[Music]
[Music]
you live in an amazing and expanding
universe but I’m sorry to say you are
insignificant you are insignificant in
terms of space our Sun is just one tiny
star in our Milky Way galaxy that counts
about 200 billion other stars and guess
how many galaxies there are in the
universe 170 billion you are all so
insignificant in terms of time to
illustrate the duration of the human
species
Callaghan invented the cosmic calendar
it’s simply the 13.8 billion years of
cosmic evolution that is compressed into
one year so the Big Bang starts in
January our Milky Way galaxy appears
mid-march life appears at end of
September and now I want you to guess in
your head when do you think the last
dinosaur died
in your head and and when do you think
the human species appear the answer is
December 30th for the dinosaur and
December 31st
at 10:30 p.m. for the human species
and the history we learn at school which
represents about 10,000 years represents
only 20 seconds in this cosmic calendar
so it’s time that we learn about our big
history but we are also insignificant
because we are all going to die and I
mean not just us as human beings I mean
that the Sun Also is going to exhaust
its fuel and in about five billion years
it will turn it to a red giant star and
it will make the oceans boil so life
would be wiped out you may think there
is an easy solution we just build a
spacecraft and we go to another star but
this doesn’t work this only delays the
problem because all stars in all
galaxies will eventually exhaust exhaust
their fuel and in the end the universe
will run out of fuel and get cold and
dark and is going to die
yes the universe is going to die and
this result is guaranteed by one of the
most fundamental laws of physics which
is a second law of thermodynamics it
says that the total entropy can only
increase the total entropy or disorder
so I don’t know how how you feel about
this picture but physicists generally
conclude that life is just a meaningless
accident in dying universe I wanted to
to study astrophysics when I was in high
school because I was so curious about
the
but I’m glad I didn’t
and actually when when I was studying
physics in high school I was asking my
physics teacher difficult conceptual
questions and and she was answering me
but why don’t you just take the
equations and solve the exercise so I’m
glad I studied philosophy because the
questions I’m most passionate about our
foundational there are at the frontier
of science and so I am interested in
questions such as where are we going in
the far future are we significant in the
universe and today I want to show you
that we are significant in the universe
we need to look at the universe through
the length of complexity and not only
through the lenses of space-time and
entropy indeed the universe is not only
creating entropy and disorder it’s also
creating life think about the evolution
of life on Earth it has complexified
from single cells to our amazing
technological society today so to make
it very simple the bad guy it’s entropy
it’s a rise in disorder the good guy
it’s life it’s increasing complexity who
is going to win in the end this is a
most fascinating question you can ask
about the universe and this is where I
want to take you today and we’ll start
first with the past and then go to the
future indeed we need to understand the
past to be able to envision the future
and we need to envision the future to
find hope and significance in the
universe so how does life fight against
entropy it does so through revolutions
in energy information and control what
was the most significant revolution that
happened four billion years ago
it’s the origin of life life first
invents metabolism which is the
capability to extract energy from the
environment and reject waste and
disorder this is possible thanks to the
most primitive informational structure
which is the cell boundary that makes a
difference between the inside and the
outside and then the cell processes are
gradually gradually controlled by RNA
and DNA molecules okay we’ll go towards
the future so we’ll go right to the next
to the last second of the cosmic
calendar what was the most significant
even that happened 200 years ago it’s a
first Industrial Revolution with the
invention of the steam engine this goes
with the invention of the printing press
and we start to see new ways of control
which are the nation states and also the
market economy what was the most
significant revolution that happened 100
years ago
it’s a Second Industrial Revolution with
the invention of electricity new means
of communication such as a telephone
radio or TV and the control starts to be
by multinational corporations so where
are we heading now I think we all feel
that our world is changing but it’s very
it’s very hard to predict the future
also because we are involved the future
will depend on what we choose to do but
actually futurist Jim data said that we
can predict the kind of images we build
about the future the future and he says
that there are four generic images about
the future the first is simply growth
well not worry things will just continue
to grow and other eyes are they are
growing now the second is collapse we
don’t have enough resources oh you know
our earth is is going to collapse
our civilization is doomed the third is
discipline well we don’t have infinite
resources but we can avoid collapse if
we manage to build a sustainable society
if we manage our resources better and
the force is transformation well look at
technology and the internet or world it
is changing radically we are heading
toward a singularity
my own working hypothesis is towards
transformation scenarios why because we
have seen so many revolutionary
transformations in cosmic evolution that
I can’t see why it it should stop now so
what is the transformation we are at now
it’s the global brain civilization it’s
the idea that humans and machines are
currently merging to form a new level of
intelligence and complexity at a
planetary scale the information that
leads the information revolution that
leads this transition is clearly the
Internet I think it’s clear it as
Chandra our way of communication team
the future of energy is solar because it
has much more potential than any other
alternative and the control starts to be
a planetary think of about GPS
technologies for example and it starts
also to be decentralized and distributed
for example no single person can switch
off the internet not even Donald Trump
in a mood swing so let’s keep the cosmic
perspective is the global brain the end
