1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,200 Speaker 1: Okay, I want you to try something with me. Wherever 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:04,160 you are right now, unless you're driving, of course, please 3 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:06,120 keep your eyes on the but if you can, just 4 00:00:06,799 --> 00:00:08,880 close your eyes for a second, and I want you 5 00:00:08,919 --> 00:00:13,199 to clear your mental whiteboard, just a glank slate. Now 6 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:15,679 I'm going to ask you to picture an alien. Don't 7 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,839 try to get creative or invent some wild sci fi creature. 8 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,600 Just let the very first image that your subconscious serves up, 9 00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:26,519 just let it pop into your head. 10 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:27,039 Speaker 2: Got it. 11 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: Okay, hold on to that image. Now. I am willing 12 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,960 to bet, I bet good money that I know almost 13 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,240 exactly what you're seeing right now. You're seeing a humanoid figure. 14 00:00:37,799 --> 00:00:40,280 It's short, right, maybe three and a half four feet tall. 15 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,039 The skin is gray, maybe it looks a little damp, 16 00:00:43,759 --> 00:00:47,000 and the face is just dominated by this massive, bulbous 17 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,640 head with two enormous almond shaped pitch black eyes. No whites, 18 00:00:51,679 --> 00:00:53,359 no irises, just these. 19 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 2: Black, void, classic gray. 20 00:00:54,679 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: That's the one, exactly. It's the face on the T shirts, 21 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:58,920 it's in the cartoons, it's the star of every abduction 22 00:00:59,039 --> 00:01:03,399 movie usually. Just you know, we dismiss this as a Hollywood. 23 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:04,519 Speaker 2: Trope, right, a cultural invention. 24 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,439 Speaker 1: We tell ourselves. Oh, I only imagine them that way 25 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,319 because Spielberg Er, you know, the X Files, told me 26 00:01:10,359 --> 00:01:13,480 that's what they look like. It's just a cultural feedback loop. Sure, 27 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,480 But here is the question that, honestly, it keeps me 28 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:18,519 up at night, and it's the question that's going to 29 00:01:18,599 --> 00:01:22,280 launch our entire journey today. What if that isn't a trope? 30 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,519 What if that image isn't the product of a special 31 00:01:25,519 --> 00:01:29,439 effects budget but a scientific inevitability. 32 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 3: That is a genuinely unsettling thought. You're asking if the 33 00:01:33,079 --> 00:01:36,719 universe itself, if the laws of physicis might actually force 34 00:01:36,879 --> 00:01:40,760 intelligent life down a specific evolutionary path that looks exactly 35 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:41,640 like our nightmare. 36 00:01:41,799 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: That is exactly what I'm asking. Welcome everyone to Trilling Threads. 37 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,040 We are the show that pulls at the loose threads 38 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:49,519 of the universe just to see what. 39 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 3: Unravels, and I'm here to help weave those threads into 40 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,120 something that hopefully makes a little bit of sense. 41 00:01:54,159 --> 00:01:55,439 Speaker 2: It's a real pleasure to be here. 42 00:01:55,519 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: Today's thread is well, it's a long one. It stretches 43 00:01:58,519 --> 00:01:59,760 from the outer reaches of our. 44 00:01:59,599 --> 00:02:02,799 Speaker 3: Galaxy and it touches down on the dusty red surface 45 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:03,560 of Mars. 46 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,359 Speaker 1: And it ends a buried, deep, deep underground in the 47 00:02:06,359 --> 00:02:07,200 sands of Egypt. 48 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 2: It's quite a journey. 49 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 3: We're going to be connecting some pretty disparate fields today. 50 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:16,719 We've got astrophysics, the well the very controversial history of 51 00:02:17,039 --> 00:02:20,680 the search for life on Mars, and an ancient, mysterious 52 00:02:20,719 --> 00:02:23,159 bunker that frankly sounds like it's straight out of a 53 00:02:23,159 --> 00:02:23,759 horror film. 54 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: It really does. So our mission for today is to 55 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:31,400 seriously analyze a pretty terrifying possibility that the contact we're 56 00:02:31,439 --> 00:02:33,120 all looking for in the future. You know, there are 57 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,960 big radio dishes in our telescopes. What if it already 58 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:37,800 happened in the distant past. 59 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 3: And more importantly, did that contact leave behind physical evidence 60 00:02:41,159 --> 00:02:42,879 that we can touch today exactly? 61 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: And not just any evidence. We are talking about potential 62 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:50,280 biological proof. We're drawing from some really heavy source material here. 63 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,080 We've got astronomical data from the Lazella Observatory and chilling 64 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,800 original mission logs from the nineteen seventy six Viking Mars Lander, 65 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,520 and archaeological reports from all the way back in the 66 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:02,919 eighteen fifties about a place called the Serapeum. 67 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 2: It's a lot to cover. 68 00:03:04,199 --> 00:03:06,759 Speaker 1: It is so let's just let's unpack this. Let's go 69 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,039 back to that image, the gray Why do they look 70 00:03:10,159 --> 00:03:13,280 like that? Why not I don't know, giant crabs or 71 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,240 floating gas bags. Why the big head in those giant eyes. 72 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:18,439 Speaker 3: Well, to answer that, you have to look at the environment. 73 00:03:18,599 --> 00:03:22,000 Biology is at its core, just a reaction to environment. 74 00:03:22,199 --> 00:03:24,479 We look the way we do because our ancestors had 75 00:03:24,479 --> 00:03:27,599 to survive on Earth with Earth's gravity, Earth's sun. 76 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: Okay, that makes sense. 77 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 3: So now let's look at a really interesting discovery. It 78 00:03:31,879 --> 00:03:33,919 was made back in two thousand and nine at the 79 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:38,800 Lascilla Observatory in Chile. Astronomers there identified a planet that 80 00:03:38,879 --> 00:03:41,680 was orbiting a star called Glee'ze six' sixty SEVEN. 81 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: C gleeze six six SEVEN. C it sounds like a license. 82 00:03:44,919 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 3: Plate it, Does but this is the crucial detail. Here 83 00:03:48,199 --> 00:03:50,719 it is not a star like our, sun a yellow. 84 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:52,719 Dwarf it's a red, dwarf an m. 85 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: Star and what does that mean, Practically. 86 00:03:54,599 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 3: Well these are actually the most common type of star 87 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,560 in the. Galaxy they're, everywhere but they're, very very different 88 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,360 from what we're used. To they're, smaller and they are much. 89 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: Much, cooler cooler in, temperature not you, know, attitude, right, Correct. 90 00:04:06,599 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 3: Glee's sixty sixty sixty SEVEN c is only about one 91 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:10,840 point four percent as bright as our. 92 00:04:10,879 --> 00:04:15,159 Speaker 1: Sun wait one one point, four not, Fourteen, no one point. 