If this video made you curious and you like reading great and long sci fi books, check out the three body problem by Liu Cixin, who formulated the dark forest idea for the first time. And with that, we say good bye to the year 12,021. It truly was a wild time, and passed so, so quickly. For us at the Kurzgesagt team it was full of changes and achievements and we learned so much and tried so many new things. And we have so many exciting ideas and projects that we can’t wait to share with you next year! I know I say this often but doing Kurzgesagt really is just such a joy. We only can do this because of you, so thank you so, so much. We appreciate it more than you might imagine. Have wonderful holidays and get safely into the year 12,022. We’ll see you on the other side! – Philipp PS: And if you want to help us do what we do, check out our store with sciency products made with love: https://kgs.link/shop

@Andromeda Delux lmao and why do you think the burden of proof has shifted? You're the one making the claim. The burden of proof is 100% yours.

@Neo FromtheWarnerBrothersiconicfilmfranchiseTheMatr The burden of truth has shifted. You will have to explain why they are not.

@Rhizometric Reality You obviously didn't watch the video before commenting, and this is a foolish mistake. The last few minutes they explain that the "dark forest" could just be us projecting our own fears onto the universe. Kurzgesagt's videos aren't about staking out a particular position, they're about covering all of the bases so we can consider different possibilities. The fun, cutesy animations are an invitation to remain open minded. But no... Capitalist realism has absolutely nothing to do with any of this. Capitalism is an economic system, not an all-encompassing theory of life. Humans have been adversarial and competitive since LONG before capitalism ever existed. Remember, we created capitalism, not the other way around. But yes, it's entirely possible that other intelligent life may have evolved under completely different circumstances that caused them to be much more enlightened and much less predatory.

Imagine finally getting a message from space, and after decoding it, the message says "be quiet, they'll hear you."

@pHixiq yes. Gonna get got

That would be scary but disappointing

Imagine finally getting a message from space, and after decoding it, the message says “ligma.”

@Eugene Ng oof im guessing this video spoiled the story a little bit

@Skem It would actually be like a sniper rifle as long as the individual doesn’t fire twice one message could be sent two can be tracked

The idea of some alien space council that knows we’re here but is waiting for us to “grow up” is actually really comforting for some reason.

it's like when we come across a wild animal we wish to befriend. we know that these animals are fearful creatures, and in order to not scare them away, we just patiently sit and wait, waiting for them to become more curious and realize that we are no threat to them. in this scenario, we would be the wild animals and the aliens would be us. the thought of them knowing we exist but not wanting to scare us is a very heartwarming one. we are emotional creatures. the best way to bond with us is to be gentle, kind, and patient, just as you would be to a wild animal. all you gotta do is win our hearts, which actually isn't that hard to do lol. if aliens do exist, i sincerely hope it's like this. i hope they're just waiting for us to learn more and become less fearful and are waiting to greet us with no ill will and with open arms. and i hope we would be able to see that and befriend them.

The reason is: because the other scenario is absolutely terrifying

@Cristian also a type 1.2 (starting to colonize the solar system, probably like a few planets colonized) would also be a similar time span away.

@FLO'S EATYARD also, If we move the IQ curve 10 points to the right (bold assumption, but it could be the case), they would not have 10%+ 145IQ+ geniuses, they would have around x15 highly gifted geniuses than us for developing physics and doing engineering. In practice, +10% IQ is a lot more than +10% technological development speed advantage.

This would make a sick 4x Stellaris-like game. One that is massively multiplayer, with the starter tech being the ability to completely wipe out another player's planets with absolutely no warning. Limited resources force the player to expand quickly or face extinction, unlike in other 4x games where most empires are self-sustaining. However, expansion from a player that is too quick, or lacking in proper cloaking, would reveal themselves to others. Thus, the game then revolves around in-depth interstellar espionage. The closest approximation would be anarchy Minecraft servers where bases are days apart, and exposure is near-guaranteed destruction. It's also a deep dive into the psychology of griefing in games and should ensure that the entire playthrough is quite hostile. Finally, an emphasis on quick restarts would allow fast bounce backs and lessen the negative impacts of empire destruction, similar to other quick-start games.

minecraft anarchy isnt that 😂😂 from a player

I think an interesting approach to this would be all empires are fanatically xenophobe and militarist - and diplomacy is an end game tech. You start at war, because other species have different ways of communicating and their psychology is vastly different, so you can't peace out until the end game crisis or never at all. And if they all have advanced starts, so you're literally pushing back the forest from the start.

Noice

Probably one of my favourite quotes ever regarding this comes from a scifi book from Charles Pellegrino: “Imagine yourself taking a stroll through Manhattan, somewhere north of 68th street, deep inside Central Park, late at night. It would be nice to meet someone friendly, but you know that the park is dangerous at night. That's when the monsters come out. There's always a strong undercurrent of drug dealings, muggings, and occasional homicides. It is not easy to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. They dress alike, and the weapons are concealed. The only difference is intent, and you can't read minds. Stay in the dark long enough and you may hear an occasional distance shriek or blunder across a body. How do you survive the night? The last thing you want to do is shout, "I'm here!" The next to last thing you want to do is reply to someone who shouts, "I'm a friend!" What you would like to do is find a policeman, or get out of the park. But you don't want to make noise or move towards a light where you might be spotted, and it is difficult to find either a policeman or your way out without making yourself known. Your safest option is to hunker down and wait for daylight, then safely walk out. There are, of course, a few obvious differences between Central Park and the universe. There is no policeman. There is no way out. And the night never ends.”

