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In this wide-ranging dialogue Michael Shermer talks to Martin Rees about: his early education and how he got interested in astronomy and cosmology \\u2022 how the Big Bang theory won out over the Steady State theory \\u2022 origin of life, SETI, and the search for a second genesis \\u2022 Fermi Paradox (if life is abundant in the universe\\u2026where is everyone?) \\u2022 space exploration (human or robotic or both?) \\u2022 future of humanity as sentient A.I. (to the stars\\u2026inside computers!) \\u2022 limits of scientific knowledge (are we nearing the \\u201cend of science\\u201d? No says Dr. Rees!) \\u2022 threats and challenges facing humanity (nuclear weapons, climate change, overpopulation, sustainable energy sources, artificial intelligence, income inequality, political instability, and others) \\u2022 role of religion in modern society (why Dr. Rees is an atheist but not a \\u201cnew atheist\\u201d) \\u2022 do we need to replace religion with a secular equivalent?

Sir Martin Rees is a leading astrophysicist as well as a senior figure in UK science and a public intellectual in England and America. He has conducted influential theoretical work on subjects as diverse as black hole formation and extragalactic radio sources, and in the 1960s his research provided key evidence to contradict the Steady State theory of the evolution of the Universe. Dr. Rees was also one of the first to predict the uneven distribution of matter in the Universe, and proposed observational tests to determine the clustering of stars and galaxies. Much of his most valuable research has focused on the end of the so-called cosmic dark ages \\u2014a period shortly after the Big Bang when the Universe was as yet without light sources.

As Astronomer Royal and a Past President of the Royal Society, Martin is a prominent scientific spokesperson and the author of seven books of popular science. After receiving a knighthood in 1992 for his services to science, he was elevated to the title of Baron Rees of Ludlow in 2005. His latest book is On the Future: Prospects for Humanity. His other books include: Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Others (1997) \\u2022 Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe (1999) \\u2022 Our Cosmic Habitat (2001) \\u2022 Our Final Hour: A Scientist\\u2019s Warning \\u2014How terror, error, and environmental disaster threaten humankind\\u2019s future in this century \\u2014on earth and beyond (2004) \\u2022 What We Still Don\\u2019t Know (2009) \\u2022 From Here to Infinity: Scientific Horizons (2011).

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This Science Salon was recorded on December 12, 2018.