Are we alone in the universe? | Martin Rees and Lex Fridman
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2022
- Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: • Martin Rees: Black Hol...
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GUEST BIO:
Lord Martin Rees is cosmologist and astrophysicist at Cambridge University and co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.
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I have untold respect for Martin Rees. Brilliant minded man.
Thanks for telling us
@@timhsvwalkinsha yo Tim I have Jock itch ...it's driving me crazy on top of that I had a burrito 🌯 & it's back me pounded the toilet relentlessly 🌯💩🪠🚽
@@therealchristopherrobin3836 use mustard on it
True Michael
Can we all thank Lex for letting his guest speak and not making the interview about himself like many do.
Joe Rogan do pretty well
Who does that?
@@RX7MAN27 Rogan lmao
@@livingminimumwage6359 wrong he’s actually a good interviewer and if he does talk about himself it’s called the joe Rogan show for reason lmfao
@@Dave_of_Mordor I disagree.
Anyone would be extremely fortunate to be at this age and so sharp and well spoken. Much respect
It's scary to think we might be the ancient advanced civilisation people talk about.
More disappointing than anything 💀
why is that scary?
Accept the universe is very young. We are early
Early to what? Man there are so many planets, we don't even know what early means. If the conditions on other planets were near to perfect then they are already far ahead.
@@questionmark8046 have you ever read all tomorrows? In the book, there is an alien race that were billions of years ahead of humanity, and they felt that they were the true inheritor of the universe. When they found mankind who was trying to colonize other planets, they were offended, so they change us into all different kind species, and we have to start all over again. Some post-human species never regained their intelligence, and some did. It's an interesting book
Consciousness and life feel like a dream where the edges are blurred
It's like lex is interviewing an elderly english version of himself hahaha
Martin Rees is fabulous. His book on the future is brilliant. So great to see him on Lex.
Totally agree
Are we alone in the universe?
IDK but I am alone definitely
we're both alone, buddy
@@Dave_of_Mordor does that make us both a bit less alone or nah 🧐
We're all alone, no matter if you're with anyone.
@@mellstroy_unfazed nah we're just strangers online. we're both still very lonely
@@colinorton4791 unless the person you're with is a close friend
IMO, he's got that spot-on right about the "electronic" progeny and how they may act over cosmic time. Few people 'get it'.
I couldn't agree more.
I love this idea: "(...)Maybe they're not expansionists at all".
That sums it up.
would've never guessed lex would get Mr Rees wow 👌 truly incredible
Life is everywhere and it’s abundantly clear just as the stars fill the sky with light 🌌
Earth is amazing and everyone should be living and enjoying it. Focus on problems only is a mere existence. Life is meant to be lived - always be optimistic and you will be happier
Another great clip Thanks 🙏 Lex
What a fascinating point of view
good clip
Lex, you are a very patient man!
Excellent 💥
Wow love this.
It's lex interviewing future lex
If alien civilizations are anywhere near us (in the Milky Way, to be specific), they would be incredibly hard to detect. There’s no guarantee they’re building megastructures we could see. If they were hopping around their solar systems in space ships we wouldn’t be able to see that. We can’t even see our own space probes after a certain point.
Not to mention that cosmos could be a "dark forest" and most advanced civilizations choose to be silent and avoid drawing attention to themselves.
I dont think, they should be difficult to find ! Just consider that we've been sending radio signals all around our own planet since a bit more than 100 years. This means, that pretty much anyone in 100 light years distance, could be able (if sufficently advanced to built radiotelescopes) to hear our radio signals. Furtether more, to keep a civilization "silent" would mean: no individual, no organization, or gouvernement entities in these entire civilization could use radio signals to communicate. No wifi, no tv, no radio, no cellular, no radar, no sattelite infrastructure around their planet, etc..... All things that will permeat trough space at the speed of light and give up their presence. Verry unlikely I would guess.
@@goulet268 I think most advanced civilizations would not be using any spectrum of light for communication, it's too slow even at a local level without some lag or delay. I'd imagine they would fold space and use a portal to propagate gravity waves as their signal or perhaps exploit quantum phenomenon for virtually instant communication.
