Hollywood gets it wrong! What First Contact with Aliens would REALLY be like

many thanks to robiform password manager for sponsoring today's video stay tuned for more about them later in sci-fi movies aliens are usually the bad guys it seems they need either our resources or our bodies they're the monsters of our childhood nightmares but sometimes they appear almost divine in movies like independence day and war of the worlds aliens are hostile they want to destroy all life on earth in other movies like contact and arrival they're almost godlike they're either demons or angels but i wouldn't blame you for being a little bit skeptical about any of these depictions do they have any basis in reality you'd be wise to ask aren't these anthropomorphized creatures just a fancy attempt by hollywood to make a patronizing comment on the human condition it seems they often are so they end up reflecting not just our image but also our alter ego is there room for actual science and science fiction what would a first contact with extraterrestrials really look like would it be anything like we see in the movies that's coming up right now [Music] the first question we need to ask us from a scientific perspective is there life in outer space well the answer to this is an unequivocal yes why because earth is in outer space and we know life exists there we tend to see earth as special we think of it as somehow being different from the rest of the universe but it's really not a 2018 study of 18 exoplanetary systems found that the chemical building blocks present on earth are also present on other solar systems and in roughly the same proportions these are systems that are hundreds of light years away similarly intrastellar gases are composed of much of the same stuff as the sun the earth and even your body our world is a rather ordinary small rocky planet in orbit around an unassuming star that's just one of at least a hundred billion stars in the milky way galaxy and as big and as vast as our galaxy is it's only one of several hundred billion galaxies in the visible universe if life can thrive here on earth for billions of years there's no reason to think it can't thrive elsewhere life not only exists on earth it uses the same lego building blocks we see scattered throughout the universe for example glycine is an amino acid it's the most important non-essential amino acid in humans as well as lots of other animals and we can see it in vast molecular clouds floating in outer space carl sagan once said we're made of star dust not only is that true but the proportions are the same four of the top six elements in the universe are found in your body hydrogen oxygen carbon and nitrogen make up 96 of the atoms in your body in the same proportions we see them throughout the universe we're made of star dust in stardust proportions if life can thrive on this tiny rock then why can't it emerge elsewhere the answer is it can there's no law of physics that prevents life from arising somewhere else the same processes that occurred here could occur elsewhere in the backdrop of the hundreds of billions of planets that likely exist in each of the hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe earth may not be all that unique except for the fact that it happens to be the only planet we currently know of that has life on it which appears to be a big exception based on what we know so far for most scientists though the question isn't is there life elsewhere in the universe most scientists think there probably is the big question is whether there's any technologically intelligent life elsewhere in the universe so i can hear you asking do you believe in aliens my answer to that is it's not a question of beliefs science is about gathering evidence building ideas and testing theories i would not be surprised if nasa announced they'd found life elsewhere in space i'd be delighted you might say what about all the ufo sightings and relatively recent videos from the us military isn't this evidence that aliens are already visiting us my answer to that is no there is not sufficient evidence of that i know first contact is not likely to occur this way with grainy pictures and ambiguous data these are simply either unidentified flying objects or as the military prefers to call them unidentified aerial phenomena we only have unexplained phenomena and when we can't explain something we shouldn't jump to wild speculation extraordinary conclusions without extraordinary evidence doesn't make for good science so what would a first contact actually look like from a scientific perspective the answer is there would be first contacts plural first contact is likely to come in one of at least four different ways first detection first conversation or exchange of messages intellectual first contact being the exchange of ideas cultures and then physical biological first contact meaning interactions with aliens our first and most likely point of contact is going to come from detecting extraterrestrial life on a planet around another star instruments in the james webb space telescope might be able to detect bio signatures in the atmospheres of exoplanets around other stars might is the key word here as we're operating at the extremes of science and engineering the james webb is a 100 times more sensitive than the hubble space telescope and yet even it will struggle to see subtle chemical signatures in the atmospheres of exoplanets it'll see the big ticket items like nitrogen and carbon dioxide but what we're interested in is the waste products of biology or better yet pollution from heavy industries how will we know if the james webb has detected alien life one way is to look at how molecules are distributed in the atmosphere of other planets natural processes tend to be in balance they produce a nice smooth predictable curve life though is chaotic life exploits any niche it can and this leads to spikes as various species