Dude... that was dark

“Maybe the only way out of the dark forest is to step into the clearing, together” one of my favorites quotes from this channel. ❤️

inb4 we do that and some other race spots us both and eliminates us both

Or let's chop it all down, we are rlly good at deforestation (joke)

Imagine someone on another planet seeing a similar space sci-fi vid about our planet

According to mathematics. That's happening rn on far more than just one planet.

@@pratik_onyt yo mama

@Lars Aarton they didn’t

@@pratik_onyt Well you were wrong 😑

That's the beauty of the Universe

I've been repeating this for years now: More than one "solution" can be true for the Fermi "Paradox" at the same time. The universe can be deadly for multiple reasons. Hostile aliens, Self destruction, Random chance - none of those are mutually exclusive with any of the other answers. We can even have a development bottleneck that has to be figured out the first time & correctly or be set back so far as to end any chance that we escape our home system due to the resource investment required simply to make the attempt once. Just as an individual can be killed by any number of things, so too can alien civilizations or even our own and all those dangers exist at the same time.

@Lekhaka Ananta Being early doesn't necessarily mean first-born. It could just mean that the distibution of life is sufficiently scattered at this stage in the Universe's development that we're too far away to talk to each other. We could be surrounded by fellow early dwellers who are just simply too far away to be heard at the moment, a situation that could change any second now. Honestly with a lack of information we have now it's pretty hard to say a filter is more likely I think you can only say it's equally likely that a filter exists or we're early (keeping in mind this isn't necessarily an XOR situation). I wouldn't argue against a filter process too hard though- look at the world around us, it's looking a lot like the inside of a brita in here lately.

​@Bob I don't have any good ideas myself. I don't think any of those usual suspects can count as the Great Filter because it would seem like their filtering effects are not strong enough. Even if you combined all of them, you'd expect that in a galaxy like ours it only takes one lucky civilization in the last couple billion years to develop some von Neumann probes despite those filters. I just think if one day we do have the ability to find out more info about filtering effects, we'd see that there are some that have an outsized effect compared to others, due to some phenomenon analogous to Benford's Law.

@Lekhaka Ananta What filter do you regard as the most likely? Please be more specific if the answer is "self inflicted". For example: Nuclear / Climate catastrophe / Development bottleneck.

@Bob Yes, but we should expect a few filters, or even just one, to be Greater than others. Hence why people speculate about the Great Filter, not just Any Filter. Refer to my previous comments here about why filtering effects would most likely not be evenly matched.

We should keep in mind that multiple "filters" can be and most likely * are * in play all at once. The same as many "filters" are certainly in play against an individual reproducing - the same is true against life rising to multiple cells at all, let alone galaxy spanning civilizations.

Go read "the three body problem" series, by Cixin Liu. It's translated beautifully, and paints a detailed picture of what this would look like in practice. Also it's one of the most enjoyable series I've read in ages.

@Kristofer Hutter Three Body problem isn't solved today. But its understood, and there are several cases for which it is solved, and has been solved for decades... including the specific star system invoked. It takes itself more seriously than most of the escapist work labeled "sci fi", but in terms of serious science fiction, which it sells itself as, its woefully lacking. It has some cool ideas. But I found the execution weak.

@Derrick White true. But the three body problem wasn't solved at the time of writing. And for it's flaws, it's a much more realistic and interesting concept then a lot of other science fiction. I would say it's nearly Asimov level sci Fi, and definitely outdoes most of the sci Fi that is made today.

It has too many scientific breaks for me. Mostly the way a well known astronomic system was portrayed in a wildly inaccurate manner. Sure, you get some flexibility, but they literally named the book after the thing they got wrong!

What if we haven't found any aliens because most civilizations are literally around the same level of advancement as us and we're all placed so far away that we'll never find each other for thousands of years

The only thought on this subject, is there could be another intelligent species, that developed on a planet that was devoid of viruses? (of course they still had bacteria and parasites, because they are living organisms). Our planet could be labeled uninhabitable zone, in which they would stay far away from.

it's kinda sad that none of us will be alive to witness any of this but it's still comforting to know that one day space exploration is possible and humanity will reach very far into space

imma transfer my consciousness to a hard-drive and become a robot superhero rocket-man

Atleast we’re alive to get some really cool photos deep in the universe

Life and death, is a Gift from God / Creator

Next week you suddently hear the ringing on the phone: *Ring Ring* Hello who is it? Aliens. lol

@Tour Guide Of The Multiverse Space-Time And Reality Not to mention your getting a bit ahead of yourself bud. Science is cool but your taking fiction as fact and claiming you know thing you don't. Explain how we are "Very Close". Stating that Nanotech and Biotech exist is not a valid argument. People are not "pessimistic" your attitude is what makes a-lot of people scoff science off as a joke. You are not helping anyone and nobody thinks you are the all knowing genius you believe you are.

I think the most important part that I forgot is that habitable planets are extraordinarily rare so just outright destroying every habitable planet it's probably not the way they're gonna go about it

The theory is that a sufficiently advanced xenobiology branch would be capable of creating atmospheres, and terraforming plannets

two options: we are alone in the universe, or we arent. both possibilities are equally terrifying.

