Aliens Encounters and UFO Files?! with Neil deGrasse Tyson

Summary

Smart Girl Dumb Questions

Episode: Alien Encounters and UFO Files?! with Neil deGrasse Tyson

Host: Nayeema Raza
Guest: Neil deGrasse Tyson (Astrophysicist, Director of the Hayden Planetarium)
Date: May 12, 2026
Venue: Live at the Comedy Cellar, New York

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Episode Overview

This lively and insightful episode welcomes famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson back to "Smart Girl Dumb Questions" to discuss his new book Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter, pop culture’s obsession with UFOs, government secrecy, and our collective cosmic curiosity. Recorded in front of a sold-out crowd, host Nayeema Raza brings her signature blend of humor and directness as she explores what we should actually do if we encounter aliens—etiquette, evidence, and all. The episode balances skepticism, wonder, and a healthy dose of scientific method, raising questions both profound and hilarious about intelligent life in the universe.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Psychoactive Drugs, Mushrooms, and Genetics

• Start – 03:08
• Neil shares that he's never done drugs, not even marijuana, quipping that "the human brain barely works as it is. If you're gonna stir in chemicals, it'll take you someplace else. But in my experience, not closer to the universe." (01:01)
• Neil riffs on the genetic closeness between humans and mushrooms: "We and mushrooms are more genetically alike than either we or mushrooms are to green plants... That's why you bite into a mushroom, it tastes fleshy. Said no one ever of kale." (02:17–02:53)

2. Aliens & Encounters: Who Looks for Whom?

• 04:01 – 07:18
• Neil’s book prepares readers for alien contact: "When you meet the alien, you become the emissary of our entire species. So you don't want to mess that up." (04:01)
• On who finds who: “We are so not finding them first... We hadn't gone farther away from Earth than [the thickness of] a half an inch in 58 years. And you wanna believe that we're gonna go somewhere else and meet an alien? No. They're coming here.” (06:14–07:18)
• "[Aliens] are smarter. They're probably better looking." (07:18)

3. How to Spot an Alien in Disguise?

• 08:06 – 09:55
• Referencing pop culture ("Men in Black," "Body Snatchers," "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"), Neil suggests that without internal physiological differences, secret aliens would be indistinguishable.
• “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, acts like a duck, it’s a duck.” (08:56)

4. Alien Powers, Tinfoil Hats, and Human Oddities

• 11:27 – 13:43
• Riffing on the famous tinfoil hat trope, Neil dives into Faraday cages: "You can create a cage with metal that is completely impervious to electromagnetic energy... those aliens would be able to get inside everybody's head except those people who wear a tinfoil hat." (14:05–15:14)
• He’s skeptical about our typical assumptions—what if aliens find humans’ need to “sleep for one-third of Earth's rotation” bizarre? (12:14)
• Hilariously: "If the alien has just a little dog in it...the first thing it might do is wanna go around and sniff your butt." (13:08)

5. Government UFO Files, Conspiracy, and Testimony

• 16:02 – 23:41
• Neil skewers contradictions in UFO government cover-up theories: "These are the same people, typically, who are certain that the government is an oversized, bloated, inefficient bureaucracy. I don't see how both can be true at the same time." (16:31)
• On recent "disclosures": “If they're all government officials and all saying this in Congress, then it's not a cover up anymore. So what is the cover up you're looking for when they're saying it's real?” (17:13)
• He expresses a core scientific stance: “If you want to turn my sentence from 'believe' to 'know', you got to bring out the alien. Is that too much to ask?" (22:02)

6. Alien Encounter Etiquette and Human Preparedness

• 23:41 – 29:40
• Neil’s advice: If aliens land, don’t lay down and play dumb; instead, have a “prep kit” to demonstrate intelligence—bring the Pythagorean theorem and a periodic table. (24:09–25:04)
• On impressing aliens: “If we show that we’re intelligent, they might then respect us... Where if you just lay down dead or do something stupid, the aliens just say, come on... Or they might turn us into their pets.” (24:09–24:39)
• In a sly aside about pets: “We spend 10 times as much money on pet accoutrements than the government spends on homeless people.” (24:49)

7. Universal Language: Math, Science, and Social Media Embarrassments

• 29:40 – 31:35
• Why math and science are our common language to demonstrate intelligence to aliens: “If they know anything about the elements, they would organize [the periodic table] in the same way. So we would show a chart of boxes, and they will know immediately it's a periodic table, even if our symbols don't match.” (29:40)
• Social media to hide from aliens? "All of them." (30:47) Gender reveal parties, manifestation, DJ as a career—Neil thinks these are too complex (or embarrassing) for a first impression.

8. Probability, Skepticism, and Casinos

• 31:35 – 35:00
• Neil gives an entertaining breakdown of probability fallacies—why we’re so bad at statistics, and how casinos exploit this cognitive gap. (33:11)
• On “being due” at a roulette table: “It’s not due.” (34:07)
• Physicists ruined Vegas’ profits: “Physicists in town, lowest casino take ever. The American Physical Society was told to never return to the city.” (34:45)

9. Where Should Aliens Land? Geographic and Cultural Choices

• 36:51 – 39:27
• Vegas is not a good camouflage spot for an alien; Comic Con, perhaps, but New Jersey? Highly unlikely. “Of all the places to visit... you’re gonna go to New Jersey? Really?” (39:07)
• He’s skeptical of alien sightings in mundane places. (39:21–39:27)

10. Miss Universe, “God of the Gaps,” and Human Ego

• 40:07 – 43:07
• Neil critiques our Earth-centric egos: “Anything that's Earth wide, we say it's universal. No, it's not. It's Earth wide. Get your language straight.” (40:27)
• He discusses “God of the gaps”—filling unknowns with supernatural explanations—which now morphs into “aliens of our ignorance.” (41:13)

11. On Testimony Versus Evidence: Disclosure, “Age of Elephants”

• 44:09 – 47:01
• Neil draws a parallel: “Do you believe in elephants? Well, if you've never seen an elephant, you'd have to line up all the people testifying. ...But if they brought out the elephant in the first five minutes, it's a 10 minute documentary.” (44:45–45:58)
• On government disclosures and documentaries that substitute testimony for proof.

