David Kipping: Alien Civilizations and Habitable Worlds | Lex Fridman Podcast #355

Lex interviews David Kipping, an astronomer at Columbia University who specializes in exoplanets. Kipping discusses his research on cool worlds, which are planets outside of our solar system that are cool enough to potentially host life. The interview covers a wide range of topics, including the search for exomoons, the Fermi paradox, the simulation hypothesis, and the future of astronomy. Kipping also expresses his belief that it is possible to find evidence of past civilizations, even if they are no longer extant, and emphasizes the importance of remaining open-minded and skeptical in scientific inquiry.