As Carl Sagan said "if we are alone in the universe it's an awful waste of space".

"The biggest threat to us is human stupidity".... So well said.

"Two possibilities exist, either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying"

This guy always lights up when he talks, could watch him all day

Brian Cox is so down to earth with simple observations, and can express in simple language what really matters!

"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity"

Bravo…I fully enjoyed the freshness of this episode and the positive vibe….well said 👏👏👏

I hope the world leaders have listened to you Brian. Well done!

He has the gift to explain difficult questions intelligible to the more simple people like me. Always good to hear and watch him.👍

Prof. Cox was born with a perpetual smile. Love his presentations.

Fascinating conversation. Well managed too.

If more people was like Brian the world would be a much MUCH greater place to be!

The biggest threat is human stupidity….well said.

We could use more people like Brian in politics and science.

Just love listening to Brian. I'v often thought that now with space being more accessable that world leaders need to spend a week in space learning about the little rock that we/ humanity all share hurtling through space. Since I was a small child the most frightening thing has always been that people can be selfish fools even though they're supposedly adults. As I grew older it was startling that ofter people in serious power possistions like leaders of goverments were only in it for power with no concept of humanity.

Fantastic interview!

Brian Cox is exceptional because above all else in these types of conversations, he's good faith. He may personally not think there's any credence to the different stories, but he's certainly open to the possibilities, and to talking about them. You can't ask for more from someone in the conversation really.

Brian is the coolest nerd ever . I’ve never been a academic but wish I would of had a teacher like him.

I often ask myself why people as clearly brilliant, in their field, as Brian Cox could seem almost childlike in their naivety? I have come to the conclusion that people like Brian just don't realise that not everyone is like them. I feel that, as a world leader, he would be kind, caring, and have a genuine passion for helping people. The sad truth is; I believe that he would not be able to see how many people around the world would take advantage of his lack of understanding of human nature. We need more people like Brian to make our society a better place, and we need others to help protect us from those who would make it worse.

Could listen to Brian Cox all day!

I like the way that Brian explains things and how he doesnt discredit someone else's opinion.

I love what he said at the end. I've said for a long time that if we got our world leaders into space. The thought of world peace and real progress for humanity would experience its greatest possible chance of success.

I love listening to Brian Cox and his quirky beliefs formed in his big brain 😊

Finally, someone to say so much meaningful enlightened comments regarding the human race, in a short eloquent manner that everyone in the world can comprehend.

Fantastic interview, very thought provoking.

The thing with a universe that is so large and long lasting is that it’s highly possible that alien civilisations could exist in Their billions and never come in contact with each other.

I absolutely love Brian, he’s a treasure amongst humans and the irony is he’s most scared of us. Let that sink in.

He's a clever man & has a great onlook on our purpose 👍🏻

Brian is top class in his field and he's the person who has recently got me into finding out more about cosmology.

If some politicians went up in a rocket and stared out of the window at the earth, they would still only see their own reflection in the glass.

extremley clever man. Could listen to him for hours on end about his views on absolutely anything.

Carl Sagans analogy of 2 enemies in a gasoline soaked room with different amounts of matches is brilliant and scary.

We completely agree with everything he said. We love his description of why there is meaning to life. We could not think of a better way to put it. Well done Mr Cox, if only we could all take a small leaf out of your book the world would be a better place.

I think its more frightning to think we are all alone, than to know we are not the only ones.

Brian's outlook on the future of humanity: Things can only get better!

Brian is THE MAN.

Brian is an amazing human being, more people should listen to him. Sincerely The population of Altair 4

Brian always makes me happy. Such a fun, happy, smiling man who has passions.

"Once you're off the earth and you look back you get a sense that there's something really important here." For me, that pretty much says it all.

Of course we are not alone. and Brian Cox is adorable!!

he's so damn happy its infectious-LOVE HIM

He is just fascinating, so passionate and pure, with a global perspective

I've never been a fan of this bloke on the TV, but this was really good.

I could legit listen to Brian Cox all day - he's fascinating.

Space and the oceans are my two biggest fears. What’s up & what’s down… I think it's just the sheer size and the unknowns of the unexplored that just freak me out.

Brian Cox is truly brilliant. His comments are absolutely spot on 👍

Even when he expresses doubt and concern, he somehow manages to do it in a positive, thoughtful way. We don't need to send our leaders to space, we need people like Brian to be leaders.

I have followed Brian Cox for years he is very easy to listen to very smart and very good looking.

We need more people like Brian Cox to simply explain deep concepts.

Oh Brian, so wise as always....not just the smarts but the insight stuns me.

Brian is such an inoffensive person, he constantly smiles and folds his arms. I agree with most of what he says, but there will always be questions until the Aliens land here and show themselves. In my humble opinion, they have been here, and have been observing us for a very long time.

I'm an honest man and back in 78 my fiancé saw one, close and for a while. We saw it but cannot prove it, just like thousands of other people....