93 00:04:15,199 --> 00:04:16,319 Speaker 2: Four just think about that for a. 94 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 3: Second if our sun is one hundred watt light, bulb 95 00:04:19,639 --> 00:04:20,920 this star is a one. 96 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,079 Speaker 2: And a half watt. Bulb it's incredibly. 97 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:25,519 Speaker 1: Dim that's practically. Dark so If i'm standing on a 98 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,519 planet orbiting that, star what does nuone even look? Like 99 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:30,800 is it just night all the? 100 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 3: Time you would look like a deep twilight On, earth 101 00:04:33,319 --> 00:04:35,480 you know that moment just after the sun has, set 102 00:04:35,519 --> 00:04:38,240 but before it's truly. Dark imagine, that but all day, 103 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,040 long a sort of, ruddy dim eternal. 104 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:42,639 Speaker 2: Dusk. Wow but here's the. 105 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 3: Kicker this, Planet glee six sixty SEVEN cc is in 106 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:48,519 The goldilock. 107 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:50,519 Speaker 1: Zone the habitable zone not too, hot. 108 00:04:50,399 --> 00:04:52,959 Speaker 3: Not too, cold, precisely is at just the right distance 109 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,480 for a liquid water to exist on its. Surface so, 110 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:59,959 naturally scientists started to speculate if complex intelligent life evolved 111 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,360 a habitable world where the lights are effectively turned way way, 112 00:05:03,399 --> 00:05:05,279 down what would it have to look like to? 113 00:05:05,319 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 1: Survive, okay, right let's build an alien IF i can't, 114 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,560 see If i'm this constant, TWILIGHT i need better tools 115 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:11,040 for seeing. 116 00:05:11,439 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 3: Exactly human eyes are designed for a flood of. Photons 117 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,240 our sun just blasts this planet with, light so we 118 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:20,759 have relatively small pupils because there's so much light. 119 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: Available you're filtering it. 120 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,759 Speaker 3: Out we, Are but on a world or getting a red, 121 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,120 dwarf you are starving for. Light you need to capture 122 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,720 every single photon you possibly, can and we have examples 123 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:34,800 right here On. Earth look at nocturnal or deep sea. 124 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,000 Animals look at a tarsier or an owl or fish 125 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:38,800 from The Mariana. 126 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,959 Speaker 2: Trench what's the common? Trait massive, eyes enormous eyes. 127 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,040 Speaker 3: Relative to their skull. Size they're basically just giant. Lenses 128 00:05:46,519 --> 00:05:48,399 and on an alien world you wouldn't just need big. 129 00:05:48,439 --> 00:05:51,000 Eyes you might need them to see in spectra that we, can't. 130 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:53,680 Speaker 1: Like infrared heat signatures. 131 00:05:53,319 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 3: Exactly to hunt or to avoid predators in near total. 132 00:05:57,079 --> 00:05:59,600 Darkness seeing heat would be a huge, advantage and you 133 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:01,480 wouldn't have the whites of the eyes like we. 134 00:06:01,519 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 2: Do that's wasted. 135 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 3: Space you'd need the maximum possible surface area for the 136 00:06:05,879 --> 00:06:07,879 retina for light gathering, cells so. 137 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,040 Speaker 1: They would likely appear entirely black or maybe reflective like 138 00:06:11,079 --> 00:06:11,480 a cat's. 139 00:06:11,519 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 3: Eye that's the scientific prediction a giant head to accommodate 140 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,480 a large, brain but also to serve as a platform 141 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,800 for two, massive pitch black optical. 142 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:24,879 Speaker 1: Sensors, okay so that's one for one with the folklore 143 00:06:25,399 --> 00:06:29,800 a giant, head giant black. Eyes it's not a creative, 144 00:06:29,879 --> 00:06:32,360 choice it's a biological necessity for that. 145 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:33,480 Speaker 2: Environment it matches. 146 00:06:33,519 --> 00:06:36,920 Speaker 3: Perfectly now let's talk about the, body the planet. Itself 147 00:06:37,079 --> 00:06:39,879 this least six sixty seven cc is what we call 148 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:41,000 a Super. 149 00:06:40,639 --> 00:06:42,720 Speaker 1: Earth meaning it's bigger than our. 150 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 3: Planet, Right it's more, massive it has a larger, diameter 151 00:06:46,399 --> 00:06:49,360 and a larger planet usually means one very important thing for. 152 00:06:49,439 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 2: Biology higher. 153 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,639 Speaker 1: Gravity, okay so everything is. Heavier gravity is pulling you down. 154 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,639 Harder that mean everyone there is super strong Like superman. 155 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,199 Speaker 3: Strong, yes but more, specifically they'd have to be. Compact 156 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:03,000 think about the simple physics of. 157 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:04,319 Speaker 2: Blood pressure On. 158 00:07:04,399 --> 00:07:07,079 Speaker 3: Earth your heart has to pump blood up against one 159 00:07:07,079 --> 00:07:09,720 ge of gravity to reach your. Brain if you're six feet, 160 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:11,639 tall that's a certain amount of work your heart has 161 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:12,920 to do every second of your. 162 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: Life and if you double a, gravity you double the. 163 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 3: Workload your heart would have to be like a supercharged 164 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,199 engine just to keep you from fainting every time you stood. 165 00:07:20,279 --> 00:07:24,360 Up being tall in a high gravity, environment it becomes 166 00:07:24,399 --> 00:07:28,279 a biological death. SENTENCE a simple fall could shatter your. 167 00:07:28,279 --> 00:07:29,519 Speaker 1: Bones your heart would just give. 168 00:07:29,519 --> 00:07:34,199 Speaker 3: Out it's a huge evolutionary. Disadvantage so natural selection would 169 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,439 strongly favor a different body. Type you would be, shorter, 170 00:07:37,879 --> 00:07:40,639 Stouter your center of gravity would be much lower to 171 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:41,160 the ground for. 172 00:07:41,199 --> 00:07:44,839 Speaker 1: Stability you wouldn't have, long spindly legs that could easily. 173 00:07:44,879 --> 00:07:48,600 Snap you'd have a, stable, compact powerful. 174 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 3: Frame precisely maybe three four feet, tall built to withstand 175 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,120 falls and to minimize the strain on the cardiovascular. 176 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: System so let's just recap. This we've taken a real 177 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,079 planet around a real, star and just by applying the 178 00:08:01,079 --> 00:08:04,279 basic laws of physics and, biology we've designed the dominant 179 00:08:04,319 --> 00:08:06,360 species and it has to be three to four feet 180 00:08:06,439 --> 00:08:09,720 tall with a, sturdy compact. Body it needs a large 181 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,480 head to hold a, brain and two massive black light gathering. 182 00:08:13,519 --> 00:08:15,199 Speaker 2: Eyes that's where the science leads. 183 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:18,279 Speaker 1: Us we just used astrophysics to design a gray alien 184 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:20,680 down to the last, detail and that. 185 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:22,120 Speaker 2: Right there is THE aha. 186 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:26,319 Speaker 3: Moment for years and, years sweptics have, said and you, 187 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,040 know for good, reason that the gray is just a 188 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,799 projection of our own human, fears maybe a distorted image 189 00:08:32,879 --> 00:08:35,440 of a human infant or, fetus. 