as always,
the suggestions are welcome. A ton of episodes are from
listener suggestions, so keep in coming. Well, on a second,
never mind, I thought I was gonna burp, but it
(33:29):
didn't show up the same. The last one was really
alarmingly loud, so I was like, I need to go
in the other room for this, and it just left.
So that's that's that.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
But yeah, so like we still have our discord up.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
If you guys go to any of our link trees
on our Instagram or anything, you'll find join our discord.
It's like the first buttoned it. Yes, you do discussions there.
I usually post about our episodes on Instagram. You can
commentage one of the two. Our Instagram is kind of
blowing up right now. Love that for us, let me
(34:08):
see here. It's because it tells us how many views
our profile has had. In the last thirty days, we've
had eight hundred and fifteen thousand point eight eight eight
hundred and fifteen point eight thousand views.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Because the way, that's the one video I made.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
I love that. I love that so much. So yeah,
like we're on Instagram, We're on TikTok, we are I
think on X like in theory, but I I actually
don't know what has happened to that website.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I have a corected on there. Months.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I have like I made like a blue Sky account
just like feel it out because someone told me that
like blue Sky is kind of like what Twitter used
to feel like when Twitter was good, and like it's
kind of it kind of is. It's just my only
complaint is like there's not like on Twitter. I used
to get interactions on like every post, and every time
I post, I feel like I'm like shouting into a cave.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
So if you hear the Blue Sky accounts, if you
want to be mutual, it's like, hit me up. It's
just where I put my strange thoughts so they don't
stay in my head and cause brain damage. That's what
Twitter used to be for me. But then like I
would be like here's a funny thought, and then here
come like sixteen maladjusted racist in my replies, and I'm like,
all right, why do you need to be here?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Yeah, Twitter or x whatever whatever you want to call it.
I post on there and it gets like free views. Yeah,
I'm like that, there's no point in trying to post
the episodes and stuff because like all my followers are
their bots, because like we lost, like I kept getting
bought after bought after bot and then like our followers
(35:43):
dropped forty and like all those bot notifications were gone.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Ret row you.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Get three notifications and four of them are bots.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
Yeah, but like our Instagram Little Wicked Podcast, you can
follow us on there.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yes, Facebook, we're on there.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Sometimes I never post on there, but the next day Instagram,
so the posts just go on there.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
What's Facebook lot? Like nowadays, guys.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Battle towns, the small town I live in, we have
Facebook groups and I just joined it because it's just
so trashy and hilarious. Like currently there's drama over the KFC.
Somebody didn't get their order if she may have posted
about it, and everyone's like, I don't know what you're
mad about, and she's like messaging people death threats that
(36:34):
were shotting them.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
That's why I can't be a member of like Facebook
local Like everyone's like, oh my god, you have to
join like this is what's happening in your town, like
Facebook groups, and I'm like, dog, I literally can't do that.
I can't tolerate seventeen posts a day about someone complaining
about the local McDonald's, Like if it's that bad, stop going.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
And it was so much worse and never like we
had those drones across the country a couple of weeks ago.
There were so many posts, Oh my god, everybody, if
you look up to the sky to the west, you
will see three green dots and I think they're drones.
And it's like, no, Steve, like, that's probably we live
next to an airport. It's probably a plane.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
It's like I live right next to a military base.
And every now and then, like you know, I get
like ring camera notifications where I guess people can post
in ring. I didn't know that was a thing. And
someone will be like is there a helicopter outside? Like yeah, dude,
probably yes, I'm willing to bet there is a hell
(37:34):
like one helicopter outside at any given time.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
But that was like a really interesting, uh topic to
like start us off with, like to really make you think.
I'd love to hear what you guys have to say. Like,
you can send us an email at a Little Wicked
Podcast at gmail dot com, messages in our any of
our socials, even the Twitter one.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I'll check it. I still at the note of vision.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Send a drone to our house to drop off a
handle it handwritten note like a carrier pigeon.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Please do.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Send us a carrier pigeon. No one sends those anymore,
probably because they all want extinct, but like you can
probably send like a regular pigeon, Like there's a lot
of those. They're free.
Speaker 4 (38:23):
Yeah, but I think that's all I have to add
for today.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
That is all I've got. Honestly, that was a great
first episode back. I'm excited to be back into this
and I think that was galactically wicked. That was.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
That was universally wicked. Ooh, I like it.
