Solomin Podcast

In this episode, I sit down with David Kipping, Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University and Director of the Cool Worlds Lab. We discuss Dyson spheres, unusual radioactive elements found in the atmosphere of Przybylski's Star, exomoons, and just how rare the conditions that led to life on Earth may be. We also explore the Fermi paradox and the Dark Forest hypothesis, interstellar travel, laser sails, warp drives, and whether black holes could be used to accelerate spacecraft. David shares what scientists make of 'Oumuamua, UFOs, and interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS, why a strange anomaly alone isn't enough to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life, and what kind of evidence could actually convince the scientific community. Timestamps: 00:00 Teaser 01:39 Who Is David Kipping? 02:06 Tabby's Star and the Dyson Sphere Mystery 05:14 The Strangest Star We Know: Evidence of Aliens? 07:46 Is Someone Dumping Nuclear Waste Into a Star? 11:21 Why Did Kipping Choose to Search for Exomoons? 14:20 What Could the Discovery of an Exomoon Tell Us? 19:03 Is the Moon Necessary for Life? 22:45 Why Don't We See Binary Planets? 26:00 Could Life Exist on a Moon? 30:26 Could Civilizations on Moons Develop Faster? 32:54 Could Aliens Be Trapped on Their Own Planets? 34:19 Could Space Debris Trap Humanity on Earth? 37:53 Could Aliens Already Know We Are Here? 43:38 Why Haven't We Found Another Earth Yet? 44:50 How Do We Search for Alien Civilizations? 49:09 Should Humanity Broadcast Its Presence? 51:10 The Dark Forest Theory: Why Civilizations Stay Silent 53:17 How Could Humanity Reach Other Stars? 55:42 Laser Sails and Near-Light-Speed Travel 57:49 Is Interstellar Travel Actually Possible? 1:02:42 Could Warp Drives Ever Work? 1:05:21 Could Black Holes Accelerate Spacecraft? 1:08:29 How Could We Detect an Advanced Civilization? 1:08:53 Dyson Spheres and Alien Megastructures 1:12:45 Where Would Kipping Search for Aliens? 1:16:14 How Could We Search Other Galaxies? 1:17:21 What Could Survive for Billions of Years? 1:19:15 Could We Decode an Alien Message? 1:22:01 Was Oumuamua an Alien Spacecraft? 1:26:53 What Do We Actually Know About UFOs? 1:32:25 Could AI Be Part of the Great Filter? 1:34:32 Is the Great Filter Self-Destruction?

Avi Loeb is a world-renowned Israeli-American theoretical physicist, the longest-serving Chair of Harvard University's Department of Astronomy, and the founder of the Galileo Project. He is the leading academic voice challenging the scientific establishment to take the search for extraterrestrial technology seriously. The Pentagon has launched a website providing public access to hundreds of declassified UFO files, officially acknowledging the existence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). Meanwhile, Avi and his team led a deep-sea expedition to recover material from what he believes was an interstellar meteor — and say its chemical composition doesn't match anything known in our solar system. We discuss: The 3I/ATLAS anomaly: what this object actually is and why it has captured global attention. The 'Oumuamua mystery: why scientists are still debating this interstellar visitor. The academic trap: the real reasons the scientific community may be holding back our understanding of the universe. The illusion of reality: how limited our perception of what exists beyond the observable universe actually is. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:34 Who Is Avi Loeb? 02:20 Why Has the Conversation About UFOs Started Now? 04:00 How Did Humanity React to 3I/ATLAS? 11:44 People Are Controlled by Public Opinion 15:04 Does Elon Musk Take This Seriously? 19:29 Avi Loeb's Expedition to the Pacific Ocean 23:47 The Bet Between Avi Loeb and Elon Musk 24:25 Could Elon Musk Be the First to Discover Extraterrestrial Life? 26:00 The "Breakthrough Starshot" Project 29:24 US and Russian Authorities on 3I/ATLAS and 'Oumuamua 32:22 Avi Loeb on 3I/ATLAS 35:02 What Could 3I/ATLAS Actually Be? 37:07 Is Extraterrestrial Intelligence AI? 40:52 Gleb Solomin's Hypothesis 46:55 The Fermi Paradox 50:46 Avi Loeb on Pentagon Publications 51:52 Could We Bring Trouble Upon Ourselves?

Is it true that the Universe may not have originated the way we usually think — and that the Big Bang is only one piece of a far more complex picture? In this episode, I talk with American astrophysicist Brian Keating, Professor of Physics at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, about the origin of the Universe, the nature of the Big Bang, the multiverse, and the future of the cosmos. We discuss: How could the Universe have emerged from "nothing"? What gave rise to the Sun and the Earth? Why might the Big Bang not have been the event we usually imagine it to be? What could have existed before the Universe formed? What are the different levels of the multiverse? Could there be universes that formed without a Big Bang at all? What is happening to dark energy — and could the Universe one day collapse? How stable is everything we consider reality? Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:39 Who Is Brian Keating? 03:28 Losing the Nobel Prize? 06:14 How Could Something Come from Nothing? 08:41 Hypotheses on the Origin of the Universe 11:06 How Can the Existence of a Multiverse Be Proven? 15:46 Is the Universe Expanding? 18:00 Will We Disappear? Could the Universe Collapse? 24:18 AI Einstein? 26:30 Could the Universe or Civilization Not Exist? 28:47 String Theory 32:51 Will AI Help Science? 35:08 Levels of the Multiverse 39:00 Mathematics and Reality: How Are They Connected? 43:00 Is Our World a Projection from a Two-Dimensional Boundary? 44:24 UFOs and Extraterrestrial Civilizations