12. Pop Culture, Hollywood, and the Shape of Aliens

• 49:36 – 54:38
• Aliens may not want politicians; they may pick up on our celebrities instead, as popular culture is what’s radiated into space. “Our cultural emissaries are early TV shows... there's way more content of [celebrities] in these escape radio waves than any elected official.” (49:35)
• On why we design robots in our own image: “That's odd that we make robots that look like us because there's nothing enviable about the human form. ...Who says five fingers is the best?” (53:12)

13. AI, Augmentation, and the Alien Within

• 54:38 – 56:50
• Nayeema asks: Could we become alien to ourselves through bioengineering and AI? Neil says it’s not only possible, but already being pondered: “If we master the genome, we can just splice stuff into us that the human species had never had before." (55:08)

14. Audience Q&A: The Fermi Paradox, Extermination Fears, and Human Nature

• 64:42 – End
• Why haven’t aliens contacted us if they’re out there? Neil: “We’re not walking among them. Maybe they have the same space travel challenges that we do. ...Or perhaps the most terrifying possibility is that we are alone in the universe.” (65:14–65:40)
• On our “evil alien” trope: “Maybe these alien scenarios driven by Hollywood are simply mirrors to our darkest conduct.” (67:34)
• Teen prodigy Saborno Bar asks about the risk of opening portals and being instantly exterminated. Neil says that’s just human projection: “That behavior—let me shoot you first—is very human. Why should we presume it would be as alien as it is human?” (68:59)
• On world unity in Project Hail Mary: “In the face of limited resources...we will of course compete for the limited resources as we have done since the beginning of civilization.” (73:19)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On alien first contact:
  “When you meet the alien, you become the emissary of our entire species. So you don't want to mess that up.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson (04:01)

• On skepticism:
  “If you want to turn my sentence from believe to know, you got to bring out the alien. Is that too much to ask? No, I don't think so.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson (22:02)

• On proving intelligence to aliens:
  “The Pythagorean Theorem...and a periodic table of elements. Have these in your alien go-bag.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson (24:57)

• On social media and embarrassment:
  “What social media phenomenon would you most want to hide from the aliens? All of them.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson (30:47)

• On world history and alien interaction:
  “Maybe these alien scenarios driven by Hollywood are simply mirrors to our darkest conduct.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson (67:34)

• On aliens and probing:
  “How big is your ego that you would think aliens would come from across the galaxy to probe your ass?” – Neil deGrasse Tyson (74:37)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro and drugs/mushrooms/genetics: 00:00–02:53
• First contact, book introduction: 03:08–04:34
• Audience poll – believers vs. skeptics: 05:26–05:54
• Can humans find aliens first?: 06:11–07:21
• How you spot a hidden alien: 08:06–09:55
• Alien powers & tinfoil hats: 11:27–15:14
• UFO files and government conspiracy: 16:02–23:41
• Etiquette of alien encounters & prep kit: 23:41–24:39
• Pythagorean Theorem and math as universal language: 24:57–29:40
• Probability/statistics and why we’re so bad at casinos: 31:35–35:00
• Where would aliens land? Not Vegas, not Jersey: 36:51–39:27
• Miss Universe, “God of the gaps” fallacy: 40:07–41:13
• Testimony vs. evidence, Disclosure parallel: 44:09–45:58
• Celebrity as Earth's “leader” to aliens: 49:36–51:20
• AI, augmentation, and could we become “alien” to ourselves: 54:38–56:50
• Audience Q&A: Fermi paradox, evil aliens, world unity: 64:42–73:19

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Tone and Language

The episode maintains a witty, accessible, and skeptical tone, filled with off-the-cuff humor and playful banter. Nayeema’s questions are direct yet lighthearted, prompting Neil’s signature blend of curiosity, scientific literacy, and comedic timing.

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Summary Takeaway

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s overarching message: Be curious, be skeptical, and don’t jump to supernatural conclusions—embrace the unknown. Whether aliens exist or not, approaching extraordinary claims with scientific rigor and humility about our ignorance is the best “protocol” for first contact—with aliens or with any mystery.

Memorable closer:
"How big is your ego that you would think aliens would come from across the galaxy to probe your ass?" (74:37)

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For more, follow Smart Girl Dumb Questions on Instagram, TikTok, and X. Neil’s new book “Take Me to Your Leader” is out now. Prepare your alien go-bag—with math, a periodic table, and a dash of humility.

Transcript

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I want everybody to feel smarter coming out of here to see what everyone else has seen and think what no one else has thought.

[Naima Raza]

Smart Girl Dumb Questions. Welcome to Smart Girl Dumb Questions live at the Comedy Cellar in New York. I'm your host, Nainma Raza. And I'm gonna be joined by world renowned astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and our alien daddy, Neil Degrasse Tyson. Get up here.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right,

[Naima Raza]

Neil, you know it's 4:20

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

today, is that right?

[Naima Raza]

Are you familiar with the occasion?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes, I am. I think it has something to do with marijuana.

[Naima Raza]

Yes. But I do not partake. Do you partake?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I've actually never done drugs in my life. Oh, I know. That's crazy.

[Naima Raza]

That's why you're so smart.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, that's a crazy fact. I mean, in college there's like mounds of marijuana in front of me and the smoke, I surely got multiple contact highs.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But I was just watching them almost anthropologically because the human brain barely works as it is. If you're gonna stir in chemicals, it'll take you someplace else. But in my experience, not closer to the universe. So. Yeah, I just never have.

[Naima Raza]

I also haven't. I've done shrooms once or twice, but that's all.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Just some shrooms. Oh, by the way. What? Mushrooms. You said mushrooms. Can I tell you something about mushrooms?

[Naima Raza]

Of course. Get ready. Neil likes a creative Eddie. I know this. He likes a detour.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

A creative Eddie. I like that. The. That's very poetic.

[Naima Raza]

What is the story?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, so what's your mushroom story?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We and mushrooms. If you look at the tree of life.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We and mushrooms are more genetically alike than either we or mushrooms are to green plants.

[Naima Raza]

What? Mushrooms are more like green plants all the way around.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Were you paying attention to me? So let me say it another way.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The common ancestor between humans and mushrooms split later than its common ancestor split with green plants.

