WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:07.719 Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos 2 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:12.279 with our soothing Bedtime Astronomie podcast. Each episode offers a 3 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:16.320 gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for 4 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.239 unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries 5 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.440 of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful 6 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:23.800 slumber under the night sky. 7 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:29.320 Welcome back. If you've ever looked up at the night 8 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:32.520 sky and wondered if anyone is looking back, you are. 9 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:35.640 I mean, you're tapping into one of the humanity's most 10 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:37.000 profound questions. 11 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.119 Really, it's the big one. Yeah, and it's the core 12 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:42.359 of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence or SETI. 13 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:46.520 And when most people visualize that search, they picture those 14 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:47.520 iconic dishes. Yeah. 15 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:51.039 Absolutely, the massive parabolic dishes. You know, think of Green 16 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:55.679 Bank or the now sadly defunct a Recibo, all of 17 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:59.880 them just tilted toward the cosmos, patiently listening, ears wide opened, 18 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:02.799 waiting for that alien phone call, that. 19 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:07.239 One single unambiguous radio signal that confirms everything, that proves 20 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.920 we are not alone. Exactly, that classic image, it really 21 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:15.120 embodies decades of scientific effort, all that scanning waiting for 22 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.359 something that is definitively artificial, definitively intelligent. 23 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:20.599 But here's the thing, and it's the core question we're 24 00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:22.640 diving into today. It's a challenging one. 25 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:25.239 It really is, what if the reason we haven't found anything, 26 00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:28.840 any decisive evidence of advanced life, what if it isn't 27 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:30.760 because they aren't out there, but. 28 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:33.519 Because we've been looking for the wrong kind of signal. 29 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:38.040 Exactly, a signal that reflects a very narrow, a very well, 30 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:41.640 a very human centric view of what communication even is. 31 00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:46.000 That's the term for it, anthropist centric bias, and it's 32 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:48.959 increasingly being seen within the STETI community not just as 33 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:52.799 a possible mistake, but as a serious theoretical constraint. 34 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:54.879 It limits where we even think to look. 35 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:58.319 It absolutely does, and that's precisely what this new research 36 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:00.040 we're looking at is tackling head on. 37 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:03.840 Right. We have been pulling insights from a really fascinating 38 00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:07.680 new study. It's led by researchers from Arizona State University's 39 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:10.800 School of Earth and Space Exploration that's a s C. 40 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:14.439 And they've had contributions from the Santa Fe Institute. 41 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:17.319 And what they're doing is they are fundamentally challenging the 42 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:20.120 assumptions that have been sort of baked into the SETI 43 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:22.479 framework for what sixty years now. 44 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:26.439 Our mission today is to extract the most important, the 45 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:29.599 most surprising, and I think the most insightful nuggets from 46 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:30.319 this research. 47 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:33.479 We want to provide you with a shortcut to understanding 48 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:36.919 not just the limitations of our current searches for techno signatures, 49 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:43.159 but also to introduce a completely new, a completely different 50 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:45.680 theoretical framework for detecting ETI. 51 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:48.280 And it's one that's grounded in biology of all. 52 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:50.360 Things, which is the big shift. This isn't just about 53 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:54.360 finding aliens anymore. It's about rethinking what intelligence even means 54 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:55.560 on a cosmic scale. 55 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:58.000 And the beauty of this new approach, I think is 56 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:03.080 in it's surprising, some splicity, and in where it comes from. 57 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:07.120 It shifts the focus away from trying to decipher some 58 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:09.280 complex alien message like. 59 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:11.360 A history of the galaxy or a string. 60 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:13.879 Of prime number right, and it shifts it towards identifying 61 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.960 the universal structural properties of communication itself, you know, properties 62 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:21.639 shaped by evolution and efficiency no matter what technology is 63 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:22.159 being used. 64 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:24.639 And the most evocative analogy they use, the one at 65 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:26.919 the heart of all this research. It's not lasers, it's 66 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:28.360 not alien megastructures. 67 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:29.240 That's fireflies. 68 00:03:29.319 --> 00:03:32.719 Advanced civilizations communicating like fireflies. And we're going to unpack 69 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:36.439 exactly how they got to that seemingly bizarre conclusion. 