Planet Earth is about to receive a special delivery—the biggest sample yet from an asteroid.
A NASA spacecraft will fly by Earth on Sunday and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest.
The sample capsule will parachute into the Utah desert as its mothership, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft, zooms off for an encounter with another asteroid.
Our current theory of evolution holds that all life on Earth originated from a single, simple life form billions of years ago. But what if that life did not originate on Earth? In this episode we’ll explore the theory of Panspermia, that origin of life might be extraterrestrial in origin, and that the abiogenesis of that origin life form we descend from might have descended from the sky in a comet or some other alien source. We will explore the impact this concept would have on the Fermi Paradox if true.
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Credits:
The Fermi Paradox & Panspermia.
Episode 171, Season 5 E05
Written by:
Isaac Arthur.
Editors:
NASA is edging closer to the conclusion of its ambitious seven-year mission, aiming to prevent a catastrophic collision of a massive asteroid named Bennu with Earth. Recent findings have indicated that there’s a 1 in 2,700 chance of Bennu slamming into Earth on September 24, 2182.
Roughly the size of the iconic Empire State Building, Bennu spans about a third of a mile wide. The potential aftermath of its predicted collision with Earth could equate to the explosive energy of 22 atomic bombs.
The asteroid makes its presence felt by passing Earth approximately every six years. However, scientists anticipate that its most perilous close encounter could be a mere 159 years away.
Advances in artificial intelligence have prompted extensive public concern about its capacity to contribute to the spread of misinformation, bias, and cybersecurity breaches—and its potential existential threat to humanity. But, if anything, AI can aid human beings in making decisions aimed at improving social equality, safety, productivity—and mitigate some existential threats.
The year one hundred two thousand twenty-three. A giant meteorite the size of Pluto is approaching the Solar System. It flies straight to Earth. But as the meteorite crosses Saturn’s orbit, a swarm of miner probes approaches it. The scan revealed no minerals on the object, so the searches returned with nothing.
Meanwhile, the Space Security Center in Alaska military personnel are setting up a laser. The Solar System witnesses a sudden flare and nothing remains of the dwarf-sized meteorite. Now, unless hydrogen miners on Jupiter post videos of another annihilation on social media… This is what the world will look like when humanity finally becomes a Type Two civilization on the Kardashev scale. We’ll have almost infinite energy reserves, the ability to prepare for interstellar flights, or to instantly destroy any threat. But will humanity really be safe? And what can ruin a Type Two civilization?
New details of Musk’s involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war revealed in his biography.
Elon Musk holds many titles. He is the CEO of Tesla SpaceX and owns the social media company X, which was recently rebranded from Twitter. Going by an excerpt of his biography, published in the Washington Post.
According to the excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s book, Musk disabled his company Starlink’s satellite communication networks, which were being used by the Ukrainian military to attack the Russian naval fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea, sneakily. The Ukrainian army was using Starlink as a guide to target Russian ships and attack them with six small… More.
Musk’s biographer alleges he prevented nuclear war between Ukraine and Russia by turning off Starlink satellite network near Crimea, but Musk says, ‘SpaceX did not deactivate anything’.
The mission was successful, and Dimorphos’ orbit was shortened by 33 minutes in the weeks after the impact.
However, a team of high school students led by teacher Jonathan Swift at Thacher School in California have discovered that Dimorphos’ orbit continued to shrink by another minute more than a month after the collision.
‘The number we got was slightly larger, a change of 34 minutes,’ said Mr Swift. ‘That was inconsistent at an uncomfortable level.’
Many believe the future of humanity is to go Digital, uploading our minds to computers, living in virtual worlds that are vastly more efficient and compact. If we might do this, might distant alien empires too? And if so, might this be the reason we don’t see them?
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Credits:
The Fermi Paradox: Digital Empires & Miniaturization.
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur.
Episode 319, December 2, 2021
Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur.
Editors:
A.T. Long.
Jerry Guern.
Cover Art:
Look, we write rather a lot about the Fermi Paradox, so trust us when we say that the Berserker Hypothesis may be the darkest explanation out there. Not only would it mean that the universe is a dead, lifeless husk, but it would also imply that our own destruction is imminent.
The Fermi Paradox at its most basic is, given the high probability that alien life exists out there (bearing in mind the vastness of space and that we keep finding planets within habitable zones), why has nobody got in touch yet?
North Korea-linked hackers have stolen hundreds of millions of crypto to fund the regime’s nuclear weapons programs, research shows.
So far this year, from January to Aug. 18, North Korea-affiliated hackers stole $200 million worth of crypto — accounting for over 20% of all stolen crypto this year, according to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs.
“In recent years, there has been a marked rise in the size and scale of cyber attacks against cryptocurrency-related businesses by North Korea. This has coincided with an apparent acceleration in the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” said TRM Labs in a June discussion with North Korea experts.