converge on different chemical strategies to survive so while in a biological atmosphere might look like this smooth curve in regards to various chemicals it contains a biological atmosphere is likely to have spikes like these it might not be as exciting as an alien invasion movie but red spikes like these would hint at life on another planet around another star scientists will also be looking for what's called an unbalanced equation remember your math homework in high school do you remember being asked to solve for x you were given an equation but something was missing you knew it had to balance but what was it and what would solve the equation well in this case x was the number five in the same way astronomers will be looking to solve for x in a chemical equation although this chemical formula might look intimidating it's really not it's how plants turn sunlight into energy in this case algae is the missing component it can take the energy from sunlight and balance this equation to produce organic molecules from carbon dioxide and water algae has the x factor if we detect all these components in the atmosphere of an exoplanet we'll know something is missing from the equation we'll know x is needed to solve this chemical equation and x can only be a form of life that undergoes photosynthesis perhaps very similar to algae biosignature gases like ammonia nitrous oxide and oxygen are gases that can only be made from past or present organisms in other words they are the clues that a living being is living or has lived on that planet so if we detect any of these it could be a profound moment if we see exoplanet chemistry that doesn't add up if we see lots of complex chemical activity we can't explain through natural processes there's a good chance the missing component is life it might be at arm's length but this would be our first point of contact with life that evolved elsewhere in the universe now here you're saying let's move on from algae to ufos because that's what you're all interested in the next type of first contact is communication exchanging messages and this may have already happened or at least it's underway in 2018 during the 25th anniversary of the sonar music festival in barcelona a portion of the concert was broadcast to the stars it sounded something like this now it will take 12 and a half years for this message to reach legend star around 2030 but there's a potentially habitable super earth there if there are extraterrestrials listening i wonder what they'll make of the exotic sounds and instruments of earth if they decide to reply we won't get their version of elvis presley singing viva las vegas until around 2042 science fiction author peter cardren has written a novel about this called cold eyes in it he looks at how any response from an alien civilization around legend star could trigger a global project similar to apollo instead of reaching for the moon though the goal would be to send humans to make first contact in person check out this book when you get a chance it's a great read i have a link to it in the description below and peter was kind enough to collaborate with me on this video and this brings us to the third form of first contact intellectual contact which is an exchange of ideas not just long-distance messages exchanging messages is nice but what both civilizations would want is intellectual contact this would not be easy not only because the speed of light will make this painfully slow but also because we would need to learn and interpret their language this could be something very different than just sounds and symbols like we have the medium would probably be electromagnetic radiation like radio waves because of its infinite reach maximum speed and it's everywhere what would we share probably our culture such as music and art but also our journey of scientific discovery like germ theory and the standard model what would they share hopefully our interstellar pen pals tell us about life on their world which would probably be completely different and foreign to us and share their scientific journey as well so we can compare notes and gain mutual knowledge one thing they likely won't share though is their passwords and neither would we i can't remember mine anyway because i have hundreds of them that's why i use the best password manager in the galaxy robiform today's sponsor i've been using it for over 10 years it's that good it not only picks super strong passwords for me it automatically enters them with one click you might say well i already have a password manager on my browser sure they can work but not very well robo form works on every browser not just chrome or safari and once you install it you can log into any service in any software on any device that's what makes it so great another great feature is that it stores your credit card numbers and other personal data so with one click you can enter that info when you're buying something no more having to search for your wallet you can have this baby up and running in minutes they're giving arvind ash viewers a special deal right now where you can get 30 off your robo form everywhere subscription by using the link in the description that's just sixteen dollars a year you can go to roboform.com forward slash armin that's roboform.com forward slash arvin or just click the link in the description to sign up now let's get back to the most interesting part of first contact physical biological contact now when it comes to physical contact although this is where most science fiction books and movies start this will probably be the last form of contact to occur stephen hawking wasn't confident it would be a good idea based on our own history he thought it could be dangerous he said if aliens exist and ever visit us i think the result will look similar to the first visit of christopher columbus to the americas which was not so good for the natives i'm more optimistic any alien civilization