70 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:39.680 To really appreciate how big of a shift this is, 71 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.520 we need to go back a bit. We have to 72 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:45.479 understand the history. The origins of SETI. They trace back 73 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:48.680 to the early nineteen sixties, right, and it was a 74 00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:52.599 moment in time that was driven by a very specific 75 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:58.280 technological realization right here on Earth humanity, ourselves had just 76 00:03:58.439 --> 00:04:01.560 recently mastered radio communications. 77 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:04.199 And those signals were finally powerful enough to leak out 78 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:07.360 into interstellar space. That was the foundational moment. 79 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:10.400 Really, the logic was simple, almost self evident at the time. 80 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:13.680 It was powerful and deeply reflective. It was if we, 81 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:18.879 an emerging technological civilization, are broadcasting our presence into the cosmos, 82 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:20.680 maybe accidentally, then. 83 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:23.879 Surely other older, more advanced civilizations would be doing the same. 84 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:26.519 Thing, right, but maybe with signals that were orders of 85 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:29.519 magnitude more powerful and completely intentional. 86 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:31.600 It was essentially us looking in the mirror and just 87 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.399 assuming the reflection we saw was universal. 88 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:36.079 Pretty much, and you see it in the very first 89 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:40.040 efforts Frank Drake's pioneering project OZMA back in nineteen sixty. 90 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:42.879 It was directly informed by our new mastery of radio. 91 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:47.319 They aimed their dish at two stars Taucetti and Epsilon Eridani, 92 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:52.600 and they listened specifically near the twenty one centimeter hydrogen line. 93 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:56.720 And that frequency choice itself really embodies that initial optimism, 94 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.319 that that anthropocentric hope. 95 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:01.600 Why that freak, see though, what was the thinking there? 96 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:05.480 Well, the twenty one centimeter line, it's emitted by neutral hydrogen, 97 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:08.879 and hydrogen is the most abundant element in the entire universe. 98 00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:12.720 So the reasoning was, if a civilization wanted to send 99 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:16.480 out a cosmic beacon, a sort of we are here signal, 100 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:17.360 they'd choose. 101 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:21.399 A frequency that was universally recognizable, a cosmic landmark. 102 00:05:21.079 --> 00:05:23.279 Exactly a common language of physics that we had just 103 00:05:23.319 --> 00:05:25.800 figured out he has. And since radio signals traveled such 104 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:29.199 vast distances without much degradation, it all just made perfect 105 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:31.879 logical sense. At the time, you're looking for the familiar. 106 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:34.480 And that search for the familiar, it basically created what 107 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:36.000 we could call techno signatures. 108 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:37.959 One point zero that's a great way to put it. 109 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.639 The vast majority of searches since then, I mean, including 110 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:44.160 the incredibly ambitious one hundred million dollar breakthrough Listen project, 111 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:47.639 they've all focused predominantly on these huge swaths of the 112 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:48.600 radio spectrum. 113 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:51.160 And even when SETI did broaden the search, it often 114 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:55.399 went after things that were still recognizable to us, just bigger, 115 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:59.519 more exotic maybe, but still familiar, like looking for thermal 116 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:03.160 emissions that might suggest some massive engineering project. 117 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.920 An alien megastructure, a Dyson sphere consuming an entire star. 118 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:11.399 Right, and that's still anthropocentric, just scaled way up. We're 119 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:14.360 looking for technology that reflects a more advanced version of 120 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:16.240 our industrial capacity. 121 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:18.040 And that brings us directly to the paradox, doesn't it 122 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:23.639 the core flaw that this cess team identified, the anthropocentric bias. 123 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:27.399 Yes, we have been searching for signals and signatures that 124 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:33.000 specifically mirror our current or very recent stage of technological development. 125 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:36.680 The unstated assumption has always been, if they're intelligent, they 126 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:39.959 must be using technology that we recognize as powerful or complex. 127 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:42.160 But here's where it gets really interesting, and where the 128 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:45.439 whole self defeating nature of that classic search becomes so clear. 129 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:45.879 Go on. 130 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:47.720 If you just look at our own planet's history, just 131 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:50.480 over the last fifty years, the very era set he 132 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:54.680 has been active, Earth has actually become demonstrably less radio loud. 133 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:58.319 We're losing our own technosignature exactly. Yeah, think about it, 134 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:03.240 the global shift from say, analog terrestrial television and radio 135 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:06.800 broadcasts to digital communications, it's been huge. 136 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:09.079 All of our data is now flying through fiber optic 137 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:09.839 cables under the. 138 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:15.160 Ocean, and highly directional satellite communications, point to point wireless signals. 