@XdXd thats literally your opinion

Overused, and Being alone is far less terrifying tbh

Being alone in this universe wouldn’t terrify me it would give me a great amount of closure 😅

Highly recommend reading Liu Cixin's trilogy of books "Rememberance of Earth's Past'. Although science fiction, they draw heavily on physics and theoritcal astronomy. The dark Forest concept, among other theories, are written about beautifully in his books

@King Duan As an American whose country was founded on multiple genocides and which has committed a few in the recent past, I like to think I'm an expert on looking at things and saying "yep, that's definitely genocide"

@King Duan Well, there's all the videos for starters.

@Naþan Ø where did you here this?As a Chinese I’ve never heard of such ridiculous fake news

It invokes physics, but then describes the results horribly inaccurately. "The Three Body Problem" would have worked a lot better if the author actually understood how gravity worked in the context of the real three-body problem.

The one thing we could hope for is that we're seen as cute little creatures that need to be preserved. The more likely outcome is that our planet is too valuable to allow it to stay within our grasp.

I mentioned it last time as well, but holy heck do I want to play a simulation/strategy game that has the art/design team from Kurzgesagt. Especially after the strategy game-esque animations we were shown in the middle of the video.

One word: Spore

Sameee

@Juan Solís civ series then you get space tech that then changes the game towards stellaris.... With the art style of Kurzgesagt.

Did you mean: One of the older Civ games? No seriously, the map-grid looks like any game before Civ 5 (when they switched to hexes) and the whole "Cultures develop at different rates, so you might end up with spears against tanks" thing happens ALL THE TIME in those games. I know that of course other games would fit that description as well, but I just couldn't NOT think of, for example, the time I was barely up to steam power and literal MECHAS were stomping around my kingdom. (Fortunately, they were friendlies.) The situation shown in that part of the video will be VERY familiar to any Civ player. :)

The one in the dysonsphere video is pretty good too

With the way humans evolved, I'd be almost certain empathy would have to play a factor in any sort of civilization able to get to the point they can travel between solar systems. Specialization is key, and the "hyper-intelligent alien life" trope is just unrealistic because that sort of genetic complexity would be a nigh impossible feat for natural evolution to produce. Aliens, much like ourselves, would have to work together to survive, and thus empathy would be bred in. The most likely solution I can imagine is that (if there are alien species out there) every civilization thus far has either imagined the exact same (or similar) paradox, and thus is "staying quiet," or is unable to communicate or expand so far as to be noticeable. Being the first to say "Hello" could just be the start of intergalactic compromise and information sharing.

@The Low Effort Channel The goal is to maximize how many interesting computations you can perform before heat death kills you, right? But over a long enough time span, everyone essentially wants to perform the same interesting computations. So it makes sense for everyone to work together to pool matter in one place, use the matter to fuel a giant computer, upload themselves into the computer, then merge their consciousnesses into one vast mind. This maximizes the interesting-computations-before-entropic-death for everyone involved.

@The Low Effort Channel "You fool! You simpleton! What about the wormholes?"

@Kevin Mathewson In case you are far too dull to realize, the stars and galaxies are rushing distant from one another as the universe expands. And every system bleeds out waste energy, no matter how efficient. Entropy brings all of existence to an end. The "winner" would be the one that has, if possible, seeded wormholes at pockets of matter, consolidating everything for themselves, to maximize the length of their survival.

@The Low Effort Channel Why? Where is the scarcity? Where is the zero-sum situation?

They will have empathy within the group. Altruism towards a solid out-group is detrimental.

Its also comforting in a way. Knowing there are friendlies out there that warned us to avoid a big threat.

Theoretically you’d be right to think we haven’t broadcasted our existence with radio. However, we did do something that is not naturally occurring, has a high industrial signature and can be easily detected over hundreds of light years - we’ve exploded nukes. So technically we’ve been letting the universe know we are here since 1945

I really love the lone hunter story they put in this video as it poses a very interesting scenario; there are multiple creatures on earth that are solitary and only meet with other members of their species to mate. What if humans also took this route? Or what if we engage with another intelligent humanoid species that also does this?

This has to be my favourite one of your videos! Existential and unimaginable questions put in perspective with beautiful analogies and animation. Thank you!

@Salty Tea Look at book series Three-body Problem. You might like it! That's where the theory comes from.

Sup

@Jacob Ew politics

So what we end up with Doctor Who or Halo in real life

@Adam Bouchareb more like a jv4

It’s unfortunate that so many people will never even discover this channel. This concept alone should be turned into a movie, if not multiple. These videos are great

Read the Three Body Problem series, it's amazing and where this is from

This concept is from the Rememberance for Earth's Past Trilogy, more specifically the novel The Dark Forest.

@Gon Lenny Oh gosh on one hand I'm happy it's getting a film adaptation, though I'm not sure how well it would translate to the style, but also very afraid of how netflix is going to do it

Netflix are making film of the book Three body problem which this concept come from

It's ridiculous to say that we find the space empty when the fact is that 97% of it is already beyond our reach.

This is probably my favorite interpretation of our cosmos, no matter how dark it seems. While the past IS the past, and the future is uncertain, it doesn’t take a lot to make it a little less scary.

If we expect natural reactions as hunters, maybe the encounter will be as two predators in nature, they don't usually kill each other , they avoid conflict, they put a display of dominance , and have corporal language, we can't even asume the other is of our own " size", odds may be like choosing two random animals and make them encounter, they will notice, but rarely they will engage

I’d be really annoyed if our first contact with aliens was them coming to earth as some sort of door to door salesman or trying to recruit us into a pyramid scheme.

