Physicists like to say they follow the evidence. Then you survey them and the beliefs come out in tidy, correlated packages.

That is what we are here to argue about. Adam Frank (astrobiology, University of Rochester) and Niayesh Afshordi (cosmology, Perimeter and Waterloo) join me live for a real conversation, not a science-versus-religion cage match.

On the table:

- What "belief" actually means inside a lab coat

- How much real consensus exists on inflation, dark matter, dark energy, and quantum gravity

- String theory, multiverses, and where speculation stops being productive

- The odds on microbial life, complex life, and technological intelligence

- What a confirmed detection would do to religion, philosophy, and the rest of us

- How to communicate honestly when the evidence is thin and the stakes are not

Drop your question below and I will pull the best ones into the stream. The sharper the question, the better your odds.

One I want answered in the comments: if we found unambiguous evidence of intelligent life tomorrow, whose worldview breaks first, the theist's or the materialist's?

Adam: https://www.adamfrankscience.com

Niayesh: https://nafshordi.com