139 00:07:15.399 --> 00:07:18.879 All of it is designed to be focused, not leaky. 140 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:23.759 The overall global broadcast power has just it's plummeted. 141 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:27.199 So if a civilization fifty light years away started listening 142 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:29.800 to us during the peak of I don't know, global 143 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:32.759 analog TV broadcasting in the seventies and eighties. 144 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:35.279 They might have gotten a decent kind of diffuse signal 145 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:37.399 of our presence. They might have picked up I Love Lucy. 146 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:39.240 But if they started listening today. 147 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:41.600 They find that signal is much much weaker. It's very 148 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:44.959 deeper under all the cosmic background noise. We went from 149 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.160 being a cosmic foghorn to a whisper in a single lifetime. 150 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:51.199 And this leads to what the researchers are calling the 151 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:54.399 brief window argument, and it's kind of devastating for that 152 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:55.920 classic SETI methodology. 153 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:58.639 It really is, because if we're out there searching for 154 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:03.240 radio transmissions from advanced civilizations, it's tantamount to looking for 155 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:07.160 evidence of them during a very brief, very specific window 156 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:09.160 of their technological history. 157 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:12.240 A window that they, like us, may have already closed 158 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:14.399 or are rapidly moving through. 159 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:19.360 If a civilization progresses beyond its messy, leaky adolescence, what 160 00:08:19.480 --> 00:08:23.720 drives it? Logically, it's driven towards energy efficiency. Of course, 161 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:28.040 they would transition away from wide, powerful, wasteful radio broadcasts. 162 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:32.399 They'd move towards highly directed, energy efficient communications or maybe 163 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:34.960 something even more exotic we can't even detect yet. 164 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:37.360 Quantum communication or something like that. Yeah, I mean, why 165 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.519 would you spend all that power yelling across the galaxy 166 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:42.240 when a directed whisper is enough. 167 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:44.559 You wouldn't. And this is the constraint on our knowledge 168 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:46.559 that SETI has to overcome. We just don't know the 169 00:08:46.600 --> 00:08:48.080 future of alien technology. 170 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.320 As Estelle Marie Jan who is a PhD candidate involved 171 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:57.679 in this study, points out, SETI has traditionally spanned two extremes. 172 00:08:57.240 --> 00:09:02.000 Right, an anthropocentric search for humans like techno signatures, and 173 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:06.559 an anomaly based search for signals that deviate from known astrophysics. 174 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:08.679 And that's the perfect summary of the bind we're in. 175 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:12.039 We either look for signals exactly like our nineteen seventies tech, 176 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:13.759 or or we look for. 177 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:17.399 Some really weird noise. We just can't explain a highly energetic, 178 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:18.879 unexplained anomaly. 179 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:23.080 There's no useful middle ground that's you know, theoretically grounded. 180 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:27.399 Correct. The field desperately needs stronger theoretical frameworks, frameworks that 181 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:31.720 can identify generalizable features of life and intelligent communication without 182 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:34.799 requiring either complete prior knowledge of alien tech, which we 183 00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:37.720 obviously don't have, or no assumptions at all, which is 184 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:40.159 just looking for random, expensive weirdness. 185 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:43.440 So we need a general theory of cosmic communication, one 186 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:48.080 that's grounded, something universal, something something beyond just our technology. 187 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:50.679 And to be fair, the SETI community has started to 188 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:53.200 broaden the search. We are looking for powerful lasers now, 189 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:57.240 optical transmissions, and even neutrino signals or gravitational waves. 190 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:00.440 But even those expanded searches, they often still on the 191 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:03.120 assumption of massive high power energy expenditure. 192 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:06.240 Don't they they do, a powerful directed laser, while it's 193 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:09.639 technically advanced, still relies on the premise that the ETI 194 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:14.519 is prioritizing detectability through sheer power. The challenge is the same, what. 195 00:10:14.519 --> 00:10:18.200 Are the universal constraints on communication regardless of the physics 196 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:18.720 you're using. 197 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:21.960 That's the question, and that's what the ASU team tried 198 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.519 to answer by looking well a lot closer to home 199 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.200 than the stars. They asked, what if the unifying factor 200 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:30.480 isn't technology at all? What if it's evolution. 