Using radio signals is probably short lived to a few centuries before something better is discovered. The chances of any two civilizations living close enough to each other using primitive radio signals at the same time for communication is probably nearly zero. Also more advanced civilizations might encrypt their communications to sound like background noise so that any nearby civilization won't discover them.
@Slimeballl He's definitely on DMT
@Slimeballl No. It's just hubris to think that advanced civilizations would use our notion of technology. We've barely had science for a few hundred years, we're probably still babies learning how to crawl in the grand scheme of things.
He so happy, and that makes me happy .
We might not be old or smart enough. I wouldn't, as a grown man, ask a mother to let me play with her child. In the same token, I wouldn't let my child venture too far from home until they're old enough. We tell our kids not to talk to strangers. I just hope I'm still alive if/when we do meet others out there. I want to know the universe has even larger and grander plans than we could have ever imagined.
If they did exist what would they eat and what would they breathe..... you think there's another planet out there with these framing mantis looking aliens driving Z28 Camaros and lifted up pickups back and forth to work
The only thing preventing us from figuring it out is the same thing that we’re trying to use to figure it out- the ego.
Until we evolve the human ego, we’ll keep seeing from a perspective of being stuck in this dimension, stuck in space/time, and stuck in birth/death.
this man is full of pride
we aren't even alone on this planet... they're everywhere. for those with eyes to see.
Guess I have eyes to smell
@@mad-official my condolences
Like men in black?
All this wisdom and brilliance pouring out, and all I can think is how does this ancient man have a full head of hair and I lost mine at 25 wtf?
I feel ya pal
wonderful
Our universe is just a piece of dust on the back of a picture frame
Lex in the UK. nice one Lex
There are between 100-400 BILLION planets just in our milky way and they say there are between 100-200 BILLION galaxies, so there's no chance we're alone
For all we know there could be millions of civilizations out there. The distances are so vast we may never make contact though.
There is a chance we're alone. It's a very small chance. Just like the chance if us being here at all is very small.
Yeah, but what are the probabilities of life evolving the way it did on Earth ? The more I think about it the more I think we are just and accident and maybe we are alone.
Physical contact no way but how about radio signals ( we ve sending for more than 100 years)... Maybe aliens on other planets have reached a Planetary Peace Agreement and have been sending messages for millions of years... Still a blink of an eye in evolution time scale...
Even if theres a single intelligent civilization per galaxy then there would be 2 trillion civilizations in the observable universe
@@gilgamesh119 My conclusion as well unless some evidence is provided to show the opposite.
Good get. Rees still has it.
He’s making a lot of sense
I really hope we're alone in the universe, I do think there are other forms of live but we'd better never find!! We can't even get along with family members imagine what would happen with alien beings.
Open you eyes.They are here
I'm pretty sure the more advanced aliens are protecting us from the ones that want to harm us
The universe is jam packed with life
One of the Legends that are still alive
fuck the boys, let's talk about space!
The word 'legend' is used so much these daysthat it's cringe
@@chuck5419 true but he’s also a Lord…
Yes we are alone! Will forever be until the end.
Life is life, there isn’t alien life that is separated from us, it is life, the state of being alive
Interview Dr. John C Mather, PLEASE!!!!
🛰🛰🛰🚀🚀🚀
The same people who question whether or not we are alone are the same people who believe in UFOs that are not of this world 🤦♂️
Is the origin of life on earth such a high priority as we keep making it in terms of determining whether human consciousness is the only one that exists... I don't think so. It's being over emphasised because we are already here so lets move forwards.
The more I learned things get more special. Because it is truly the less I know with the more I learn and farther I go. However, I think we all fall victim to that what now moment when we get a very large question finally answered that we know people have spent a lifetime or longer working on. Then we gain this arrogance that we know it all and everything seems dull and boring because it wasn't that special and it was quite simple. In all reality we were just unaware but with this comes the awareness growing
Damn he's good!
In an infinite universe that might even be one of an infinite number of universes, the odds of us being alone seem rather small.
Speculation isn't evidence aliens and spaceships don't exist
Theres beings right here on Earth that we don’t see or know about. Nevermind the whole universe
We don't know if the universe is infinite. Geometrically it appears flat, thus infinite but that might be just the limitations of our ability to measure. Could be huge but finite and just appears flat.
It's still an open question.
As for a multiverse... still just speculation.
