back on the shows one of our most popular guests astrophysicist neil
bluegrass tyson author of space chronicles facing the ultimate frontier
last time doctor tyson joined us via skype video that was the plan also for
this interview but unfortunately some last minute changes and some hectic
scheduling issues made it so that we did the interview via phone talked about a
lot of great stuff let's get right into the interview
you think that win we look at
the drake equation which su says you know statistically speaking based based
on what we know about
certain parts of the universe in the prevalence of stars and and solar
systems which could support life it goes on to extrapolate that statistically
speaking there must be
other intelligent life so-called intelligent life in the universal at now
recently i've been reading
more and more papers that kind of called that specific drake equation uh...
uh... into question can give us a sense of where you where you explicit on that
and then i've got some follow-up questions
sister critical are tricky craig
as a quantification
recovered a total of what we know and what we don't know mean
and uh... artiste under tricky quickly
is incredible noble
uh... in some children don't better than others himself
soaked and wanted to know better than others are not subject to judgment
for example of the star for making trade in the galaxy the number of stars in the
galaxy
the now we have data on the fraction of star trek apartments
and the fact of the stars of the planets
anna anna anna goldilocks concern
uh... back in a day at what they call the habitable and so some of the patent
number you can argue right
now you get to other ones were you just mississippi
you had to bark to bark right with
for example
one of the generation of an intelligent civil taken i want it last
who knows where we have no idea
and that's a beautiful last couple of terms
artwork huge uncertainties
and future optimistic buchanan you know saved hai you're pessimistic low
uh... and
he you know usually people who are wielding the drake equation
who wielded in such a way
that those last couple terms come a little more optimistic and then they get
say that there is
you know countless thousands or so we're taking the galaxy
a quick foot note on this in the movie contact
uh... based
and part of the from the novel by copenhagen
uh... a brilliant movie by the way cakes anyone
procurement
but haven't seen it
the
this scene with tariq water believe character
attackers certainly doesn't recitation of the drake equation but in a romantic
moment with her love interest group american connie
if up there
four hundred billion stars in the galaxy
and only one in a million of them up
have planets
and only one of the million of those required headlight
going one million of those reply credit card report
that police millions of our committee or treatment
uh... no but the truth not you can't divide
four hundred billion
by a million that many times and come up with anything left
in your equation
so it was a little march two this is the big
reproductive numeric over completely wrong
and
but it's a touching moment 'cause that's when the first kiss
melodramatic support incensed
the invasive to the following now
popular operative agree
you know the the numerical inaccuracy given the importance of the romance
of the moment
soweto never saw it went well i think i think you know pick because surely be
are controlled report
perhaps as we would
come to the planet in the galaxy omg i'm not
convicted
production scanning with intelligent life
my producer seems convinced that
in a hundred years after all of the close calls that we herewith big
announcements supposedly coming that the big discovery will be some kind of uh...
