The Metty Argument: Should We Be Aware of What We Find?

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I belong to this group at Harvard called the Galileo Project. You know, Avi Lobe, as your colleague, he runs that and he's very interested in extraterrestrial artifacts. And I'm going to raise with you that if we're going to encounter aliens, they're going to be some artifact of a probe or something like this. We have no idea what's out there. But we should keep our eyes open and look for something especially shiny and the asteroid belt.

Shermer and Rees discuss: existential threats • overpopulation • biodiversity loss • climate change • AI and self-driving cars, robots, and unemployment • his bet with Steven Pinker • his disagreement with Richard Dawkins • how science works as a communal activity • scientific creativity • science communication • science education • why there aren’t more women and people of color in STEM fields • verification vs. falsification • Bayesian reasoning and scientific progress • Model Dependent Realism and the nature of reality Fermi’s Paradox • why he’s an atheist but wants to be buried in the Presbyterian church in which he was raised • mysterian mysteries.

Martin Rees is Astronomer Royal, former President of the Royal Society, Fellow (and former Master) of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge. He sits as a member of the UK House of Lords. He is the author of many bestselling popular science books, including: On the Future; Just Six Numbers; Before the Beginning; and Our Final Hour. His newest book is If Science is to Save Us.