@@martinw245 flat. Lol
@@BR-ex9xp
Yes FLAT. Geometrically flat. Picture it this way... if you fired an impossible to stop laser straight ahead and it traveled around the universe and hit you in the back of the head the universe would be finite and curved. If it didn't and went on forever it would be flat and infinite. Our best measurements suggest flat.
The less you are connected to the matrix the more you will learn about yourself and this reality. We are not alone. We are being watched at all times. Open all your senses. Work on them individually you will see for yourself. Once your on that path there's no goin back
Definitely a very possible scenario. 👍
Lets say you find out "we're being watched" -- then what? What's your big plan third eye?
You're*
@@soumyaripan5131 I almost died 3 times. The first time I almost died something was built in me that I can't explain. The second time something tried to attach itself to me and It took a few years to be normal. The 3rd time I met a light being. I fought to stay in this reality because my higher self knew it had more to do. If you want know the truths the answers are inside all of us and you find those answers with connecting to your higherself.. I'm sure if you listen to your heart you will say I knew that already.
@@Xarkom89 I would say learn how to harness your emotions first. Secondly they was here before us so nothing. Last but not least become the best version of yourself because the journey doesn't end in death.
I thought comment that “earth isn’t so special” was absurd because as noted by learned scholar 1) we do not understand how life began, 2) if earth was just a little closer to the sun we would toast like Venus or, 3) if our planet was just a little farther away from the sun we would be frozen like Mars. It is my belief that earth is truly unique leading to the question why.
Before clicking on the video I just knew this guy was going to be English.
Amazing guest, Altered Carbon future.
What
Of course not. I'm here
Smart man
Imagine we discover another civilization in the milky way, then many others, as much, or more advanced than us. Maybe then we would think "We should make sure that we hide ourselves from all of them before they spot us", and build systems to make sure we stay unnoticed despite our technological advancements.
Maybe that most advanced civilizations go through the thought of how important it is to not be too easy to be seen. It could make it very difficult to spot any advanced civilization. If humanity evolves into an extremely advanced civilization, we might as well have extremely advanced ways to hide our activities from others in the Universe.
sure, makes sense
Lex you saying life is not special is like saying computers made themselves and evolved to A.I super intelligent 🧠
If we are here they are out there , simple
I haven’t seen any so.. yeah keep imagining them.
I mean even discovering bacteria on a distant plant would be considered alien life. Our species is unique to earth and I doubt another plant has life remotely close to ours. I am interested in seeing other life forms and how they look due to the circumstances of their home planet
Check out a TH-cam video called 'LIFE BEYOND'. There's a couple of episodes and I'm sure episode 2 will answer some of your queries
Competition occurs where resources are finite, perhaps in the infinity of space this trait would no longer be necessary.
Yes we are
q
bro who came up with that thumnail... straight trolling lmaooo
He's just lex :)
One thing to keep in mind is that cellular life as it exists today is not the same as the first cellular life that came into existence on earth. The earliest cells were no doubt simpler. And they had hundreds of millions of years to form.
I think the outcome that we are alone is the scariest but merely because we exist probably means we aren’t alone.
Yes, we are.
So we have fossil records dating back tens and hundreds of millions of years for life on this planet. Humans, (cro-magnon or anatomically modern human) however have only been here for 200,00 years but the craziest part is that we have remained relatively unchanged in terms of cranial capacity and intelligence. If anything, we have started to regress in certain aspects because of the modernization of our world. Based on everything I've seen or read, I'm more inclined to believe the panspermia thesis ESPECIALLY given the fact that ancient religions mention UFO's quite often and even Christianity claims they "came down from upon high", that's literally outer space. We've been through multiple cataclysms and I wouldn't be surprised if we've been more advanced before.
+1
Based on our sample size of '1' i'd assumed that unicellular life was probably inevitable, but that multicellular life - and, thus, brains - required some kind of extraordinary fluke of mutual symbiosis such as the emergence of mitochondria, so as to render its chances all but impossibly slim.
