# Why Do We Exist? Hakeem Oluseyi

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-michael-shermer-show-444422/why-do-we-exist-hakeem-oluseyi
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-michael-shermer-show-444422/why-do-we-exist-hakeem-oluseyi.md
Podcast: [The Michael Shermer Show](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-michael-shermer-show-444422)
Published: 2026-04-28T17:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/sciencesalon/mss605_Hakeem_Oluseyi_2026_04_28.mp3
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss605_Hakeem_Oluseyi_2026_04_28.mp3?dest-id=513978
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-michael-shermer-show-444422/episodes/why-do-we-exist-hakeem-oluseyi
Duration seconds: 4289

## Resource

Astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi has lived a life that sounds almost impossible: a childhood marked by poverty, violence, and constant upheaval; a teenage obsession with Einstein; a stint in the Navy; addiction and recovery; work as a janitor; and eventually a PhD in physics from Stanford. In this conversation, Michael Shermer and Oluseyi talk about his new book, Why Do We Exist? , and the biggest questions science can ask: what came before the Big Bang, whether the multiverse is real, why the universe seems fine-tuned for life, what dark matter and dark energy really mean, and why alien civilizations may be far rarer than we hope. Hakeem Oluseyi is a multidisciplinary astrophysicist, multi-patented inventor, award-winning author and journalist, and internationally recognized educator. His new book is Why Do We Exist?: The Nine Realms of Universe That Make You Possible .

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