Could up to 90% of humanity disappear within the next 50 years? Is the world heading toward widespread famine? And could artificial intelligence gradually strip people of their freedom? In this episode, I sit down with Jiang Xueqin, a Yale graduate, educator, and researcher who uses game theory to analyze global conflicts, competition between nations for resources, and possible scenarios for the future. He previously predicted Donald Trump's victory and a conflict between the United States and Iran. Now, he explains what could happen next. We discuss: Why could conflicts around the world continue to escalate? Could fertilizer shortages trigger a global famine? Why could up to 90% of humanity disappear within the next few decades? What three factors could lead to the collapse of the United States? Why does the struggle for oil, resources, and trade routes shape global politics? How can artificial intelligence be used to predict and control human behavior? Why might it be more advantageous to turn humans into robots than to build actual robots? What can individuals do in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable? Timestamps: 00:00 Teaser 02:09 Professor Jiang's Story 07:47 What Is Game Theory in Geopolitics? 07:52 How Did Game Theory Help Predict the U.S.–Iran Conflict? 08:35 Mackinder's Theory: How Does Controlling Strategic Straits Give You Global Power? 13:48 What Are the U.S. and Iran Really Fighting Over? 13:55 How Did Jiang End Up at Yale? 17:56 Severe Depression Caused by University 19:56 How Could the Dollar Become a Problem for America? 23:46 Three Reasons Why U.S. Decline Is Inevitable 26:30 "The AI Industry Is a Ponzi Scheme" 27:45 America's Demographic Crisis 29:24 Why Is the U.S. Headed for Civil War? 31:59 How Do You Graduate from Yale with Honors? 36:47 Was AI Created to Control People? 40:19 What Is It Like to Live Under AI-Powered Surveillance in China? 42:19 Why Do Algorithms Make People Unhappier? 43:44 Is AI's Goal to Turn Humans into Robots? 46:19 From Yale Graduate to Hitting Rock Bottom 49:39 Three Dangerous Mindsets Elite Education Teaches You 50:41 How Can You Become Anyone You Want to Be? 55:20 "Yale Makes People Arrogant, Not Educated" 56:51 The Formula for Success Backed by Research 1:02:07 Does IQ Really Tell Us Anything About Success? 1:04:15 Will Robots Help Humanity—or Enslave Us? 1:11:27 Will a World Run by Robots Become a Dystopia? 1:14:19 Are Robots Already Controlling Us? 1:17:44 Could 90% of Humanity Disappear? 1:19:34 How Can You Prepare for the Future Today? 1:21:43 The Story That Changed His Life Forever

Most AI researchers think alignment is a hard problem. Roman Yampolskiy argues it's an impossible one. Yampolskiy is a computer scientist at the University of Louisville and one of the longest-standing voices in AI safety research. For over a decade he has argued that controlling a system more intelligent than ourselves isn't a challenge the field will eventually solve — it's a structural limit we can't get past. His position sits at the far end of AI safety discourse, and most of the field disagrees with him. In this conversation we get into why he holds it, what he thinks the rest of the community is missing, and what the next decade looks like if he's right. What we cover: The impossibility argument: why he sees alignment not as a problem to solve, but as a wall. His timeline for ASI, and what — if anything — could meaningfully slow it down. Why he's skeptical of the alignment work being done at the frontier labs. What happens to economies, employment, and human agency in the years before ASI arrives. Whether any policy or technical move in 2026 actually buys time. If Yampolskiy is wrong, this is one researcher's pessimism. If he's right, almost nothing else we're doing matters. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:10 When Will AI Become Dangerous to Humanity? 02:37 AI Tried to Avoid Being Shut Down 03:13 When Did AI Try to Lie? 03:44 Have We Entered the Technological Singularity? 04:58 When Should We Expect the Emergence of AGI? 06:17 Is Polymarket an Indicator That an Event Will Happen? 07:20 What Will People Feel When ASI Appears? 09:03 Which Professions Will Disappear — and Which Won't? 09:44 What Is the Motivation of AI Creators? 11:32 Should We Expect No Limits on AI? 12:58 Is Nuclear Weaponry Comparable to AI? 13:42 Skepticism Around AI 15:28 Would Other Civilizations Also Create AI? 17:06 About the Simulation Hypothesis 18:17 Are We Living in a Simulation? 20:01 When Could the Simulation Have Been Started? 20:38 How to React Calmly to the Future? 21:30 How Can Humanity's Extinction Date Be Delayed? 22:25 76% of People Have Never Used AI 23:29 Investing Money in AI 23:59 AI Safety Departments in Companies 24:50 Elon Musk's Vision of the Future 26:36 Future Competitions Without AI 27:02 What Is the Probability That AI Will Destroy Us? 29:06 Does Humanity Have Only a Few Years Left? 29:51 Competition Between AIs 31:25 OpenAI's Contract With the Pentagon 32:23 Does Claude Have Consciousness? 35:05 The Future of AI 36:25 Scientists From the 2000s Reacting to AI 38:06 Is a Quantum Computer Possible? 39:26 The Microtubule Hypothesis and Neuromorphic Computers 40:01 Do We Have Only 2 Years Left Until the Point of No Return? 41:32 Is There a Ray of Hope?

