#455 – Adam Frank: Alien Civilizations and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Adam Frank is an astrophysicist studying star systems and the search for extraterrestrial life and alien civilizations.

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Transcript:

https://lexfridman.com/adam-frank-transcript

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EPISODE LINKS:

Adam’s Website: https://adamfrankscience.com

Adam’s X: https://x.com/adamfrank4

Adam’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/adamfrankscience

Adam’s Books:

The Little Book of Aliens: https://amzn.to/3OTX1rP

Light of the Stars: https://amzn.to/4iMKC6C

The Blind Spot: https://amzn.to/4gOCe4K

The Constant Fire: https://amzn.to/3ZVnxX4

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OUTLINE:

(00:00) – Introduction

(14:22) – Planet formation

(19:32) – Plate tectonics

(26:54) – Extinction events

(31:04) – Biosphere

(34:02) – Technosphere

(38:17) – Emergence of intelligence

(44:29) – Drake equation

(48:43) – Exoplanets

(51:28) – Habitable zones

(54:30) – Fermi Paradox

(1:03:28) – Alien civilizations

(1:12:55) – Colonizing Mars

(1:25:11) – Search for aliens

(1:41:37) – Alien megastructures

(1:47:43) – Kardashev scale

(1:52:56) – Detecting aliens

(1:59:38) – Warp drives

(2:05:45) – Cryogenics

(2:09:03) – What aliens look like

(2:17:48) – Alien contact

(2:28:53) – UFO sightings

(2:40:38) – Physics of life

(3:06:29) – Nature of time

(3:22:53) – Cognition

(3:27:16) – Mortality