Why intelligent life hasn't contacted us: Peter Mulvey at TEDxKC

TEDxKC 2013: Defy Impossible. Peter Mulvey taps the world of astrophysics to offer one of the most straightforward explanations as to why intelligent life has yet to (and may never) contact earth.

Peter Mulvey has been a touring singer/songwriter for twenty years, releasing well over a dozen records during that span. In addition to playing shows from Anchorage to the Hague, from Santa Monica to Belfast, he has kept a hand in various far-flung imaginative pursuits, playing each year in a cave underneath West Virginia for the National Youth Science Camp, and arranging tours every Autumn traveling by bicycle instead of by car.

His most recent record of original material, "Letters from a Flying Machine", weaves song and spoken word together to address mortality, Bach sonatas, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, baseball, and the thoughts of children on what DNA might mean.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)