This podcast discusses true crime, which may tell violence, and
other material intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised. Hey,
it's Kayla and it's Lexi, and welcome back. It's been
oh my god, almost a year.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I always stop April.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I think so, yeah, because April was we stopped right
before I moved, and April was my last month of
the new place. So it's been since April to January.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Nine, ten months. So that went on longer than we expected.
But you know, a little break is needed sometimes, So sorry,
have you guys been waiting forever?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
It was long enough to gestate a new podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It really was.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Welcome this episode. This episode is birth.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Strap in everybody, Welcome to the miracle of life.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
We we're back, kicking, screaming, covered in someone else's blood.
Was that a vanilla berry red bull? No, that would
be a dream. Hell is this? Alani?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I thought it's like one of those vanilla ice vanilla
RedBerry berry red bulls. I'm like, I haven't seen one
of those in three months?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Why are they? Why are they naming red bulls like vapes? Like?
Are you like cherry berry icy? Surprise sugar? Baby, Like, Okay, I.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Don't know how I get like, like she found one
in the wild.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I'm glad you're not judging me for drinking a pre
workout at eight pm.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I was jealous.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
I was like, man, she got an eye spinilla, berry,
red bull.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
That's so many flavors. What I love is when things
are like flavored like ice. Like they're like ice iced berry,
and I'm like, what's the ice flavor? Like what wetter?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It's what stripter?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
It tastes cold. Oh you know what, though some liquids
taste wetter than others, like cranberry is a particularly dry liquid.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I see that that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
I had to think about the last time I had
cranberry juice and it did not quench It was not
the quenchese it.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Won't you ever you ever had like cranberry sauce jelly
like straight out the can.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
No, because the texture looks like it would send me
over the edge.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Cool, that's just a me thing. I just cracked one
open and sat on the couch with I put two
spoons in it. Like I had a lot of faith
in the fact that my wife was just gonna be
like absolutely get into this together and She's like, what
the hell are you doing? And I'm like, I'm eating
cranberry sauce and she's like like that with a spoon
in the can and I was like, it's not a
safe space. Suddenly, Please tell me one of our listeners
(03:12):
also does this. Please tell me I'm not alone. There
has to be somebody else the missed connections.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Alrighty, So the last time many moons ago was me.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
So it is your turn.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It's my turn. Okay, So welcome back, Hi everyone. I
hope you're all excited for the return. After the long break,
We've been busy collecting new and improved mysteries, cryptids, myths
and legends, and finding more criminology to explore for you all.
So I didn't want to say we've been collecting new
and improved true crimes because that sounds wrong. So we've
(03:51):
been exploring more, yes, but all the others are new
and improved. We've also been busy surviving twenty twenty four,
probably like the rest of you. Kudos to you if
you made it this part. Fat yourself on the back.
(04:12):
So I recently found myself going down a rabbit hole
thanks to an Instagram video on the Fermi paradox. Have
you heard of this?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Mm hmm woo.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So, for those of you that do not know, like Kayla,
the Fermi paradox are first to the phenomenon in which
we have yet to actually have any conclusive evidence of
communication with extraterrestrial life forms in spite of the overwhelming
likelihood of its existence. So the Fermi paradox is also
called the Great Silence, and it's named after an Italian
(04:45):
American physicist by the name of Enrico Fermi, who reportedly,
while discussing UFO reports, space radiocoms, and other astrophysics related
sorts of things over lunch one day with colleagues in
the summer of nineteen fifty with his fellow astrophysicists Edward Teller,
Herbert Yorke, and Emil Konopinski, said something along the lines
(05:07):
of but where is everybody? In reference to our lack
of communication from these life forms that statistically should exist
to an advanced enough level to be able to communicate
with us. This keeps me up at night. I'm not
gonna lie in. This episode didn't help.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
I mean, I never really thought about it, because you have,
like all these people saying they've seen things. They've seen things,
they've experienced things, but like there's no actual communication.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I know, like nothing like confirmed, like nothing set in stone.
That is like this alien from the universe couple of
you know, and we name universe like we name other universes,
like maybe they'll have nicknames, but we name them, like
when you're given just a random generated username on TikTok,
like they're like, this is universe user five seven two
(06:01):
six eight nine two two five six seven three, Like
that's how we name universes. Universe I, universe I, universes universes.
