Things I Changed My Mind About After 27 Years of Space Journalism

What have I changed my mind about? And in Q& A plus, how do we know telescopes are actually taking pictures? All in this question show. It's time for the question show. Your questions, my answers, as always, wherever you are across my channel. If a question pops in your brain, just write it down. I'll gather them up and I will answer them here. This episode is special because somebody asked me a question about changing your mind. what stuff have I been following over 27 years of science journalism that has caused me to change my mind and it was a sort of long journey as I started to think about it and give a proper answer and so it is an answer that takes up this entire episode of the question show. So just one question one answer but I hope uh you enjoy the conversation and I would love to hear your thoughts stuff that you that has changed your mind. All right let's get into the question. Paige

Potter, what's the last thing about space that you changed your mind about? You know, I try to stay pretty flexible and unopinioned about most things in space. So, if you told me that dark matter isn't real, I'll be like, "Okay. " like if there was evidence that the observations for dark matter turned out that it wasn't a particle that it was just bad observations, you know, if dark energy wasn't real or if uh the big bang was like any of this kind of stuff like if there is evidence to show that this thing is different, then I will change my mind immediately. Are there UFOs? You know, if someone shows me evidence of a UFO, I will change my mind overnight. So almost everything that you could present to me as a scientific question, it's really just the weight of the evidence. And that is the way most people who think about science think that way. You know, it is people who um who have built up their beliefs without a pillar of evidence who will then hang on to those beliefs despite evidence that is counter to it. Um, you know, it's very easy for a person who believes in evidence to have their opinion swayed. You just need more evidence. You know, here's the amount of evidence that for the thing that you used to believe, and here's the amount of evidence for the thing that you now believe. Done. Easy peasy. So, I would say the last big thing that I changed my mind about was should human beings live on Mars? When I started Universe Today back in 1999, 27 years ago, I was working at a web design company in Vancouver. That was my career, building websites for banks and power companies and things like that in Vancouver, Canada. And had sort of done a series of worked at software companies and stuff. And but I was sort of feeling disconnected from the things that I'd always loved. And one of those was space. I'd, you know, been had a telescope as a kid. Uh really into science fiction. Um and used to like read books about space. And I was reading Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sean and The Case for Mars by Robert Zubin. And I was just completely inspired. You know, Robert Zubin makes a compelling case that humans should go to Mars. And I was like, "Yeah, we should go to Mars. " And I was getting my dad to read the book and my wife I wouldn't shut up about how humans should go to Mars and how easy it would be and there would you know you could and if they stayed on Mars then it would be even cheaper and you here's the cost and Zubran breaks it all down for you. And you know I'm not alone. I know that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were also totally fascinated inspired obsessed with the exploration of Mars and just human space exploration in general. And I kind of resolved at that moment that I would play some part in humanity's exploration and movement out into the solar system to live on Mars. And then I learned more about how hard it is and the actual challenges and how the kinds of things that you thought were going to be there, the various reasons why we would want to go live on Mars, they evaporated and I was left with nothing. I was, you know, and I think it's a very it's a very similar experience to people who lose their religion that they grow up in some religious household and they're taught these kind of religious ideas and then you are start to become aware of other arguments, other ideas and then at a certain point you're like I kind of don't need this anymore and you and it is sort of it's still part of your programming, part of your sort of core beliefs of who you are And yet you no longer sort of instinctually believe that that's what the future of humanity has. Like I was absolutely, you know, if you had rolled out Elon Musk's plans for colonizing Mars when I was 25 years old, 30 years old, I would be all in. I I attended a Mars Society conference as a journalist, but still I was pretty excited to go. And now my position is very different. You know, a lot of people have a hard time with it when they hear me say it because, you know, I think that humanity should definitely go to Mars. People should walk on the surface of Mars as a sort of that's what's next for space exploration. That we should have a research base on Mars in the same way that we have a research base in Antarctica. We should have a research base on the moon. But I don't think humanity was meant to live on Mars. You know, Earth. Earth is the perfect environment for us. I also think that human space exploration is inevitable that we will colonize the solar system, but I don't think Mars is the place we'll do next. I think we'll probably just colonize space itself, space stations, cuz gravity wells are for suckers. And it's funny to see like a lot of the people who were sort of in that same realm as me having that same sort of personal crisis. I know uh Cody Cody's Lab uh about a year ago put a video where he's like, I kind of don't think humans should colonize Mars anymore. And Cody is, you know, developing technology in the desert for humans to live on Mars and was one of the finalists for the Mars One uh reality show that would send humans to Mars. So, I think that is the biggest difference that I've had where 20 years ago I was baffled when people thought that we shouldn't live on Mars and now I'm like, "No, I don't think we should live on Mars. " So I would say that is the one that I've had the greatest change in my perspective on. And then I would say the other one which has also sort of grown in me since then is my perspective on how we're probably alone in the universe. And again it's just my opinion. You know this is the thing that I've changed my mind about. You know I always say I'm a journalist. I don't have opinions. These are the two things that I do have opinions about. uh because basically they're philosophical questions or economic questions. They're not a scientific question. I mean are we alone in the universe is a scientific question but we don't have enough information to give a scientific answer. So we have to give more of a philosophical answer. So yeah, I would say those are the two. And if you've been like following my work, I don't know, from the beginning or like listening to me on Astronomy Cast, if you listen to early episodes of Astronomy Cast, you will hear me wideeyed, excited about uh the human exploration of Mars. And then you will just hear me become more, I would say more realistic, but you know, you might say more jaded uh about it over time to where I am today. And you know, it's still a fine line that I have to walk to balance my raw enthusiasm for space exploration with the reality of how difficult it is and how underinvested humanity has made this so far. That we can't have the gleaming city on Mars if we don't put in the investment. And we do not We haven't done all of the stuff that you would expect a civilization that is obsessed with sending humans into space. We have done the things that a civilization that is just trying to skate on by would put in. It's time to shout out all the new $5 patrons and above. Bart Grantham, John Golden, Donna Palmieri, Keith Williamson, Greg B, James Bosley, James T, Kevin McCauley, Jim Bob82, and Glenn Anderson. Join the club at patreon. com/universeto today. Did you know that you can watch the same video with no ads and get a bonus question over on Patreon completely for free? We call it Q& A plus. This week's bonus question, how do we know that telescopes are actually taking pictures? 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