The beauty of our improbable existence with a NASA expert, physicist & futurist
Humanity’s future is bright, according to the ones who study our past.
This video is an episode from @The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the @JohnTempletonFoundation.
Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/thewell-youtube
Watch the full podcast now ► https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_B7bI1QVmJBz9-5hI4sihQbxgcShW77l&si=yX6F_3lbdjrHA5do
The future is coming, whether we’re ready or not. Physicist Sean Carroll, planetary scientist Nina Lanza, and futurist Kevin Kelly are three brilliant minds who have spent their careers studying how time has affected the Earth — and Kmele is on a mission to understand their findings.
Part of understanding what we know includes identifying the things we don’t know; this way, we can keep our minds open to new discoveries and ideas.
What is it really like to be a theoretical physicist, who only works with ideas? How does philosophy underline the progress we’ve made as a society? And, finally, what is humanity’s role in the future, and what can we do to make sure our lives have meaning? Find out this, and much, much more, in the last episode of Dispatches from The Well.
Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/dispatches-podcast-episode-7/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
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About Kmele Foster:
Kmele Foster is a media entrepreneur, commentator, and regular contributor to various national publications. He is the co-founder and co-host of The Fifth Column, a popular media criticism podcast.
He is the head of content at Founders Fund, a San Francisco based venture capital firm investing in companies building revolutionary technologies, and a partner at Freethink, a digital media company focused on the people and ideas changing our world.
Kmele also serves on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
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Read more from The Well:
Actually, neuroscience suggests “the self” is real
► https://bigthink.com/the-well/actually-neuroscience-suggests-self-real/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein can illuminate the debate over generative AI
► https://bigthink.com/the-well/mary-shelley-lessons-frankenstein-ai/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
Few of us desire true equality. It’s time to own up to it
► https://bigthink.com/the-well/few-desire-true-equality-own-up/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
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About The Well
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.
Together, let’s learn from them.
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@user-uj8ls4jc6g
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
If life can arise from the universe: the universe is no less miraculous than life.
@tethered0
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
It's absolute hilarious how they pretend we are all connected, like a family, living in such a kumbaya circle, and how their BS ideas apply to everyone.
"Our improbable existence".
There is no "our", we are not a family. We are not connected, we are not of the same uobringing..genes..dna…we are not even of the same existence..
In fact, there is not even a 'we', if you are not part of my family, and is preaching such gibberish as a stranger, you are of other existence which I want nothing to do with.
go away.
@corncobjohnsonreal
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Why is she just allowed to just go outside and break rocks? Why isn't anyone arresting her?
@baovomusic
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Love this show.
@RobertParedes-kl2el
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
If the universe did not have conscious life to observe it it would not exist existence needs perception when consciousness perceives it creates reality the universe must have attention we are creating it god designs it when we observe it his design turn real
@footballbeforecluborcountry
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Makes me wish I was still at my university.
@bbbf09
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
'The beauty of our improbable existence'
….or the unremitting horror of it – depending on your perspective.
@wbiro
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
1. You can say 'improbable', but it would be better to determine its actual probability (which is still not a hard number, since it still leaves room for variance).
2. To use humanity's past as an example of 'brightness' is naive. Humanity's past (and present) is anything but 'bright'. The only thing that can save it is an adequate life-guiding philosophy, which humanity has never had. Not even close.
@Kawaii-27
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Keeep going please❤
@Kawaii-27
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Thank you so much for Big Think and Well. The most valuable content ever on YT❤
@jrgnc1
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
The problem is that the human species has not evolved to the point of the common good for all and the preservation of the species. We're still stuck in the self which includes our own greed, our own personal well being, our own privilege, our own prosperity versus all others. And until we evolve to that point of greater good for all, we're doomed.
@jrgnc1
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
If we're the only life in the universe and it was only accidental, then the question becomes what is the whole point of an empty universe with stars and planets?
@MuzeTitaN
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Humanity is doomed for its over enthusiasm towards the future. Progress is dead in the name of gains that are shallow and seemingly remarkable because we have the ability to create. But to what end ? Or perhaps. Loos morals made up by man , woke mind viruses and increasing loving standerd is unsustainable and will crash . That's not Progress, that implosion
@twojastarasieokredytwefrankach
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
3 billion heart beats – when I heard this it suddenly hit me. Time is relative so our perception of it varies. What if our hearts are internal clocks that measure time for us. I mean if you think about it time flies when we do something exciting (our hearts are racing) and whoever experienced any sort of life threatening situation like a serious car accident or something know that time literally slows down in that moment. Could it be that pace of our hearts dictates our own perception of time?
@matthewskillo8577
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
The Dewey, Whaty System? lol (j/k – I grew up in the 1980's so I can still remember having to locate books using that indexing/numbering system – pulling actual index cards out of the drawer lol)
@jamesanonymous2343
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
STUDIO INTERVIEWS,,,, FLASH CARD IMAGES, RANDOM CHATTER, ,,,,,,,,"YUKKK"",,,,,,
@77AbleArcher
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
We are never more than a generation from losing all or most of the cultural, medical, and scientific advances and intellect we have gained up to this point. Mankind is always teetering on backsliding into the dark ages.