In this episode, I talk with Seth Lloyd, MIT professor and one of the pioneers of quantum computing. We discuss how quantum computers work and why just a few hundred qubits could unlock computational capabilities far beyond those of conventional computers, whether quantum computers will be able to break modern encryption, and how they could accelerate the development of artificial intelligence. We also explore whether it might be possible to simulate the entire Universe, why the Universe itself can be viewed as a quantum computer, whether the laws of physics allow time travel and sending information into the past, as well as black holes, quantum information, and the limits of our understanding of reality. Timestamps: 00:00 Teaser 01:31 Who Is Seth Lloyd? 02:20 Can Information Travel Faster Than the Speed of Light? 04:20 "We Performed an Analogue of Time Travel" 07:32 Can We Send Information Into the Past and Avoid the Grandfather Paradox? 08:38 How Could You Build a Time Machine Using Black Holes? 11:37 Why Did Seth Lloyd Start Working on Quantum Computers? 14:50 Why Are Intelligence Agencies Afraid of Quantum Computers? 17:44 Will Quantum Computers Be Able to Break Modern Encryption? 20:18 Why Has a Fully Functional Quantum Computer Still Not Been Built? 24:03 The Biggest Problem in Quantum Computing — Decoherence 27:40 How Is a Quantum Computer Different From a Classical Computer? 33:33 How Will Quantum Computers Change Artificial Intelligence? 34:34 Can We Simulate the Entire Universe on a Computer? 37:43 Are We Living in a Simulation? 39:09 Seth Lloyd's Story About Stephen Hawking 41:51 Which of Hawking's Discoveries Changed Physics the Most? 44:11 Could Our Three-Dimensional Universe Be a Hologram? 50:06 Could We Be Living Inside a Black Hole? 51:56 What Would Happen to a Person Inside a Black Hole? 52:51 What Happens to Consciousness After Death? 56:10 "Collective Consciousness Is Far More Important Than Individual Consciousness" 1:01:45 Could the Universe Be a Giant Brain? 1:05:12 Why Has AI Become So Good at Deceiving People? 1:07:48 Why Do Billionaires Fund Fundamental Science? 1:13:21 How Could Humanity Communicate With Aliens? 1:16:16 Why Do We Still Not Know How Life Began? 1:18:59 Could Black Holes Be the Final Stage of Advanced Civilizations? 1:21:00 "Aliens Could Be Dark Matter" 1:23:19 Could Black Holes Be the Computers of the Universe? 1:26:13 What Will Quantum Computers Look Like in 20 Years?

Is the speed of light really not an absolute limit? Could time travel be possible? And are some of the most popular theories in modern physics impossible to test? In this episode, I talk with Sabine Hossenfelder, theoretical physicist and one of the world's best-known science communicators. We discuss some of the biggest mysteries in modern physics: the origin of the Universe, the nature of time, the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations, artificial intelligence, free will, and the theories causing the most controversy among scientists today. We discuss: Why might the speed of light not be the limit for transmitting information? Are we searching for alien civilizations in entirely the wrong places? Is time travel possible according to modern physics? Why might free will be an illusion? Could artificial intelligence ever become truly conscious? Are we living inside a computer simulation? Why is the multiverse impossible to prove? What do we actually know about the Big Bang and the first moment of the Universe? Why does Sabine consider many modern cosmological theories closer to mathematical stories than science? Timestamps: 00:00 Teaser 01:40 Who Is Sabine Hossenfelder? 03:00 Why Haven't We Found Aliens Yet? 07:46 Can We Travel Faster Than Light? 13:06 Is Time Travel Possible? 16:30 The Time Paradox Einstein Couldn't Explain 18:16 Is Our Future Predetermined? 21:40 Do Humans Have Free Will? 28:48 When Will AI Become Smarter Than Humans? 33:00 Are We Living in a Simulation? 36:50 How Could We Prove That Our World Is a Simulation? 37:41 Why Are Scientists Afraid to Study UFOs? 40:52 "Intelligent Life Exists Somewhere in the Galaxy" 41:45 What Was Orbiting Earth 50 Years Ago? 44:41 Does the Multiverse Exist? 46:04 Why Don't Scientists Know How the Universe Began? 50:54 Did the Big Bang Really Happen? 53:08 How Old Is the Universe, Really? 53:43 Has String Theory Failed? 58:20 Was the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life? 1:00:54 A $40 Billion Particle Collider 1:06:36 Should Elon Musk Decide the Future of Science? 1:11:09 Will We Ever Meet Aliens?