190 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: Right something from our own Subconscious but the. 191 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:43,039 Speaker 3: Math from exoplanetary science suggests something completely. Different the math, says, 192 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:45,159 no if you come from a planet orbiting one of 193 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,759 the most common types of stars in the, universe this 194 00:08:47,919 --> 00:08:48,600 is just what you look. 195 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 2: Like it's not, psychology it's. 196 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,759 Speaker 1: Physics that changes the entire. Conversation, yeah it moves it 197 00:08:53,799 --> 00:08:57,080 from you, know ghost stories in folklore into the realm of. 198 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,519 Exoiology it implies that when people all over the world 199 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:03,399 described these specific, beings they aren't all sharing the same. 200 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 3: Hallucination they might be describing a biological reality of being 201 00:09:07,159 --> 00:09:08,840 perfectly adapted to its home. 202 00:09:08,879 --> 00:09:11,919 Speaker 1: World In glease six sixty, Seven sea is only what 203 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:13,840 twenty two or twenty three light years. 204 00:09:13,639 --> 00:09:15,759 Speaker 3: Away that's right in the grand scheme of the, universe 205 00:09:15,799 --> 00:09:17,960 that is right next door our cosmic. 206 00:09:18,039 --> 00:09:19,559 Speaker 2: Neighbor but you, know. 207 00:09:19,519 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 1: We don't even have to look that far to find 208 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:23,559 a potential sign of. Life we only have to go 209 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,639 to the planet right next door to us To. Mars 210 00:09:25,879 --> 00:09:29,799 To mars the obsession of the ancients and you, know 211 00:09:30,279 --> 00:09:32,240 modern scientists. Alike it has. 212 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 3: A hold on the human imagination like no other. 213 00:09:34,279 --> 00:09:37,799 Speaker 1: Place so we're transitioning a little here from what they 214 00:09:37,879 --> 00:09:41,120 might look like to where are? They because if a 215 00:09:41,159 --> 00:09:44,279 species like that is traveling the, stars they might just 216 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:45,960 stop at the neighbor's house on their way. 217 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:47,519 Speaker 2: To, earth the cosmic pit stop. 218 00:09:47,639 --> 00:09:50,799 Speaker 1: Exactly and for that we have to talk about nineteen seventy, 219 00:09:50,799 --> 00:09:52,399 six The viking. 220 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,639 Speaker 3: Mission this was a monumental year FOR nasa and for THE. 221 00:09:55,759 --> 00:09:58,960 Us it was the bi. Centennial there was immense national 222 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:02,679 pride and pressure to deliver a major scientific, win especially 223 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:04,279 after The apollo missions had. 224 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:06,519 Speaker 1: Wound, down And viking one was the big. Show it 225 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,879 was the first spacecraft to ever successfully make a soft 226 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:12,080 landing on The martian's surface and actually. 227 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 2: Operate the tension and mission control must have been. Unbelievable, 228 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:15,960 OH i can't even. 229 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,519 Speaker 1: Imagine AND i love the descriptions from the source material 230 00:10:18,519 --> 00:10:21,759 about that first image coming. Back the probe, lands the 231 00:10:21,799 --> 00:10:24,639 camera starts, scanning and this picture gets built on the, 232 00:10:24,639 --> 00:10:27,879 screen lined by painful, wines and it looks, Familiar it 233 00:10:27,879 --> 00:10:31,320 looks like. Home it looked like The American, southwest Like 234 00:10:31,399 --> 00:10:35,759 arizona or The Mohave. Desert one scientist even joked that 235 00:10:35,799 --> 00:10:38,480 he half expected to see a prospector with a donkey 236 00:10:39,039 --> 00:10:39,879 wander over the Next. 237 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,039 Speaker 3: June it Made mars feel. Tactile it wasn't just a 238 00:10:43,039 --> 00:10:45,519 red dot in the sky. Anymore it was a, place 239 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:47,679 a place you could imagine walking. 240 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:49,519 Speaker 1: On but they weren't there for the. Scenery they were 241 00:10:49,519 --> 00:10:49,759 there to. 242 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 2: Hunt they were hunting for. 243 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 3: Life viking, was for all intents and, purposes a biological 244 00:10:55,279 --> 00:10:59,200 laboratory on three. Legs it had this little robotic arm 245 00:10:59,279 --> 00:11:02,639 designed to oop Up martian, soil the regolith and dump 246 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:04,559 it into four different experiments inside the. 247 00:11:04,639 --> 00:11:07,360 Speaker 1: Lander and this is where the story gets so. Controversial 248 00:11:07,519 --> 00:11:10,080 this is where you could argue one of the biggest, 249 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:12,960 mistakes or maybe even cover ups in scientific history. 250 00:11:13,039 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 3: Happens it's a story that still causes heated debate. 251 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,759 Speaker 1: Today so walk us through the main, experiment the one 252 00:11:18,799 --> 00:11:19,960 designed by doctor Gil. 253 00:11:20,039 --> 00:11:22,919 Speaker 3: Levin, Okay doctor Gil levin designed what was called The 254 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,679 Labeled Release, experiment OR, lr and it was brilliant in its. 255 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:27,679 Speaker 1: Simplicity how did it? 256 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 3: Work the basic idea is that all life as we 257 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,279 know it, anyway, metabolizes it, breathes it takes in, nutrients 258 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:37,080 and it releases waste gas. 259 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:40,559 Speaker 1: Like yeast making bread, rise or as exhaling carbon. 260 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:43,759 Speaker 3: Dioxide exactly the same. Principle so the experiment took a 261 00:11:43,799 --> 00:11:46,840 tiny thimbleful Of martian, dirt sealed it in a little, 262 00:11:46,919 --> 00:11:48,879 chamber and then injected it with. 263 00:11:48,879 --> 00:11:50,559 Speaker 2: A nutrient, solution a food. 264 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:50,879 Speaker 1: Source. 265 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,320 Speaker 3: Right it was basically a radioactive chicken soup for. Microbes 266 00:11:54,879 --> 00:11:58,159 the carbon atoms and the nutrients were. Radioactive so the 267 00:11:58,159 --> 00:12:00,399 theory was if there were any little bug in that, 268 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:01,799 dirt they would eat the soup. 269 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:03,879 Speaker 1: And then they'd burp out radioactive. 270 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:06,559 Speaker 3: Gas, precisely and a guider counter inside the chamber was 271 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,000 set up to detect those gas, bubbles and he ticks 272 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:10,879 on the counter meant something was metabolizing the. 273 00:12:10,879 --> 00:12:15,440 Speaker 1: Food it's so, elegant so. Simple so what? Happened did 274 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:16,840 they find any? Bubbles they? 275 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:19,399 Speaker 3: Did the data stream came back To earth and the 276 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:21,799 graph showed this, distinct beautiful. 