@mduduzibhebhe4268
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
1. Whats the obsession with Mars? How can people suggest we can go to mars when we are failing to conquer the desert and the actics. Wouldnt it be simpler to try and regreen the deserts with all that money?
@cjmacq-vg8um
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
what the gentleman at 20:40 calls "optimists" i call opportunists, manipulators and profiteers. too many of these so-called brilliant people incorrectly equate technological development to "progress." they can't seem to grasp the reality of how destructive humanity's dependence and addiction to corporate technology really is. for nearly 200 years our writers have warned us of the coming police-state and it seems these people applaud its arrival. go figure.
@ElijahSherwood-tq4iq
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Electrons feed off others like memory
@ElijahSherwood-tq4iq
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Existence is individualized and soley depends on me, the creator. Everything is apart of my evolution. My evolution is the time line of life. 🧐
@ericarezzo6675
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
With Trillions of planets existence is not "improbable" , you just only experience it if you happen to be it, so you think it's so improbable, but it is actually quite likely.
@KodamaVile
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
i really like this futurist guy, feels like way too many ppl are worried about problems that dont even really exist or are so abstract that its nearly impossible to find a solution
when you could just do what your capable of, and be a bit more optimistic
@ddespair
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
There is good news about the future and it lies in the greatest question of all. Why is there something and not nothing? See, at one point there was nothing, but against all odds, odds even greater than that guy was saying, greater than 10 to the 100, the universe came into being. Now here’s the good news. The universe was nonexistent from nothing and came into existence. So even if it implodes in on itself, or fizzles to darkness, you can rest assured that we can surmount those odds again. In fact, I would wager we aren’t the first universe. There is an old saying that “nothing lasts forever” but the truth is we overcame the odds to exist from nothing, and therefore we can deduce that while you and I won’t last forever, something will.
@Montycarlo10
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Science is beautiful in explaining how the universe works etc etc. ultimately we’ll never now why, why is existence here, it’s purpose etc… This isn’t to be little us it’s just how things are in the grand scheme of existence. In fact what’s the purpose of existence as a whole. We live we die is it really that it, what about after death. Organically we know how we exist, but what about why or is it even important because if we never came into existence we wouldn’t even know so what is the purpose of existence
@rockotter666
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Meaning and purpose, Existentialism 101 ; )
@thetruth156real3
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Nothings improbable unless you have something to compare it to. We as an entity are unique so there can’t be anything that’s improbable.
@AnonymousWon-uu5yn
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
My purpose is to help prevent suffering and that's why I'm an antinatalist.
@thetruecrimeshow6882
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
This will age badly as we realize life is everywhere in the universe.
@soopahsoopah
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
That's cool just don't say God
@heatherlewis9951
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
The Templeton Foundation? Ugh. Hard pass.
@9Achaemenid
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
cash is the only real purpose of the individual..without it there is no life.
@ritamsadhukhan772
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
If you belive it and belive it hard enough anything is possible that's how simple it is.
Even the impossible
@clairearan505
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
I think there's something rather than nothing because nothing is not a possible state. Nothing can't "be". It can't be imagined or described. There is nowhere that there "is" nothing. The is no "where" that there is nothing, because nothing can't have a location, or any reference, descriptor, or indeed anything at all. And because "nothing" is an impossibility, there must be "something". "Why is there something rather than nothing?" is a question that contains its own answer: "is".
@markwrede8878
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
The infinite consists of an endless array of finite possibilities, vastly increasing the likelihood of similar existences to our own.
@ricklocke1187
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
It amazes me that the right wing Christian republicans have no curiosity about anything that they are so complete in their ignorance and stupidity yes god did it end of story
@AdamScarcella
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
This was fantastic! Keep up the great work and keep asking the BIG questions. Thanks
@ginomazzei1076
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
What nonsense
This program is so thin and anemic.
Arthur C Clark said “there are two possibilities..one is we are all alone, the other is we are not alone..Both are terrifying “
@DSAK55
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
We're just Boltzmann's Brain
@georgedobler7490
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
How can something that has happened be improbable. It is a fait accompli. Probability 1.
@cram1nblaze
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
brand new never used gloves, never used chipping hammer, poor stance, and she works on mars. ok good luck to us.
@David-r3g2o
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
The world is doomed too many negatives. Nuclear weapons wars famine just a matter of time
@Gargamel-n-Rudmilla
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
It is sheer magic that life exists on Earth and intellogent life like apes, dolphines, whales, elephants…. social animals.
The evolution of our solar system and sun is unique just like each persons fingerprint.
@MarkS-23
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Life is a gift I hold with immeasurable gratitude. I am ready for what comes next, for from the wonder of stardust we all came, and to the wonder of stardust we will all return. Thank you for this journey.
@iampuzzleman282
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Well this may be the case most people on this planet really could care less and and lack the level of awareness so they can fully appreciate our situation. Unfortunately many humans are still like animals who lack the ability to appreciate their environment so in the end we're all doomed and we're gonna disappear and after all it really doesn't matter anyway because nobody really gives a crap because we all die in the end and no one cares
@shawnosborn8887
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Obviously it's not improbable that humans exist. It's just what happened.
Comments are closed.