6,000 exoplanets cataloged
As of recording, astronomers have cataloged 6,000 exoplanets just in a tiny search radius around our Sun — first discovered only in 1995.
Snapshot · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Neil deGrasse Tyson On Aliens, Simulation Theory, and What Happens Inside A Black Hole
Explore episode
Jul 9, 2026
Where this was said
Why Intelligent Alien Life Could Exist
At 33:11 · chapter starts 29:03
Life on Earth emerged with startling speed — within 100 million years of the earliest it possibly could have, representing just 5% of Earth's 4.5-billion-year history. [1] — Neil deGrasse Tyson "Life on Earth began within 100 million years of when it possibly could have — just 5% of Earth's timeline. Scale that speed across 100 bill…" 30:55 Whatever challenges scientists face replicating abiogenesis in the lab, Earth didn't seem to have the problem. Scale that ease across a galaxy where we've already catalogued 6,000 exoplanets in a tiny search radius (first discovered only in 1995, a year before Steven Bartlett was born), and across hundreds of billions of galaxies beyond that, and the non-existence of alien life becomes the far more extraordinary claim. Tyson also complicates the concept of 'intelligent': by raw brain mass, humans rank fourth on Earth behind whales, dolphins, and elephants. The brain-to-body-mass ratio that restores human supremacy only holds among mammals — mid-sized birds like magpies and parrots beat us on that metric too. Aliens prioritising cognitive capacity might skip straight to the whales.
Why Intelligent Alien Life Almost Certainly Exists
Life on Earth began within 100 million years of when it possibly could have — just 5% of Earth's timeline. Scale that speed across 100 billion galaxies each with hundreds of billions of stars and 6,000 cataloged exoplanets in a tiny search radius, and the non-existence of alien life becomes the extraordinary claim.
Life began within 100M years on early Earth
Life on Earth got underway within 100 million years of when it possibly could have — roughly 5% of Earth's total timeline — suggesting the process is swift and likely common across the universe.
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