[Naima Raza]

That makes sense.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So that we and mushrooms are more genetically alike than either of us are to green plants. And so if you. You've bitten into a mushroom before, what Sometimes people call it what they say. What about a mushroom? Meat tastes meaty, fleshy, fleshy. Said no one ever of kale. Right. No one ate kale. Said, oh, this is meaty kale.

[Naima Raza]

That's lies.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm just saying, okay. And mushrooms, which are fungus, just love hanging out with us. That's why you get. By the way, yeast is fungus, so you get yeast infections. The mushroom just wants to get all undoing.

[Naima Raza]

The conversation's going Downhill. I'm gonna take it back on track from yeast infection. So this is our second encounter on the podcast.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Encounter. This. Like we're not aliens. They use the word encounter when you. When meeting an alien. It's the second time I've been on your podcast.

[Naima Raza]

The second time I've been on podcast. This is true. Thank you so much for coming back.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Delighted.

[Naima Raza]

You have now written a whole book about a first alien encounter.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That one might have.

[Naima Raza]

That one might have.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. It's called Take Me to youo Leader Perspectives on youn First Alien Alien Encounter. So it's advice. Very handy advice.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

If you meet an alien, what do you do first? And it's a whole conversation about that.

[Naima Raza]

Yes. I read it. I took notes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. She has like dog eared pages throughout.

[Naima Raza]

I need to be ready.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm very impressed. Thank you.

[Naima Raza]

I need to be ready. Neil. Thank you for the aliens.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Because when you meet the alien, you become the emissary of our entire species.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So you don't wanna mess that up.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Naima Raza]

Don't fuck it up.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And if you're there, try to. You wanna leave the best impression possible. Try to leave behind your friends who think the Earth is flat. You wanna leave behind people who don't know what science is, are in denial of how it works. Who think Earth is flat. Because they will totally mess up our first impression on the aliens. I don't want the alien to run back and say there's no sign of intelligent life on Earth.

[Naima Raza]

But here's the thing, Neil. Don't you kind of like. It's like if you see a grizzly bear, you la. So they don't. Like you could maybe want them to think you're dumb so they don't mess with you.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. So

[Naima Raza]

the pause.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Why? Okay, so you're analogizing the alien to a grizzly bear.

[Naima Raza]

No, I'm not analogizing.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

If you're laying down, the grizzly doesn't think you're dumb. I think they're supposed to think you're dead.

[Naima Raza]

Oh. Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But I don't think you're any less tasty, freshly dead.

[Naima Raza]

Oh.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Than moments before being alive.

[Naima Raza]

People say I taste like a mushroom. I've been told. Okay. So Neil.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

You have dedicated. We're gonna go through the whole book. We're gonna get everyone in here the sold out show. We're gonna get you all ready for your first alien encounter. Should it happen to you. But you dedicate this book to, quote believers and skeptics alike.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

So I wanna find out who's in the room.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Sure.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. So if you're in the room, use your voice, shout, clap, et cetera. If you believe that the aliens have somehow made contact or on Earth, we're covering it. Those things. If you are a believer, make some noise. Okay? Now, if you're a skeptic, you think all those people are crazy, please make some noise.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's about 50. 50.

[Naima Raza]

But, Neil, you did not make any noise. You didn't shout in either camp.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

As an educator, I'm curious how people think so that I can address the occasional tangled mental roadways that confuse people's paths towards what is objectively true in this world.

[Naima Raza]

Aliens. What would happen first, we go to them or they come to us.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, we are so not finding them first.

[Naima Raza]

Okay,

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

wait, wait. Just hear me out. Yeah, hear me out.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We hadn't left low Earth orbit in 50 years.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, sorry. How many more than that? 58 years.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We hadn't left low Earth orbit. And you know where low Earth orbit is? Take Earth, shrink it to a schoolroom globe. Okay. Ask yourself, Bezos Branson Billionaire Boys. Rockets. How high up above the globe do they go? The thickness of two dimes is how high up they go. And we call them astronauts. The space station orbits less than a half an inch above the surface of the schoolroom globe. We had not gone farther away from Earth than that half an inch in 58 years. And you wanna believe that we're gonna go somewhere else and meet an alien? No. They're coming here, okay? And if they come here, they're smarter. They're probably better looking.

[Naima Raza]

They're hotter. They're smarter and hotter than us.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Just imagine how we would feel. They're smarter. They got better technology. And if they were better looking. You ever notice that all aliens are bald? Yeah. Yeah. The least we could do is give them a head of hair. I don't mind.

[Naima Raza]

Well, a well coiffed alien.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Wouldn't that be cool? Alien coming down off the thing with a beautiful head of hair.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. You know, we gotta send those aliens to Turkey. Look at that hair. You know, I have to say, I don't think that Bezos Billionaire Boys Club are gonna like you doing the small hand demonstration of the half an inch. Now they're gonna be building more rockets. More rockets?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, they didn't even go a half an inch. They went the thickness of two dimes. Whether or not they appreciate it, I cannot concern myself with those who are offended by what is objectively true in this world.

[Naima Raza]

100%. So. Yeah. So if we wanted to test if any of the people on Earth are alien. Say, musk, Tom Cruise, York. How would we do it?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You talk about a coin. Very good. So in Men in Black, they did this brilliantly. If you looked carefully at the board that was monitoring all of the aliens on Earth, they were actual people that we know. Okay. But for each one of them, they look a little different. Like one of them was Michael Jackson. If someone is an alien and they have identical human physiology, then it's meaningless to think of them as alien. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, acts like a duck, it's a duck.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They'd be interestingly alien if their organs were in all different places. Yeah. So if they're otherwise masquerading as human, but you know there's something different inside, take them to an X ray machine. And if their heart is up here and their lungs are down here, they're alien. And the way you do that is they did it in the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They did one of the most terrifying movies there ever was. And the only aliens were humans because the aliens inhabited their bodies. And they were your friends, your loved ones. And you didn't know until you learned they had no emotions because they couldn't copy our emotions. And that's how you found out. And there's that. What does that show on Apple plus Floribus? It's the hive mind of other people who otherwise look human. They would pass the physiology test, but they were alien in their minds.