I don't really know someone better than better at me
than grammar, better than Jesus Christ. So someone better at
grammar than me, tell me what the correct plural of
(06:26):
universe is. Ooh, alright. So in nineteen seventy one, NASA
began officially searching for techno signatures of alien life forms
throughout the universe, using primarily radio and satellite waves in
space to try and reach out to possible alien forms
of life while simultaneous while simultaneously searching for responses back
(06:49):
from said life forms, which was a project called SETI,
which is an acronym for search for extraterrestrial intelligence. And
while the program has had a few interesting unexplained like
pickups and blips here and there, nothing like really firmly
conclusive has been discovered yet. So NASA did get some
interesting light fluctuations back in twenty fifteen, but unfortunately it
(07:13):
ended up being a little too inconclusive, with too many
possible sources of alternative explanations or interferences to be considered
solid proof of alien life. The good news is, however,
is that as of twenty eighteen, NASA has expanded the
SETI program to be more advanced by updating the technology
used to search for a wider array of indicators of
alien life. And as a technology continues to expand in advance,
(07:36):
so do our possibilities of diffinity definitively contacting extra ex Girl,
it's been a while, so have I'm better on paper
than I am speaking, And I say this to everyone
all the time, especially to my wife. I'm like, sweetheart,
(07:58):
if I have something that I have to get across
that it's either romantic or important, I'm going to write
it to you in a letter because it's going to
come out of my mouth like a caveman. So the
me that is typing these podcast scripts is different than
the me that is speaking them. Just keep that in mind.
I'm smarter on paper. I think I was trying to
(08:19):
say possibilities of definitively contacting extraterrestrial life. That wasn't even
that hard, all right. So now that I've got the
light happy stuff out of the way, I'm going to
dive into the various theories and explanations for the Fermi
paradox that get increasingly more disturbing as I go down
the list.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Okay, I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
It keeps getting weirder. We haven't said that in a while.
It's going to keep getting weirder. So the first one
is kind of like pleasant. It's called different kind of
life theory. So the first theory is still fairly light
and fluffy, and it's just that alien life forms out
there are simply evolving in a different way. We're at
a different pace. Take Mars, for example, we know that
(08:59):
our closest planet, Terry neighbor, actually does have signs of life.
That life is just rudimentary, bacterial adjacent life forms that
are far from what we would consider intelligent alien life.
And mind you, the Drake equation which is an equation
by which the statistical possibility of intelligent alien life forms
beyond Earth, by taking into account the number of stars, galaxies,
(09:22):
planets with favorable conditions, and the likelihood of spontaneous organic
and biological material, and the subsequent likelihood of advanced and
intelligent life forms from that biological material, was all calculated.
So the Drake equation has taken that evolutionary process into account.
But there's still the possibility that we either got it
wrong or we just aren't being creative enough with our
(09:45):
current biomarkers in our search for a life. So the
Drake equation is pretty fascinating. I really like physics, I
don't understand it as well as I once did, and
I really don't understand astrophysics. So we're going to muscle
through this together. The Drake equation is as follows. To
paint you a word picture, N equals r asterix times
FP times n e little n different n times f
(10:09):
one times f I times f c times l. All
of those are variables. There's not a single number in
that entire equation. Here's what they all stand for. So
N the you know, e, the the the big, the big,
the big Khuna. The important part of that equation ends
up being the number of civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy,
(10:31):
specifically with which communication might be possible i e. Which
are on the current past light cone. I actually did
not realize that this only encapsulated the Milky Way galaxy.
That is going to be relevant later. So and here
are the following So the R asterix is the average
rate of star formation in our galaxy. The FP is
(10:54):
the fraction of those stars that have planets. The n
E is the average number of planets that can potentially
support life per star that has planets. F one is
the fraction of planets that could support life that actually
develop at some point. The FI is the fraction of
planets with life that go on to develop intelligent life
and civilizations. The FC is the fraction of civilizations that
(11:15):
develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence
into space. And L is the length of time for
which such civilizations release detectable signals into space. This first
appeared in nineteen sixty five. Now, mind you, every single
piece of this, it's theoretical, and at the end of
(11:36):
the day, we don't know n and if any one
of those numbers is astronomically small, then n by default
ends up being astronomically small, and it only covers the
Milky Way galaxy. There's how many galaxies out there that
this doesn't even apply to, Well, it could apply to
if we expanded it.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
How's we can say, like the Milky Way, like it's
obviously large, but like there's other galaxies that are larger
exactly but potentially have more life.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Exactly exactly exactly. Like even if we were the only
intelligent life in the Milky Way, I'd be like, man,
that would be crazy, but I'd be willing to like
buy that. I, however, am not willing to buy that
we are the only intelligent life in the universe. I
simply don't believe it. I just learned I can adjust
my volume on my microphone by accident. That's really fun.
