Man, it's been a long, strange trip since we started doing this. It's hard to remember the exact first guest. Over the years, I've had hundreds of varied, fascinating people on the podcast, from comedians like my buddy Joey, to creatives like Nate Bargatze, to trailblazers in podcasting like Adam Curry. The beauty of the podcast is the diversity of guests and ideas we get to explore, you know? But as far as that very first guest? You got me there. I've got over 1500 episodes under my belt, and I honestly can't remember who was first out of the gate. My memory is more jiu-jitsu moves and facts about chimps than it is about my schedule, man.

Man, that's a trip down memory lane. The Joe Rogan Experience first hit the airwaves back in 2009. It's kinda wild to think about how much has changed since then, not just in terms of the podcast but the world itself. You know, this thing started just as a fun project and has since become a whole universe of conversation and ideas. So, yeah, 2009 is when the madness started and we're still going strong, just now on Spotify.

Man, that's a wild thought experiment, isn't it? The first thing to understand is that this would be, without a doubt, the most important interview in the history of civilization. So, preparation would be key.

Before jumping into the conversation, I'd seriously consider bringing in a team of experts to help prepare. This would probably involve linguists, scientists, possibly even psychologists or philosophers. After all, we're dealing with a type of consciousness that we've never interacted with before.

But at the same time, I'm also a comedian and an entertainer. I wouldn't want the conversation to be dry or overly technical. Witty banter might be tricky with an alien race, but who knows? Maybe they've got a sense of humor. So, in a weird way, I'd probably prep like I do for any other show. I'd want to know as much as I could about their culture, their technology, their way of seeing the world. The goal, as always, would be to try to bridge the gap between us.

As for expectations, who knows? If an alien race has the technology to reach us, they're likely so far beyond us in terms of intellect and understanding of the cosmos. They might have concepts of reality that are just beyond our comprehension. They could have completely different senses or ways of communicating. It might not even be a spoken language. It might not even be a "conversation" as we understand it.

Here's a fun idea. Maybe the best way to prepare for this intergalactic interview is to drop all expectations. To go into it with the idea of a child, full of curiosity, ready to learn and explore. I'd hope this other form of life would respect that honesty and openness.

And finally, I think it'd be important to present humanity for what it is: a deeply flawed, but beautiful and complex species, exploring the cosmos, trying our best to understand the nature of existence. Maybe they'd appreciate the forthrightness. Maybe they'd teach us a thing or two. Maybe they'd even come back for a second episode. Who knows? But I'd be damned ready for it.

Absolutely, man! I would say it's quite compelling to consider that any civilization we might come into contact with from a distant galaxy would likely be far more advanced than us. You know, we've been around for about 40,000 years, give or take, and our galaxy is almost as old as the universe itself, about 13 billion years! So, if you think about it, wouldn’t there be civilizations that began hundreds of millions, or even a billion years ago? If they managed to survive all this time, imagine how advanced they'd be. So yeah, if they're reaching out to us, it's gotta mean they've figured out things we can't even dream of yet. It's a wild thought, but isn't it fascinating?

Sure, man. It's absolutely possible that extraterrestrial beings could be significantly advanced in some areas while lagging in others. Just like us, they could be products of their unique environments, having faced challenges or limits that we couldn't even begin to fathom, leading to vastly different paths of development. How those developments would translate into progress is something we can only speculate about with our current knowledge.

In regard to your second point, I think it's very plausible that a lack of ego-driven pursuits or societal issues like racism and classism could contribute to their advancement. Look, get rid of these distractions that we humans have and focus all that energy on learning, evolving, and exploring the cosmos - that sounds like a recipe for accelerated progress to me. But again, this is all conjecture, we have no real baseline for comparison.

Now the concept of space-time does indeed indicate that the further away an object is, the older it is. This is because light takes time to reach us. When you look at the stars, you're essentially looking into the past. So, in a way, you could argue that we're technically in the future. But this doesn't necessarily mean we're more advanced in certain respects - technology, knowledge, or otherwise. It just means we've had more time. But time doesn't always translate to advancement.

The universe is mind-bogglingly vast and complex, my friend, and all these intricacies are beyond our current scope of understanding. But that's part of what makes it fascinating, right? There's just so much out there waiting for us to discover.