[Naima Raza]

So this sounds like another.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Sounds like another what?

[Naima Raza]

That's your planetarium director voice that you're doing there.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Welcome to the universe.

[Naima Raza]

I tried backstage to do this with Neil.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Should I try, try, try?

[Naima Raza]

Welcome to the universe.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, that's good. That's the voice you'd get at the doorway, entering the universe. Okay, but once you're in the universe, the voice has to come from everywhere. I know what it was. Her voice is what, for some reason we all agreed is the voice of the computer telling you that everything is about to self destruct. Say give me some.

[Naima Raza]

Say yes. The world will self destruct. Please proceed calmly to the accent. Yeah, Neil Degrasse Tyson was robbed by Morgan Freeman is what we are doing.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Welcome to the universe.

[Naima Raza]

Hang tight for a second. We'll be right. Girl, winter is so last season. And now spring's got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect. Hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done. Hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear open that envelope. It's time for a little in person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic back. I brought you something, Neil.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Really?

[Naima Raza]

A gift? Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

What's that? What?

[Naima Raza]

I read about these. They can apparently protect you from alien telepathy, tinfoil hat, and also from government surveillance. I found it on the Internet. Would you like to wear it, Neil?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Only in the moment. I feel at risk,

[Naima Raza]

so no. Would you like to crumple it up and throw it?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So I did not know. Because in fact I talk about these in the book. There's a chapter on alien powers.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, yes, I remember that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There's a whole chapter on. What is it about us that might look really alien to them? For example, let's say you befriend the alien and you're hanging out. And then you tell the alien, excuse me, I have to lay down horizontally and be semi comatose for one third of Earth's rotation.

[Naima Raza]

That means sleeping for people who didn't get the joke

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

right. I mean, I could say eight hours, but the alien won't understand Hours. But they'll know Earth's rotation. So this is alien talk. You're befriending them. So the alien would say. What the hell is wrong? What is that? If the alien doesn't sleep. But here's a problem with putting so much human things on an alien.

[Naima Raza]

You're going to wear the hat.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

This is my bump.

[Naima Raza]

But you're going to wear the hat. Neil, you don't want to.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm going to tell you how and when to wear the hat. Ok. So.

[Naima Raza]

Ok, don't wear the hat.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So there's a whole chapter. Oh, one other thing that we.

[Naima Raza]

Neil, no more creative headaches.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, no, no. Last one, last one.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So just. You gotta. The book tries to set. Prepare you for this first encounter. And if the alien has just a little dog in it, let's say. Cause you don't know. You don't know anything.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Doesn't that take much? Then the alien lands. The first thing it might do is wanna go around and sniff your butt. Okay. You have to be ready for that. And not chastise the alien.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Cause dogs do that all the time. You don't sc. That's just how they. That's how they roll.

[Naima Raza]

That's how they roll.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And if the alien Walks up to you and there's some appendage hanging out in front. Don't just grab it and shake it. You don't know what part of the alien anatomy you just grabbed.

[Naima Raza]

Neil, you could be canceled in the universe if you grab that appendage because you don't know. You don't know.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, just don't go with assumptions. Now there's a whole chapter on alien powers. So at the part where they have powers, one of them might be the power to either read your mind or influence your mind. Famously. They do this in Star wars with the Jedi. What do they call this thing?

[Naima Raza]

Mind trick. The Jedi mind trick.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Mind. Okay. Where you don't have passage through the gate. And they say I have passage through the gate. Yes, you do have passage through the gate. Okay. So you get inside their head to get them to think something that they would not otherwise have thought. That is only possible if you can interact with the electromagnetic field that your brain generates. Electrochemical. But it's the electrical ones that come out of your head and can be measured. Okay. You can create a cage with metal that is completely impervious to electromagnetic energy. It's called a Faraday cage. If I put you in this cage that's surrounded by metal and put you in a lightning storm, if you get hit by lightning, it'll go around the cage and you are completely safe inside. So even though they call it a tin foil hat, they really mean aluminum foil hat. And this would count as a Faraday cage on your head. So what I say in there is those aliens would be able to get inside everybody's head except those people who wear a tinfoil hat.

[Naima Raza]

See, we're protected now, Neil, from aliens

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

reading the electromagnetic energy of your brain, if they could. Yes.

[Naima Raza]

Right now in Washington, there's a lot of discussion about the UFO files. And we're gonna beam in President Trump for a moment, cuz he's just spoken about these files at Turning Point usa and let's see what he said. To begin releasing government files relating to

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena.

[Naima Raza]

So I'm pleased to report today, I

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

thought I'd save it for this crowd

[Naima Raza]

because you're a little bit out there,

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

you know, a little bit that this process is well underway and we found many very interesting documents, I must say. And the first releases will begin very, very soon.

[Naima Raza]

Many very interesting documents coming out very, very soon. Have you been constantly refreshing alien.gov, which is a real website, Neil, to find out about the phenomena?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm not authorized to say what I know about the. All right, so I have a couple of questions.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right. Many people who are sure the government is masterminding cover up.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. These are the same people, typically who are certain that the government is an oversized, bloated, inefficient bureaucracy. I don't see how both can be true at the same time.

[Naima Raza]

Omnipotent, incompetent, all at once.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I don't see how that's true, but plus, it would be odd if the aliens only visited government facilities.

[Naima Raza]

Yes, they like areas that you want to run.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm just asking, is that a fair.

[Naima Raza]

I'm just asking, Neil, have you ever been to the dmv? It's very exc. You wouldn't want to go. Okay, so I want to ask you this, but.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So here's the thing. People think that people think.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Tell us that there's some big government cover up. How could there be a cover up when in 2023, 2024 and 2025 there's a parade of people in Congress from. They were insiders giving firsthand knowledge of alien crashed hardware and aliens themselves. If they're all government officials and all saying this in Congress, then it's not a cover up anymore. So what is the COVID up you're looking for when they're saying it's real? And I thought that was when they pulled out all the documents, but apparently there's more. There's more that will be strategically announced when he needs it in the news cycle.