extinct microbial life somewhere and that that's as far as we're going to get
in the next hundred years do you have any sense at all of really uh... up how
how much progress we could make on this and a hundred years or is at the current
rate of technological change
in impossible to really predict what we might find in the next century
agree entirely with your producer
rate at which we are
we are
exploring floor systems of the rate at which were dropping probes on
arms saturn
resort on from mars
and there's your european planters and appropriate europa
wanted to curves moon threat
we're pretty sure as a liquid ocean
kept warm by
uh... stress title cooking gravitation stress forces
on the computer and charming satellites
vin vin weber of his likud were honored for his wife
so ike
think we would know
within twenty years certainly possible even within thirty
whether or not
there's like elsewhere in our own
sources e
and so that's one for angle here and going a little
on in the calendar
i would
separately in the next fifty years we might have ever
manage get better
we might prefer stupak biomarkers
in the atmosphere of an actual clinical heat
biomarker would be some chemical
uh... mickey kantor within the atmosphere that could only be sustained
in the presence of active metabolism
adequate oxygen on the planet would go away
crepitus my skill with which that would happen but relatively quick a
comparatively
life of the earth
because instantly took all the wipe away the oxygen wouldn't it
opportunity reactive and so
at work with the status from have to keep making it and in that case it's
education requests
represents an interesting question most of
the twentieth century
when people imagine
exploring
platz where we might live
people imagine you might stumble upon a placard oxygen atmosphere
commanders verbal hang up their now unless i played
already have life
hardcover what would that be giving you the opportunity to cover the private
life
that radical
so uh... oxygen map pain
other several
there several more to bitter
the video to molecule
the several molecules that are just unstable on their own heat can require
across a torture production
a cup to other things i want to stay signed one is the
a possibility want to get your thoughts on what we saw how basketball absolutes
go to that after we saw
of russian media happen i think i saw a video of you saying something along the
lines of listen statistically speaking one of these is going to hit a cd at
some point in the future and will we have any kind of technology that will
allow us to save ourselves from that did is is this type of thing at all in
development or are we basically just at the mercy of chance here
him
unless i miss a poke at the time you listened
i think you cobble together different bits of attacks to make that sentence
committee go
what earlier very
asteroids whose or the crosses over
before that
a replica resources and there's a hundred percent chance
we and they will eventually cause
better if you do that the orbital mechanics of it
that's the case
so you want to keeping quiet on these things
because they're the day one actually have the name on it
you want to be looking to deflect it
the larger ones fortunately are detectable
could give you some hope that you can then do something about it
the detectable early enough
perhaps you'd cover fifty-year or sherry
descended to put you in midland brick
as you get smaller they become harder and harder to detect
and of course to become less deadly
than the big one
the big ones would render a six going toward or
disrupt
civilization fundamental way
uh... the walk but the size of the one that was uh... the buzz cut
the one that came by the afternoon of the russian meteorite
nor the russian mir that one
no that's not gonna disrupts of or taking
so that we could be easily take our city
creek if it plunged
deep enough into the expert exploded there
and but cities are corrupt relatively small
fraction
circus earlier
so you know we're mostly ocean and then after that were mostly uninhabited
with huge swath of land work agreement antarctica
like canada and and and dot
uh... concert
and so statistically no it's not like we did it
beverages for big cities because at that many big city compared to
pretend we're isn't a big city sir
but that the scare factor that i'm happy to offer
the media if they want to know what would happen
if one of those educating
or exploded over city it would be devastating ni the want the one in
russia that exploded
those twenty five times more powerful than the payable overhear him
and he was always there is their anything that u
no that is being worked on to go back to the first part d asteroid deflection is
that is that something is being taken seriously right now
what we know how to do it
uh... we have good engineering ideas for how that would work and white would work
thirty engineering physics planned
but there's no funded project
no
funded projects
to performs certainty
even though we have interesting asteroids that you might want to protest
tester here
your bill would eat on
there are not headed our way but we do though there were a bit welling up to
she would influence we can have on it
unknown is doing that now and not only that supposedly after it was in a ticket
yul brenner
of does nasa launch the deflection measurement
report based on american tax dollars
uh... work
repeated want here is some credit
intergovernmental agency
e but it'd be six call foundation has been long calling for this
uh... this is a foundation that
think long and hard about
asteroid mitigation
that'd be six twelve is named after the password little prince went on very cute
uh... you look up online but be six twelve uh... org
but then i think one of a lot about the proceeded intergovernmental agency
with a pocket of money
uh... support uh... contributed by
member countries and communities scale to a g_d_p_ or something putting
sensible
and then whatever that asteroid coming no matter where it's going to hit
this pot of money is available to deflect on-the-spot and whoever had the
best
space capabilities at the time
get that money and gets save the world
seems incredibly sensible to me we've been speaking with doctor neil digress
tyson space chronicles facing the ultimate frontier is the book now they
little in paperback education pleasure as always thank you
okay earlier great take care