Life Below the Ocean Surface | StarTalk

So you know that's a fish. Oh, that's cool. He's cute, or she. You can't even tell. But what is that fish thinking? Is it like— is it nostalgia? Is it rage? Maybe I'm just projecting. But you can't really tell what it's thinking. It's a mystery. It's an enigma. But watch this. Eyebrows.

Now, you see it. Now, this fish has an emotional life. You can really empathize with. So you want fish to have eyebrows. That's the secret. Yes. So is that so hard? Is it so wrong? Can you do that please? I'll work on it. Thank you. That'll be your next big genetic project. It's just for their advantage.

I mean, look at that. Well, Sylvia Earle loves every fish in the sea, no matter what, with or without eyebrows. And I asked her about her love of the ocean. Just tell me, speak the love. And let's see what she says. When I think of people who love the ocean, many of them just like sailing the ocean. Yeah, or surfing. Surfing, right. So the ocean to them is a surface.

I know. And to you, it's a three dimensional— The ocean is the wet part. The wet part. Really? It's not the top. What is the top? It is the bottom. Boat people, the ocean is a surface. Right? No, it's the juicy part in the middle. It's this part. And it's alive. That's the thing.

If people think of the ocean, they think rocks and water and, you know, a place to sail or swim or to dump things or to take things out of the ocean. But no. The ocean is a living system. So Laurie, first, remind us what it means for the ocean to be a living system. Because to most people, it's just water. And it contains living things. But to think of it as a living system, take us there.

So in the same way that a forest with birds and trees and bugs that are all interacting is a living system, the ocean's the same way. It's not only full of life, but it's all interacting together in a connected way that kind of keeps it all functioning.

Isn't it just big fish eat little fish? That's part of it. But there's a whole complex food web there that most people just don't see and take into consideration.