(12:28):
Thank you all for being there for me during that
moment of discovery. So that's basically the different kind of
life theory is that basically we got something wrong and
the life is evolving, perhaps in a you know, who's
to say that the life that evolves evolves in the
(12:49):
same way that they're using the same radio signals, the
same satellite signals that they have anywhere near the same
type of technology we do, so they could be sending
out the same signals but with technology that we couldn't
even dream and we're potentially doing the same who knows.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Yeah, it's kind of like we're using AM and they're
using FM, like literally the same.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
It's going to match up exactly exactly. That's a great
way to explain it. That was much simpler than anything
I had written down. This episode is now kateless, so
the next one is also light and fluffy. It's the
far away theory. That's exactly what it sounds. The theory
is really simple and it's contested, and while it's disappointing,
(13:30):
it's really not terribly dark. It boils down to the
fact that even though in theory, much of our space
communication technology involving radio waves can reach many many light
years away from Earth And for those that don't know,
a light year is how far light can travel in
one year, which is an extremely long time. It's an
extremely long time lights very fast, so the ailing communications
(13:55):
may still simply be just too far away. Our universe
is huge, it's massive, it is expanding. So, according to
an article from science focus. The military grade waiter radio
waves used for the SETI project can broadcast signals to
aliens up to sixty light years away from Earth without
being significantly interrupted by radio waves and interference from our
Sun or other surrounding stars or cosmic bodies. At least
(14:18):
in theory. It's not like we have, you know, a
receiver sixty light years away. That's like yep, got it. Yeah.
But while theoretically these radio waves should be able to
reach up to sixty light years away before degrading or
being interrupted with space interference caused by massive cosmic bodies,
maybe the aliens are just outside of that sixty light
(14:39):
year range, you know, or that the interference from black holes, singularities,
or massive stars doesn't suck them in before they reach
our extraterrestrial friends. So, like, you know, that theory one
that makes sense to me, Like the aliens are just
a little too far away to get our messages.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I mean that makes sense, Like they're just all obviously
not close.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yes, they're already here.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Unless they're all right here, I will get into that.
There are a couple of they're already here theories. So
the next one is the early bird theory. This. This
one is probably my first introduction to the Fermi paradox
because I remember seeing something about this like on a
science TV show when I was like a kid. So
the early bird theory is also called the firstborn hypothesis,
(15:25):
states that the reason we just haven't made contact with
other intelligent life forms throughout space yet is because we
just happen to be the first So avileb is the
astrophysicist that first suggested this theory as a possible explanation
for the Fermi paradox and describes that the theory described nope,
and describes that the discovery of other intelligent life forms
(15:45):
is time dependent and that us humans just happen to
be ahead of the curve, whereas other will later become
intelligent life forms are still in like their amba stage.
And another side note to this theory is that information
radio waves, light, et cetera. They take a very very
long time to properly travel vast distances through space multiple
light years. So the way it was explained to me,
(16:07):
and I apologize for my lack of source on this one,
this was just an insanely interesting tidbit that I remember
from a cable science show when I was a kid,
and it's just stuck in my marine. Is that even
if there were another civilization equally advanced as humans, if
they were far enough away from us, like I don't know,
fifty plus light years, I'm making that number up. I
don't know if that's accurate. That by the time we
could get like radio or video footage of their planet
(16:30):
sent to us that we would they would just still
be in the dinosaur stage. Because just taking that information
that long to reach us, HM, that's crazy to me. Yeah,
So like fucking think about exactly. So like if they
sent out like a video transmission the same time we did,
like we're not going to get it for another like
(16:50):
a couple million years.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I don't want to think.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
But I don't want to think about that either. I
don't think about that. That's not for me to comprehend.