of cosmic evolution of course not it’s
likely to be just one transition but as
we go into the deeper and deeper future
its becomes harder to imagine what could
come next but one source of inspiration
fiction and if you’ve seen Star Wars 7
there is a new weapon that is introduced
which is called a star killer base where
basically there is a planet that sucks
in energy from a star and this is
clearly inspired by known binary star
systems in all galaxies that look like
that where a dense body 16 energy and
there are therefore called sometimes
vampire stars or they have deadly spider
names such as red backs or black widows
however when I first saw this is these
systems I thought well this looks like a
metabolism
there is ingestion of energy and
production of entropy with the Jets that
you see here so since 2011 I’ve
developed this idea and I’m trying to
test it but otherwise taking it more and
more seriously I felt depressed indeed
what what is the meaning of everything
we do on earth in comparison to other
civilizations that are literally eating
stars how ridiculous how we compare to
them but still in the in case it would
be correct I wanted to give a positive
image beyond vampires and killing
spiders so I settled for the word for
the word Stella Valle which is the Latin
for star eater
and I chose a hummingbird as an image
which is the world with the highest
metabolic rate on earth so to summarize
as telev our would be able to use energy
from a star actively its information
processes is totally unknown its control
is likely to be a purse our position
positioning system that we know exists
in our galaxy and that works pretty much
like GPS but on a galactic scale
okay but our core problem is still
unfinished the universe is still going
to die
what could a super advanced civilization
do about it well let’s get inspiration
from biology all organisms die but
before they die
they also reproduce so a truly advanced
civilization would start to care about
the death of the of the universe and
make a new universe to do this it would
need enough energy to trigger a Big Bang
2.0 it would need a blueprint of a new
universe and it would be controlled by
the very advanced civilization okay
let’s wrap up
we’ve seen how life fights against
entropy through revolutions in energy
information and control we’ve seen 3
transformation scenarios for the far
future the global brain civilization
which is the merging of humans and
machines on a planetary scale the study
of all civilizations that are able to
each stars and the universe making
civilizations that care about the
greatest problem of all which is the
death of our universe to conclude I want
to say that we are significant if we
look at the universe through the lens of
complexity and not only through
space-time and entropy we are
significant even more so if we are alone
in the universe because that would mean
that the complexity we have here is very
rare and precious and that we need to
take great care of it
we are significant because we are alive
and as such we are creators of order and
fighters of disorder our mission in the
universe is to continue the growth of
complexity
we are significant because informed by
our big history we can create a big
future thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
you live in an amazing and expanding
universe but I’m sorry to say you are
insignificant you are insignificant in
terms of space our Sun is just one tiny
star in our Milky Way galaxy that counts
about 200 billion other stars and guess
how many galaxies there are in the
universe 170 billion you are all so
insignificant in terms of time to
illustrate the duration of the human
species
Callaghan invented the cosmic calendar
it’s simply the 13.8 billion years of
cosmic evolution that is compressed into
one year so the Big Bang starts in
January our Milky Way galaxy appears
mid-march life appears at end of
September and now I want you to guess in
your head when do you think the last
dinosaur died
in your head and and when do you think
the human species appear the answer is
December 30th for the dinosaur and
December 31st
at 10:30 p.m. for the human species
and the history we learn at school which
represents about 10,000 years represents
only 20 seconds in this cosmic calendar
so it’s time that we learn about our big
history but we are also insignificant
because we are all going to die and I
mean not just us as human beings I mean
that the Sun Also is going to exhaust
its fuel and in about five billion years
it will turn it to a red giant star and
it will make the oceans boil so life
would be wiped out you may think there
is an easy solution we just build a
spacecraft and we go to another star but
this doesn’t work this only delays the
problem because all stars in all
galaxies will eventually exhaust exhaust
their fuel and in the end the universe
will run out of fuel and get cold and
dark and is going to die
yes the universe is going to die and
this result is guaranteed by one of the
most fundamental laws of physics which
is a second law of thermodynamics it
says that the total entropy can only
increase the total entropy or disorder
so I don’t know how how you feel about
this picture but physicists generally
conclude that life is just a meaningless
accident in dying universe I wanted to
to study astrophysics when I was in high
school because I was so curious about
the
but I’m glad I didn’t
and actually when when I was studying
physics in high school I was asking my
physics teacher difficult conceptual
questions and and she was answering me
but why don’t you just take the
equations and solve the exercise so I’m
glad I studied philosophy because the
questions I’m most passionate about our
foundational there are at the frontier
of science and so I am interested in
questions such as where are we going in
the far future are we significant in the
universe and today I want to show you
that we are significant in the universe
we need to look at the universe through
the length of complexity and not only
through the lenses of space-time and
entropy indeed the universe is not only
creating entropy and disorder it’s also
creating life think about the evolution
of life on Earth it has complexified
from single cells to our amazing
technological society today so to make
it very simple the bad guy it’s entropy
it’s a rise in disorder the good guy
it’s life it’s increasing complexity who
is going to win in the end this is a
most fascinating question you can ask
about the universe and this is where I
want to take you today and we’ll start
first with the past and then go to the