277 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:23,519 Speaker 2: Curve the soil was. 278 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:26,279 Speaker 3: Reacting it was releasing gas in exactly the way that 279 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,919 a sample of soil from A california desert or An 280 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,240 arnica would it was positive according to the success criteria 281 00:12:32,279 --> 00:12:35,159 THAT nasa itself had set before the mission ever. Launched 282 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:39,279 it was a clear positive result for all intents and. 283 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:41,799 Purposes viking had found life On. 284 00:12:41,919 --> 00:12:45,679 Speaker 1: Mars so why don't we celebrate? This why isn't there 285 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:49,279 a life On Mars? Day Global? Holiday why DID i 286 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:50,080 not learn this in? 287 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:51,279 Speaker 2: School because of the second? 288 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 3: Machine there was another instrument on the, lander was called THE, 289 00:12:53,919 --> 00:12:58,480 GCMs the gas chromatograph mass. Spectrometer what was its? Job 290 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,600 its job waspletely. Different While levin's experiment looked for the 291 00:13:02,639 --> 00:13:06,600 behavior of, life the, breathing THE GCMs was designed to 292 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:09,159 look for the physical. Bodies it was supposed to find 293 00:13:09,159 --> 00:13:12,559 the organic, molecules the carbon compounds that make up living. 294 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: Things so one was looking for the, action the other 295 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:15,600 was looking for the. 296 00:13:15,639 --> 00:13:16,960 Speaker 2: Quarks that's a great way to put. 297 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 3: It and THE GCMs found nothing. Nothing it came back completely, 298 00:13:21,039 --> 00:13:25,279 sterile no organic matter. Detected so NOW nasa had this massive. 299 00:13:25,279 --> 00:13:28,320 Contradiction one machine is screaming it's alive and the other 300 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:29,720 way is saying it's a dead. 301 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: Rock and they just canceled each other. 302 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 3: Out, WELL nasa is and has always been a very conservative. 303 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,919 Organization they couldn't risk announcing the discovery of life and 304 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,759 then being. Wrong the embarrassment would have been, catastrophic. 305 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:43,080 Speaker 1: So they chose the safer. 306 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,639 Speaker 2: Answer they. Did they concluded that the breathing That. 307 00:13:46,639 --> 00:13:49,960 Speaker 3: Levin's experiment saw must have just been some, weird exotic 308 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,759 chemical reaction in The martian soil that was mimicking a life. 309 00:13:53,799 --> 00:13:58,039 Signal they officially ruled no, life and as Gil levin 310 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:00,360 himself said in an, interview there goes the. 311 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: Ballgame but the source material for today suggests that this 312 00:14:03,879 --> 00:14:07,120 was a monumental error in. Judgment this is where. 313 00:14:06,919 --> 00:14:09,159 Speaker 2: It gets really really, interesting looking back with. 314 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,919 Speaker 3: Hindsight years, later other scientists went back and analyzed the 315 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,840 design and crucially the sensitivity of those two, machines and 316 00:14:16,879 --> 00:14:20,799 it turns out that THE, GCMs the machine that killed the, discovery, 317 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:23,799 was to put it, bluntly incredibly. Deaf it was a 318 00:14:23,879 --> 00:14:25,720 very crude instrument by today's. 319 00:14:25,759 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: Standards what do you mean by? 320 00:14:26,879 --> 00:14:30,519 Speaker 3: Crude it required millions of bacterial cells in a given 321 00:14:30,559 --> 00:14:32,159 sample to even register a. 322 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:33,279 Speaker 2: Hit if you. 323 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,679 Speaker 3: Had, say ten thousand bacteria or even one hundred thousand 324 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:39,840 in that thimble of, soil THE GCMs would have, Said, 325 00:14:39,919 --> 00:14:41,000 nope nothing to see. 326 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,559 Speaker 1: Here, wow, Okay so what About levin's, machine the one 327 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:45,399 that got the positive. 328 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:47,679 Speaker 2: Result it was the. Opposite it was hyper. 329 00:14:47,679 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 3: Sensitive it could detect the metabolic activity of as few 330 00:14:51,039 --> 00:14:52,720 as thirty bacteria. 331 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: And thirty so wait a, minute you're telling me there 332 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,879 could have BEEN i don't, know half a million microbes 333 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:02,240 in that soil, sample all happily breathing away and Triggering levin's. 334 00:15:02,279 --> 00:15:06,200 Experiment but because there weren't millions of, them the other 335 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,360 cruder instrument just completely missed. 336 00:15:08,399 --> 00:15:11,399 Speaker 3: Them that is now considered the most likely. Scenario we 337 00:15:11,519 --> 00:15:13,960 found life in nineteen seventy, six but because of a 338 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,000 fundamental mismatch and the sensitivity of our own, tools we 339 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:18,240 convinced ourselves it wasn't. 340 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,639 Speaker 1: There that is just it's tragic, scientifically think of where 341 00:15:21,679 --> 00:15:23,159 we would be. Now if we had spent the last 342 00:15:23,159 --> 00:15:24,600 fifty years following up on that. 343 00:15:24,519 --> 00:15:25,799 Speaker 2: Result we would have been looking for. 344 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 3: Biology, instead we spent decades focusing on, geology looking for 345 00:15:30,799 --> 00:15:34,320 signs of ancient. Water because we operated under the assumption 346 00:15:34,399 --> 00:15:36,960 that the planet was completely, dead it set back the 347 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,600 search for life by, generations and the. 348 00:15:39,519 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: Whole context has changed since then, right, Yeah back in seventy, 349 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,200 six we didn't even know if there were other planets 350 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:45,000 outside Our solar. 351 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:46,519 Speaker 2: System not a single one had been. 352 00:15:46,519 --> 00:15:50,120 Speaker 3: Confirmed back, then we still thought solar system like ours 353 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,039 might be incredibly rare. Accidents and now, now thanks to 354 00:15:54,039 --> 00:15:57,039 The kepler Space telescope and other, missions we know they 355 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,399 are absolutely. Everywhere the first exoplanet was affirmed in nineteen ninety, 356 00:16:01,399 --> 00:16:04,639 two which won The Nobel. Prize today we've confirmed over 357 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:06,960 four thousand and there are thousands more. 358 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,399 Speaker 1: Candidates the Physicist Michio kaku has a great way of putting. 359 00:16:10,399 --> 00:16:12,960 This he, says just go outside on a clear night 360 00:16:13,039 --> 00:16:16,360 and look up at the. Sky on, average every single 361 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:20,080 star you see has a, planet and the statistics suggests 362 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:22,720 that about one in every twenty of those stars has 363 00:16:22,759 --> 00:16:24,320 an earth like planet orbiting. 364 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 2: It the numbers are just. 365 00:16:25,639 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 3: Overwhelming the idea that we are alone has gone from 366 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:29,960 a possibility to a statistical. 367 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,919 Speaker 1: Fantasy and now we have The James Web Space, telescope 368 00:16:33,279 --> 00:16:37,080 which can actually take color images of these exoplanets and 369 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,799 scan their atmospheres for. Biosignatures we're looking for things. 370 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:45,399 Speaker 3: Like, oxygen, methane, water, vapor the chemical fingerprints of. 371 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,279 Speaker 2: Life we're moving from. 372 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 3: Asking if life is out there to asking when we're 373 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:52,080 going to get the definitive. 