Join Leah and Chelsea as they belatedly mourn the loss of Pluto as a planet. Guests Kathryn Volk and Konstantin Batygin discuss various approaches to boosting Pluto's status, including increasing its mass and dragging it into the inner solar system. They also explore reimagining Pluto's planetary status by dropping a black hole inside it or physically moving it. The podcast also touches on the stability of Pluto and the potential consequences of a close gravitational encounter with Neptune.

Konstantin Batygin is a planetary astrophysicist at Caltech. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Squarespace: https://lexfridman.com/squarespace and use code LEX to get 10% off – Literati: https://literati.com/lex – Onnit: https://lexfridman.com/onnit to get up to 10% off – National Instruments (NI): https://www.ni.com/perspectives EPISODE LINKS: Konstantin’s Twitter https://twitter.com/kbatygin Konstantin’s Website https://www.konstantinbatygin.com/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (07:17) – Overview of our Solar System (22:14) – What is the Oort Cloud? (27:10) – Life in the interstellar medium (28:42) – Are there aliens out there? (31:22) – How unique is Earth? (34:02) – Did Jupiter destroy early planets? (40:16) – How hard is it to simulate the Universe? (44:49) – Quantum mechanics in evolution of objects in the Solar system (49:15) – Simulating the first formations around the Sun (55:02) – Will it be possible to simulate the full history of the Solar System? (57:23) – How far should we go with the simulation? (59:43) – Increasing immersion in video games (1:06:09) – What is Planet Nine? (1:12:37) – The origin of life (1:15:02) – Evidence of Planet Nine (1:17:32) – Discovery of Neptune (1:18:42) – When will we find Planet Nine? (1:21:21) – Planet Nine throws rocks into the Kuiper Belt (1:25:15) – Could Planet Nine be a primordial black hole? (1:35:20) – Commercial space revolution boosts science and the human condition (1:42:46) – Solving sex in space (1:43:24) – Would humans evolve if we couldn’t see the stars? (1:49:08) – Military funding and science (1:53:11) – Is Oumuamua space junk from a distant alien civilization? (2:06:33) – Wild ideas create the future (2:14:22) – The perfect place to die (2:16:03) – Greatest song of all time (2:22:34) – Music enables science for Konstantin (2:24:51) – Music practice tips for busy people (2:28:41) – Memories of 1990s Russia (2:35:14) – Advice for young people (2:41:10) – Meaning of life