201 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:34.360 So if the traditional SETI approach is flawed because it's 202 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:38.960 too human centric, you know, too focused on our specific 203 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:41.480 technological phase, where do we pivot? 204 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.399 Well, the ASU team argues, we have to stop defining 205 00:10:44.440 --> 00:10:49.120 intelligence so narrowly. In current SETI research, intelligence almost always 206 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:53.200 defaults to meaning human like technological civilization capable of building 207 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:54.440 massive radio dishes. 208 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:58.840 Right, we assume intelligence means building rockets, communicating with complex math, 209 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:02.039 and maybe being a little bit messy with your energy 210 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:03.200 use broadcasting. 211 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:07.399 I love Lucy reruns for fifty light years exactly, And 212 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.879 that assumption just limits our search space so severely. So 213 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:14.440 the researchers recommend broadening the scope to include non human 214 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:17.639 species and their communication methods right here. 215 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:20.399 On Earth as a starting point for the models. 216 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:23.919 As an alternative starting point for theoretical modeling. Yes, we 217 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:29.159 need to identify signals whose structure could be considered universally optimal. 218 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:32.600 And that's the key. It doesn't necessarily mean universally understood 219 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:33.279 by humans. 220 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.399 This feels like a really radical philosophical and scientific shift. 221 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:41.519 It's forging a strong link between biology and astrobiology. 222 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:44.039 It is it moves the focus from the intelligence of 223 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:47.519 the creator to the universal mechanism of life itself. And 224 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:51.039 the core argument here is that communication is fundamentally a 225 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:53.759 universal feature of life under constraint. 226 00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:56.360 As a profound realization when you think about it, the 227 00:11:56.440 --> 00:11:58.200 variety of communication on Earth. 228 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.000 It's fundamental. It happens across all in ages of life. 229 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:04.360 Janin described it as manifesting in a wonderful diversity of 230 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:05.519 forms and strategies. 231 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:08.519 You've got the molecular language of bacterial chorum sensing. 232 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:11.960 The complex social signals of cephalopods changing their skin color, 233 00:12:12.279 --> 00:12:15.440 the energy intensive acoustic signals of humpback whales, or the 234 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:18.240 chemical warnings that trees send out when they're under attack. 235 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:21.840 And the unifying concept there is that all of that communication, 236 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:25.440 regardless of the medium or the species, is always shaped 237 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:28.360 by the same fundamental universal constraints. 238 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:33.960 Exactly, energy conservation, avoiding noise, whether that's environmental or biological noise, 239 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:36.000 and maximizing survival. 240 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:39.240 That's the elegant simplicity they tapped into. So instead of 241 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:43.000 looking for complex mathematical sequences or a coded history. 242 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:46.360 Lesson, the focus of both the search SETTY and the 243 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:50.519 potential messaging, which is MIDII, should be on identifying signals 244 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:54.399 that bear the structural fingerprint of having been produced by life. 245 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:57.279 That's dealing with these universal cosmic constraints. 246 00:12:57.320 --> 00:12:59.720 So the structure of the signal, how efficient it is, 247 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:02.120 how distinct it is from the background that is the 248 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:04.120 message rather than the content itself. 249 00:13:04.360 --> 00:13:08.639 That's it. Precisely, the structures that survive evolutionary selection should 250 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:13.159 be generalizable across the entire universe because the laws of physics, 251 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:18.039 the pressure to conserve resources, whether it's energy, matter, or time, 252 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:22.559 and the ever present background noise, those are all universal constants, 253 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:26.000 so that structural optimization has to happen whether the ETI 254 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:30.240 is made of plasma or carbon or silicon. Right, and 255 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:33.960 Jennon argues that taking this non human communication into account 256 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:37.559 is essential for broadening our intuition. It keeps the search. 257 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:39.960 And this is her phrase, empirically grounded. 258 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:42.840 I think we need to pause on that phrase, empirically grounded, 259 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:45.799 because it sounds like a scientific buzzword, but it really 260 00:13:45.799 --> 00:13:47.360 carries deep significance here. 261 00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:49.960 It does. It means the researchers aren't just engaging in 262 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.639 philosophical speculation. They are starting with hard data from digital 263 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:56.159 bioacoustics and animal behavior studies. 264 00:13:56.200 --> 00:14:00.320 That's the vital distinction. The researchers observe this significant gap 265 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:04.600 in astrobiology. They found that remote sensing, life detection and 266 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:07.519 SETI have often struggled to keep pace with progress in 267 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:08.440 modern biology. 