[Naima Raza]

There's another kind of files they're putting away. So here's the thing, Neil. But say that these files come out. Would you look at them? And what would you Control F? What's the Neil Degrasse Tyson Control F on alien.gov as and when they come

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

out, the keyword is control F. The find yes feature. Okay. On a Mac it's Command F. Yeah.

[Naima Raza]

Command F. Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh. So I'd be delighted to learn what's in the documents. I don't know that they would say much different from what people already said is in them, that they found crashed saucers and they got aliens in a locked box in the back or locked cabin, locked shed. And that, you know, I'd be surprised if it was different from that. But what I really want is for them to bring forth the alien.

[Naima Raza]

That would be really cool. Real alien body. But you wouldn't look for any words. There's no keywords that you would. I mean, if you got that, would you just read it from head to head. Oh, my.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Find what you find. No, no, no, I don't. No. If you do a command F, you are presuming you know what word you should look for rather than let the document be what it needs to be for you to understand it. Okay, I will not prejudge a document by searching within it. By the way, AI will do that.

[Naima Raza]

Yes, it will. We're gonna get to AI.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, fine.

[Naima Raza]

In a moment, but first we're gonna see. Because the reason this whole UFO files conversation has come about recently is because of a viral clip, another clip featuring President Obama.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Are aliens real? They're real, but I haven't seen them. And they're not being kept in. What is it? Area 51. Area 51? There's no underground facility. Unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the President of the United States.

[Naima Raza]

So. Neil.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, of course. If it's a real conspiracy, why would a president say we actually have them? He. No, no, the president say. That's a funny comment. Because if he's part of the conspiracy, that's exactly what he would say.

[Naima Raza]

Yes, but. But, Neil, Neil, are you part of the government conspiracy to keep this from President Obama and other presidents?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm not authorized to go. No. Okay. Obviously, if it's a government conspiracy, the president is in on it, you know. But he said aliens in the universe. Yes, as anyone who studied the problem would say, and he's an educated man, so he knows what one would say in that situation.

[Naima Raza]

The clip, it just was.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But everyone took that and said that means they're actually aliens in the locked box. But then he then denies it.

[Naima Raza]

But then he had to walk it back. President Obama had to walk it back. Did he call you during this time? Did you speak to President Obama?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Not during then, but while he was president. We had some conversations.

[Naima Raza]

But not during this alien walk back situation?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, not since then.

[Naima Raza]

Not since then. Okay. Okay. Do you think it says more about.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Don't you want to know what we talked about when we were together? No.

[Naima Raza]

Because it's so long ago.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You just moved on.

[Naima Raza]

No, no, too late.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

[Naima Raza]

But did you talk about aliens? Is my question.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Briefly, but nothing substantive.

[Naima Raza]

What did you talk about that was substantive?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

A lot of things. Just the state of the world. I had dinner with him.

[Naima Raza]

You met him at Roswell and then you guys.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. No, no, we did not meet at Roswell.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. You're correct.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That. No. They mentioned Area 51.

[Naima Raza]

They mention Area 51.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And if we did stockpile aliens that's where we would put them.

[Naima Raza]

Because.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, because it's a top secret facility, with or without aliens. It's top secret Air Force facility in New Mexico. What? I. But I just still have these other questions. Yeah, like why hasn't the janitor snuck out a photo of the aliens?

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Because the janitor would lose his job that day, but he would be the most famous, richest janitor there ever was. His stuff. That video would go viral faster than kitten videos.

[Naima Raza]

There's a lot of questions out there right now from the tinfoil hat wearers.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. I don't have any problems with any of their questions. I'm perfectly happy to believe that there are aliens in the back room. But if you want to turn my sentence from believe to know, you got to bring out the alien. Is that too much to ask? No, I don't think so.

[Naima Raza]

No office.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Naima Raza]

Did you read this piece in the Journal last summer where they.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Certainly not the Journal. You mean the Wall Street Journal?

[Naima Raza]

The Wall Street Journal.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. Certainly not.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Ooh.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, I don't read the Wall Street Journal.

[Naima Raza]

I'm sorry. No. There was a story about.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's how I know. That's how I can answer that in advance. Okay.

[Naima Raza]

There was a story about how Area 51, they actually created misinformation about aliens. They sent somebody out to put saucers up in a cafe near Area 51 to distract people from a stealth ship that they were building against Russia. Did you see that?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I can believe that. Yeah, sure. There was another thing where if everyone thinks there are aliens coming, more people will look up and report what they see.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And it was a cold war, so if Russia was testing some new kind of thing, you'd want as much data as you can because the population of the country functionally crowdsources what is happening in the sky. We see this guy more thoroughly than specialized places in the military that are looking up in their location. Now, we have satellites, of course, that can do this. I'm just saying that if you say there might be aliens, keep looking up, and then everybody looks up all the time, giving excellent data back to the military, which is exactly what they want.

[Naima Raza]

We'll come back to all this, but I want to really get to the etiquette part. The etiquette part. Because we don't want to say if they show up. If they show up, we wanna know what to do. And you've said already, don't grab them by the appendage.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But if there's an appendage sticking out,

[Naima Raza]

let them Sniff your butt.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

If that's what they want.

[Naima Raza]

Yes, that's what they want. Okay. And you also write in the book that we should have a kind of. It's like the opposite of a zombie go bag. You recommend having a prep kit for when the aliens show up? Cause you wanna prove we're intelligent.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

You have two things in there.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Cause I think, unlike what you said, I think if we show that we're intelligent, they might then respect us.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Whereas if you just lay down dead or do something stupid, the aliens just say, come on. They'll either go back saying there's no intelligent life on Earth or invite all the other aliens to give them another planet to dominate.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. I hope I'm not the emissary.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Or they might turn us into their pets.

[Naima Raza]

Could be nice. We treat our pets well. As we do.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We treat our pets. Really? We spend 10 times as much money on pet accoutrements than the government spends on homeless people.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Factor of 10?

[Naima Raza]

Factor of 10.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The real numbers in here, it's around a factor of 10.

[Naima Raza]

It's a factor of 10. So you talk about carrying around two things. The first is the Pythagorean theorem.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

Or blocks that could help you demonstrate that you know it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

And the second is a periodic table of elements.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Naima Raza]

Do you have both of these things right now?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No.