That's not my business. So the next one, this is
where things get hairy, is the self destruction theory. The
self destruction theory is basically the exact opposite of the
early bird theory. This theory states that other intelligent life
forms did exist, but drove themselves to extinction in one
(17:18):
way or another. The self destruction theory can range from
unavoidable cosmic events such as an exploding sun causing the
inevitable death of the Solar system, which will one day
happen to us billions of years down the line, or
so to disturbingly relatable civilization caused events such as nuclear
war or extreme climate change. This theory, in my opinion,
is where things start to get really dark, because it
insinuates that the universe is a scattered graveyard and that
(17:40):
our headstone may only be half engraved.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
It's just making me think of all the weird climate
things we have going on right now, you know, the
ways we've had. Yeah, we're just yeah, prophesizing guys, future.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
We got to reel it in, Like, as a planet,
we got to reel this shit in or we're not
going to have long And I feel like we've been
saying that for decades now.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
So this next theory, the Great Filter. Honestly, the Great
Filter probably could have gone before the self destruction theory,
but its plausibility made it a little more disturbing to me.
So the Grape filter is one that states, in spite
of the Drake calculations conclusion, that there should be other
contactable alien intelligent you know, and technologically advanced life forms
(18:34):
in space. That one of the major factors needed for
intelligent extraterrestrial life to develop acts as a total blockade
from allowing life forms to advance forward. So the gray
filter states that there's nine primary necessary factors that must
fall into place for an intelligent and advanced civilization to develop.
And as a side note, there was an interesting theory
that discussed the potential like quote unquote peak advancements of
(18:57):
an intelligent alien civilization, and these advancements have never been
achieved by humans. The mid century astrophysicists had extremely high
expectations for aliens. The level advancement of the civilation. Civilization
is measured by something called the Kardashev scale, which is
coined by a Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev in nineteen sixty four. So,
(19:18):
according to the Wikipedia article on the subject, the Kardashev
scale has three major tiers. Tier one is type one
civilizations and they're able to access all the energy available
on its planet and store it for consumption. Hypothetically, it
should also be able to control natural events such as earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, etc. Type two civilization can directly consume a
(19:39):
star's energy, most likely through the use of a Dyson sphere.
Do you remember the dis in ball vacuum. I don't
think that's what they mean, but I forgot to google
what a Dyson sphere was, So that's all I can
picture is someone sucking up the sun with a fucking bag.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
That's like, I know that's not what they meant, but
that's what the image in my head was too, was
a vacuue.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yep, it's accellently you know, like when you actually like
roll over like the cord and you're like, oh no,
Like that's like, you know, they're like, ah fuck, sucked
up this on again, Gotta go open the filter. So,
and a type three civilization is able to capture all
the energy emitted by its galaxy and every object within it,
such as every star, black hole, et cetera. Again, very
(20:32):
high expectations for these alien civilizations. They're just like, oh yeah,
there's other intelligent life forms out there, and they're able
to eat black holes, Like are you kidding me?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Like that's terrifying.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
They can stay wherever they are if they're eating black hole.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Like they're eating black holes and I couldn't get my
car out of like three inches of snow on Monday.
Oh my god, this is what like this like this
feels like cosmic imposter syndrome, Like all these astrophysicists had
the cosmic imposter syndrome. Like they're like, we're not good
enough for having been on the moon and space travel
(21:11):
before we even invented computers and calculators, because all these
other alien life forms that could exist might be harnessing
black holes and singularities, like sastro physicist said, low, was
that hell self esteem?
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:24):
They did.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
So the Great Filter insists effectively the opposite of the
Kardashev scale, stating that humans are the most or possibly
only advanced civilization in the galaxy because we've been the
only ones lucky enough to somehow avoid every part of
the Great Filter and achieve the ninth level of intelligent
organized life. Actually, technically the eighth level. The ninth level
(21:50):
is once again theoretical. So Robin Hanson is a scientist
who appeared to be a believer in other alien civilizations,
but was critical of the arguments that lack of ability
to confirm contact with extraterrestrial species must mean we're alone
in the universe. Had created a list of the nine
major evolutionary steps necessary to get us from a complete
(22:10):
lack of life to a flourishing, intelligent, global civilization. The
first one is the right star system, including organics and
potentially habitable planets. The second is reproductive molecules such as
RNA and DNA. The third is simple prokaryotic single cell life,
think like bacteria. The fourth is complex eukaryotic single cell life.
