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Planets aren’t rare. Life is surprisingly durable. The more we’ve learned about the Universe, the more the search for extraterrestrial life has shifted from science fiction to serious scientific undertaking. So it’s worth considering how humanity would react if we learned, through some distant but unmistakable signal, that lifeforms elsewhere in the Universe were communicating with us. In this interview, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Center for SETI Research in California, discusses how first contact is more likely to be perspective-shifting than Earth-shattering.
Producer: Marco Patricio
Director: Stuart Langfield
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Religion
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52 minutes
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Ecology and environmental sciences
The ancient Hawaiian myth that sparked a modern ecological breakthrough
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Art
The irreverent duo who thumbed their noses at the Soviet Union and the US art world
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Computing and artificial intelligence
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Ageing and death
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Future of technology
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Metaphysics
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Fairness and equality
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Stories and literature
A French Creole folktale nearly lost to time is given new, gorgeously animated life
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