future indeed we need to understand the
past to be able to envision the future
and we need to envision the future to
find hope and significance in the
universe so how does life fight against
entropy it does so through revolutions
in energy information and control what
was the most significant revolution that
happened four billion years ago
it’s the origin of life life first
invents metabolism which is the
capability to extract energy from the
environment and reject waste and
disorder this is possible thanks to the
most primitive informational structure
which is the cell boundary that makes a
difference between the inside and the
outside and then the cell processes are
gradually gradually controlled by RNA
and DNA molecules okay we’ll go towards
the future so we’ll go right to the next
to the last second of the cosmic
calendar what was the most significant
even that happened 200 years ago it’s a
first Industrial Revolution with the
invention of the steam engine this goes
with the invention of the printing press
and we start to see new ways of control
which are the nation states and also the
market economy what was the most
significant revolution that happened 100
years ago
it’s a Second Industrial Revolution with
the invention of electricity new means
of communication such as a telephone
radio or TV and the control starts to be
by multinational corporations so where
are we heading now I think we all feel
that our world is changing but it’s very
it’s very hard to predict the future
also because we are involved the future
will depend on what we choose to do but
actually futurist Jim data said that we
can predict the kind of images we build
about the future the future and he says
that there are four generic images about
the future the first is simply growth
well not worry things will just continue
to grow and other eyes are they are
growing now the second is collapse we
don’t have enough resources oh you know
our earth is is going to collapse
our civilization is doomed the third is
discipline well we don’t have infinite
resources but we can avoid collapse if
we manage to build a sustainable society
if we manage our resources better and
the force is transformation well look at
technology and the internet or world it
is changing radically we are heading
toward a singularity
my own working hypothesis is towards
transformation scenarios why because we
have seen so many revolutionary
transformations in cosmic evolution that
I can’t see why it it should stop now so
what is the transformation we are at now
it’s the global brain civilization it’s
the idea that humans and machines are
currently merging to form a new level of
intelligence and complexity at a
planetary scale the information that
leads the information revolution that
leads this transition is clearly the
Internet I think it’s clear it as
Chandra our way of communication team
the future of energy is solar because it
has much more potential than any other
alternative and the control starts to be
a planetary think of about GPS
technologies for example and it starts
also to be decentralized and distributed
for example no single person can switch
off the internet not even Donald Trump
in a mood swing so let’s keep the cosmic
perspective is the global brain the end
of cosmic evolution of course not it’s
likely to be just one transition but as
we go into the deeper and deeper future
its becomes harder to imagine what could
come next but one source of inspiration
fiction and if you’ve seen Star Wars 7
there is a new weapon that is introduced
which is called a star killer base where
basically there is a planet that sucks
in energy from a star and this is
clearly inspired by known binary star
systems in all galaxies that look like
that where a dense body 16 energy and
there are therefore called sometimes
vampire stars or they have deadly spider
names such as red backs or black widows
however when I first saw this is these
systems I thought well this looks like a
metabolism
there is ingestion of energy and
production of entropy with the Jets that
you see here so since 2011 I’ve
developed this idea and I’m trying to
test it but otherwise taking it more and
more seriously I felt depressed indeed
what what is the meaning of everything
we do on earth in comparison to other
civilizations that are literally eating
stars how ridiculous how we compare to
them but still in the in case it would
be correct I wanted to give a positive
image beyond vampires and killing
spiders so I settled for the word for
the word Stella Valle which is the Latin
for star eater
and I chose a hummingbird as an image
which is the world with the highest
metabolic rate on earth so to summarize
as telev our would be able to use energy
from a star actively its information
processes is totally unknown its control
is likely to be a purse our position
positioning system that we know exists
in our galaxy and that works pretty much
like GPS but on a galactic scale
okay but our core problem is still
unfinished the universe is still going
to die
what could a super advanced civilization
do about it well let’s get inspiration
from biology all organisms die but
before they die
they also reproduce so a truly advanced
civilization would start to care about
the death of the of the universe and
make a new universe to do this it would
need enough energy to trigger a Big Bang
2.0 it would need a blueprint of a new
universe and it would be controlled by
the very advanced civilization okay
let’s wrap up
we’ve seen how life fights against
entropy through revolutions in energy
information and control we’ve seen 3
transformation scenarios for the far
future the global brain civilization
which is the merging of humans and
machines on a planetary scale the study
of all civilizations that are able to
each stars and the universe making
civilizations that care about the
greatest problem of all which is the
death of our universe to conclude I want
to say that we are significant if we
look at the universe through the lens of
complexity and not only through
space-time and entropy we are
significant even more so if we are alone
in the universe because that would mean
that the complexity we have here is very
rare and precious and that we need to
take great care of it
we are significant because we are alive
and as such we are creators of order and
fighters of disorder our mission in the
universe is to continue the growth of
complexity
we are significant because informed by
our big history we can create a big
future thank you
[Applause]
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