Then i realised that the 'Chinese lanterns' i'd often seen out in the sticks actually had a more likely interpretation (more likely than remote farming communities being the main people buying and launching fire lanterns).. that during the day, they appear as squares or cubes or rectangles - six-sided polyhedra (hexahedra!) more generally.. often exhibiting clearly-controlled flight, and intelligent interaction with one another and their surroundings, including humans.. Then i discovered these 'box-orbs' are being released from, and later re-docking with, flying saucers.. confirming that the entire SETI effort has been staring through the wrong end of the 'scope since day one.
Feel like i'm taking crazy pills here, yet this is reality.. and not everyone's aware of it, yet..
That question has already been answered.
Mathematically seems an impossibility that we are alone. Also life that we are able to directly perceive is only one possible form. There could be way more to reality that we aren’t evolved to even conceive of at this point, undetectable and undiscovered as yet..
simplify your math, call it 50 - 50 were not alone
@KG - why do you think it is mathematically unlikely that we are alone? You mean because there are trillions of planets? Can you define the statistical odds of complex life emerging? As clearly mentioned in this interview scientists still do understand the mechanisms for life to emerge. Simply thinking because we have a lot of something, then life must exist is a false fallacy. It is a bit like saying if I had a had a qintillion bowls of cement there must be life - No, you need the correct ingredients and set of circumstances.
@@tomedward8652 We simply don’t know ..but even restricting the possibilities to biological life, we do know that geochemistry became biochemistry in 100% of the planets with earth conditions that we know. Even nearby in cosmic terms it’s looking like there are lots of others with compatible ingredients at least..
Mathematically it makes more sense we are alone… so far we have a population of one… to obtain probabilities beyond that, you have to assume something that’s never been experienced.
BRIAN COCK THINKS WE ARE ALONE .
We are not alone here on Earth let alone in the Solar System, Galaxy or Universe. There is so much evidence now of otherworldy beings camped out here on Earth, who may have been here long before we evolved that the question about being alone is a mute one.
The Eternal Life, is the Only Reality,
Life have always been alone,
every one knows the feeling of being alone.
But, the Life-Unit-Principle, the masses of individual beings,
does that, We never feel alone.
So, 'Together', We have always been alone.
Some empirical evidence gives strong implications about reality. I get ignored, I think because people prefer what is easy to comprehend or imagine from the conventional view. Mankind is hellbent on finding something interesting off planet. The real fascinating mystery is right here!
Sadly, minds have been programmed to fit conventional thinking.
Off course not...proofs are everywhere..
Bro this guy is an alien 👽
And he is pleading his case for we come in peace lol
If there're some ahead of us......., what makes everybody think that they will want to be found.
If there are two trillion galaxies then logically it's very obvious that life is everywhere.
Yes, and yet there are no signs of any extreme engineering like Dyson spheres/swarms or such large scale machines that would be clearly visible across space.
@@topdog5252 It’s possible that every civilization is around the beginning stage and under because the universe is kind of new
@@born2run121 the universe is not new.
It's terrifying to imagine that we could be the most intelligent life in the universe. We are collectively dumb as shit.
There is only one thing that strikes immediate fear within me, one image that gets a response from my fight or flight program and that is of the big eyed Grey. As someone who routinely spends time alone in the wilderness I always thought this odd, where most people ask me aren't you spooked by things in the night? I just assume I'm the scariest thing wherever I am. At least until I mentioned this to a rather lovely clairvoyant woman who responded without hesitation, oh, that's because you've been abducted. Be careful who you take out for dinner.