@David Good one! lol

We’ve been trying to reach you about your Mars Rover’s extended warranty…

I expect the first ETM (extra terrestrial message) to read: "Hello, can I charm you into purchasing a cook book?"

You know for a fact we would fall for it too

Like you said in the video, I believe we are in no way ready for space travel. Not about rational , scientific and technological process, more in a way of spiritual and emotional understanding. How can we go into space when we can't even unite on Earth? How can we interact with extraterrestrial beings when we can't even communicate with someone from another country or someone with a different skin tone? Once we realize we are all from Earth and lose this egocentric survival mindset. Then, we are ready for space travel and encounter something new. Maybe we still get blast into pieces and humanity and or Earth gets destroyed. But at least we died in peace.

In this context, I'd massively recommend Cixin Liu's 'Remembrance of Earth's Past' trilogy - 'The Three-Body Problem', 'The Dark Forest' and 'Death's End'. Perhaps the finest science fiction of the early 21st century.

This video’s explanation of the deep thorough perspective to have when encountering aliens should be required to be taught to any earth citizen that desires to go into space. Because first impressions can truly make or break a potential relationship. Especially with aliens. I think this video should be required by international law to be seen by any space faring human being. AND if any hot-headed human beings don’t take too kindly to this video then they have no business going into space. Would suck if the first human being to meet an alien was a hot-headed one.

I love this style of video, cycling between a story that corresponds to the topic and normal information.

As Sagan said: “The newest children in a strange and uncertain cosmos should listen quietly for a long time, patiently learning about the universe and comparing notes before shouting into an unknown jungle that we do not understand.”

@MY NAME IS URL that advanced civilization, in relative terms, was not such in absolute ones. Present day Europe, you can go to jail for killing a dog.

This reminds me of something that Neil Degrasse Tyson said. It was something along the lines of the last time a more advanced civilization made first contact with a more primitive one was when the Europeans came in contact with native americans. Ask the native americans how that went for them.

Carl was such a wise man.

@Chris a nonzero chance is a nonzero chance. We know very little about the universe and nothing of interstellar travel. I just don't have the hubris to claim I know everything required to even ballpark the chances of this or that

@Kurt Richter To scale it, the earth to the sun is a couple of feet. Pluto is about 100 yards away. Proxima Centauri is 130 miles away. Those probes are going about 35,000mph They're never going to be found, and if they do we will be long gone or evolved to the point it won't matter if whoever finds it is friendly or hostile. I agree with above poster that the map and the record were more about 'hey, in a billion years if you find this, know we existed'.

I really like The Expanse's version of this particular version of the Fermi Paradox. Borderline unknowable aliens with god-like powers putting a hard upper limit on how technologically advanced another civilisation is allowed to get before they destroy them.

I noticed that about The Expanse. And in Babylon 5, where there are beings like the Shadows which are both extremely old and advanced, and downright Lovecraft scary! Indeed, our affairs are of little importance to us.

It’s been 2-3 years since I last watched y’alls videos and… my goodness. They look so amazing. The animation is beautiful. Really helps with that sense of wonder. Keep it up y’all.

i really love this video, the 'if i know i'm strong, then i know my enemy is strong too' and 'whoever shoots first, lives' are really important strategies and tactics that i have told a lot of people about. thanks, Kurzgesagt.

Great videos on this channel. A refreshing combination of realism, intelligence and entertainment. I'll keep watching.

Now this is my type of video. I say that we're possibly making a big mistake trying to contact aliens if any do exist out there on our level of intelligence or higher. 4:16 Also, I think the only (main) reason we're so "peaceful" is because most countries have weapons of mass destruction and we don't want retaliation. THAT is the main thing. We've become equally dangerous to one another that it is wise to avoid conflict bc of how catastrophic it would be for all

@ripvanwando I want war lmao

@Robert what was this titled?

@Rey Nemaattori with RKVs there is not really any mutually assured destruction though.

@Reid Simonson you said alien will invade for resource, you know interstellar travel cost you more resource than you can get from earth ?

As someone once said: I don’t know whatˆ’s more scarry, the idea that we’re alone in the space, or the idea that we aren’t.

"Competitive and expansionist cultures expand faster and further." To be clear, this also applies to corporations, nations, species, and civilizations. So serious question: how does a non-imperialist entity ever survive in the long term? Hiding is one option for interstellar civilizations, as mentioned.

Something we always think about seems to be that if there's an alien species out there that they must be more advanced, but what if we have never seen aliens is because we are the most advanced civilization out there.

i feel like the most realistic challenge of meeting aliens would be the langue barrier

The Dark Forest scenario reminds me of this writing prompt I saw once: "Due to the vast distances between stars, interstellar wars are often a case of who finds the other first. With such long trival times, any sort of retaliation is impossible, and the one who gets first strike always wins. Because of this, most intelligent species try to remain hidden and not give their position away. This is why everyone is so terrified of humanity, who feel the need to loudly broadcast their location."

Who says radio waves are the only way to communicate? There might be more advanced ways. In that case it’s clear we are just the new kid on the block and everybody will know.

