Ep 2. Are We Alone?

Stephen Hawking continues his quest to determine the truth about whether or not humanity is alone in the universe in this episode of Genius. Are We Alone? looks closely at humanity's search for extraterrestrial life and the challenges that face scientists today.

Guest starring in this episode are the likes of Frank Drake, a pioneer in the search for alien life, and Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. The show explores the different approaches that scientists have taken in the search for life beyond Earth, from campaigns to listen for signals from outer space to the design and construction of probes that could potentially travel to other planets with life.

But the journey is not easy by any means. With current technology, the nearest star system to ours (Alpha Centauri) would take over four years even for light to travel there. This means that sending a probe to that star system right now would be a mission that is, at minimum, a two-decade affair, possibly longer. If scientists cannot find a way to speed up space travel significantly, it is unlikely that they will be able to put probes with sophisticated sensors so far over any plausible time frame.

The episode looks at the current roadblocks in the search for alien life more carefully. Some of these factors include waiting for a lucky break in an immense sample of distant stars, aiming towards civilizations emanating signals all the time, or analyzing simple bacteria on Mars.

Furthermore, the show also examines the idea of the Fermi Paradox which suggests that even though there are hundreds of billions of galaxies out there, there is no evidence of any advanced life beyond Earth in the universe. This paradox leads to speculation about the likelihood of intelligent life elsewhere and the possibility that maybe we are just too primitive to detect them or simply that the universe is immense to a point we cannot fathom yet in our young civilization.

Are We Alone? is a fascinating look at the challenges that scientists face in the search for extraterrestrial life as it provides a perspective on the state of the art of the field, with the caveat of temporary limitations that technology imposes on us. Whether or not we are truly alone in the universe may remain an unsolved mystery for decades or even centuries, but Genius by Stephen Hawking gives insight into a fascinating world of possibility.