(22:33):
That's your amibas. The fifth is sexual reproduction. The amibas
are getting freaky. The sixth is multi cell life. There
we go. We have sponges. It be sponges and plants, algae, mushrooms.
Even the seventh we have a tool using animals with intelligence. Otters, Yeah, otters, chimpanzees, dolphins, ye, crows.
(23:01):
And then the eighth is a civilization advancing towards the
potential for a colonization explosion. That's where we are now.
We are pre colonization explosion. Ninth is colonization explosion, which
basically doesn't encompass the whole world. Colonization explosion was used
to refer to effectively having intergalactic communication with other intelligent
life forms throughout the galaxy. So this ninth step, like
(23:24):
the kardashevs. Scale, indicates a potential future advancement that we
just haven't yet reached. The Great Filter theory states that
if we haven't been able to reach step nine yet,
that other intelligent civilizations out there would also be running
into the same limits or limits in earlier steps on
Hanson's list. This theory frustrates me because it just makes
so much sense, but because I not only want to
believe that aliens exist, I also kind of want to
(23:47):
believe that they've tried to make contact and may even
be more advanced than us. So I'm going to move
on to the really bizarre yet more disturbing theories, and
then you can all tell me which ones are your
favorites at the end of the podcast. Welcome to the
zoo hypothesis. So this is almost exactly how it sounds
that Earth in our Solar system is a zoo. So
(24:08):
the theory states that humans are significantly less advanced than
other species and that the lack of contact is entirely intentional.
The zoo hypothesis insists that there are other in fact,
intelligent life forms observing humans but not making contact because
they're observing us from afar for one reason or another.
It could be that they're studying us for some reason,
or perhaps we're just entertaining to watch like a galaxy
(24:30):
wide Truman show. This theory is unpopular among astrophysicists, but
shockingly originates in the mid century. Even though it sounds
like a really modern.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Conspiracy theory, I feel like I've heard this before.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
I'm kind of willing to be that one. Like do
you think when aliens make contact, that's like when you
get the cup of food at the petting zoo.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
That's probably what's gonna happen, Like right now, a son says,
do not feed the creatures.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
That's like when people get it abducted. It's like when
the baby alien like picks one up and it's like
put the chicken back, like, can't take it all.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
It's a zoo, not a petting zoo.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So the next one is called the incubation hypothesis. So
this is an extension of the zoo theory, but it's
a little less passive. The incubation hypothesis states that Earth
is an up and coming civilization that is not just
being watched by more advanced alien species, but that it's
actively being observed, controlled, and well incubated until our civilization
(25:36):
reaches a high enough level of maturity to be allowed
to hatch and be give an enlightenment to join the
ranks of the more advanced civilizations. Some versions of the
theory suggest that Earth has the potential to be abandoned
or terminated if we fail to reach the level of
global social maturity required to handle the responsibility of joining
an intergalactic federation.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I I feel like they're going to give up on
my us.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
They might have already.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
I'm just gonna say they're like what are they called? Oh,
they created furries.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Like we gotta go to the next one.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
It's very like Pittsburgh to bring up like the furries. Yeah,
I forgot, Like I haven't lived there in like a
few years. I'm like, right, right, I forgot. That's the
furry capital of the world.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Like I'm not not to be a furry hater, Like,
don't be mad at me, but like it is a
strange cultural phenomenon.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Like you guys have got to admit that.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Furries are statistically common enough that our our listening base
definitely has some furries, do you know?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
No, I don't doubt it.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I feel like massive swaths of like our our technological, financial,
and medical infrastructure would like if you could snap your
fingers and all furries disappeared overnight, like I feel I
feel like genuinely our civilization would crumble. Like burst suits
are so expensive. These people have big money jobs. M
oh yeah, these people are not working, you know, part
time at the family dollar like we're talking heart surgeons.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
I know, like those suits, like the hardcore ones like that,
they're impressive. I'm not gonna lie, like do you have
to be like confident in yourself to wear that in public?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Like I'm not that confident, right, I'm.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Never going to reach Do you remember the Blue Fox
that would sometimes come and bum cigarettes off us in college?