Telling the Leaders of this Planet's Bordered Countries, "A lifeless Galaxy is a meaningless Galaxy." That is the quote I took away from this. Great discussion.

The man is a legend. I do believe there is other life out there within the universe.

Brian Cox, I love you. I have tried, many times, to explain how we, as sentient beings, have a huge responsibility not to destroy ourselves and our planet for the very reasons expressed by you. I'm super grateful to you for saying this in such a concise way. Thank you

LOVE Brian Cox!

Brian Cox is an amazing human. One of my hero’s

Truely one of the great minds of our planet right now , could listen to Brian Cox all day long...........

Astonishing. This young man can give us an insight that may even preserve civilisation.

1) Why am I just now discovering Brian Cox? 2) There are much cheaper ways to get a “broader” perspective than sending someone into space, but I agree with the gaining perspective argument.

"It's a theory, isn't it." - Perfect answer to stay out of trouble! 😎👍

Brian is the best of all the physicists on UKposts. He breaks down things as simply as possible And when he doesn't know he doesn't pretend to know or funnel his own story . He truly only ever talks about facts but also has the ability to elaborate on the thoughts and questions of the person he's talking to.

Years ago he would have just said he is hopeful for the future, something has gone terribly wrong when he’s getting worried

Brian’s comments to the world leaders are do on point 👍shame there are not more like him

Brian Cox explains common sense that all humans should have the capacity to achieve. His knowledge is beneficial to us all.

Something he said previously sums up the whole topic. Scale of the universe and time. Our human civilization exists in a relatively small window of time, and our universe is infinitely huge. So the chances of another civilization visiting or finding us are extremely slim due to the distances involved, and this occurring during our lifetimes is even smaller. Could it have happened before there was any life on Earth? Even 50 million years ago, or 50 million years from now? Nobody can discount the possibility but mathematically speaking the chances of it happening are almost impossible.

What a delightful person!

Yep. Love Brian’s outlook. And he makes the most important point. “If we ARE the only life forms, were pretty special and we ought to respect that and preserve ourselves “

My grandad worked in the secret service and still to this day on his death bed wont speak on his job, but i ask him, granddad tell me one thing, have aliens ever visited us? and he giggled and said "ben, if only you knew!"

They do say that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but we sure do have a lot of it.

I love his advice for world leaders ❤

I'm very proud to have got a Twitter answer from Professor Cox. Upon discovery of the Higgs Boson, I asked, 'could this mean that a future society might manipulate the Higgs field and create a massless drive?' His simple answer was, 'No'.

Huge respect for Brian Cox and his awesome communication skill regarding complex science topics. Seven years ago, I held a view that there were other intelligences in the universe and there was a possibility that some may have visited earth at some time. However, this possibility of contact changed to a certainty when in a rural area, I saw a 60-80-foot-long silver, cigar shaped craft with a single slowly blinking red light hovering silently at tree top level about two miles away. Then I noticed a small 3 to 4 ft long oval shaped object with a steady brilliant red light about a half mile away from me which suddenly shot straight up from initially close to ground up to just above tree top level. This small craft hovered motionless for a few seconds and then flew almost directly towards me at about 40-45 mph and then as it neared, it seemed to slow and veered about 30 degrees to pass only 30-50 feet directly above my head before it passed behind me to disappear out of sight behind some trees. I had an excellent view of it at close range and saw that this silent oval or football shaped object was silver or very light grey in color and had a smoothly metallic-like surface without any protrusions, antennas, vents or any obvious means of conventional propulsion. It definitely was not a drone (I own a couple of them), birds, mylar balloon, clouds, ball lightning, optical illusions, mirages or swamp gas. It flew silently and seemed under some sort of intelligent control since it altered its course to fly directly over my position. When it was very close to me, I could see that there were brilliant red lights about 6 inches in diameter on the front and rear of this object, and they were actually composed of many hundreds of separate tiny lighted bright red filaments which rapidly all flashed on and off individually in a seeming random pattern. Scattered throughout this bright red field of light were also a few twinkling filaments of different colors like yellow, blue, green, orange. The predominate color at both ends was red, although the front light was more brilliantly red, and the rear light was a more muted red because the number of secondary colors were more activated aft. As it passed overhead, the object's outline was seen clearly silhouetted against the sky which again confirmed its uniformly smoothly curved outline but also a nearly transparent film or membrane which surrounded the object about 3-4 inches from its hull. I tried to see this object again through the trees as it went behind me but was totally out of sight and by the time I looked again for the more distant larger craft, it too was gone. Clearly there is a connection between these two strange objects but what that may fully entail remains a mystery to me, even though I spent a great deal of time in vain looking online for anything even remotely similar. What needs to be done is a thorough and unbiased study that is open to the public for the investigation of what these strange craft are doing in our atmosphere and who or what are operating them and for what purpose.

If you take a random grain of sand laying on a remote island beach somewhere here on Earth and imagine that sand grain represents our solarsystem, and then imagine another grain of sand on the opposite side of the Earth, which also represent a solarsystem which support an Earth-like planet with intelligent life, as we understand it, I would think the chances are that we will never be able to communicate, or even been able to establish the existence of each other. We are simply too small in that regard.

