Life Beyond

The biggest question of our time. Are we alone? Chapter 1 of this experience takes you to alien worlds and distant places in time and space, in search of where alien life might be hiding and what our place is within the history of life.

After generations of wondering, the truth is finally within our reach. New research and technologies have brought us closer than ever to an answer - only a few decades in the eyes of some NASA scientists. The search has led to new discoveries that will blow your mind wide open and give a profound new perspective on human life. The deeper we look, the deeper we see into nature's imagination, and the more we learn about ourselves.

I hope stewing on these thoughts tickles your brain as deeply as it does mine. In upcoming chapters of Life Beyond we will explore making contact with intelligent life, the potential physics of alien biology, how to survive the end of the universe, and more. Follow and support my creative journey on Patreon: http://patreon.com/melodysheep

Big thanks to Protocol Labs for their support of this creation: https://protocol.ai/ And to my friend Julius Horsthuis for the far future civilization visuals near the end. Check out his amazing work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMS32... You can also support me by signing up for a Proton mail account - they provide awesome email and VPN services. ProtonVPN: https://proton.go2cloud.org/SH4Q ProtonMail: https://proton.go2cloud.org/SH4R

I wanted to follow up Timelapse of the Future with a more optimistic perspective of human life and our place in the history of the universe. We really do live in a privileged moment and we have a remarkable opportunity to shape the future. Finding alien life will contextualize our own existence, and open our eyes to what else nature has dreamt up beyond our ourselves, potentially bestowing huge breakthroughs in science, technology, and philosophy.

Concept, music & visuals by Melodysheep Featuring the voices of Douglas Rain, David Christian, Michelle Thaller, Orson Welles, Andrew Siemion, Dan Werthimer, Avi Loeb, Ellen Stofan, and Lawrence Krauss. Additional visuals by Julius Horsthuis, Konstantin Kovalenko, NASA, Evolve Thanks to: Juan Benet, Julius Horsthuis, Konstantin Kovalenko, Avi Loeb, and to my Patreon Supporters: John Maier (maierux.com), Ali Akin Kurnaz, Alina Sigaeva, Amal Isaac, Anastasiia Kliakhina, Antoine C, Bhisham Mahtani, Brandon Sanders, Bryan Sands, Calcifer, Case K., Chris Becker, Colin, Cozza38, Crystal, Danaos Christopoulos, Daniel Hudson, Dave LeCompte, Dave & Debbie Boswell, David Minguez, Derick Yan, Diego Camacho, Eico Neumann, Ezri Dax, Gaetan Marras, Geekiskhan, Giulia Carrozzino, Hakon A. Hjortland, Heribert Breidsamer, Holly Boswell, Jeremy Kerwin, Jimpy, Jorge Ruz, JoursterL, Julio, Kalexan, Kody Cotterill, Laine Boswell, Lars Støttrup Nielsen, Laura, Leo Botinelly, Leonard van Vilet, lloll887, Markus Oinonen, Matthew Jacoby, Matthew Ullrich, Maxime Marois, Michael Li, Michelle Wilcox, Mike Norkus, Mitchel Mattera, Nathan Paskett, Nathanial Dre Barinestein, Nicholas Martin, Nina Barton, Patrick, Preston Maness, Radu Chichi, Radu Turcan, Randall, redruMKO, Richard Williams, Robbie Casenta, Robin Kuenkel, Rodrigo Sambade Saá, Sandra, Sean Tham, Sebastien Descy, Silas Rech, Stefan Stettner, Tessa Haagenson, The Cleaner, Timothy E Plum, Virtual_271, Yannic, ZAB, Zann.

Stay tuned for more chapters of LIFE BEYOND and more experiences like this. Peace and love,

Melodysheep

Voice Sources:
National Film Board: Universe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48gIN...
David Christian TED Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqc9z...
Dan Werthimer TEDx Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmtEW...
Andrew Siemion: Beyond the Singularity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJMBw...
Orson Welles: Who’s Out There https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPkg_...
Avi Loeb: The Case for Cosmic Modesty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeHdq...
Michelle Thaller in how the Universe Works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VymuQ...
Lawrence Krauss: Life, the Universe, and Nothing: A Cosmic Mystery Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQL2q...

Life Beyond 2 Sources & references:

Carbon as a building block for life: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/chemistry-of-life/elements-of-life/v/carbon-as-a-building-block-of-life 
Does extraterrestrial life exist? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X11CeZTLm7o 
Amino acid discovered in distant space: https://physicsworld.com/a/amino-acid-detected-in-space/ 
A million alternatives to DNA: https://phys.org/news/2019-11-dna-millions-genetic-molecules.html
[personal email correspondence with a co-author confirmed that all are carbon-based]
Convergent Evolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV0NjKmyfsU
Examples of convergent evolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_examples_of_convergent_evolution
Alien plant colors: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-color-of-plants-on-other-worlds/
Purple Earth hypothesis: https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/was-life-on-the-early-earth-purple/
Weird planets life could live on: https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/the-weird-worlds-alien-life-could-potentially-survive-on/
High gravity worlds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbSJbCEZk9Y
GJ 357 d: https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/potentially-habitable-super-earth-discovered-just-31-light-years-away-ncna1037491 
Gravitational Biology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_biology
Extraterrestrial caves: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-will-we-find-in-extraterrestrial-caves-102063190/
Smallest Possible habitable planets: https://www.sciencealert.com/even-tiny-planets-3-the-mass-of-earth-could-support-life-forms-estimate-scientists
Finding biosignatures: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/our-living-planet-shapes-the-search-for-life-beyond-earth
Brown dwarf life: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/alien-life-could-thrive-clouds-failed-stars
Silicon life: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-silicon-be-the-basi/ 
Silicon life 2: lavobes and magmobes: https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/silicon-based-life-staple-science-fiction-may-not-be-likely-after-all-180975083/
Also see Geinberg and Shapiro’s 1980 Life Beyond Earth
Disney - life on mars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfX6z9Z4sAk 
10 hypothetical forms of alien life: https://listverse.com/2015/07/17/10-hypothetical-forms-of-life/ 
Shadow biosphere: https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/shadow-biosphere?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3
Shadow biosphere 2: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/02/shadow-biosphere-might-be-hiding-strange-life-right-under-our-noses 
Also see Peter Ward’s “Life as We Do Not Know It”
Tiny RNA based life: https://web.archive.org/web/20101214063212/http://www.ffame.org/sbenner/cochembiol8.672-689.pdf
Plasma crystals: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070814150630.htm
Plasma crystals 2: https://science.howstuffworks.com/weird-life.htm 
Neutron star life: http://www.xenology.info/Papers/Xenobiology.htm#p37 
Machine based life: http://nautil.us/issue/29/scaling/why-alien-life-will-be-robotic 
Machine life 2: https://www.space.com/34713-intelligent-aliens-machines-seti-search.html 
Von Neumann probes: https://www.space.com/30937-when-robots-colonize-cosmos-will-they-be-conscious.html 
Jill Tarter: why the search for extraterrestrial intelligence matters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EszGIvRdgTE