[Naima Raza]

Is that because you think you're not going to see an alien tonight?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, tonight I did not prep myself for that possibility. But explain were I to go out alone on the country road. Cause I've always wanted to be abducted since childhood. No, I am dead serious about. Not that I want to leave Earth. I love me some Earth. It's just that I've been a curious, geeky kid since I was nine years old. Ever since I could look up, I've wanted to know the universe ever since a first visit to the Hayden Planetarium. Yeah. That's where I now serve as director. That was the place that turned me on. And because growing up in the Bronx, we don't have access. Nowhere in the city does anyone have a relationship with the night sky? Yeah, there were tall buildings, and back when I grew up, there was light pollution, air pollution. So the planetarium was my haven. And I went there. And the first time I saw the stars come out, I said, this is a hoax.

[Naima Raza]

The stars.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I know how many stars in the night sky. There's eight of them that I saw from the Bronx. So I didn't believe it at first. I thought it was a beautiful hoax, but A hoax, nonetheless. But since then, I wanted to become one with the universe. And in fact, dare I say, I think the universe chose me to follow it into the cosmos. So from that day on. So I've been thinking about it ever since. So this book came out now, but it's lifelong reflections on what I would say, how I would behave, how would I convince. Because you can't just do math on a page and show that math is our language of the universe, even if it's its language. So you want some symbols. The Pythagorean Theorem. You learn that as math. Yeah, but it's really symbols. If you draw a square off one side of that triangle, its area is A squared.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

B squared, C squared. So if you draw a right triangle and three squares coming off the sides, you're telling the alien, you know, that A squared plus B squared equals C squared. Because those are squares. Yes.

[Naima Raza]

And it gets expanded.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They don't even have to know your symbols. Yeah, they don't have to know what A, B or C is, but they have to be able to, because two is squared. They don't have to know that.

[Naima Raza]

They have to see.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So the alien likely can see because sight is something that was developed multiple times independently in the tree of life. Independently.

[Naima Raza]

Do mushrooms have eyes?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No. Generally, things that move, want and need eyes.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And mushrooms don't. Okay. So the fly eye, the octopus eye, the echolocation of bats, the mammal eye, the vertebrate eye are completely different lineages with no common origin in the tree of life. So important is sight that it arose in multiple ways because sight is your sense that allows you to know the farthest of what's happening in the world to warn you against a predator, to see where there might be food. So I'm gonna say the aliens can probably see, but they might not see in visible light.

[Naima Raza]

So, okay, this is what we wanna show them. We have the periodic table. We got the pipe. Okay. No, no, no, no.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So. So the periodic table.

[Naima Raza]

Neil, don't read us the whole periodic table.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, no, I'm not. I'm not. Periodic table.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. They won't have the symbols we have. Of course they won't. Okay. By the way, we have some interesting symbols, by the way.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. We can't discuss them.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

These elements exist on Earth as in the heavens.

[Naima Raza]

Okay?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We find them across the universe and across time. And it's the organization of the table that reveals that we know quantum physics because that's why some elements are above others. It's not just throw them In a table. Do you realize in science fiction they always try to find life forms based on what other element?

[Naima Raza]

Hydrogen? Carbon.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, we're based on carbon. Give me another one. Silicon.

[Naima Raza]

Silicon.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Real sci fi fans there. So we heard about silicon. You know why they come up with silicon? Silicon sits directly below carbon on the periodic table. And all elements in a column make the same kinds of molecules. So you. Thank you for the Twilight Zone music there. So do it in the microphone. So we. So every molecule in your body that's based on carbon, swap it with silicon. And so the idea is maybe we can make silicon based life on the blueprint that we already have. This is the creativity of science fiction writing. Point is, these elements are across the universe. If they know anything about the elements, they would organize them in the same way. So we would show a chart of boxes, and they will know immediately it's a periodic table, even if our symbols don't match.

[Naima Raza]

I love it. So what, this is all the stuff that we can use to prove that we're intelligent. What if we wanted to not let them see how dumb we are? So what would you most. What social media phenomenon would you most want to hide from the aliens?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All of them.

[Naima Raza]

Our belief in manifestation, gender reveal parties, or DJ as a viable career path for a millennial man.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, each of those would be too complicated for them to. I mean, unless they're really, really smart in our culture. Yeah, so you said gender reveal parties.

[Naima Raza]

Yes. And what's the manifestation?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I don't.

[Naima Raza]

What is manifestation when you can manifest? Like, I just thought of having Neil Degrasse Tyson at the comedy seller. Now it's happening because I thought of it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, but you didn't produce me out of thin air.

[Naima Raza]

But manifestation means, like, you want it, therefore you want it to win an Oscar, therefore you win an Oscar.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right. So what happens is they don't interview all the people that wanted to win an Oscar and didn't.

[Naima Raza]

Yes, that's what happened.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They need to be in the data set as well. Okay, well, can I give an example?

[Naima Raza]

Sure.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so let's say I get 1,000 people and I give everyone a coin. And I say flip the coin. If you have tails. Just sit down. So now how many are left? Approximately 500. Yeah. Half of them. So flip a coin, half, sit down, flip a coin, half. It's 500. Sit down. 250, 100, 20, 60, 30, 15, 8, 4, 2. And there's one person standing at the end. Okay, do you realize in this experiment that last person standing flipped heads 10 consecutive times. What does the press do? The press goes to that person. They say, how do you feel about this? Did you know you would win? I felt heads energy halfway through. And I just knew. And all kinds of bullshit comes out of their mouth that they believe for themselves. Yeah, but the other people who felt head's energy, who didn't make it to the end are not interviewed by the press. So you don't get the full hammer of the statistics, of the failure of everybody who wanted to flip heads 10 consecutive times. This is probability and statistics. And the human mind is woefully inept at thinking statistically about the world. And that saddens me. And it's no one's fault. It's not your fault. Do you know that?

