Futurology A Cosmic Voyage Through Deep Time (with Ross Andersen and Grant Slater)
Humanity has a deep time problem. Our internal clock simply cannot compute on a time scale that takes into account the rise and fall of civilizations, star systems, and superintelligences. Unable to fathom consequences beyond our chronology, we make decisions and take actions that could snuff out our species in a blinding flash of light that would barely merit mention on the cosmic timeline.
Ross Andersen writes for The Atlantic about the sublime and scary implications of deep time. In this episode, he speaks with Futurology producer Grant Slater about how our view of time itself dictates what feels urgent now. From our definition of consciousness to our search for life in the cosmos, a wider frame of reference could dictate a new organizing principle for life on our planet and beyond.
SHOW NOTES
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Episode Resources:
Follow Ross Andersen
Bluesky / @rossandersen
X/ @andersen
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www.theatlantic.com/author/ross-andersen/
Articles
The Vanishing Groves – Ross Andersen, Aeon Magazine
The Bristlecone’s Fate – Grant Slater, Aeon Magazine
In the Beginning – Ross Andersen, Aeon Magazine
Are We Disappointed With Space Exploration? – Ross Andersen, The Atlantic
The Search for America’s Atlantis – Ross Andersen, The Atlantic (2021)
Exodus – Ross Andersen, Aeon (2014)
What Happens When AI Has Read Everything? – Ross Andersen, The Atlantic (2023)
The Most Powerful Space Telescope Ever – Video by The Atlantic, Ross Andersen (2016)
Welcome to Pleistocene Park – Ross Andersen, The Atlantic (2017)
A Journey Into the Animal Mind – Ross Andersen, The Atlantic (2019)
The Nuclear Club Might Soon Double – Ross Andersen, The Atlantic (2025)
Books
The Wild Trees – Book by Richard Preston
Is a River Alive? – Robert Macfarlane (2025)
The Three-Body Problem – Novel by Liu Cixin
Other
Timeline of the Far Future – Wikipedia
Will We Run Out of Data? Limits of LLM Scaling Based on Human-Generated Data – Epoch AI (2024)
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Credits
Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, Nathalia Ramos
Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney
Mixing & Mastering: Aaron Bastinelli
Theme Music: Marcus Bagala
Special Thanks: Heather Mason, Olivia de Rienzo, Carly Migliori, Nick Goddard
Chapter Headings
0:00 – Introduction
2:12 – Bristlecone Pines and Ancient Trees
6:20 – Trees as Climate Records
9:07 – The Oldest Living Things on Earth
10:47 – The Deep Time Beat
11:38 – The Incomprehensibility of Big Numbers
13:07 – Cosmology and Cyclical Universes
15:52 – Becoming a Journalist
18:50 – Human Migration and Lost Worlds
26:27 – Pleistocene Park and Rewilding the Arctic
33:26 – Long Now Thinking and Tech Optimism
37:01 – Elon Musk, Mars, and Longtermism
42:01 – Searching for Extraterrestrial Life
47:06 – How Creative Is the Universe?
48:19 – First Contact: West and East Perspectives
55:18 – AI’s Rise and Limits
59:05 – What Happens When AI Runs Out of Text
1:05:13 – Consciousness in AI and Animals
1:13:25 – Animism, Gaia, and Personhood
1:17:30 – Nuclear Proliferation and Global Risks
1:23:49 – Linking Geopolitics to Cosmic Futures