Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Carl Sagan famously said that alien civilizations may be alien in their biology, culture, and language, but we are likely to have physics and math in common with them. Today, many physicists are confident that alien intelligence will do physics much the way we do and that we can use it as a mental bridge if they ever visit. Such a tempting thought, however, requires skeptical inquiry.
When aliens arrive, could we find common ground with them? Could we use physics to establish communication? Do aliens even have to do science to be technological? Whiteson will address these and other pressing questions—with a more skeptical view than is traditionally taken—featured in his new book, Do Aliens Speak Physics?, aided by clever drawings from coauthor Andy Warner.
Carl Sagan famously said that alien civilizations may be alien in their biology, culture, and language, but we are likely to have physics and math in common with them. Today, many physicists are confident that alien intelligence will do physics much the way we do and that we can use it as a mental bridge if they ever visit. Such a tempting thought, however, requires skeptical inquiry.
When aliens arrive, could we find common ground with them? Could we use physics to establish communication? Do aliens even have to do science to be technological? Whiteson will address these and other pressing questions—with a more skeptical view than is traditionally taken—featured in his new book, Do Aliens Speak Physics?, aided by clever drawings from coauthor Andy Warner.