@Minh Quân Nguyễn have you heard a person scream in anger at 3am? I know why a lion roars, but a human screaming in anger. Yeah I'm good

@Dirk Karmel More like the bright colors of a venomous frog

@motown I believe the belief behind that is , if everyone else is afraid of broadcasting their signal due to some powerful interstellar threat, and yet earth is boastfully broadcasting there’s , what might earth have that makes them so Unafraid . It must be something big and powerful , and terrifying

i try to hold onto the hope that we tend to see life, as you said, through a generally primitive and imperialist/capitalist lens. that perhaps life that has evolved completely separate of our world doesn't have the same biases. that perhaps once we're able to reach out and communicate with other life forms, we'll be worthy of it.

So good, just so great. Comical yet interesting and thought provoking...this chanell never fails.

Previously talked about is that a black hole can shoot off objects at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Civilizations could use black holes to annihilate each other, not by building a black hole bomb, but shooting bombs WITH the energy of the black hole, with the black hole bomb as a final resort if needed.

@Dominic sean Mccann I wish, haha

Job offer from Los Alamos or Livermore in post!😆

Love this channel, and love what you do. One day soon I will be able to donate to your channel because if there's anywhere to give your money that's going to make a difference in the world it's this channel. Thank you for everything you do for the betterment of humanity. I can't wait to see what you have in store for the future" Like maybe lessons in VR? Or even videos with AR? I know whatever it is it's going to be for the advancement of the human race". If we had to send a representative of Earth" I hope your on that list"😎... Peace is always the safest answer. With Love, goodness and respect how can we go wrong in the face of a alien presence? Love your videos and what you do thank you".

"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." -Arthur C. Clarke

@Colemin 🤡

@jrag1000 🤡

@Elo 3-2-0 So what? Let em

there is always this one guy who needs to quote this on every single alien video ever recorded.

What should we do to help someone who is a danger to themselves and others? There’s no denying that this describes humanity..

I was just thinking after watching your limit on how far we can reach video, isn't it possible alien civilizations advanced enough to visit earth just haven't observed our planet in a state where it is likely full of life? Or, if they have, they're still millions of years away from ever reaching us?

That's some scary stuff. We are about a few years from barely being able to reach the closest planet to us (Mars) with just a few people per trip with survival being the greatest concern, decades away from establishing a base on it (or even our own Moon), not to mention weaponizing any of the above, and we are unable to even hypothesize any kind of sentient life form outside our planet. Now imagine a civilization that not only can see us, but also reach us, maybe even with ships capable of carrying hundreds of beings, or worse, weaponized. I mean, SpaceX's Starship is a marvel of human technology and the most advanced ship ever made, and compared to that it's a tin can. The difference in tecnology would be so huge that they could wipe us out in a matter of hours.

Everything, on earth at least, handles first contact in the same way. From micro-organisms to human empires, the first encounter is exploratory in nature, and not the entirety of the entity. So, the whole dark forest theory would play out in miniature between scouts. In both outcomes the next step is sending either envoys or expeditions. If they get killed we learn the capability of the other entity and then either hide or rapidly build countermeasures. The first contact is never nukes, simply because distances are huge and you don't know where to aim.

If you announce the exact position of your solar system in three-dimensional space to the Universe (this is indeed possible using various celestial objects as markers) then what??

The hunter takes a deep breath and makes a decision "I shall try and make friends with this Xenomorph"

Oh no.

@Cassiano Design Didnt expct that

@Cassiano Design 😐

What an incredible opportunity this was for me. I must thank Kurzgesagt for putting me in the video at 9:21. It was an honor partecipating in this beautiful experience.

I don't see how civilization even slightly more aggressive than us could thrive to become so thechnologically advanced without wiping themselves out

I never agreed with the dark forest idea. It feels wrong to assume such a primitive mindset among space-traveling civilizations. Surely, there would be countless ways for a high-tech civilization to counter hostile weaponry, when it would take years for the attacks to hit their targets.

I sure hope any Alien encounters would be towards a better universe. Based off our own human interactions with each other I have my doubts.

I think a language barrier between planets could be even more dangerous than what weapons they could have

@phyzzx hard disagree, who's to say aliens understand math?

If they smile and point an alien gun....run

i thought the same thing

@Mushe Esperanto.

you've read the sparrow huh :3

The more i watch these videos the more I get convinced that we are in an alien simulation

Wiping out a civilization is a great way to say to the universe, "I am a threat to all of you, eliminate me."

I love your art style its so interesting and really gets the point across keep the good work coming

Imagine a book or film/TV series based in a far off future where we’ve fixed most problems and are on the verge of interstellar colonisation. It’s be so cool.

I enjoyed that one aliens perspective on this in the 3 body problem. Humanity found a way to use the sun to call out into the darkness, and we get the perspective of an alien thinking to itself "either this species doesn't understand the dark forest, or they are so powerful they have no fear of what lies in the forest."

@f2p Clasher the name of the book is the three body problem trisolarans is one of the alien species in the book

@J what book is this from im curious

but how can they know they are so powerful if they don’t have a scale of power?

@Luc Carl then they are of the first option and don’t understand the forest

If we are alone in this universe or not both are equally terrifying

@Lavrans we shouldn't really be doing what's easier , rather we should be doing what is necessary

bruh stop saying this shit over and over

@2hunnid Cuz it’s actually easier to explore space than the deep ocean.