374 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: Proof but the sources we're looking at today suggest something 375 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,039 even more, profound something that flips the whole search on its. 376 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,639 Head it is that we aren't just looking for for cosmic. 377 00:17:00,679 --> 00:17:03,720 Neighbors we might be looking for our, parents our. 378 00:17:03,759 --> 00:17:07,359 Speaker 3: Creators the ancient astronaut, theory the idea that we are the, 379 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:09,880 offspring that the visitors didn't just fly by and, Wave 380 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:15,119 they got, Involved they, interacted they tinkered with the local, wildlife. 381 00:17:14,519 --> 00:17:16,759 Speaker 1: And that idea brings us right back to the. Ancients 382 00:17:17,039 --> 00:17:19,640 they didn't have The James web, telescope but they were 383 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,519 obsessed with the, stars and they were especially obsessed with 384 00:17:22,559 --> 00:17:23,640 one star in, Particular. 385 00:17:23,799 --> 00:17:24,200 Speaker 2: Mars. 386 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:26,839 Speaker 1: Mars Why. Mars it's the. 387 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,559 Speaker 3: Color it's the only object in the night sky apart 388 00:17:29,559 --> 00:17:31,200 from The moon that isn't just a white point of. 389 00:17:31,279 --> 00:17:33,400 Light it's, distinctly unmistakably. 390 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:36,920 Speaker 1: Red and in the ancient, world red meant one, thing, 391 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:38,599 blood blood on the. 392 00:17:38,519 --> 00:17:41,799 Speaker 3: Battlefield, exactly so almost every ancient culture that tracked the 393 00:17:41,799 --> 00:17:46,319 stars Associated mars with, war, conflict and. Death The babylonians 394 00:17:46,319 --> 00:17:49,839 called the Planet nirgul after their god of, fire plague and. 395 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:53,039 Speaker 1: Death The greeks Had, aris their god of, war. 396 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 3: And The, romans who were a warrior culture through and, 397 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:01,119 through they Adopted mars as their patron, deity symbolic. Father 398 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,880 they believed their incredible success in conquest was because they 399 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:07,279 were literally descended from the god of that red. 400 00:18:07,319 --> 00:18:10,759 Speaker 1: Star but The egyptians they saw it, differently didn't. They they 401 00:18:10,799 --> 00:18:11,400 weren't afraid of. 402 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:12,599 Speaker 2: It, no they honored. 403 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 3: It there's a famous star, map The sentiment star, map 404 00:18:15,839 --> 00:18:18,680 from around fifteen thirty FOUR. Bc it's one of the 405 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,279 oldest astronomical charts in the, world And mars is placed very. 406 00:18:22,319 --> 00:18:24,839 Prominently they even painted it on the ceiling of the 407 00:18:24,839 --> 00:18:26,000 tomb of the PHARAOH. 408 00:18:26,039 --> 00:18:28,759 Speaker 1: Ceti the first why what was their? Connection for The? 409 00:18:28,799 --> 00:18:32,599 Speaker 3: Egyptians the stars weren't just distant. Objects they believed the 410 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,400 gods were real beings who lived among, them who came 411 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:35,680 from the. 412 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:38,880 Speaker 2: Sky the sky and the earth were, connected. 413 00:18:39,039 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 3: And this belief it leads us to a specific, place 414 00:18:43,079 --> 00:18:45,839 to physical evidence that we can still touch and measure, 415 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:47,839 today a place that baffles modern. 416 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,960 Speaker 1: Engineers we need to go To, Sequara. Egypt, yes this 417 00:18:51,039 --> 00:18:53,200 is my favorite part of this whole. Thread we are 418 00:18:53,279 --> 00:18:58,559 leaving the abstract world of astrophysics and microbial data and 419 00:18:58,599 --> 00:19:02,480 we're going to the, concrete or rather. Granite let's talk 420 00:19:02,519 --> 00:19:03,480 about this serapim Of. 421 00:19:03,519 --> 00:19:06,559 Speaker 3: Sakuara the serapium is a place that if you strictly 422 00:19:06,599 --> 00:19:09,759 follow the mainstream timeline of ancient, technology it just shouldn't. 423 00:19:09,759 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 2: Exist it is a complete. 424 00:19:11,039 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 1: Anomaly so set the scene for the. Listener the year 425 00:19:13,759 --> 00:19:17,839 is eighteen. Fifty an archaeologist Named Auguste mariette is digging 426 00:19:17,839 --> 00:19:19,000 in the, desert right. 427 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:20,759 Speaker 3: And he's out there and he spots the head of 428 00:19:20,759 --> 00:19:23,240 a sphinx sticking out of the. Sand so he starts, 429 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,799 digging and he finds it's not just one, sphinx it's 430 00:19:25,839 --> 00:19:27,440 the start of a long avenue of. 431 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:28,440 Speaker 2: Them they were over one. 432 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,799 Speaker 3: Hundred it, originally and they lead directly to a buried, 433 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:33,240 hillside to a blocked. 434 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:36,519 Speaker 1: Entrance And, mariette from What i've, read was not a 435 00:19:36,559 --> 00:19:38,359 man known for his, patients not at. 436 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:40,880 Speaker 2: All he didn't have time for careful. Excavation he just 437 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:41,319 brought in. 438 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,799 Speaker 1: Explosives, Boom welcome to nineteenth century. 439 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,680 Speaker 3: Archaeology he blasts the entrance open and he descends into 440 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,599 the subterranean. Complex it's a massive tunnel system carved directly 441 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:57,240 out of the living limestone. Bedrock it's, hot it's, dark 442 00:19:57,279 --> 00:20:00,759 that air hasn't moved in thousands of. Years the source 443 00:20:00,799 --> 00:20:03,559 describes it as feeling like you're descending into the bowels 444 00:20:03,559 --> 00:20:03,720 of the. 445 00:20:03,839 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: Underworld and along the main passageway there are these alcoves 446 00:20:07,319 --> 00:20:07,920 carved into the. 447 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 3: Walls, yes and inside each of these alcoves is one 448 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:12,359 of the. 449 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:15,119 Speaker 1: Boxes the. BOXES i feel like calling them boxes is 450 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:16,720 just it doesn't do them justice at. 451 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,799 Speaker 3: All it's like calling a modern aircraft carrier a. Boat 452 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,200 these are, sarcophagi but on a scale that is just 453 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,319 hard for the mind to. Comprehend they're twenty four of 454 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:26,599 them in. 455 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 1: Total what are they made? 456 00:20:27,559 --> 00:20:31,400 Speaker 3: Of they're carved from single solid blocks of either black, 457 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,640 Granite aswan granite or, basalt some of the hardest stones 458 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:35,880 on the. 459 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,160 Speaker 2: Planet and the dimensions are. 460 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,079 Speaker 3: Staggering each one is roughly thirteen feet, long seven and 461 00:20:42,079 --> 00:20:44,680 a half feet, wide and about ten feet. 462 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:46,559 Speaker 1: Tall and the, weight this is the part that just 463 00:20:46,599 --> 00:20:47,640 blows my mind every. 464 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 3: Time the main body of the box weighs around seventy. 465 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:53,880 Tons the, lid which is a separate solid piece adds 466 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,480 another twenty five to thirty, Tons so you're. 467 00:20:56,319 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 1: Looking at a combined mass of nearly one hundred. Tons 468 00:20:58,920 --> 00:20:59,759 for each one one. 469 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,079 Speaker 3: Hundred, tons that's the equivalent of about fifty large SUVs 470 00:21:03,599 --> 00:21:05,839 or a bowing seven to fifty seven passenger. 