Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Do Aliens Speak Physics?: And Other Questions about Science and the Nature of Reality (Whiteson & Warner, 2025) is a mind-bending exploration into what it would mean, scientifically and philosophically, for humans to communicate with an extraterrestrial intelligence through the language of physics. Daniel Whiteson, a particle physicist, and Andy Warner tackle deep questions: Are concepts like “number,” “space,” “time,” and “laws of nature” universal, or are they shaped by our biology, culture, and perception? What assumptions do we make that might not translate to a species evolved under utterly different conditions? The book pushes us to examine where physics ends and human perspective begins, to reflect on whether alien minds might think mathematics differently, sense reality differently, or have radically different “basic science.”
Join us on SETI Live as communications specialist Beth Johnson speaks with co-author Daniel Whiteson about the surprising places he found ambiguity, what assumptions underlie science as we know it, and what our notion of physics might reveal — or blind us to — when grappling with alien intelligence.
Learn more about the book: https://sites.uci.edu/alienphysics/
#Book #Science #SETI #AreWeAlone #Space #SpaceScience #ScienceBook #Physics
If you like science, support the SETI Institute! We're a non-profit research institution whose focus is understanding the nature and origins of life in the universe. Donate here: seti.org/donate
Learn more about the SETI Institute and stay up-to-date on awesome science:
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/SETIInstitute
- Watch our streams over on Twitch at twitch.tv/setiinstitute
- Listen to our podcast, Big Picture Science [http://www.bigpicturescience.org](http://www.bigpicturescience.org/)/
- Subscribe to our newsletter seti.org/signup
- Buy merchandise from Chop Shop chopshopstore.com/collections/seti-institute/SETI
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Do Aliens Speak Physics?: And Other Questions about Science and the Nature of Reality (Whiteson & Warner, 2025) is a mind-bending exploration into what it would mean, scientifically and philosophically, for humans to communicate with an extraterrestrial intelligence through the language of physics. Daniel Whiteson, a particle physicist, and Andy Warner tackle deep questions: Are concepts like “number,” “space,” “time,” and “laws of nature” universal, or are they shaped by our biology, culture, and perception? What assumptions do we make that might not translate to a species evolved under utterly different conditions? The book pushes us to examine where physics ends and human perspective begins, to reflect on whether alien minds might think mathematics differently, sense reality differently, or have radically different “basic science.”
Join us on SETI Live as communications specialist Beth Johnson speaks with co-author Daniel Whiteson about the surprising places he found ambiguity, what assumptions underlie science as we know it, and what our notion of physics might reveal — or blind us to — when grappling with alien intelligence.
Learn more about the book: https://sites.uci.edu/alienphysics/
#Book #Science #SETI #AreWeAlone #Space #SpaceScience #ScienceBook #Physics
If you like science, support the SETI Institute! We're a non-profit research institution whose focus is understanding the nature and origins of life in the universe. Donate here: seti.org/donate
Learn more about the SETI Institute and stay up-to-date on awesome science:
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/SETIInstitute
- Watch our streams over on Twitch at twitch.tv/setiinstitute
- Listen to our podcast, Big Picture Science [http://www.bigpicturescience.org](http://www.bigpicturescience.org/)/
- Subscribe to our newsletter seti.org/signup
- Buy merchandise from Chop Shop chopshopstore.com/collections/seti-institute/SETI
Don't forget to like and subscribe! Ring the bell for notifications of when we go live.