"I would do it [study UFOs], but before agreeing to do it, we must insist upon full access to discs recovered. For instance, in the L.A. case, the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination." J. Edgar Hoover-Director of FBI The security guard called and said, “Sir, there’s a glowing red object hovering right outside the front gate. I’ve got all the men out here with their weapons drawn.” We lost between 16-18 ICBMs (nuclear tipped Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) at the same time UFOs were in the area… (A high-ranking Air Force officer) said, “Stop the investigation; do no more on this and do not write a final report. I heard that many of the guards that reported the incident were sent off to Vietnam." Captain Robert Salas, USAF, during a videotaped interview for the Disclosure program. "A few insiders know the truth...and are studying the bodies that have been discovered." -Dr. Edwin Mitchell Apollo 14..the 6th NASA employee to walk on the Moon. "Maximum security exists concerning the subject of UFOs.” CIA Director, Allen Dulles, 1955. "It's still classified above Top Secret." - Senator Barry Goldwater, 1975 “Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe that unknown flying objects are nonsense.” Former CIA Director, Roscoe Hillenkoetter, public statement, 1960. “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false” -William Casey, CIA director, 1981 “Yes, there have been ET visitations. There have been crashed craft. There have been material and bodies recovered. There has been a certain amount of reverse engineering that has allowed some of these craft, or some components, to be duplicated. And there is some group of people that may or may not be associated with government at this point that have this knowledge. They have been attempting to conceal this knowledge. People in high level government have very little, if any, valid information about this. It has been the subject of disinformation in order to deflect attention and create confusion so the truth doesn’t come out. ” ― Edgar D. Mitchell, The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut's Journey Through the Material and Mystical World AFFIDAVIT (1) My name is Thomas Jefferson Dubose (2) My address is: XXXXXXXXXX (3) I retired from the U.S. Air force in 1959 with the rank of Brigadier General. (4) In July 1947, I was stationed at Fort Worth Army Air Field [later Carswell Air Force Base] in Fort Worth, Texas. I served as Chief of Staff to Major General Roger Ramey, Commander, Eighth Air Force. I had the rank of Colonel. (5) In early July, I received a phone call from Maj. Gen. Clements McMullen, Deputy Commander, Strategic Air Command. He asked what we knew about the object which had been recovered outside Roswell, New Mexico, as reported in the press. I called Col. William Blanchard, Commander of the Roswell Army Air Field, and directed him to send the material in a sealed container to me at Fort Worth. I so informed Maj. Gen. McMullen. (6) After the plane from Roswell arrived with the material, I asked the Base Commander, Col. Al Clark, to take possession of the material and to personally transport it in a B-26 to Maj. Gen. McMullen in Washington, D.C. I notified Maj. Gen. McMullen, and he told me he would send the material by personal courier on his plane to Benjamin Chidlaw, Commanding General of the Air Material Command at Wright Field [later Wright Patterson AFB]. The entire operation was conducted under the strictest secrecy. (7) The material shown in the photographs taken in Maj. Gen. Ramey’s office was a weather balloon. The weather balloon explanation for the material was a cover story to divert the attention of the press. (8) I have not been paid or given anything of value to make this statement, which is the truth to the best of my recollection. Signed: T. J. Dubose Date: 9/16/91 Signature witnessed by: Linda R. Split Notary Public, State of Florida "There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself. “ - Daniel Inouye Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition (Iran-Contra hearings) (1987) Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
MEANINGFUL congressional hearings, ala the Watergate hearings, including aerospace/defense contractors and Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson must be held to address a vital issue that transcends politics and we will never properly advance until it happens: The 75+yr ongoing-constitutionally illegal, EXTRATERRESTRIAL and associated TIME TRAVEL cover-ups. How can we truly believe anything our elected officials say?
The dog n pony shows must cease.
Aggression and Darwinian survival presupposes that there is a competition for resources, but other planets may have unlimited or near unlimited resources and may spawn life with a completely different motivator.
It’s always in like 10 or 20 years!! Everyone that’s willing to talk about it scientifically have been saying this for 30+ years. Funding pushes the answer till they give no choice. I suppose we’re getting closer, enough money has been spent, oh scratch that. We need more money to detect something else the detectors we have now just aren’t the right ones. On and on!! Great talk!!
Looks like you were talking to one pleading his case for "we come in Peace" 😂
We are here therefore we know there is intelligent life in the universe but we are so impossibly small and the vast distances in between solar systems and galaxies means we will never be able to make contact with another intelligent life form. Face it, we’re alone for all intents and purposes so love the one you’re with…
The first question they need to ask if we are alone on Earth.
Lex is just a kid, a very smart KID. ✌🏻
Martin says we gonna have humans designing their progeny, can someone please explain to me how we recognize that WE with minds have to make/design intelligence etc..but we ourselves, weren't designed?
JWT can now detect chemical composition of exoplanets.
Lex....I was about to say that you were afraid of Joco (as I would) because of not loking him into his eyes when asking questions.
The aliens knows it's probably best to just shut up...
Smart people are clear as they speak.
Short answer, no we are not.
I don't think we need to try prove life is out there, it should just be common sense by now knowing what we know.
