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

**Lex Fridman** (0:00)
The following is a conversation with Adam Frank, an astrophysicist interested in the evolution of star systems and the search for alien civilizations in our universe. And now, a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast. Let me say as a side note that I had to put a bunch of podcast episodes on hold to focus deeply on preparing for conversations with world leaders. So, I apologize to include more sponsors on this episode than usual. They really wanted me to mention them this year, and I'm not sure when I'm going to do another episode. We were going to do eight episodes this month, but instead I think we're doing two. We'll see every single day, every single hour, changes the plan, changes the situation, changes my life. So, please be patient with me. There are no sponsor reads in the middle. So, you can skip this long and beautiful list, but I do try to make them interesting in case you do listen, and I hope you do. In either case, please still check out the sponsors. Buy their stuff. It is the best way to support this podcast. The sponsors are Encord for your ML stack, Eight Sleep for naps, Shopify for e-commerce, NetSuite for business, BetterHelp for the mind, Notion for notes, Element for electrolytes and AG1 for nutrition. If you want to get in touch with me for whatever reason, go to lexfridman.com/contact.
Perhaps you could tell from my voice on top of everything else, I'm also sick. What a wonderful, beautiful, challenging life this is, and I'm grateful for every second of it. All right, and now on to the full ad reads.

**Adam Frank** (1:46)
Let's go.

**Lex Fridman** (1:47)
This episode is brought to you by Encord, a platform that provides data focused AI tooling for data annotation, curation, and management, and for model evaluation. For example, if you are an independent private or government agency that is running the drones that is flying all over New Jersey and the tri-state area, you might be doing the same kind of data annotation and collection curation and management that Encord excels at. Also, if you are an extraterrestrial species performing the same, I wonder what kind of computation tools alien civilizations have. At the physics level, computation is fundamentally a part of the fabric of the universe. So every advanced civilization would or surely would discover how to leverage that computation, how to organize that computation, how to access and communicate with that computation. Anyway, think of it, if you have a swarm of drones and you are the ruler of an alien civilization and want to collect some data about New Jersey, you are going to have to do some great machine learning. And great machine learning is not just about the algorithms, it is so much more about the data. So whoever you are running the drone program over New Jersey, go try out Encord to curate, annotate and manage your AI data at encord.com/lex. That's encord.com/lex. By the way, in all seriousness, I will probably talk about drones in New Jersey soon. I think it's a fascinating mystery. Is it China? Is it aliens? Is it the US government? Is it private companies within the US government? Is it other nation states? Are nuclear weapons involved? And what are the mechanisms that ensure that the US government is transparent about communicating what they discover? These are essential questions. Okay, on to A.Sleep. This episode is brought to you by A.Sleep and it's Pod 4 Ultra. You know, sleep makes me think about the night. And I've been watching a lot of war movies. I've been watching a lot of war reporting. I've been watching a lot of conversations with soldiers and I've been talking to soldiers. And there's something about the night. There's something about the quiet night that serves as the break from the hell of war. Tymnaya noch, doko puli istyat na stipi. That's a song from the Second World War. A song about a soldier writing to a woman he loves. That's just it. Just like a man searched for meaning in the darkest hours of war. Those are the things that keep the flame of the heart gone. Talking about these topics makes it difficult for me to then talk about eight sleep and the technology and the comfort of a good night's sleep somewhere in America. That's one of the things you discover when you travel, especially travel to a country that's participating in war. That the basic comforts, the basic securities, the basic dreams and hopes and the ways of life are taken away. And still, the human spirit persists. Anyway, this is supposed to be an ad read. Go to asleep.com/lex. Use code Lex to get up to $600 off your Pod 4 Ultra purchase when bundled. That's asleep.com/lex.