268 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:12.399 Astrobiology has tended to focus way too much on astrophysical 269 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:16.480 data properties, you know how a signal looks against cosmic noise, 270 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:20.879 rather than on the inherent predictable properties of the life 271 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:21.759 it's trying to infer. 272 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:24.320 It's like we're trying to find a symphony by only 273 00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:27.919 measuring the acoustic properties of the room. That's a fantastic analogy, 274 00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:30.320 and not the properties of the instruments or the composition 275 00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:31.399 itself exactly. 276 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:35.320 Astrobiology needs to better integrate the full diversity of Earth's 277 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:39.159 living systems to develop testable hypotheses about the structure of 278 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:43.159 alien signals. If a signal is produced by life, it 279 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:48.159 has to obey constraints biological, physical, energetic. 280 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:51.120 Which brings us back to the firefly. The complexity of 281 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:54.080 a human technological transmission is often seen as the mark 282 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:57.200 of intelligence. But what if the true mark of advanced 283 00:14:57.240 --> 00:14:59.559 intelligence is the elegance of efficiency. 284 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:02.919 Right, if you've been evolving for millions or billions of years, 285 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:04.799 you're not going to be noisy and wasteful. 286 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:09.279 Advanced communication isn't necessarily more complex in its composition. 287 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.960 It's more optimized in its transmission. And this optimization, driven 288 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:18.320 by universal evolutionary pressure, leaves a unique, detectable structural signature 289 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:22.879 in the parameter space of energy versus distinctiveness. And that 290 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:25.399 that is the intellectual bridge that moves us from searching 291 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:28.360 for human analogs to searching for biological universals. 292 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:31.960 Okay, so let's connect that theory of biological universality to 293 00:15:32.039 --> 00:15:36.080 the specific model they chose. Why fireflies, Of all the 294 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:41.399 non human communication methods, chemical signal, seismic vibrations, why focus 295 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:43.919 on this specific bioluminescent insect. 296 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:48.440 The firefly analogy is just it's perfect because its communication 297 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:51.559 system is this crystalline example of an evolved solution to 298 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.519 a classic optimization problem under duress, and it uses light, 299 00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:56.960 and it uses light, which is obviously a medium that's 300 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:01.279 relevant to interstellar communication. During mating, cs and fireflies produce 301 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:05.720 these periodic flash sequences. These flashes are critical species specific 302 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:07.320 signals used to attract mates. 303 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.600 But the challenge they face is it's acute and it's immediate. 304 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:13.799 They have to stand out from their background, which could 305 00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:16.360 be ambient light or the flashes of dozens of other 306 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:17.840 competing species. 307 00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:20.159 And they need to do it efficiently, quickly, and without 308 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:24.200 getting eaten right exactly, Their flash patterns are evolved to 309 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:28.279 maximize distinctiveness so the right mate notices them, while at 310 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:32.279 the same time minimizing the risk of predation. Flashing takes 311 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:35.320 metabolic energy, and if you stand out too much, you 312 00:16:35.399 --> 00:16:38.279 become an easy target for predators that can mimic female 313 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:39.120 flash patterns. 314 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:43.279 So this duality maximum distinction achieved, minimum cost and risk. 315 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:46.600 That is a universal constraint on communication. 316 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:50.000 Whether you're a firefly or an advanced ETI. Resources and 317 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:52.039 environmental noise always matter. 318 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:56.080 So the study took this very specific, biologically grounded model 319 00:16:56.440 --> 00:16:59.720 and tried to simulate its structural principles in a cosmic 320 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:02.840 con text. How do they translate a sequence of light 321 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:06.319 flashes in a human forest into a cosmic techno signature. 322 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:10.319 They built upon existing evolutionary firefly communication models. These are 323 00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:14.000 complex algorithms that simulate the evolution of flash sequences over 324 00:17:14.119 --> 00:17:15.759 hundreds of generations. 325 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:18.599 And they incorporate variables from mutation, selection, pressure. 326 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:22.440 Energy consumptions, signal recognition, all of it. And they then 327 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:26.640 adapted this whole framework to simulate how a highly optimized 328 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:30.759 ETI signal would fare against the ubiquitous noise of deep space. 329 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:33.160 So they weren't looking for a message that said hello. 330 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:37.920 They were rigorously generating an evolved signal, a sequence whose 331 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:40.920 main characteristic was just survival under constraint. 332 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:43.680 That's the key distinction. They developed their own model that 333 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:48.720 generated an artificial evolve signal that maximized distinctiveness while rigorously 334 00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:53.400 minimizing energy consumption. This process generated sequences that, by their 335 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:57.440 very nature, would occupy a very distinct, highly optimized position 336 00:17:57.519 --> 00:17:59.200 in the parameter space of the cosmos. 