At Gizmodo, we love a good alien story – especially if it gives us a headache. Personally, I reward the extra points for the dad bonus.
Daniel Whiteton’s book and Andy Warner’s forthcoming book, Do aliens speak physics? And some questions about science and real nature gifts The best combination of all these things. This book imagines what it might be like to discuss physics with aliens, drawing from a diverse range of experts in the history and philosophy of science accompanied by Warner’s fun illustrations and physics puns.
Author Daniel Whitesiteton is a particle physicist at Cern and the University of California, Irvine, and a science communicator and podcast host. Daniel and Kelly’s Extranary Universal. Gizmodo spoke with Whiteteton about the philosophical nature of the search for aliens and what it reveals about our humanity. The following discussion has been slightly edited for grammar and clarity.
Gayoung Lee, GizModo: Okay, so, like aliens talking physics? What is this question you ask?
Daniel The whitetetons: I don’t know if aliens speak physics! That is why I wrote this book, to argue both sides of this question. I feel like most of the stars who think that the physics we do are universal … that the way we do things and the way we live is the only way.
I wanted to push back on that a little bit and explore and make a different argument and suggest that there might be a lot of personality in the physics that we do – the way we ask, the questions we see, and our way of thinking.
Gizmo: At the beginning of your own book, you present an extended version of something called the Drake Equation. What is it, and how did you restore it?
The whitetetons: The Drake Equation is a fun way to frame your thoughts on whether there are other intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. There must be stars or planets about them, life that evolved developed sensitivity and technology, and they must have done it almost before the window of time that we can communicate with them.
Break these factors down separately because they are different problems. It emphasizes something really important: you have to have all the pieces to work. If any of those numbers go to zero, you’re out of luck.
But in the book, we don’t care as intelligent aliens. We want to find intelligent aliens do science The way we do it is to learn from them. Besides, there is so much space to explore, and all those things have to meet this intergalactic science conference which is my baby.
Gizmo: OK, so let’s drop some of these extras. The first relates to aliens doing science at all.
The whitetetons: Of course. This was tricky to deal with. I think a lot of people think that when aliens come, they’re technical – because they’re here. They have some way of crossing long interstellar distances, so they must have a scientific understanding of how they do it.
But historians of science and philosophers of science understand that Technology does not require science. We have been using stone tools for millions of years. We had expertise in terms of writing, fermentation, metallurgy, and agriculture. These are technological advances that have improved our lives without understanding how they work.
Having a scientific mindset will speed up your technology, but it’s not essential. So that’s what we’re covering in that question. Does science really matter? What is science anyway?
Gizmo: So you take as aliens is science, the other thing is that it asks the same questions.
The whitetetons: The driving philosophy for me was the emergent question – why is the entire universe comprehensible at all? We can use simple mathematical tools to understand the world around us. Instead of everywhere being full of chaos, somehow this is simple.
We don’t know what the actual base layer is – if it has one. Therefore, all our Science studies emergency events. It could be that it’s kind of how we filter the atmosphere. The atmosphere is crazy and filled with all kinds of serious noise, but we see some interesting stories.
On the other hand, if something appears that is part of the universe – as there is a certain way of things in between – then we will have the same thing with aliens. They will study the planets the way we do. They will learn particles the way we do. They will see the same simple stories. But it’s not something we know is happening until it happens.
Gizmo: Do you think there is a point when trying to communicate with animals on Earth to prepare them as aliens? It can be argued that the elevation of interpenties between animals on earth is also zero tolerance for how it can make an extraterrestrial, intelligent message.
The whitetetons: I think I will disagree. I mean, I agree that it is unlikely that learning dolphins will help us communicate with aliens. But the fact that we failed to communicate with those types tells us that there is a lot to learn from talking to other types and that doing more and being more successful can set us up for more success in the future.
There are definitely some assumptions we make and some obstacles we haven’t overcome. So, we can’t understand why or how whales sing and how bats click to each other, but there’s definitely something going on.
Gizmo: The extended drake equation is not a yes-or-no question for Aliens. A good situation where we can have a reasonable, reasonable exchange with them.
The whitetetons: Yes.
Gizmo: I feel that it makes it very difficult for us to meet a “proper” foreign civilization. In your opinion, what is the worst situation that does not end with everyone in the world dying?
The whitetetons: (Laughs) Yes, well, one amazing result is that everything is aligned with everything. They just tell us the answers, and we are set for a scientific future – an amazing one!
More frustrating, what you might call the worst case scenario, is that there is there is no one other than when you do science the way we are. They don’t care about our questions. They want different answers. They see a different piece of the universe – we are alone at a table at an intergactactic Science conference. That would be unfortunate.
From a philosophical point of view, it might be more interesting if like aliens don’t do it Satisfy any of our requirements, because that’s where we learn about unique things. Like, “Oh, wow, that’s interesting that we do this science this way, and everybody’s doing that. What does that mean for being human?”
So I think philosophers would be very happy if they were the only ones in the galaxy doing science this way. But scientists will surely be frustrated.
Gizmo: In that value, the search for the intelligent life of the EGE of the Ego itself?
The whitetetons: Oh, of course. Definitely. On the other hand, we want to find like strangers, because it confirms us. On the other hand, that discovery, finding more human-like aliens, would make us special.
What I love about alien searches is that any response is mind-blowing and surprising in its own way. So, I’m definitely a working alien, whatever. Even if Aliens show up and send us to hydrogen mines, I still think that would be interesting. I’m a stranger to travel – I’ll take the risk!
Gizmo: The book presents an interesting union of philosophy and science, but he is a doctor of science. So, writing this book, researching it, how did the process change the way you approach it as a scientist?
The whitetetons: Good question. You know, I’ve always been interested in philosophy on an amateur level. But I noticed that particle physics is full of people who have strong philosophical views but think that philosophy is a waste of time. They have this [Richard] Feynman’s attitude is that sportsmen need philosophers the way birds need ornithologists.
If you ask them, is it a real top quark? Was it there before we found it? They’ll say, “Yes, what are you, an idiot? Yes, it is. It’s physical; we got it;
… I found those two things contradictory. Yes, we did not create these particles, but we do not see them, we do not hold them in our hands, and we do not meet them. We tell stories about how the universe works. But in the end, those are newsand stories that satisfied themselves we. We don’t know if the same stories can satisfy other people, so it definitely shines a light on my work and makes me wonder what it means.
But even if physics isn’t universal, it doesn’t make me interested in doing physics. I still think it’s a fun puzzle to try to break the universe. We are in this close relationship with the universe, and it is very important to us. It’s part of being human.
Do aliens speak physics? It is published by WW Norton & Company and will be available online or in hardcover on November 4, 2025.
