Alien Crash Site is a new InterPlanetary interview series from the Santa Fe Institute. Conceived by David Krakauer, hosted by Caitlin McShea, available wherever you get your podcasts.

We bring courageous mavericks with diverse experiences onto the show to discuss their current work and interests, their thoughts on off-planet civilization, and to imagine an alien object they’d be willing to risk their lives for, by entering into perilous alien crash sites (aka Zones).

This adventure will frequently reference the Strugatsky Brothers’ novel, Roadside Picnic, its brilliant film adaptation, Tarkovsky’s Stalker, and at times, the text from Geoff Dyer’s Zona, but no work of science fiction is off limits. These are speculative conversations meant to bridge the gap between scientific and imaginative investigations. These conversations sit comfortably in the realm of the counterfactual.

Choice excerpts from Roadside Picnic below. Proceed with caution...