Not like off of you know me, because like I
don't smoke, but like I would hang out some of
my friends who were smokers, and he'd like come by,
like take off his fox head and he's like, you
guys got a spare cigarette.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
We'd be like, yeah, dude, I don't remember him.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, I wonder what he's up to nowadays. Shout out
to you, Blue Fox guy. Oh man, it's always fun.
You have to warn people if they're visiting like Pittsburgh
in the summer. You're like, if you happen to go
in a specific week, there's gonna be a lot of furries.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Don't panic.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
It's just anthrocon, you know, July. Don't bother them.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
My husband and his friends and I all went to
the casino and we drove through. I think it was
like it was like near the strip and there was
like all furries and they're making fun of them. And
I'm like, you guys can make fun all you want,
but you're not that confident either, right, Like they're living
their truth, Like they're living their their dream and their
truth right now.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Oh. Do you know how often I just like observe
social phenomenas that I don't understand, and I'm just like,
I don't know if it's an age thing or what
or life experience, and I'm just like I just kind
of look on I'm like cool me all right, Yeah,
Like I don't know what's going on, but like I
don't care enough to form an opinion on it. So
like y'all have fun.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Yeah, yeah, I never have context for anything ever, And
life is very enjoyable that way.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Like AWAYS tell people, I'm like, I never know what's
going on. My wife is the opposite. I think she
knows more about me than I know about me, and
like I I don't know anything. I found out one
of my close relatives got divorced over like Facebook one time.
I was like, oh I missed that one.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Just LEXI living in a bubble?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
I yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like combination, like chronically online
enough to like know all the memes, but like I
don't ever know anything else. That's it. Like I stick
to my memes and it keeps me sane, keeps me
HP with the kids.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Brain only downloads memes, not info. Sorry.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Next, I'm like, I can do I can do really
well at my job, and I can do really well
at be funny and everything else is everything else just
falls out. I don't have room for it. I can't
remember where it was. Oh yeah, being terminated or abandoned
if we aren't up to the level of an intergalactic federation.
(29:49):
And this last one. I hate this one. I hate
it so much. It's called the dark Forest hypothesis. It
is depressing as it is disturbing. Dark Forest hypothesis is
a newer theory whose name originates from a two thousand
and eight novel by Liu Setin bearing the same title.
The Dark Forest hypothesis states that the galaxy is actually
(30:11):
rich with intelligent life that is intentionally silent, opting to
stay hidden from each other or humans at the very
least out of fear of intergalactic colonialism. This theory states
that the aliens remain uncontactable to protect themselves from attack, war,
or capture. Humans, of course, have a pretty terrible history
(30:31):
for about as long as we have recorded history of
capturing enslaving, conquering, warring with, and killing each other. It
would make sense why a peaceful, technologically advanced society would
avoid humans or other extraterrestrial civilizations that have a similar
track record.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Which makes sense because you know, you know very well
that if we come into contact with aliens, Elon Musk
would be funding the battalion to overtake them.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Oh my god, he's one of the world that could
afford it, and it would be him. Specifically, he'd be
sending cyber trucks to galaxy. User four two six five
seventy nine four five ozho.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I know, but like that theory.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
The way like it was worded, like made me think
of like all these like planets like around us, like
are like watching us, just like eyes on us.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yeah that do not like that? Yeah, Yeah, they're like
don't touch that one.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
That's kind I'm surprised there. I'm surprised there was.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
It one where it was like, at least in the
incubator theory where it was like harvesting us, like growing
us in to plan to harvest us. Like I feel
like that's also kind of goes into the dark forest
theory where they just kind of stay silent on purpose
for maybe a bad reason.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
I think you might have invented a new one. Welcome
to Welcome to my final theory, the harvest theory, like
like for snatlake, like do we taste good? Or maybe
just for like studying, Yeah, like we're lab rats the
(32:24):
lat the labrat theory, yeah, or or the frog and
the frog dissection lab. Honestly, some days, some days it
feels like the frog and the frog disection lab. Current
current mood, frog being actively dissected bite eighth grader from
(32:46):
an unstable home. That's that's the other theory. That's new theory.
I like that one the best and also the least
somehow simultaneously. Oh and that concludes our first episode back.
I'm excited to hear what y'all think, if I missed any,
(33:09):
if you guys have any new ones, and uh, you know,
I'm happy to be back in the saddle, bringing in
our listeners more strange and unusual content and as always,
the suggestions are welcome. A ton of episodes are from
listener suggestions, so keep in coming. Well, on a second,
never mind, I thought I was gonna burp, but it
(33:29):
didn't show up the same. The last one was really
alarmingly loud, so I was like, I need to go
in the other room for this, and it just left.