Ahhh Martin Rees, grandfather of Karl Rees; saviour of mankind
Intelligent life is everywhere.
I think it’s hubris to say earth isn’t special. How many roses do you see growing out of volcanic rock? The universe is massive… but the collective mass of the planets really isn’t…. It’s always felt intuitive to me that conscious beings don’t just spring up in the universe. We are extremely special. And frankly, given our origins, we’ve done pretty damn well.
We dont even know what happening in our oceans .
They search the universe with their telescopes, find no life, meanwhile the aliens have been flying through the area here on earth for centuries.
Fabians H . I've said the same thing myself, but maybe they just won't admit to what these Telescopes have found. They are also withholding the fact that there is activity on and around the moon, or that there are huge craft in amongst the stars.
Now virtually admitted by the US government and the Pentagon itself.
#3!
First
Lol
Let's find intelligent life on earth first
If you fill up a box with gears, springs, rods etc. What are the odds, when you shake it a million years, that you get a wrist watch ?
Of course, the smallest self-replicating cell is much more complex, created from much more basic components.
So it is just as much possible, this has happened only once, over the course of the lifetimes of many universes and big bangs.
Then we would be the only ones who can ask the question "are we alone ?"
We tend to think that this universe is big, from our perspective.
So of course we deduct, there has to be more life out there.
This man's answer is simple: We don't know.
We can't even know the odds.
when science fiction fan meets scientist.
It seems the start of life is extremely rare and improbable but after it gets going it is almost impossible to snuff it out or keep it from spreading and changing. Life on earth very well could be the first virus in the universe.
You can't say that because you don't know how rare it is, the universe could be teaming with life
@@coreyp9072 I can say it, im not a god. Its a thought not an attack on anyone's opinion. Just a thought. I'll be the first to say im wrong if someone ever finds life off earth.
Life on earth was single cell for over 3 billion years… it was just in the last billion that something “special” happened allowing it to split into multi cells… and only in the last million years that it became advanced and conscious.
That’s roughly 1/3 the age of the universe on a very stable planet, with a very stable sun, in a very stable solar system….
@@Paul-ic2ki definetly not last million. Intellectually maybe. However birds evolved I believed from raptors? Depending how you view intelligence. There is an animal that can fly, swim and walk. Which is pretty impressive
One hopes that the operators of the Extremely Large Telescope will, in private, simply cut to the chase and refer to it as the BFT.
Bro. That Alien Thing’s 👽 face in the thumbnail looks eerily like the gentleman you’re interviewing? 🤔maybe it’s just a coincidence…..🤨😂🤣
even if life on earth was an "accident", the fact alone that it is possible and there being almost infinite other galaxies, it must have happened somewhere else aswell. Thats just math. In my opinion there are two main reason why we, as a highly intelligent species, are so far alone:
1) highly intelligent life is very improbable, which may be the reason why so far we havent found anything. Dinosaurs ruled this planet for 165 MILLION years, we are here for merely 200 thousand years, which is basically nothing in this context. if the reign of the dinosaurs wouldnt have ended so abruptly, intelligent life like ours might have never come to fruition.
2) the other possibility is that highly intelligent life inevitably leads to selfdestruction, which we are basically witnessing in real time. I mean if I had to bet if humanity survives another thousand years, I think I wouldnt take that bet. I think that we will destroy the planet far far earlier than we could even imagine to attempt space travel either through Weapons of Mass Destruction/Climate Change/ or through artificial intelligence which will be uncontrollable for us.
I think your 1) point is often underestimated. Since evolution favours survival, bigger brain/ability to communicate is not very useful until a certain point. Becoming bigger/stronger/faster will ultimately lead you to the top of the food chain way more often. If it wasn't for a random meteor causing dinosaur mass extinction, we wouldn't be here on this particular planet. Even if evolution leads down the path where fragile, but smart beings like humans end up reaching the top of the food chain, many more things have to fall in place until they can leave their planet, let alone their solar system. The laws of nature are such that potential for destruction is so much bigger than the ability to prevent it. Nukes are bad enough, but I'd wager there's so much more crazy shit that can destroy our civilization in an instant if discovered and not properly controlled, maybe that's just what ultimately happens to every intelligent civilization.