How would they get through the barrier separating the 2 opposing pressure systems?

I don't know why, but I just love when he explains something, even if I didn't agree with him before, he just makes such a good and logical points.... He is open to anything that can't be disproved by science.

I could listen to Brian Cox all day. "Human Stupidity" is 100% true. He is such an intelligent man and explains things so well. He sees our responsibility as an "intelligent" life form and our role in finding other life forms in the universe. I have never imagined us as the only living planet in our galaxy but damn that is sobering. To continue as a species we do need to get along and appreciate each other. It is a shame we just can't do it because of our ego's and greed. Great video even though it was short.

He changed his tune, I recall Brian saying in one of his documentaries intelligent life probably doesn't exist beyond earth.

Nice Work

I think one of my favorite quotes is either the universe is full of life or it isn't. Both of these statements are worrying

The greatest irony is humans arrogantly think they are intelligent. Even smooth brain koalas would've lasted longer than us.

One of my best mates is a scouser and he had a theory about fish when they're captured when people go fishing. It's worth noting he's taken a few blows to the head but it is an interesting point of which I will copy from his Facebook. He said imagine you're a fish and you see a little maggot and bite it. Next thing you're flying up and go crashing through the top of the water and are suddenly overwhelmed by all these things you've never seen before. You're seeing trees, the sky, clouds ect but you don't know what they are so your brain can't even begin to make sense of it. It'll be like trying to describe a dream. Then two bald chimps take a picture of you but you don't know what a phone camera is. Then they just throw you back in the water. So Dave goes to his mates and is like "Paul you're not going to believe what just happened to me lad. I saw a little maggot just floating there, so I thought oh free scran before I meet with the boys and then next thing I was flying up and into this strange world where I couldn't breathe. There was trees, clouds, a sky even though I don't know what any of these things are and then two bald chimps did something to me and then just threw me back. That's why I'm late" but as soon as Dave's backs turned, Paul's slagging him off to the lads, saying how Dave is lying about bald chimps from a world with no water up above. Next thing Dave is outcast from the community. Everyone thinks he's a liar, so Dave spends his days alone and depressed. He can't even cry because his eyes are full of water already. He tried to drown himself but he breathes water and he tried to hang himself but he doesn't have hands to tie the rope. So he just has to live in perpetual depression. So when the same thing happens to Mark, Mark knows he can't tell anyone because he saw what happened to Dave. So Mark has to live with the Lovecraftian knowledge of these bald chimps who kidnap fish and throw them back into the water. The point he was making was that if a human got abducted by aliens on the way to the pub that no one would believe him so everyone would either think he's a liar or he'd just have to bury it. He did also counter it with why don't aliens dress up like the teenage turtles used to in the 90s with their raincoats on and trilby hats and go to gay bars where "they've got a buffet of voluntary arse to pick from" instead of hoping to find a lone hiker in the dead of night by a military testing site

When is that interview from?

I live in the US and also believe that stability in my country has worldly ramifications..but I see this polarization more online and in the news than on my block or in my particular town of living....ideology is a very powerful force and I believe people need to self evaluate a little more.

Telling our world "leaders" that they have a responsibility on a intergalactic scale is both hilarious and terrifying....... Giving them the idea they have the power/authority, knowledge and duty to save not only the earth "can't fix potholes" but the entire universe can only lead to really bad things.

I have said it for years now, all world leaders should be sent into space and told to look at the earth, then come back down and told not to fuck it up.

Extremely interesting as well as extremely scary!

I want to be as happy as Brian is all the time

Something Arthur C. Clarke said years ago has always stayed with me. He said "If aliens ever come to Earth, everyone will know."

My theory is they exist and have visited us but they do not interfere with us only if necessary. Also I don’t think they’d ever reveal themselves as we humans would most likely try to exterminate them.

Brian Cox needs to open his mind! We all Do! We see it every day! The universe is life with all of us!

Mr Cox say alot of correct things! N I dj remember coming up n constantly being reminded of the possibility of nuclear war! How we can get along as a world is to understand and accept other people's culture and hertiage rather than constantly pushing western ideas!

Prof cox is amazing and looks to be one of the first generations of human immortals he clearly doesn't age fast lol

Science can only explain what it has found to date, not what it could discover tomorrow.

The realization emerges that human existence may constitute merely a component within the broader framework of nature, devoid of centrality. Rather than representing the culmination, we appear to be an integral link in a continuous process, potentially leading towards a state of nonexistence.

Though we do have the ability to destroy ourselves...we do not because our will to survive remains greater (for now!).

Rumor has it aliens continue to fly past our planet, shake their heads and lock their doors 😂

That’s the ticket -let’s send all the politicians in to space 😂

7:59 Galatic size responsibility......but no pressure

What about the Ruwa Zimbabwe 1994 and the Westall school encounter 1966 ?