So that's that's that.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
But yeah, so like we still have our discord up.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
If you guys go to any of our link trees
on our Instagram or anything, you'll find join our discord.
It's like the first buttoned it. Yes, you do discussions there.
I usually post about our episodes on Instagram. You can
commentage one of the two. Our Instagram is kind of
blowing up right now. Love that for us, let me
(34:08):
see here. It's because it tells us how many views
our profile has had. In the last thirty days, we've
had eight hundred and fifteen thousand point eight eight eight
hundred and fifteen point eight thousand views.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Because the way, that's the one video I made.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
I love that. I love that so much. So yeah,
like we're on Instagram, We're on TikTok, we are I
think on X like in theory, but I I actually
don't know what has happened to that website.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I have a corected on there. Months.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
I have like I made like a blue Sky account
just like feel it out because someone told me that
like blue Sky is kind of like what Twitter used
to feel like when Twitter was good, and like it's
kind of it kind of is. It's just my only
complaint is like there's not like on Twitter. I used
to get interactions on like every post, and every time
I post, I feel like I'm like shouting into a cave.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
So if you hear the Blue Sky accounts, if you
want to be mutual, it's like, hit me up. It's
just where I put my strange thoughts so they don't
stay in my head and cause brain damage. That's what
Twitter used to be for me. But then like I
would be like here's a funny thought, and then here
come like sixteen maladjusted racist in my replies, and I'm like,
all right, why do you need to be here?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Yeah, Twitter or x whatever whatever you want to call it.
I post on there and it gets like free views. Yeah,
I'm like that, there's no point in trying to post
the episodes and stuff because like all my followers are
their bots, because like we lost, like I kept getting
bought after bought after bot and then like our followers
(35:43):
dropped forty and like all those bot notifications were gone.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Ret row you.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
Get three notifications and four of them are bots.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
Yeah, but like our Instagram Little Wicked Podcast, you can
follow us on there.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yes, Facebook, we're on there.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Sometimes I never post on there, but the next day Instagram,
so the posts just go on there.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
What's Facebook lot? Like nowadays, guys.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Battle towns, the small town I live in, we have
Facebook groups and I just joined it because it's just
so trashy and hilarious. Like currently there's drama over the KFC.
Somebody didn't get their order if she may have posted
about it, and everyone's like, I don't know what you're
mad about, and she's like messaging people death threats that
(36:34):
were shotting them.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
That's why I can't be a member of like Facebook
local Like everyone's like, oh my god, you have to
join like this is what's happening in your town, like
Facebook groups, and I'm like, dog, I literally can't do that.
I can't tolerate seventeen posts a day about someone complaining
about the local McDonald's, Like if it's that bad, stop going.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
And it was so much worse and never like we
had those drones across the country a couple of weeks ago.
There were so many posts, Oh my god, everybody, if
you look up to the sky to the west, you
will see three green dots and I think they're drones.
And it's like, no, Steve, like, that's probably we live
next to an airport. It's probably a plane.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
It's like I live right next to a military base.
And every now and then, like you know, I get
like ring camera notifications where I guess people can post
in ring. I didn't know that was a thing. And
someone will be like is there a helicopter outside? Like yeah, dude,
probably yes, I'm willing to bet there is a hell
(37:34):
like one helicopter outside at any given time.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
But that was like a really interesting, uh topic to
like start us off with, like to really make you think.
I'd love to hear what you guys have to say. Like,
you can send us an email at a Little Wicked
Podcast at gmail dot com, messages in our any of
our socials, even the Twitter one.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I'll check it. I still at the note of vision.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Send a drone to our house to drop off a
handle it handwritten note like a carrier pigeon.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Please do.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Send us a carrier pigeon. No one sends those anymore,
probably because they all want extinct, but like you can
probably send like a regular pigeon, Like there's a lot
of those. They're free.
Speaker 4 (38:23):
Yeah, but I think that's all I have to add
for today.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
That is all I've got. Honestly, that was a great
first episode back. I'm excited to be back into this
and I think that was galactically wicked. That was.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
That was universally wicked. Ooh, I like it.
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