Why We May Be the Only Intelligent Life in the Universe with David Kipping of Cool Worlds episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 26, 2026 · 54 MIN

Why We May Be the Only Intelligent Life in the Universe with David Kipping of Cool Worlds

from John Michael Godier's Event Horizon · host John Michael Godier

Are We Alone? Are we the only intelligent life in the universe? Are there alien civilizations?Prof. David Kipping of the Cool Worlds lab at Columbia University spoke with John Michael Godlier about his most recent paper. What are the odds for intelligent life? Are there alien civilizations in the galaxy? Or are the odds against intelligent life?Prof. Kipping attempts to find answers to these questions using a Bayesian Analysis to look at life’s early start and our late arrival. The rare earth hypothesis argues that the origin of life and the evolution of biological complexity required an improbable combination of astrophysical and geological events and circumstances.Watch and subscribe to the Cool World's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGHZpIpAWJQ-Jy_CeCdXhMAThe Odds of Life and Intelligence: https://youtu.be/iLbbpRYRW5YJoin the search for vanishing stars here: https://www.su.se/english/research/research-news/look-to-the-sky-and-help-researchers-in-a-new-citizen-science-project-1.496340Kipping, D. 2020, "An Objective Bayesian Analysis of Life’s Early Start and Our Late Arrival", PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/05/12/1921655117Carter, B. 2007, "Five or six step scenario for evolution?", Int. J. Astrobiology 7, 177: https://arxiv.org/abs/0711.1985Want to support the channel?Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EventHorizonShowFollow us at other places!Website: https://www.eventhorizonshow.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmgeventhorizonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmgeventhorizon/Music featured on Event Horizonhttps://stellardrone.bandcamp.com/https://migueljohnson.bandcamp.com/https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/https://aeriumambient.bandcamp.com/

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Feb 26, 2026

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

Why We May Be the Only Intelligent Life in the Universe with David Kipping of Cool Worlds

0:00 54:03

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of John Michael Godier's Event Horizon?

This episode is 54 minutes long.

When was this John Michael Godier's Event Horizon episode published?

This episode was published on February 26, 2026.

Can I download this John Michael Godier's Event Horizon episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!