#001: Are we Alone in the Universe?

Welcome to the first episode of Paranormal Optimist! In this episode, we discuss the most important question first: Are we alone in the universe? Hear the history of people asking this question, the science behind believing and not believing, and suggestions of where we can go from here.

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Music: www.purple-planet.com

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Sources cited in today’s episode:

"The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark" (Ballantine Books, 1997)

The Nobel Foundation. (n.d.-b). The nobel prize in physics 1938. NobelPrize.org. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1938/fermi/facts/

Frank, A. (2023). The little book of aliens. Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Ward, P. D., & Brownlee, D. (2000). Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe. Springer.

Druyan, A. (2020). Cosmos: Possible worlds. National Geographic.

SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The Planetary Society. (n.d.). https://www.planetary.org/sci-tech/seti#:~:text=SETI%2C%20which%20stands%20for%20the,the%20search%20for%20extraterrestrial%20intelligence.)

Is there anybody out there?. The Planetary Society. (n.d.-a). https://www.planetary.org/articles/20171025-seti-anybody-out-there

Spectroscopy 101 – introduction | webb. (n.d.). https://webbtelescope.org/contents/articles/spectroscopy-101--introduction

Hanson, R. (1998, September 15). Are we almost past it?. The Great Filter. https://web.archive.org/web/20100507074729/http:/hanson.gmu.edu/greatfilter.html

Source, R. O. (2015, October 7). 6 mind-bending solutions to the Fermi paradox. Medium. https://medium.com/o-s/6-mind-bending-solutions-to-the-fermi-paradox-c0f32e47a0f7#:~:text=On%20Earth%2C%20we’ve%20decided,to%20join%20the%20extraterrestrial%20community.

NASA. (2019, June 20). 5 ways to find a planet. NASA. https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/ways-to-find-a-planet/?intent=021

Gronstal, A. (2022, September 2). NASA astrobiology. Astrobiology at NASA Life in the Universe. https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/in-memoriam-frank-drake/

NASA. (2024, October 28). Alien worlds - NASA science. NASA. https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/

Aquilecchia, G. (2024, November 4). Giordano Bruno. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giordano-Bruno

Westman, R. S. (Westman, R. S. (2024, November 7). Nicolaus Copernicus. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolaus-Copernicus

NASA. (2025, February 18). Exoplanets - NASA science. NASA. https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/

Carey, J. M. (n.d.). This Day in History: February 26. Italian Art Society. https://www.italianartsociety.org/2017/02/on-26-february-1616-galileo-galilei-was-formally-banned-and-banished-by-the-roman-catholic-church-for-teaching-and-defending-the-opinion-that-the-earth-orbits-the-sun/