that can traverse the stars is probably not going to plunder earth for its resources the five biggest resources we have are water oil coal forests and iron there's more water on the moons of jupiter and saturn than there is on earth why conquer a planet with eight billion people on it when you can have any other planet in the solar system for free do you really think aliens perhaps thousands of years more technologically advanced than us need our oil or coal heck we probably don't need our own oil and coal in 100 years would they want to plunder our forests for trees and carry that back with them why not just take all the seeds they want it would be a lot more efficient and we would happily give it to them iron is all over the universe in fact there's more iron on mars surface than earth's the abundance of iron oxide or rust is why it looks so red things we value like gold and diamonds are meaningless to someone that can fly between stars there's no unique element on earth that they couldn't get on other lifeless planets elsewhere in our or other solar systems so would first contact ever occur in person yes but not for the reasons portrayed by hollywood there's one very good reason for aliens to come here to earth we have something extremely valuable in fact it's the most valuable substance in the universe life that's right they wouldn't come here to steal our natural resources or to kill us they'd be interested in understanding how life evolved on this unassuming rock for billions of years fans of bruce willis tom cruise and will smith are going to be disappointed by this but aliens will come here for the one thing we can freely give them samples of life exchange of information satisfaction of curiosity and perhaps companionship in a vast uncaring lonely universe oh and i'm sure they'll be interested in our art our sciences our music and our cultures as well but it'll be biology that gets them into their ufos they'll be like charles darwin sailing to the galapagos to see aquatic iguanas finches and the odd tortoise species it'll cost us nothing to indulge and entertain them far from being mysterious they'll be able to teach us about their world and all that they've seen throughout the universe there's much we could learn from them they may have solved mysteries such as dark matter and dark energy and mastered quantum gravity and other mysteries of the quantum realm now when it comes to physical biological contact we do need to be careful it's one thing to exchange samples and swap music it's another to shake hands hollywood loves to have aliens running around this place e.t snuck into a young boy's bedroom paul hitched a ride in an rv in signs ilyan ran around naked while in movies like aliens big bad insect-like creatures hid in the shadows with saliva dripping from their teeth predator has them showing off their huge chest muscles and dreadlocks but the real threat from alien life is much smaller microbes professor neil gao from the university of exeter in the united kingdom notes the world is now only too aware of the immune challenges posed by the emergence of brand new pathogens as a thought experiment we wondered what would happen if we were to be exposed to a microorganism that had been retrieved from another planet or moon where life had evolved and were brought back to earth and then accidentally escaped and like good scientists they tested this idea life on earth uses 22 amino acids if we expose life to peptides made using amino acids not found on earth the effectiveness of our t cells and fighting those pathogens drops from 80 to 90 percent down to as low as 15 putting that in terms of exam results life would go from a past with high distinction to an f abysmal failure if physical contact does occur we will have to manage it carefully probably in orbit to avoid any cross-contamination that could be fatal for both us and that h.g wells novel war of the worlds played on this point with the martians being killed not by our bullets or bombs but by our microbes in the movies people love saying first contact changes everything but does it if the james webb detects life on an exoplanet there's a good chance most people will just simply shrug find it mildly entertaining and continue on with their lives if first contact brings technological change it could also be social change but historically countries like england looked at things like the discovery of the platypus in australia with deep suspicion they thought it was a hoax they thought someone glued a duck's bill on a beaver and they struggled to believe in gigantic rats hopping around the grassy plains perhaps we'll face similar challenges when it comes to first contact with extraterrestrial life it might call into question the uniqueness of humans laid out in many of our philosophies and religions it might hurt our egos the universe would no longer be so anthropocentric our scientists will be keen to learn more but it might take time for everyone else to come along for the ride first contact will happen at some point in one way or another we will find life elsewhere in our universe it's just a matter of time and effort at the moment the james webb space telescope offers us the best opportunity for detecting alien life so until ufos turn up on your doorstep we'll be looking up at the stars [Music] you

Channel: Arvin Ash

Views: 749,631

Keywords: first contact with aliens, first contact with extraterrestrials, are aliens real, are ufos real, aliens vistation, extraterrestrial invasion, what will first contact with aliens look like, what if we are visited by extraterrestrials, do exoplanets have life, where is everyone, what do aliens want, are ufos aliens, will we have a close encounter with et, close encounter of the third kind, close encounter with aliens, james webb telescope exoplanets, alien encounter

Id: Bso2hCaFL3Y

Length: 18min 34sec (1114 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 22 2022