471 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:07,359 Speaker 2: Jet and there are twenty four of. 472 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,279 Speaker 1: Them and these aren't sitting out in the open desert 473 00:21:09,319 --> 00:21:12,039 where you could theoretically build a giant. Crane they are 474 00:21:12,039 --> 00:21:16,079 deep underground inside a narrow, tunnel a tunnel that. 475 00:21:16,039 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 3: In many places is barely wider than the boxes. Themselves 476 00:21:19,039 --> 00:21:21,359 there's only a few feet of clearance on either. Side 477 00:21:21,519 --> 00:21:24,680 there is absolutely no room for a huge workforce of 478 00:21:24,839 --> 00:21:27,640 hundreds of slaves to pull on. Ropes there's no room for. 479 00:21:27,759 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: Leverage so the logistics of just getting one hundred ton 480 00:21:32,079 --> 00:21:36,359 object down or ramp through this confined, space turning ninety degree, 481 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,880 corners and then lowering it perfectly into a recessed alcove 482 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,359 without scratching the, walls. 483 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,400 Speaker 3: It's an engineering white, mare even with today's, technology with 484 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,440 the supposed tools of Ancient, egypt it seems utterly. 485 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,240 Speaker 1: Impossible and then there's the precision of the work. Itself 486 00:21:51,279 --> 00:21:53,119 these aren't just, big rough hewn. 487 00:21:53,319 --> 00:21:55,799 Speaker 2: Rocks, no not at. All this is the other part 488 00:21:55,839 --> 00:21:56,000 of the. 489 00:21:56,039 --> 00:22:01,079 Speaker 3: Mystery engineers Like Christopher dunn have taken modern precision instruments. 490 00:22:00,599 --> 00:22:02,160 Speaker 2: Down there to measure, them and what do they. 491 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,279 Speaker 3: Find they found a level of craftsmanship that is just 492 00:22:05,799 --> 00:22:09,200 shocking the internal corners or machine to a perfect ninety. 493 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:12,680 Degrees the flat surfaces are polished to a mirror. Finish 494 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:17,240 the overall flatness is accurate to within two ten thousandths 495 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:17,920 of an inch. 496 00:22:17,799 --> 00:22:21,519 Speaker 1: Ten thousands, right that's laser. Precision that's optical grade. 497 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:22,759 Speaker 2: Quality it absolutely. 498 00:22:22,799 --> 00:22:25,039 Speaker 3: Is and you have to remember the mainstream story is 499 00:22:25,079 --> 00:22:27,119 that these were made during a time when the only 500 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,920 tools they had were copper chisels and stone pounding. 501 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:33,160 Speaker 1: Balls you cannot cut granite with a copper. Chisel it's 502 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,759 just it's physically. Impossible granite is a session on the 503 00:22:36,799 --> 00:22:41,039 most scale of. Hardness copper is a. Three the granite 504 00:22:41,039 --> 00:22:41,920 would just shred the. 505 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,279 Speaker 3: Copper you would need diamond tip, tools or high speed, 506 00:22:45,319 --> 00:22:49,200 steel or some kind of advanced sonic or laser technology 507 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:51,920 to achieve this kind of precision in this kind of. 508 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,680 Speaker 1: Material so we have an impossible object made with impossible. 509 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,160 Technology in an impossible, location which brings us to the 510 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,160 million dollar, question what were they? For what was inside these? 511 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,559 Speaker 3: Things the conventional textbook explanation is the cult of the Apist. 512 00:23:06,599 --> 00:23:08,799 Speaker 1: Bul, okay what is? That explain that for? 513 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 3: Us the official story From egyptologists is that The egyptians 514 00:23:12,519 --> 00:23:15,839 worshiped a sacred bull called The APIs, bull which they 515 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:19,279 believed was a physical manifestation and avatar of the God. 516 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: Osiris so they didn't worship the animal, itself but the 517 00:23:22,559 --> 00:23:23,319 god inside. 518 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,720 Speaker 3: It correct they believed when this sacred bill, died its 519 00:23:26,759 --> 00:23:31,000 spirit would merge With. Osiris so archaeologists say The serrapium 520 00:23:31,079 --> 00:23:34,079 is simply a grand, cemetery a series of tombs for 521 00:23:34,319 --> 00:23:34,839 these sacred. 522 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,680 Speaker 1: Bulls but there's a pretty obvious size issue with that, theory, 523 00:23:37,759 --> 00:23:38,759 RIGHT a massive. 524 00:23:38,759 --> 00:23:42,759 Speaker 3: ONE a prize bull is a big, animal for, sure 525 00:23:43,319 --> 00:23:45,759 but it's not thirteen feet long and ten feet. Tall 526 00:23:46,759 --> 00:23:49,880 if you were to place a mummified bull inside one 527 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,000 of these, boxes it would take up maybe fifteen twenty 528 00:23:53,039 --> 00:23:55,920 percent of the total. Volume the rest is just empty, 529 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:56,839 air and that. 530 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 1: Goes against everything we know About egyptian burial. Practices they're human, 531 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,000 coffins their sarcopha. Guy they fit the body like a. 532 00:24:04,039 --> 00:24:07,720 Glove they were, Efficient they didn't waste precious space or. 533 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,039 Speaker 3: Materials, Exactly why would you go to the incredible effort 534 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,880 of quarrying and moving one hundred tons of granite from 535 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,480 a site hundreds of miles away just to bury a 536 00:24:17,559 --> 00:24:18,000 one ton. 537 00:24:18,079 --> 00:24:21,079 Speaker 2: Animal it is overkill on a planetary. Scale it makes 538 00:24:21,079 --> 00:24:23,079 no practical. Sense so if it wasn't. 539 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,039 Speaker 1: Just a tomb for a, bull what was it? For 540 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:28,319 and this is where the story takes a really dark 541 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:31,720 turn Because, mariette the guy with the, explosives he actually 542 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:33,359 found one of them still, sealed didn't? 543 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:33,720 Speaker 2: He he. 544 00:24:33,799 --> 00:24:37,319 Speaker 3: Did most had been looted in, antiquity but one was apparently. 545 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,079 Untouched and later at a related site for a different 546 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,920 bowl cult called The, bousham they found others that were. 547 00:24:42,799 --> 00:24:45,200 Speaker 1: Also, Sealed so they cracked the. Seal they managed to 548 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,759 let that thirty ton. Lid they, did and what did 549 00:24:47,759 --> 00:24:48,079 they find? 550 00:24:48,079 --> 00:24:52,400 Speaker 3: Inside they didn't find a perfectly preserved mummy of a sacred, 551 00:24:52,559 --> 00:24:54,559 bull wrapped in linen and covered. 552 00:24:54,319 --> 00:24:54,880 Speaker 2: In gold and. 553 00:24:54,920 --> 00:25:00,200 Speaker 3: Jewels they found What mariette described as a stinking mass of. 554 00:25:00,279 --> 00:25:03,559 Speaker 1: Bitumen you mean like asphalt paving? 555 00:25:03,599 --> 00:25:08,880 Speaker 3: Tar, yes a, thick, black sticky, sludge and suspended inside that, 556 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,119 tar they found shattered fragments of. 557 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 1: Bone, wait, shattered not an intact. Skeleton they crushed the, 558 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:16,559 bones crushed. 559 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:19,680 Speaker 3: Them pulverize them into small, pieces and then boiled them 560 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,640 an asphalt and sealed the whole mess in the. 561 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,799 Speaker 1: Box this contradicts EVERYTHING i THOUGHT i knew about Ancient. 