337 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:01.400 Okay, now we need to talk about that cosmic noise 338 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:04.400 in the forest. The noise is ambient light or other 339 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:08.359 fireflies in space. They needed a natural phenomenon that was ordered, 340 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:12.240 common and represented a genuine physical background that an ETI 341 00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:14.960 would have to evolve to overcome. What did they pick 342 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:16.000 and why they. 343 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:20.279 Chose pulsars rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars that emit 344 00:18:20.359 --> 00:18:22.799 these focused beams of electromagnetic radiation. 345 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:25.759 And they were selected for specific, very compelling reasons. 346 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:29.279 Yes, First, they're common. They're all over the galaxy, so 347 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:33.319 they provide a widespread natural background. Second, and this is 348 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:36.880 the most important part for this study, they produce highly 349 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:39.039 ordered emissions at regular intervals. 350 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:42.759 That regularity is key, and that regularity is what makes 351 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:46.960 them a powerful analog for structured natural noise, isn't it. 352 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:51.079 It is unlike the chaotic hiss of general galactic background radiation, 353 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:56.359 Pulsars provide a predictable regular pattern. Any intelligent life trying 354 00:18:56.359 --> 00:18:59.319 to communicate efficiently would have to distinguish its own signal 355 00:18:59.319 --> 00:19:00.000 from that pattern. 356 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:02.880 If an ETI wants to use the radio spectrum, they 357 00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:05.880 have to contend with these persistent, regular clockwork signals. 358 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:09.759 Exactly, and there's that great historical footnote. When pulsars were 359 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:13.279 first discovered back in nineteen sixty seven, astronomers did initially 360 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:15.240 think they might be ETI transmissions. 361 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.480 They briefly label them LGM for Little Green. 362 00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:22.279 Men, because they were regular, so predictable that orderliness was 363 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:24.240 misinterpreted as a sign of intelligence. 364 00:19:24.599 --> 00:19:27.279 So for this study, the ETI signal is the evolved 365 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:31.599 firefly flash optimized for energy and distinctiveness, and the pulsar 366 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:34.359 is the cosmic background noise they need to be distinct from. 367 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:37.839 It serves as the functional analog for the competing firefly 368 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.799 species or the ambient light that causes distraction or danger. 369 00:19:42.039 --> 00:19:45.359 It's an ingenious setup, really, because it preserves the biological 370 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:48.920 strategy of looking for life like ourselves, but it expands 371 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:50.279 what like ourselves means. 372 00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:53.440 It expands it to encompass the entirety of the biosphere 373 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:55.960 rather than just our specific human technology. 374 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:59.359 It also fully leverages advancements made in the study of 375 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:04.240 animal canmmunication and digital bioacoustics, fields that until now have 376 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:07.519 been surprisingly siloed from deep space astrobiology. 377 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:11.759 That integration is the breakthrough here. The researchers explicitly stated 378 00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:14.200 that this study is meant to be a provoking thought 379 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:18.400 experiment and an invitation for SETTI and animal communication research 380 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.240 to engage more directly, we need to. 381 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:22.440 Shift our focus from the specifics of the data. Is 382 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.200 it radio is a laser and start focusing on the 383 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:29.000 predictable properties of life under universal physical law. But let 384 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:31.960 me offer a challenge. Share if the pulsar emissions are 385 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.119 so highly ordered, doesn't that make the random nature of 386 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:39.000 a purely evolved biological signal potentially less distinct? 387 00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:41.039 Ah, that's a crucial distinction. 388 00:20:41.640 --> 00:20:45.759 Is the danger here finding a pattern that is just chaotic, 389 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:49.079 which we'd assume is noise, rather than a pattern that's 390 00:20:49.160 --> 00:20:50.799 intelligently organized. 391 00:20:50.440 --> 00:20:53.759 And they modeled against that. The key is not chaos, 392 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:58.240 but non random, non natural organization that is driven by 393 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:02.960 minimization coat processes, even ordered ones like pulsars, They tend 394 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:06.960 to scatter across the parameter space based on things like mass, 395 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:10.799 spin and energy output without the pressure of resource conservation. 396 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.680 The ETI signal, however, is being pushed by selection toward 397 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:19.480 a very specific structural sweet spot maximum regularity for communication, 398 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:23.799 minimum energy expenditure for survival. It's a structure you can 399 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.640 mathematically identify as an anomaly in terms of its efficiency ratio, 400 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:29.880 even if we can't decode the pattern itself. 401 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.160