@nestro altam fr we searching for stuff we know nothing abt while the oceans remain unexplored. only 5% is known who knows what type of shit is down there

@pnktoffee that's what I'm saying, why does it even matter if we are alone in the universe shouldn't we be fixing stuff here instead of searchin stuff out there

By the time we reach each other, we'll have had to make significant progress as a species, which entails careful consideration. Consideration comes about when stakes are high and we've more time to think, so, those more likely to be aggressive fight within themselves over short distances to inspire progress. Humans and other creatures with similar intelligence have the capacity to be incredibly rational, and equally irrational. humanity is equally as aggressive as it is tame, ultimately it's the environment around us and our understanding of its size that determines the balance. The easier a path is to take, the less we think about it, and the inverse is true. This is why life at the deepest depths of our ocean is seldom confrontational; The environment can only filter so much aggression before acting swiftly isn't worth the energy, or goes against the survival instincts that kept us alive. If reaching other ecosystems containing intelligent life continues to be difficult, those who would've acted aggressive would have little chance of ever even interacting at all. This is thanks to our contradictory thought process, in which in order to document important info, we must also document Null information that carries no weight. We rely on our innate instincts when we are starved of variables to process, and rely on them more often according to how long we go without. statistically, In order to make progress as a species, those who are more cautious and cooperative are, as a general rule, that way as a result of their conditioning, and are the ones who make the widest change, key word being widest and not largest. It's unlikely that other intelligent species would wipe each other out even if they had the capacity to, humans have nuclear bombs, but nuclear bombs aren't natural at all! we had to invent them, which took time and presented challenge. The only reason we haven't nuked each other yet is because people have a general understanding of the potential dangers, you can't design a machine for killing without knowing whether or not it's dangerous, in nature this isn't true, but we're divergent in that regard. We were so terrified of the idea of nuking each other, that even during an aggressive, irrational war, we knew not to do it, easy as it would be for both parties. If other intelligent life exists, by our definition of intelligent life, it will be different but built on the same principles, thinking about and fearing us as much as we do them. Whatever fear comes about at that point in time will be understood as mostly irrational, it's perceived duality would inspire connection and cooperation, not violence. It may not even be physical distance that determines this, it could also be the rate of exchange for info, and how often we express our understandings of what is dangerous or immoral. I suppose that if you take anything away from this, it should be that our capacity for aggression is limited by distance, time, and shared understanding. In our universe, all things follow power laws, and have connections deeply rooted in the most un-seeming of things. Specifically what's being demonstrated here is referred to as the 80/20 principle, of which countless processes, even those that are dictated purely by free thought, are entwined with. They don't invalidate free will, but are rooted deeply within it's components.

Imagine if the voyager space probe, the one thing we designed to preserve humanity in a time capsule, is the one thing that dooms our planet to assured destruction.

Imagine getting a message from aliens and after decoding it says "Never gonna give you up".

I was waiting for Kurzgesagt to cover this book. Such a terrifying concept, and yet I can’t stop thinking about it.

I thinkTjere were freindly cuz our earth is younger than other planets. The other planet is bilions or trilions old they will have advance civilisation ahead us.

@Wong Patrick Not everything is CCP propaganda.

Doesn't get any more ludicrous than this "dark forest" theory.

@Mr Bamfo Because we very likely VASTLY underestimate the development necessary to attempt extrasolar colonization. There is a real possibility that FTL travel is impossible for physical objects. And if it can be achieved, it would necessarily involve a mastery of science so profound that resources like matter, and possibly even space would become irrelevant. The idea that a civilization could achieve it and still be motivated by greed or competition are ludicrous. All of these types of sci-fi scenarios revolve around modern day humans or our equivalent just suddenly achieving that kind of technical prowess. We can't even handle plastic.

@Aesop's Fables Censorship in China might not be as bad as 40 years ago but yes it is still very, very, VERY bad.

Reminds me of the precursor empire from Stellaris the Yuht. 2 million years of a stagnant and peaceful empire ended when the first spacefaring civilization they met scared them into pre-emptively attacking, which led to the Yuht being wiped out in self defense.

If we do get out there and discover other civilizations and we say 'We are peaceful'... who would we be trying to fool?

if we observe two (or more) diverse civilizations cooperating together, there is an indication of a possibility for a peaceful co-existence --- if they are a single civilization, all bets are off - we should remain quiet (( and build defenses! ))

sometimes, thinking about how little we know and how big the universe is, is really frustrating. Curiosity can make a man mad, but curiosity is also the reason we explore and theorise, curiosity might probably be the reason of the wipe put of the human species but at least then, we will know, we will be able to satisfy that curiosity.

“I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.” -Jack Handey

@FanDidlyTastic 4/5ths of humanity cannot be statistically considered truly sentient. Propaganda is meant to target the 1/5th, the trendsetters. Not you.

that is the fear.can earth live in peace.

@Infinite Honkworks I’m not sure if that’s quote or what, but that statement is powerful !

