Marcelo Gleiser - If An Advanced Alien Civilization Exists, What Can They Teach Us About Survival?

Key Takeaways

• How would it change us to make contact with an intelligent species from elsewhere in the Universe?
• For one, it would refocus the human tribe, bringing an accelerated and much needed sense of unity to our species.
• If intelligent aliens survived for millions of years, what are their secrets? By imagining that they do exist, we can plot our own path for survival.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Survival lessons from an advanced alien civilization, they think, Let's face it,
humanity is in trouble. After theexplosive success of fast paced industrialization and growth
over the past one hundred and fiftyyears, we find ourselves edging toward the

(00:21):
precipice of global chaos. I knowthis kind of rhetoric is tiresome and annoying,
but how else are we to characterizethe level of polarization, hatred,
and distancing we find in today's society, and that is to say nothing of
climate change. How can we finda way out of our troubles? And

(00:42):
quickly? As we ponder that question, a group of scientists and humanists at
the University of Saint Andrew's in Scotlandgot together to create the Setti Post Detection
Hub, a project that combines exoplanetscience with global law and governance. Their
goal is to chart humanity's response tothe unlikely but deeply transformative discovery of alien

(01:04):
intelligence in our galaxy. How wouldwe respond to the discovery of another intelligent
species? Well, for one,with relief? And this is the aspect
that I would like to explore today. Refocusing the human tribe, any alien
civilization we come across will probably befar more advanced than we are, both

(01:27):
technologically and morally. To carry ona sustainable project of civilization is no easy
task, as we have obviously foundout. But if they made it,
there is hope for us too.In fact, maybe they could teach us
how to do it. That isindeed the hope of many who idealize aliens

(01:48):
in the same way people idealized angelsand heavenly emissaries in the Middle Ages as
all knowing, godlike creatures. Theexistence of other intelligent species would surely refocus
the human tribe. We have apropensity to isolate ourselves in groups. Indeed,
tribalism has been our savior for millennia, but it has become our curse

(02:10):
today. We keep the other outwith a sense of righteousness that is mostly
destructive and yes, alienating. Findinganother intelligent species would mean meeting other creatures
forced to think about their existence andsurvival. If they have been around for
long, they have found a sustainableanswer to the question. Sustaining their civilization

(02:34):
must be an energy intensive endeavor.They must create refuse like us, But
they apparently figured things out in timeto avoid their demise. What is their
secret. Let's do some quick numbersfor context. Any aliens with life form
similar to ours, carbon based andwater dependent, will live in a planet
or a moon circling a star.Their survival will depend crucially on the energy

(03:00):
output from that star and on howthat radiation interacts with their planetary or lunar
atmosphere. In our case, Earthabsorbs about seventy one percent of the incoming
solar energy. We get roughly onehundred and forty what's of energy per square
inch on the ground. Imagine coveringthe Earth's surface with one hundred and forty

(03:21):
what light bulbs and illuminating all ofthem over Christmas. Sure that would not
be a very smart use of resources, but it would be beautiful, especially
if seen from space. In anycase, for a planet to harbor life
for a long time, its orbitcannot be erratic, its atmospheric composition cannot

(03:43):
change very quickly, its climate muststay fairly stable, and it needs to
receive and generate large amounts of energy. Any aliens out there will need to
live on planets with properties similar tothese. The aliens show us the work
yet to be done. Ours hasbeen here for about two hundred thousand years,
a mere fraction of the Earth's ageof four point five billion years.

(04:08):
From a cosmic perspective, we area smart, newborn species facing many challenges
to our long term survival. Thisis where encountering aliens can be useful.
Their experience will be full of lessonsfor our future. Before ever meeting us,
they must have taken a number ofsteps. First, they realized that

(04:29):
a predatory relation to their planet andits many other life forms would lead to
their own demise. Their planet,even if large and plentiful, has limited
resources. They had to learn thatrampant, mindless exploitation would quickly transform it
into a barren land unable to sustainthem. One of their first lessons then

(04:50):
was to maximize and optimize the energyoutput of their parent star, just as
we are beginning to do here witha combination of soul and wind energy.
If their star was not powerful enoughfor their needs, they learned how to
use mirrors and other focusing technologies toincrease the amount of radiation reaching their planet's

(05:12):
surface. The aliens eventually grew tounderstand the interconnectedness of all things living.
They were at the apex of acomplex food chain and uncontrolled predation of resources
and life forms would lead to theirown demise. In order to ensure their
own species longevity, they learned toredefine their relationship with other living creatures.

(05:34):
The aliens also learned that to ensuretheir long term survival, they had to
eradicate social inequality. They quickly foundthat income disparity and cultural exploitation create social
unrest and poverty, leading causes ofplanetary predation. To make sure they survived
as a whole, they embraced allof their population as one, sharing resources

(05:58):
in an equitable way. They didnot eradicate competition, which they saw as
key to innovation and happiness, butthey made sure that everyone had similar opportunities
to succeed. Their planetary project ofresource protection and social justice produced a major
shift in moral values, erasing thelast brutal vestiges of evolutionary disparities. A

(06:21):
new era donned based on a moralunderstanding of the alien's relation to their planet
and to each other. This newera celebrated differences while identifying the fundamental unity
that connects them, all belonging tothe same species, all living on the
same planet, and all sharing thesame natural resources. These Aliens have survived

(06:44):
for millions of years, creating newways to enjoy life and understand one another.
As we imagine their success at survivaland contrast it with our current predicament,
we realize that we have a lotof work to do.