562 00:25:24,799 --> 00:25:27,559 EGYPT i thought the entire point of their religion of 563 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,920 mummification was. Preservation you needed the body to be intact 564 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,920 for the, soul the, ka and the ba to recognize 565 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:35,680 it in return for the. 566 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:37,319 Speaker 2: Afterlife you are one hundred percent. 567 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:39,920 Speaker 3: Right to the Ancient, egyptians the preservation of the physical 568 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,759 body was the single most important part of their funerary. 569 00:25:42,839 --> 00:25:45,880 Rights to intentionally destroy a, body to break the, bones 570 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:47,960 that was the ultimate, crime the ultimate. 571 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,920 Speaker 2: Desecration it was called the second death because. 572 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,559 Speaker 1: It meant the spirit was annihilated, forever it could never be. 573 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,559 Speaker 2: Reborn it was the worst fate. 574 00:25:55,799 --> 00:25:59,559 Speaker 3: Imaginable it was, Illegal it was anathema to their entire belief. 575 00:25:59,599 --> 00:26:02,799 Speaker 1: System, okay so let's just try to follow the official logic. 576 00:26:02,839 --> 00:26:07,680 Here they built the most, expensive most, indestructible most technologically 577 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:12,119 advanced heavy duty vaults in human history in order to 578 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,240 house the remains of a creature that they had intentionally 579 00:26:15,279 --> 00:26:16,839 and violently destroyed and. 580 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 3: Desecrated when you put it like, that it makes absolutely 581 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,440 no sense at, All not as a, tomb not as 582 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:23,079 an object of. 583 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 1: Reverence it makes perfect sense as. 584 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,359 Speaker 2: A, prison a, prison or a containment. 585 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:28,759 Speaker 1: Vessel a containment. 586 00:26:28,839 --> 00:26:31,599 Speaker 3: Vessel what if the serrapium wasn't built to honor the apist, 587 00:26:31,599 --> 00:26:33,720 Bowl what if it was built to contain, it to 588 00:26:33,799 --> 00:26:37,599 make absolutely sure that whatever it, was it never ever got. 589 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,680 Speaker 1: Out this brings us right to the thrilling thread theory 590 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:42,480 of the, day the offspring. 591 00:26:42,519 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 3: Theory if we entertain the, possibility just for a, moment that, 592 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:49,319 extraterrestrials the beings The egyptians called the, gods were actually 593 00:26:49,519 --> 00:26:53,240 here on, earth and that they were as many ancient texts, 594 00:26:53,279 --> 00:26:59,079 describe manipulating, life experimenting with. Genetics while science is a messy, 595 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:01,039 process ever experiment is a. 596 00:27:01,039 --> 00:27:03,920 Speaker 1: Success you're talking about, hybrids genetic. 597 00:27:04,039 --> 00:27:08,079 Speaker 3: Mistakes the ancients wrote about them, Constantly the, minotaur, chimeras, 598 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:12,319 sphinxes beings that were a mix of human and ANIMAL. 599 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,759 Speaker 2: Dna we have always treated these as myths as. Fantasies 600 00:27:15,799 --> 00:27:16,279 but what if. 601 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,680 Speaker 1: They were biological. Realities what if The APIs bowl wasn't 602 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:25,160 just a special Bull what if it was a genetically amplified, monstrosity. 603 00:27:24,599 --> 00:27:28,599 Speaker 3: A failed, experiment something that was perhaps dangerously unstable or, 604 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,359 powerful or maybe something that was just, wrong an. 605 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,240 Speaker 1: Abomination and when it, died or more likely when it 606 00:27:34,279 --> 00:27:37,400 had to be put, down The egyptians were terrified of. 607 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:39,839 Speaker 3: It they believed it had the blood of the gods in. 608 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:42,480 It they were mortally afraid that it could, regenerate that 609 00:27:42,559 --> 00:27:43,319 it could resurrect. 610 00:27:43,319 --> 00:27:45,319 Speaker 1: Itself you don't just bury it in the. Sand you 611 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:48,640 take extreme. Measures you crush the bones to destroy the physical. 612 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,079 Template you seal the fragments and bittimen to create a 613 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:53,319 chemical and biological. 614 00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:56,279 Speaker 3: Barrier and then for good, measure you put the whole 615 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:01,039 toxic mess inside one hundred ton airtight ground pressure vessel 616 00:28:01,599 --> 00:28:05,200 and seal it with a thirty ton lid that's so perfectly. 617 00:28:05,319 --> 00:28:09,160 Fitted nothing can, escape not a, spirit not a, gas 618 00:28:09,319 --> 00:28:10,599 not a single particle of. 619 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:11,119 Speaker 2: Radiation. 620 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:14,680 Speaker 1: Nothing it looks less like a religious ceremony and more 621 00:28:14,759 --> 00:28:16,759 like a high level hazardous waste discosal. 622 00:28:16,799 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 3: Protocol that's exactly what it looks like you're not trying 623 00:28:19,279 --> 00:28:21,920 to honor, Something you're trying to neutralize it and lock 624 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:22,319 it away. 625 00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:26,119 Speaker 1: Forever that is a genuinely chilling. Thought you're standing in that, 626 00:28:26,319 --> 00:28:30,160 dark silent, tunnel surrounded by twenty four of these hundred ton, 627 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,200 boxes and you suddenly realize you aren't in a church 628 00:28:33,319 --> 00:28:36,799 or a. Cemetery you're in a containment facility for alien genetic. 629 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 3: Mistakes and if the gods were the ones running the, 630 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:43,880 lab it suddenly explains the impossible. Technology maybe The egyptians 631 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:45,319 didn't cut the granite with copper. 632 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:49,079 Speaker 1: Chisels maybe the gods provided the containers for their own field, 633 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,480 experiments like a cosmic sharps. Box. 634 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:53,559 Speaker 2: Here put the bad ones in, this and For god's, 635 00:28:53,559 --> 00:28:54,640 sake don't open it. 636 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: Precisely and if the gods eventually, left where did they 637 00:28:58,519 --> 00:29:00,880 go and did The egyptians believe they could follow? 638 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 3: Them, well that leads us to the final thread we 639 00:29:03,319 --> 00:29:05,960 need to pull, today the pyramid, Texts. 640 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:07,359 Speaker 1: And these are located right near, by aren't? 641 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,319 Speaker 3: They right next door to the serapium At sokra in 642 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,000 the pyramid of a sixth dynasty king Named. Teddy they 643 00:29:14,039 --> 00:29:18,119 are the oldest religious writings in existence carved directly into 644 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:19,440 the walls of the pyramid's. 645 00:29:19,519 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: Chambers they are, just you, know hymns or poems to the. 646 00:29:22,759 --> 00:29:25,599 Speaker 2: Gods, no they read like a set of. 647 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:30,559 Speaker 3: Instructions Mainstream egyptology calls them spells or utterances to help 648 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,039 the Dead pharaoh navigate the. 649 00:29:32,119 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 1: Afterlife but if you read them with a modern technological, eye. 650 00:29:36,319 --> 00:29:37,319 Speaker 2: They read like a technical. 