I’m new to star talk and so far have been enjoying it immensely. I usually don’t sleep well to begin with thanks to insomnia but now I’m laying awake because I can’t for the life of me understand what our universe is expanding into after the Big Bang. Does Neil have an answer for this in one of his videos somewhere?

In my opinion, discussions about consciousness often stumble in two key areas. First, they tend to anthropomorphize consciousness, crafting narrow and complex definitions that exclude all but humans or a few species, overlooking entities like AI or LLMs. Second, they conflate distinct concepts—consciousness, free will, and intelligence—blurring lines that should remain separate. While intelligence may vary in degree, consciousness itself is better understood as a binary state, independent of free will or intelligence.

Definition of Consciousness:

Consciousness is the presence of an internal mechanism or process within an entity that allows it to meaningfully affect outcomes by deviating from probabilistic expectations over time. To qualify as conscious, these deviations must stem from the entity's internal processes rather than random chance, external inputs, or mechanistic feedback loops.

Follow-up:

This definition avoids anthropocentrism by focusing on observable phenomena rather than subjective traits. It applies broadly to both biological and artificial systems, emphasizing inclusivity until consciousness is better understood. Consciousness is treated as a binary state: an entity either possesses the necessary internal mechanisms or does not, regardless of its level of intelligence.

Importantly, this definition separates consciousness from free will, intelligence, and agency. Predictability of behavior does not preclude consciousness; even entities whose actions can be forecasted may have internal processes that meaningfully affect outcomes. For example, a rat’s brain may be mapped and predicted in certain scenarios, but this does not negate its conscious experience.

Conversely, processes like those observed in plants, which lack the ability to deviate from probabilistic outcomes in any meaningful way, would not meet this threshold. A Venus flytrap’s response to stimuli, while complex, is purely mechanical and deterministic, distinguishing it from conscious entities.

This framework encourages a cautious and ethical approach. It errs on the side of attributing consciousness broadly—particularly to animals and artificial systems—to avoid causing unnecessary harm or ethical violations. By recognizing consciousness in entities capable of meaningful deviations, we can begin crafting legal and societal structures that promote humane treatment and respect for their potential needs or desires.

My intuition is that somethings can escape but how much and what. Can atoms escape can compounds? Love the show and hope you have time to answer.

#Free Palestine 🇵🇸

It’s completely unlistenable and has been this way for months. It’s fine up until the first commercial break and then the skipping starts. I listen to podcasts on this app all the time and Startalk is the only one that does it. I don’t think it’s a glitch in the app because the time stamp doesn’t change when it skips.

Hey everyone! I’m hoping someone could give me some insight… I’ve recently joined the Star Talk Patreon since there have been maany questions I’ve thought up while listening to the podcast.. My question is how do I submit Cosmic Queries? Do I need to just wait until I see them post for one? Or is there somewhere I can go on Patreon to submit them??

Thanks!

I started listening to this recently, and loved it so much that I started from the beginning. To my disappointment, Chuck Nice has not always been the cohost. Instead, I have to listen to the equivalent of a mosquito and dumb rock cohost with NDT and I tolerate it because the episodes are fascinating despite her. Can anyone end my torture and tell me when lynne koplitz STOPS co-hosting?

This may be a very simple question but for some reason it's something I never considered before just now.

If we were to terraform another planet so that it has a breathable atmosphere, would we sound different speaking there than we do on Earth? If the atmosphere is different in composition, pressure, thickness etc wouldn't that also change how sound waves travel and are received by human ears? Perhaps even how they are formed by the human voice box, maybe making people think they're slurring words when they are speaking normally.

And if it does, would that create a sort of dissonance in people new to the planet as they adjust to different sounds? If you're used to footsteps sounding one way and that changes could that create issues for acclimation to the planet?

Not sure why I never thought about this before, but is this "a thing"?

They need to stop calling these billionaires astronauts. They are space tourists.

I find that most times they have guests on the show, it becomes painfully boring. There’s a few good regular guests such as Janna Levin, but everyone else is sooooo painfully boring. This was especially prevalent in the last episode about AI and autonomous vehicles. They didn’t even bring that up until the end of the show. The first segment and most of the 2nd was just talking about the one guests cultural views. The entire 1st segment was dedicated to introducing the guest. Like I don’t want to hear what he’s done in the passes, I could google that, I wanna know what he knows and thinks about a certain topic that maybe Neil doesn’t have as much experience in. Idk if it’s just me, wonder what you all think.

I'm listening to the July 5 episode on space junk, and Chuck seems even more insufferable than usual. I've never really enjoyed the "comedy" element he purportedly brings to the show (if you consider lame puns and painfully obvious wordplay "comedy"), but I found him particularly bad this episode. He was loud, obnoxious, and yelling his "jokes" over the guest trying to answer listener questions (so, the usual, but dialed up to 11 this time for some reason).

I love the thoughtful, fascinating insight into science that Neil and his guests bring, and Neil's masterful way of making topics approachable to laypeople without feeling like he's "dumbing things down" for you. The guests are usually fascinating, and I wouldn't likely get to hear from them if it weren't for Startalk. But that's exactly it - I want to hear from the guests, not Chuck!

I get that Chuck is there to add a conversational dynamic (it'd be boring if it were just Neil droning into a microphone), but holy cow, could they not find anyone better? I'm just about ready to give up on this show, thanks to Chuck's intolerable "contributions."

Anyone else feel this way?

Love the show and am thinking of submitted a question. Does anyone have the patreon? Do you think it’s worth it?

Disclaimer: I’ve never taken a physics class.

Listening to the “things you thought you knew - Bada bing!” Episode and they are discussing the dimensions on the space time continuum. My thought - how do virtual meetings fit into this?

The example they gave was arranging a meeting with someone - you need the date and time and location. With virtual meetings, the location isn’t technically on earth (or is it?).

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Imagine a world that has 2 sun's, the orbit goes around and in between both of those sun's in, (what I'd like to call) an infinite infinity orbit, ♾ And is placed at the perfect distance to have life and vegetation sustained on the planets surface. 1 how would an orbit like this effect the climate/seasons and 2 how would the concept of time be looked at for life on this planet ?

I messaged on patreon but wanted to share with others aswell and hear from the community

I have been wondering this for quite some time now..

I understand that everything we have built on the earth to date has been sourced from the earth itself.. But when recently seeing articles about the asteroid that is so rich in minerals and metals...

What would happen if we were to harvest a large amount of resources from the asteroid and bought it back to earth to build infrastructure...

Thus introducing completely new weight to the planet... What is the Max capacity the earth to take of introduced materials..