Fermi paradox michio kaku biography
Part I: The Question
The most simple questions that we can ask often turn out to be the biggest. Physicist Enrico Fermi is testament to this with his big ask ‘where is everyone?’ Where is everyone in the vast universe, why do we hear nothing but silence when we scour the night skies, where are all the aliens?
When we look up a particularly starry night sky we are only observing a very small proportion of the stars in our galaxy. Which in itself is a very very small proportion of the stars in our observable universe (note. observable universe, and that’s just the part closest surrounding us that we can receive light from!) Let’s throw some numbers into the mix.
Part II: The Calculation
There are 100-400 billion (yes billion that’s 10^9) stars in our Milky way galaxy. Now astronomers believe that there are roughly 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. If we take the lower estimate for the number of stars (100 billion) that means for every star out their in our galaxy there is a whole other galaxy full of stars. So together, in the observable universe, that comes to 10^22 stars [100 billion x 100 billion]. Let’s let that number blow our mind for a little bit. Actually scrap that, I can’t even comprehend that number it’s too big, 10^22 doesn’t mean all that much to me, let’s go a little closer to the scales our human mind can chew on.
So of these 10^22 stars, astronomers again estimate 5-20% are sunlike, i.e. they are the same size as the star at the center of our universe. If we take the lower estimate 5%, being conservative, that gives 500 billion billion (or 5×10^20) sun-like stars.
Next step. How many of these sun like stars are thought to have Earth-like planets orbiting them. Astrophysical studies say 20-50%. Let’s take the lower bound again, 20%. So that gives 100 billion billion earth-like planets! 100 billion billion earth-like planets in the observable universe.
Penultimate step. How many of these earth-like plan
512: Michio Kaku | The Quest for a Theory of Everything
Michio Kaku | The Quest for a Theory of Everything (Episode 512)
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[00:00:02] Coming up next on The Jordan Harbinger Show.
[00:00:05] Michio Kaku: Things that we cannot answer can be answered by the theory of everything. Time travel, other universes, gateways to other universes — is it possible that there was a universe before the big bang? Is there a black hole connected to a white hall on the other end? All these questions cannot be answered using Einstein's theory. That's why we need a theory of everything. So once and for all, we can say time travel does or does not happen, that there are other dimensions, other universes. And then of course, people asked me the question: if there are other universes, then it's Elvis Presley still alive in another parallel universe? And the answer is possibly yes, in this universe, Elvis Presley died, but there could be another universe where Elvis Presley is still belting out those hits. Yes, that is definitely possible.
[00:01:02] Jordan Harbinger: Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger. On The Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people. We have in-depth conversations with people at the top of their game, astronauts and entrepreneurs, spies and psychologists, even the occasional billionaire investor, organized crime figure, or former Jihadi. Each episode turns our guests' wisdom into practical advice that you can use to build a deeper understanding of how the world works and become a better critical thinker.
[00:01:29] If you're new to the show or you're looking for a handy way to tell your friends about the show, we have episodes starter packs. These are collections of your favorite episodes organized by popular topics. These will help new listeners get a taste of everything that we do here on the show. Just visit jor Please enjoy this transcript of my interview with Dr. Michio Kaku (@michiokaku), a professor of theoretical physics at The City College of New York, the co-founder of string field theory, and the author of several widely acclaimed science books, including Beyond Einstein, The Future of Humanity, The Future of the Mind, Hyperspace, Physics of the Future, Physics of the Impossible, and his latest, The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything. Dr. Kaku is the science correspondent for CBS This Morning, the host of the radio programs Science Fantastic and Exploration, and a host of several science TV specials for the BBC and the Discovery and Science Channels. Transcripts may contain a few typos. With many episodes lasting 2+ hours, it can be difficult to catch minor errors. Enjoy! Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. #562: Dr. Michio Kaku — Exploring Time Travel, the Beauty of Physics, Parallel Universes, the Mind of God, String Theory, Lessons from Einstein, and More DUE TO SOME HEADACHES IN THE PAST, PLEASE NOTE LEGAL CONDITIONS: Tim Ferriss owns the copyright in and to all content in and transcripts of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, with all rights reserved, as well as his right of publicity. WHAT YOU’RE WELCOME TO DO:You are welcome to share the below transcript (up to 500 words but not more) in media articles (e.g., The New York Times, LA Times, The Guardian), on your personal website, in a non-commercial article or blog post (e.g., Medium), and/or on a personal social media account for non-commercial purposes, provided that you include attribution to “The Tim Ferriss Show” and link back to the tim.blog/podcast URL. For the sake of clarity, media outlets with advertising models are permitted to use excerpts from the transcript per the above. WHAT IS NOT ALLOW PDF: We made a fancy PDF of this post for printing and offline viewing. Buy it here. (Or see a preview.) ___________ Everyone feels something when they’re in a really good starry place on a really good starry night and they look up and see this: Some people stick with the traditional, feeling struck by the epic beauty or blown away by the insane scale of the universe. Personally, I go for the old “existential meltdown followed by acting weird for the next half hour.” But everyone feels something. Physicist Enrico Fermi felt something too—”Where is everybody?” ________________ A really starry sky seems vast—but all we’re looking at is our very local neighborhood. On the very best nights, we can see up to about 2,500 stars (roughly one hundred-millionth of the stars in our galaxy), and almost all of them are less than 1,000 light years away from us (or 1% of the diameter of the Milky Way). So what we’re really looking at is this: Galaxy image: Nick Risinger When confronted with the topic of stars and galaxies, a question that tantalizes most humans is, “Is there other intelligent life out there?” Let’s put some numbers to it— As many stars as there are in our galaxy (100 – 400 billion), there are roughly an equal number of galaxies in the observable universe—so for every star in the colossal Milky Way, there’s a whole galaxy out there. All together, that comes out to the typically quoted range of between 10 and 10 total stars, which means that for every grain of sand on every beach on Earth, there are 10,000 stars out there. The science world isn’t in total agreement about what percentage of those stars are “sun-like” (similar in size, temperature, and luminosity)—opinions typically range from 5% to 20%. Going with the most conservative side of that (5%), and the lower end for the number of total stars (10), gives us 500 quintillion, or