651 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 3: Manual they describe the king ascending to the sky on 652 00:29:40,279 --> 00:29:43,279 a pillar of smoke and. Fire they talk about him 653 00:29:43,319 --> 00:29:46,400 sitting on iron thrones that fly through the. Heavens they 654 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:50,160 describe in detail the mechanics of how to join the imperishable, 655 00:29:50,359 --> 00:29:50,920 stars and. 656 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,319 Speaker 1: They're very specific about which stars were. Here it's Always, 657 00:29:53,359 --> 00:29:54,200 orian always A. 658 00:29:54,279 --> 00:29:57,960 Speaker 3: Ryan the texts explicitly say the king must travel to 659 00:29:58,039 --> 00:30:01,279 the constellation Of orion to become a star himself to 660 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:02,920 return to the realm of the Goddess. 661 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,799 Speaker 1: Cyrus The egyptians were very clear about their. History they 662 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:10,160 said that in a remote period they called Zeb, tepi 663 00:30:10,559 --> 00:30:13,640 the first time the gods lived on earth among. 664 00:30:13,519 --> 00:30:14,599 Speaker 2: Humans and then they. 665 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,759 Speaker 3: Left and the pyramid texts from this perspective aren't a 666 00:30:18,839 --> 00:30:21,920 metaphor for. Dying they are a flight. Manual they are 667 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,839 the instructions for how to travel through space and catch 668 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:25,079 up with. 669 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,200 Speaker 1: Them so let's put it all. Together you have a 670 00:30:27,279 --> 00:30:30,759 technical manual for interstellar travel carved on the walls of 671 00:30:30,799 --> 00:30:33,480 a tomb located right next to a high tech containment 672 00:30:33,599 --> 00:30:35,480 facility for what could be alien. 673 00:30:35,559 --> 00:30:37,759 Speaker 3: Hybrids the pieces fit together in a way that is, 674 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,519 very very hard to. Ignore once you see the, pattern it. 675 00:30:40,559 --> 00:30:43,759 Speaker 1: Creates a single cohesive. Narrative we're not looking at dozens of, 676 00:30:43,839 --> 00:30:47,319 isolated unrelated. Mysteries we're looking at the remnants of a. 677 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:50,279 Speaker 3: Legacy a legacy of, contact of a presence on this 678 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:52,319 planet that was far more advanced than we. 679 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: Were, okay so let's bring this all. Home let's look 680 00:30:55,279 --> 00:30:58,279 at the big picture we've painted, today the entire, thread 681 00:30:58,319 --> 00:30:58,920 from beginning to. 682 00:30:59,079 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 3: End we started twenty three light years away From earth 683 00:31:02,079 --> 00:31:03,680 at a red dwarf star Called. 684 00:31:03,559 --> 00:31:05,359 Speaker 2: Glease six sixty SEVEN. 685 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,759 Speaker 3: C we use the hard laws of physics in biology 686 00:31:08,839 --> 00:31:11,519 to determine that any complex life that evolved there would 687 00:31:11,519 --> 00:31:15,359 almost certainly look exactly like the gray aliens of modern. Folklore, 688 00:31:15,799 --> 00:31:18,279 short sturdy with massive black. 689 00:31:18,319 --> 00:31:21,279 Speaker 1: Eyes it's not a, fantasy it's an. Adaptation, then we 690 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,680 came much closer to, home To. Mars we saw how 691 00:31:24,839 --> 00:31:28,680 in nineteen seventy six we likely found, living breathing microbial 692 00:31:28,759 --> 00:31:29,799 life in the, soil. 693 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,799 Speaker 3: But because of our own technological, clumsiness a mismatch in our, 694 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,160 instruments we dismissed the result and convinced ourselves the planet 695 00:31:37,279 --> 00:31:38,079 was dead for fifty. 696 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:40,079 Speaker 1: Years and we saw how the ancients weren't looking for. 697 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,680 Microbes they Saw, god a god of, war a blood 698 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:44,599 red omen in the nice. 699 00:31:44,599 --> 00:31:47,799 Speaker 3: Sky and finally we descended deep into the, earth into The. 700 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,400 Serapium At, sakora an underground, bunker were one hundred ton 701 00:31:51,519 --> 00:31:54,680 granite boxes built with a precision that seems impossible for 702 00:31:54,759 --> 00:31:55,200 the time. 703 00:31:55,279 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 1: Hold the, crushed desecrated and permanently sealed remains of something 704 00:31:59,559 --> 00:32:01,519 that the we're desperate to keep locked away. 705 00:32:01,559 --> 00:32:04,359 Speaker 3: Forever the narrative that emerges is that we, are in 706 00:32:04,519 --> 00:32:07,359 some sense the. Offspring the gods didn't just. Visit they, 707 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,559 tinkered they built, Things they made, us and apparently they 708 00:32:10,599 --> 00:32:11,079 also made. 709 00:32:11,119 --> 00:32:13,319 Speaker 1: Mistakes and that leads to the final AND i think 710 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:15,480 most provocative thought THAT i want to leave with, you 711 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:19,880 our listener. Today we are right now in a new 712 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,119 golden age of space. Exploration The James Web telescope is 713 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:28,119 actively looking for those biosignatures in the atmospheres of distant. 714 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,920 Worlds we're sending out signals with projects LIKE. Seti we 715 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,359 are essentially shouting into the, Void, hello is anyone? 716 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 2: There we are knocking on a cosmic. 717 00:32:37,039 --> 00:32:40,599 Speaker 1: Door we. Are but if the serrapium teaches us, anything 718 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:43,480 it's that some doors were locked from the inside for 719 00:32:43,559 --> 00:32:47,039 a very good. Reason if the gods left this planet 720 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:49,720 thousands of years ago and they went to the incredible 721 00:32:49,759 --> 00:32:53,200 trouble of sealing their dangerous mistakes in these impossible granite, 722 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:55,880 prisons are we so sure we want them to come? 723 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,319 Back are we sure we want them to answer the 724 00:32:58,400 --> 00:32:58,920 door when we. 725 00:32:59,039 --> 00:33:02,359 Speaker 3: Knock it's the Altimet pandora's box. Question isn't it our 726 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,200 innate curiosity versus our instinct for self? 727 00:33:05,279 --> 00:33:06,599 Speaker 2: Preservation it really. 728 00:33:06,759 --> 00:33:06,799 Speaker 3: Is. 729 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: Yeah so here is my question for, you for everyone, 730 00:33:09,839 --> 00:33:13,359 LISTENING i want you to imagine yourself in that tunnel 731 00:33:13,759 --> 00:33:17,599 you're In. Saquara it's, silent it's. Dark you're standing right 732 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,720 in front of one of those hundred ton, boxes and 733 00:33:20,839 --> 00:33:22,880 you have the technology to open. It you can lift that. 734 00:33:23,039 --> 00:33:26,480 Lid do you do. It do you crack the, seal 735 00:33:26,839 --> 00:33:29,160 do you let the light in and whatever else might 736 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,599 be in there? Out or do you decide that some 737 00:33:32,759 --> 00:33:34,599 secrets are better left buried in the. 738 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:36,000 Speaker 2: Dark you know that's a tough. 739 00:33:36,079 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 3: One my scientific curiosity would be screaming at me to open, 740 00:33:39,759 --> 00:33:42,880 it BUT i think my gut would say to leave it. 741 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,839 Speaker 2: Closed there are some things we just might not be ready. 742 00:33:45,839 --> 00:33:47,279 Speaker 1: FOR i Think i'm with you on, that BUT i 743 00:33:47,359 --> 00:33:49,079 have a feeling a lot of our listeners would be 744 00:33:49,119 --> 00:33:49,839 grabbing the nearest. 745 00:33:49,839 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 2: Crowbar oh, absolutely the temptation would be. 746 00:33:52,079 --> 00:33:54,759 Speaker 1: Immense let us. Know leave a comment with your, answer 747 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:57,759 would you open the? Box that's all the time we 748 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,839 have for this session of thrilling. Threads thank you so 749 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,160 much for. Listening keep pulling those, threads stay, curious and 750 00:34:04,359 --> 00:34:05,640 always watch out for what might. 751 00:34:05,759 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 2: Unravel goodbye, Everyone take, care