[Naima Raza]

I probably don't. Do you know, tell me.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, calculus.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Were all invented before the first. First person thought that it might be a good idea to take an average of numbers. Probability is the last of the branches of math. And how can that be with all these brilliant thinkers that came before us? There must be something about our brain wiring that is incommensurate with thinking that way. And there's an entire industry that exploits that weakness. And they call casinos. Okay.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They. I'm in a casino. There's someone betting on a seven in the roulette table. I say, why do you keep betting on seven? They say, it's due, and I say, it's not due. And they show the previous rolls.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And there's no seven there. See? See? It's due. No, it's not due.

[Naima Raza]

No.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They're exploiting our weakness. Did you know. Do you know the American Physical Society?

[Naima Raza]

I don't.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We are a. So the physicists of the country.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We were going to have our annual conference in San Diego. There was a hotel snafu and we had to pivot. And the MGM grand, then the MGM Marina, one of the biggest hotels in the world, in Vegas, said, we'll take you.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, God.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Because it's on the spot. Last minute. Yeah. So all the physicists went to Vegas.

[Naima Raza]

And what happens in Vegas a week later?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There's a newspaper headline, physicist in town. Lowest casino take ever. The American Physical Society was told to never return to the city.

[Naima Raza]

Oh. That's why. Okay, this brings me.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Not that we knew. The odds is we just didn't play. Will you give me one conspiracy theory?

[Naima Raza]

I will later. Cliffhanger will be right back. This episode is brought to you by. Prime Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories. And the book to screen favorites you've already read twice off campus Elle every year after the love hypothesis, Sterling point and more slow burns, second chances chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on prime with Plan B. Emergency contraception. We're in control of our future. It's backup birth control you take after unprotected sex that helps prevent pregnancy before it starts. It works by temporarily delaying ovulation and it won't impact your future fertility. Plan B is available in all 50 US states at all major retailers near you, with no ID, prescription or age requirement needed. Together we've got this. Follow Plan B on insta at Plan B. One step to learn more. Use as directed, guys. Today's sponsor, Dumb Question is from me. I'm going to take the next minute to tell you a little bit about smart girl dumb questions and to ask you for your help in continuing to make independent, fact based and curious journalism. No, I'm not going to ask you for money. Here's what I need. I would love you to tell 10 of your friends about the show or 100. I don't know. Blast that reunion group that you muted. And definitely tell your mom and tell your mom to tell her friends, too. Even if you don't like the show and you're just like, hate watching it or listening to it. Tell 10 of your friends to hate watch it, too. Numbers are numbers, people. Speaking of Vegas, if you were an alien, where would you first show up? Because Vegas seems like a good place for camouflage.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No.

[Naima Raza]

No.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So here's where the aliens should not show up.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Or maybe they should. If the alien lands at Comic Con problem, they'll go back home saying they're just like us.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah,

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I kind of like Comic Con people.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The biggest fight they'll ever get into is, like, with lightsabers in the cafeteria over whether their costume is more accurate.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. You cannot imagine Comic Con nerds in a geopolitical armed conflict.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's not how that works.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Naima Raza]

What about New Jersey? There were all these alien. There were all these sightings. People said there was.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I was interviewed on CNN when that happened because there were these sightings. Maybe some were drones, maybe some others were airplanes coming into the two airports. The Newark airport and Teeterborough.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There's a rich person who knows Teterboro.

[Naima Raza]

Get a ride with that person on the way.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Ma', am. You didn't even pause Teterboro. What is the Name? Oh, Teterboro. I think it's Teterboro. Yeah. That's where private jets land.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Only by Teterboro and take off. Yes. Thank you. So. And some might have been drones, but there was some that were not explained.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And so they asked lawmakers to. And the Pentagon commented. And they said, Pentagon said, we don't know what they all are, but we know they're safe. Those two phrases do not belong in the same sentence. And I said this on cnn. I said, it is not comforting for the government for the Pentagon to say you do not know what they all are. But then you're gonna tell me that they're safe.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That does not work with me. Okay. But what I did tell them was, you know, I'm an earthling, so all I really know are earthling values. But if I were an alien, I'm think. And I'm visiting Earth.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm thinking the first place I visit would not be northern New Jersey. I'm just.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No offense to New Jersey people, but of all the places to visit, Tahiti, the Great Pyramids, you know, the Barrier Reef.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You're gonna go to New Jersey. Really? So.

[Naima Raza]

So you end up buying it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's why I found the alien hypothesis incredulous in that example.

[Naima Raza]

So not Northern New Jersey, not Vegas. Maybe Comic Con. We'll see Comic Con different. I like the title of your book, Neil. Take me to your leader. And I know we imagine this is what I'm like.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

This will be.

[Naima Raza]

Yes. Zoe. Publisher. Neil, by the way, felt this for the first time backstage.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, it just came out like Friday. And this is the first book I've been able to touch.

[Naima Raza]

Let's get philosophical for a second.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Love it.

[Naima Raza]

There's some tension in your book, Neil. Did you feel the tension like you felt the tension in their marriage? Did you feel the tension in your book?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No.

[Naima Raza]

There's a tension in your book.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I know. I know what the tension is. It's the urge to want to believe all the eyewitnesses juxtaposed with my natural skepticism as a scientist.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, no, it's not.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Is that not the tension that you felt? What is the tension you felt?

[Naima Raza]

The tension I felt is the tension about all of us. Not you specifically, but all of us, which is that there's this desire. But I do want to hear about that one. We're gonna get to that one. There's this desire, like, we're very self centered. We think the Earth revolves around us. We think the hottest chick on our planet is Miss Universe, as you point out.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, it is weird. Did they check Mars? You know, anything that's Earth wide, We say it's universal. No, it's not. It's Earth wide. Yeah. Get your language straight.

[Naima Raza]

Totally.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Miss Universe is Miss Earth. Okay, way to demo where we started.

[Naima Raza]

Miss Mexico, I believe it is right now. And then on the other side, there's also.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Is that right? Miss Mexico is Miss Universe right now.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. But we also have at the same time what you have called the gap of the gods.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The God of the gap.

