# Where are all the aliens?

- Institution: TED
- Department: TED2018
- Speaker: Stephen Webb
- Year: 2018
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Physics, Astronomy and space
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_webb_where_are_all_the_aliens)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

The universe is incredibly old, astoundingly vast and populated by trillions of planets -- so where are all the aliens? Astronomer Stephen Webb has an explanation: we're alone in the universe. In a mind-expanding talk, he spells out the remarkable barriers a planet would need to clear in order to host an extraterrestrial civilization -- and makes a case for the beauty of our potential cosmic loneliness. "The silence of the universe is shouting, 'We're the creatures who got lucky,'" Webb says.

## Lectures

1. [Where are all the aliens?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/stephen_webb_where_are_all_the_aliens/03c9eb08e5fe), 14 min (TED's player)