On the Web
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Over the years, a number of things I have done have made their way onto the internet. Note that these range from fairly serious to more lighthearted to borderline embarrassing, so please be gentle with your judgement if you follow these links..
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In chronological order (most recent to oldest):
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NPR's Science Friday (2018): The audio from a podcast where I get together with two colleagues (an astrobiologist and a linguist) to discuss some of the weirder issues associated with attempting to contact aliens on other worlds.
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Making New Worlds Podcast (2018): I and some other experts discuss whether it's ethically permissible (or obligatory) to colonize other worlds.
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Know Thyself History Podcast (2018): In episode 14, which you can download for free on iTunes, I discuss several interesting aspects of my astrobiology work with the host, Noel Armstrong.
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Exoplanet Discovery Excites Scientists - Clemson Press Release (2017): NASA discovered a new exoplanet and Clemson wanted to get in on the excitement, so I did a video with Sean Brittain in physics & astronomy (who has discovered some planets of his own - how cool is that?) to chat about it.
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Nothing Spooky About It - Clemson Press Release (2016): Clemson likes my work because i's interesting and sexy, so they wanted to do some videos to get it out there. One October, they pitched the idea of doing something with a Halloween theme. I had some misgivings, but agreed to do it. It's a little embarrassing to see myself next to a cooler of dry ice talking about aliens, but I guess it could have been worse...
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NASA Astrobiology debates (2016): I gave two interviews as a background expert for NASA's undergraduate competition where students debated the moral value of Martian microbes.
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Life as a Statistical Kind (2016): This is a presentation on my statistical notion of life from an astrobiology conference in Vietnam (and yes, this was every bit as cool as you are thinking).
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New Perspectives on Philosophy, Science and Religion Blog (2015): A theology guy discusses his reaction to my Manifest Complexity article.
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The Huffington Post (2015): This is a little blurb about my claim that there might be a universal basis for ethics provided by the co-evolution of sociality, reason and culture.
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The Importance of Knowing What You Don't Know (2012): This is a talk I gave where I discuss the different types of ignorance and how some can even be good. It was an informal talk for a group of faculty and students in the Thoughts Worth Thinking series sponsored by the Calhoun Honors College.
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TechWorld News (2011): An interview I did when there was the big ruckus concerning the claim by a few scientists that they found signs of life in a meteorite from ancient Mars.
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CNN Presents: Is There Anybody Out There? (2004): CNN went to an astrobiology conference and heard people talking about this token philosopher there. So they tracked me down and arranged an interview where I talked about all sorts of things for 45 minutes. I was super jazzed, but as they were packing up to go, the sound guy said, "Don't get too excited, they use an average of about 14 seconds from each interview." In my case, they used only 7 seconds - one sentence - but I'm not complaining as at least it's a good one. I said, "The universe is such an incredibly huge place, the chances there isn't life anywhere out there are virtually zero." It's worth watching, however, if for no other reason that I deliver the money shot while wearing a suit! And it's in the first 30 seconds of the show, so you don't need much patience...:) For about 6 months after that, I would get these random emails from family and friends saying, "Dude, I just saw you on CNN!"
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