@Langton Industries with that mindset we can't

@cool hippies For humans yes cause that’s what was often necessary. But I assure you wolves, lions, bears, crocodiles, etc never killed without reason

I really enjoy Kurzgesagt videos and most are right on the money but I feel this one fails to appreciate two key concepts: 1) Collaboration is always better than competition Any sufficiently intelligent being will recognize that collaboration is always better than competition, which is why we will almost certainly see far more (if not exclusively) friendly species when we venture out into space. Why destroy a civilization when you both can share all your knowledge and resources and both of you can grow even more? In other words, who do you think will survive in the long run if 6 different civilizations encounter each other in space (let's just assume all at the same time to keep it simple): the ones which attempt to strike out at others, immediately setting themselves as the enemies of 5 other species, or the ones which say "Hey, let's be friends, stick together, and share knowledge"? Assuming approximately equal size, the civilizations that worked together would have a tremendous resource and knowledge advantage that simply could not be overcome. And what's the best outcome of all? When they all become friends, share knowledge, and work together, meaning no one dies, everyone gains massive knowledge, and everyone wins. So again I repeat: Any sufficiently intelligent being realizes that cooperation is always better than competition. War is obsolete and only continues here on Earth because those in positions of power to wage it do not understand that there are better alternatives. 2) The exponential rate of knowledge acquisition will always ensure vast differences in technological ability between species unless they share knowledge, rendering fighting out of the question. If you were to look at a graph of knowledge and technology acquisition for the human species over time, you would see a positive exponential curve. That is, as time has passed since the beginning of our modern anatomical form, we have steadily increased the rate at which we acquired new knowledge (which ultimately lends itself to new technology created with that knowledge). We started with fire, pottery, the wheel, the plow, moved to the compass, then paper, gunpowder, the printing press, electricity, the steam engine, the telephone, vaccines, cars, airplanes, rockets, nuclear fission, semiconductors, the personal computer, the internet, and all manner of stuff in between. The rate of growth is exponential because not only does our growing body of knowledge help us survive longer and sustain a larger population (which means more people can be scientists and inventors, and they can work longer), but our technology also continues to free us from doing tedious labor through robotics/automation, meaning even more people have the time and space to innovate, on top of the fact that we are getting smarter and smarter — each generation is significantly more equipped than the previous to advance human knowledge. It is estimated that the amount of technical knowledge we produce doubles every 2 years, and unless we happen to nuke ourselves to oblivion in World War III, this rate will only ever increase. At some point we will hit the technological singularity and the rate will skyrocket even further, and we will almost certainly do so long before we leave our solar system. When the technological singularity occurs, knowledge will begin increasing at a rate so fast that the difference of days, even minutes will start to mean vast differences in knowledge and technical prowess. Since the distance between stars is so vast, there is a requisite amount of knowledge that needs to be acquired by any given civilization to make traveling those distance feasible, which means virtually every one that does will likely have reached their own technological singularity, which means every civilization will have extremely high rates of knowledge acquisition and technology, which means that is it /EXTREMELY/ unlikely (effectively zero possibility) that any two civilizations will be at the same level of technological ability when they encounter each other, which means that war will be out of the question. It will be impossible to win for one side because they will never be able to compete technologically with the other side; it will be like a colony of ants encountering a tank. But like I said, there is nothing to worry about because intelligent civilizations realize that cooperation is ALWAYS better than competition. Humanity is not yet what I would call an intelligent civilization, sadly. As the war in Ukraine demonstrates, there are still people who believe that fighting, killing, and forcibly taking from others is the best solution to problems. We still harbor tribal tendencies and fight and argue and bicker amongst ourselves at every corner. Our people are still divided between countries, as if there is any real difference between us at the end of the day. We are lost in a maze of status-seeking, wealth signaling, and spending our entire lives focusing on making money, rather than spending our entire lives focusing on how to improve the human condition. Our civilization is not particularly intelligent yet, but someday, with a little effort, we will be.

I think we are too early in the timeline of the Universe and most civilsations are either in their cavemen phases, barely surviving with inhospitable conditions or got wiped out due to calamities. The Goldilocks Zones are few and far in between and there are still thousands of different variables like pressure, toxicity, sudden onset of winter etc. which will derail any progress possible.

The animation on this episode is just phenomenal.

What if there is actually a conglomerate of extraterrestrial species, who have made it their mission to study upcoming sentient/advanced civilisations, their language(s) in order to communicate effectively, should the time come and assessing the risk each new civilisation poses.. Somewhat like the EU or UN or any other unification of nations.

the art style in this video is perhaps my favourite of any kurzgesagt video so far. the way you guys have animated, portrayed, and narrated (!) aliens is stunning and thought provoking - kudos!

First thing I noticed as well.

@lavsyce how did you know?

Yeah I was thinking the same, the art was definitely different but better!!

Agreed

Without a doubt!

I loved the whole analogy with the hunter in the dark forest

I’ve learned so many things from Kurzgesagt, thank you for being such a dedicated teacher.

Invisible arrows!! Brilliant! So much more simple than trying to explain relativistic kill missiles to a lay-audience. 👌

Imagine, there could be living lifeforms travelling right now in outer space 🤯

The universe is only about fourteen billion years old, and the star-forming era is expected to last another hundred trillion. The universe is young, so young in fact that the Earth has been around for about a third of the universe's life so far. If you picture the lifespan of the universe's star-forming era as a clock, we popped up in the first second. It may sound unlikely given how big the universe is, but when you take the Great Filters into consideration, we may very well be the first technological civilization in the universe. There may be countless civilizations over the next hundred trillion years, and we will be the "ancient forerunners" to them.

Sounds like the novel Foundation?

@🌟 Wander the Nomad And we spend a lot of time exploring the universe. Perhaps we have already taken this responsibility? The universe knows what it's doing. Much of our research and curiosity tells us about the universe. Evren is the effect of the responsibility given by

@NeverAgain By then water would be oil since we'd have working fusion.

Automatically disqualified your own statements. Earth woulf be at two thirds of total time. If it's only one second, as you compared, then we're talking about a three second clock. Lame, lol.

