World-Renowned Physicist: They Are Lying To You About UFOs & Reality - Michio Kaku

Steven Bartlett interviews physicist Michio Kaku across a sweeping conversation on the biggest questions in science. Kaku explains string theory, the Big Bang, black holes, dark matter and the multiverse in plain language, then turns to the recently declassified UFO files released under Trump, arguing the evidence is intriguing but inconclusive. He dismisses simulation theory, argues reality is only a tiny fragment of what our senses detect, and frames religion as evolutionary 'glue' that holds intelligent societies together. The episode closes on the near future: quantum computers threatening encryption and Bitcoin, AI and humanoid robots, the prospect of curing cancer and achieving an indefinite lifespan, and Kaku's view that humanity should eventually merge with robots rather than be replaced by them.

• Says the secret of immortality is 'tantalizingly close' via telomeres and telomerase, but the catch is cancer uses the same mechanism to live forever.
  00:00:00
• Concludes alien life almost certainly exists but states he does not believe aliens have arrived on Earth, putting credible sightings at only 5%.
  00:08:45
• Reveals he is agnostic, not atheist, raised between Buddhist and Christian parents, and treats religion as social 'glue' rather than truth.
  00:30:39
• Rejects simulation theory outright, proposing an 'option four' that it is all 'fairy tales' because the universe runs on probabilities, not scripts.
  00:32:42
• Recounts how the Vietnam War and a sergeant maimed by a child's hand grenade reshaped his entire morality and view of life.
  00:54:35
• Predicts an indefinite human lifespan may become possible by manipulating telomerase without 'waking up' cancers.
  01:09:33
• States his personal belief that humanity should eventually merge with robots to become superhuman rather than risk a civil war with them.
  01:33:29
• When pressed to bet everything on whether aliens have contacted Earth, refuses a firm answer and insists the scientifically honest answer is 'maybe'.
  01:27:15

• A Saturn V rocket would take 70,000 years just to reach the nearest star, so any visiting civilization would be vastly more advanced than us.
  00:06:09
• Star Trek's term 'space warp' comes from real physics; bending space enough to beat the speed of light is theoretically allowed.
  00:11:52
• There is a black hole at the center of almost every galaxy, including the Milky Way, in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.
  00:24:52
• A black hole's escape velocity is the speed of light, which is why nothing that crosses the event horizon can ever come back out.
  00:26:58
• What we perceive as reality is only a tiny fragment of what exists; we cannot see ultraviolet, infrared, x-rays, radio or cosmic rays around us.
  00:34:49
• Kaku argues God functions as evolutionary 'glue' that holds intelligent, bickering tribes together once everyone becomes equally smart.
  00:39:30
• Quantum computers compute on atoms rather than transistors and the CIA worries they could one day break any digital code, including Bitcoin.
  01:13:16
• Google has set 2029 as a deadline warning banks and governments to upgrade encryption before quantum computers can crack it.
  01:14:18
• As a high school student, Kaku built a 2.3-million-electron-volt betatron particle accelerator that drew 6 kilowatts, consuming his mother's whole house power supply.
  01:16:54
• Kaku believes any genuine UFOs are robotic, not organic, because their maneuvers would crush the bones of any living creature.
  01:30:25

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