This video made me think we are the terrifying ones, or at least a part of humanity is, if encountering other civilizations has made so many people think it ends attacking. There are many human cultures that are friendly when encountering others. This way of thinking really seems very specific to certain kind of humans... And if they win here, colonization and start just firing weapons to other civilizations eager to meet us, seem like a possibility. So a human civilization is maybe the worst possibility, if other civilizations exist...

i love how kurzgesagt videos are always pessimistic at first, and then in the end they’re like “actually, it’s going to be ok cause-“

I cried when both the hunters stepped into the clearing together.

I think there are plenty of intelligent and non intelligent life in the universe. No matter how advanced a civilization had gotten…the vast distances involved in space travel is a hurdle no civilian has overcome. I think somewhere we might have 2 planets that are close and have life (earth to the moon or mars) and they have contact or live with each other.

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” - Arthur C Clarke.

Stop using that stupid quote, it's overused and cliche. And no, to me, neither are terrifying.

@choronos I mean true but again there are companies like SpaceX doing their part in making a presence on Mars and other companies wanting to do similar things so it’s not all bad. But yeah climate change sound like the bigger issue , maybe we can somehow find a way to properly solve it cause we humans have learned to solve serious issues before.

@Warboy 99 In an ideal world yes, all these notions however do not to factor in the reality and tend to function on possibilities and what-if's and presumed trajectories of human and technological advancement. They're assumptions based on hopes that we'll just magic up ways and means someday of dealing with problems that are currently impossible for us to solve. The fact of the matter however is as I stated, and more likely than not there aren't realistic solutions to these issues... The amoeba building a ship analogy. They could be super intelligent microscopic beings with microscopic industry, but any ship they can make will never be able to do the task they want of it because the materials they have available would not work, and the laws of the universe at that level would be insurmountable. Same goes for organic life and space.

@choronos *With thoughts like that we definitely ain’t advancing , space may suck to you but it’s our last frontier and we must try to discover newer things and colonize it*

Honestly, it makes sense that we're not a mature enough civilisation yet. I was offended for a second by that statement, because I thought, "no that's just how survival works"..... Oh. In all honesty, we fight too much amongst ourselves to ever consider contact with outsiders who wouldn't necessarily think like us.

If any of you find this interesting as a concept for media, tout should read The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. He was a combat engineer in Vietnam and the main character is a way for him to express his feelings during the war.

We've only been "discoverable" for a few generations. A few seconds really. Any sign of our progress would take thousands of years to be found.

The whole time this video had me thinking. This is all primitive human thinking of various conflicting situations on a sci fi level. At the end however it redeemed itself to being what I believe to be the correct understanding. But I do suppose it is not impossible to believe there are other civilizations out there that still possess the primitive construct of conflict and strife and have better technology.

I remember a short horror story I read from somebody else. Humanity has finally made contact with another intelligible species. The first message we receive back from them is: "Cease all communications; they will hear us."

*Killing Sta

If you all think this is horrifying DO NOT look up videos on / or read the all tomorrow's series .

@Secularist That's assuming that even knowing that the other civilization was talking and being able to eliminate them, "they" would inexplicably refrain from doing so. What would make more sense would be that "they" hadn't caught on yet.

@Unironically A Blue Raspberry I'd assume there are multiple "they"s. If the civ you are communicating with specifically named one of "them" in its message, then "they" will know that they've been made. "They" will be obliged to make extra efforts to discover and destroy the snitches. However, if the message remains ambiguous, then all others who may be listening in, must remain silent and hidden. "They" don't want to take unnecessary risks.

Hey I know this one

I think the reason we haven't seen a lot of aliens like in star wars is cause it hasn't been enough time yet. We might just be one of the first civilizations to ever exist.

Can you guys do a video about the technology and aliens in the Halo universe? There's the domain, augmentation, slipspace travel, growing metal, hard light, and megastructures and that's not even the half of it. You could get a lot of views and grow even more and have a great new playlist that fits into your channel neatly!!

As a long-time fan of the Three Body Problem, this video makes me so happy!

We have to hope that any hyper advanced, multi-galactic alien species’ aren’t like humanity. So careless and ruthless in their expansionism and greed, that they wipe out entire solar systems simply for the resources in the stars and planets

this channel makes learning fun

@elena.x25 1. you didnt LEARN anything. Facts are not knowledge. 2. You assume about someone you didn't even know. Nice job (Probably shows how intelligent you are)

@Matej Petras life isn't just about work. you can't possibly live life if you're constantly bored and not learning interesting stuff that make you WANT to live. shows how miserable your life actually is.

@Matej Petras Watermelon is red

@limp ignorance is bliss

@Matej Petras English is not your first language and it shows

The art quality gets better and better. Very impressive!

dont ever change, only improve, your animation style. it is part of you.

thinking about how unbelievably big the universe is and what beauty and extreme danger is out there free's my mind and makes me realize that in the grand scheme of things we are nothing. but maybe because of that we shouldn't worry about the things in our lives that bother us. maybe we should just do our best and do what makes us feel the best and just enjoy our stay on this random space rock while we still have it. I personally don't believe in a god or a heaven so I think we should make the most out of existing and what comes after doesn't matter because we're not there to find out or care. we'll just be nothing and that doesn't matter to us because we can't. life is short but that's ok, it doesn't matter how long we are around. what matters is that now that you and me and everyone else are here we make our lives the best they could be so our limited time will be worth a million years...