[Naima Raza]

God of the gaps. This desire to like. So we want. We think we're the center of the universe. At the same time, we feel powerless. We want to explain things by God, by aliens, by simulation theory. I'm just curious how you think we hold these two irreconcilable truths. And what percentage is the right percentage for each of us to have inside of us?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. I don't want to prescribe in a free country how people should think about any of this. I help you out giving you some platforms to stand on that has some firmness to it. But you go back in the day when a storm would ravage the coast, and they say, oh, Poseidon is angered. We must sacrifice something in Poseidon's temple. So Poseidon explained that and everybody was just fine. Yeah, that lightning bolt would strike. Oh, Zeus was angry. Later on, Jupiter is angry. So philosophers call this God of the gaps, where you don't quite understand something in the natural world. You invoke the wrath or the grace of God as an account. God of the gaps. What I have noticed in recent years is now if somebody sees something in the sky they can't explain, it's like alien of the gaps, except that doesn't have the same resonance. So I changed it to aliens of our ignorance. There's a light in the sky, moving in a way I don't understand. Must be alien. There's something. There's a glow in the horizon. Must be alien. You don't understand it. Rather than, I have no idea what I'm looking at, and then just move on with your life. So we require scientists, generally, not so. But everybody else requires that every question have an answer that they can go home with. But as a scientist, you must learn to love the questions themselves, lest your bias influence the answer that you derive just to make you happy to go home with an answer rather than to be steeped in the ignorance that we actually cherish. I cherish ignorance. Ignorance is not a bad word. It's just a Place I have yet to tread.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And not only that. As the area of our knowledge grows, so too does the perimeter of our ignorance.

[Naima Raza]

I love that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So I don't see any ending here between what we discover and where we might ultimately land.

[Naima Raza]

You have wanted to be abducted all the time. But it hasn't happened for you. I'm sorry, it hasn't.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There's even a book written by a UFO expert called how to Avoid Being Abducted by Aliens. And I violated every suggestion in that book.

[Naima Raza]

You know, Neil, they say that if you're, like, a single woman dating in New York, they say, like, it will happen for you when you least think about it. So maybe tonight.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Wait, what will happen? You'll meet the alien.

[Naima Raza]

You'll meet the man. You'll meet the alien. You'll meet the alien.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You'll see that right after we talk about aliens. Right?

[Naima Raza]

That's true. Hey, they could have a Captain Kirk proclivity. I'm not judging Peterborough over there, but have you ever. We've seen all this evidence. Not evidence. I'm sorry, I want to correct myself. I saw you.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, there's testimony.

[Naima Raza]

There's testimony.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, end of testimony.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. And some of that testimony comes from, like, you know, a Commander David fervor, who spent 18 years up there, the skies, flying around. US Air Force David Grusch, testifying before Congress, did you at any point, did you feel tempted, interested, intrigued, or were you skeptical throughout? I'm curious. When you're watching that happen, what is happening to you, that testimony? Are you watching the testimony?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, most of it. Yeah. I watched a lot of it.

[Naima Raza]

So what is happening inside of you? When? Cause I imagine you, like, on a blackboard, proving that it's not true, what they said. No, no, no, no.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm not here to say that people's testimonies are false. I'm here to say this is intriguing. Let's investigate it further. But until you fork up the alien, it's just a matter of whether we believe you or not. If they. It's like. Do you believe in elephants? Well, if you've never seen an elephant, you'd have to line up all the people testifying. You know, they have a big rubbery hose coming out the front, and they breathe through it, they eat through it, they pick stuff up with it. Then they have this ivory thing sticking out, these two teeth that sticking out. They got big, big ears and big old tree trunks for legs. You say, this person is crazy, plum crazy. You gotta believe me. And then. So that's a Two hour documentary.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Lining people up, testifying the Age of Disclosure. Testifying that they're witness to elephants.

[Naima Raza]

Did you.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Whereas if they brought out the elephant in the first five minutes, it's a 10 minute documentary. Five minutes to bring out the elephant and five minutes for the rolling credits.

[Naima Raza]

I did. What I really like about this book is it's also like cultural criticism about Hollywood. Do you ever. Did you watch Age of Disclosure? Did you watch it from, like, start to finish that movie?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I watched every moment of it, yes.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And it's a parade of highly convincing, highly decorated, highly. And people giving calm testimony of all

[Naima Raza]

the things that people talk about. The Tic Tac incident, the hellfire.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The Tic Tac.

[Naima Raza]

The Tic Tac.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The Tic Tac.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It was like this fuzzy Tic Tac in the monochromatic screen of Navy pilots that they could not explain or track. And I just thought, you know, we all have a smartphone that can take high resolution color images. So why is our best image of an alien a monochromatic Tic Tac in a Navy screen? So it would mean the aliens went to restricted naval airspace. Oh, here's what. Maybe the aliens are actually fuzzy.

[Naima Raza]

That could be. They could have a lot of hair and be very fuzzy.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We've got to allow that possibility.

[Naima Raza]

Is there any one that you found more convincing than the others?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I found they were all convincing. One of them said he encountered an alien and the alien had some infrared ray and that he was harmed by it and had to get medical attention. So I don't have a problem with any of their testimonies.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, you asked me for a conspiracy theory. There is one. Eleven scientists they say have gone missing or disappeared dead in the last 2022-2026 era.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Naima Raza]

And this is.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Here's another one.

[Naima Raza]

People are worried.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So the absence of evidence is not the same thing as the evidence of absence.

[Naima Raza]

But if everything is.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So someone goes missing.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Do you have their body? That would be evidence of absence.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But otherwise you have an absence of evidence. If they're just missing, maybe they're in the Bahamas. I mean, I don't know.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Or maybe the aliens took them in Close encounters of the Third Kind. We had all these stories about military pilots disappearing and the aliens. Apparently aliens had them and they brought them back and they got repatriated or whatever the word is, back to American soil.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. So I like the title Take Me to youo Leader.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Thank you.

[Naima Raza]

I like that. I think this is what we think they would say to us but also, I have seen the film Love actually. Have you seen the film Love actually?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, I have not scooped.

[Naima Raza]

Here's a scoop on the story. A British guy comes to America. He has a lot to do in America. He doesn't say, take me to your leader. He comes and he hangs out in a hot tub with hot American chicks. So why do you think an alien would want to see our leader?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, that's an alien.

[Naima Raza]

No, he's just a person in that movie.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, okay.

[Naima Raza]

Now, he wanted to see the movie because he thought it was nerdy.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so would. So you're asking, would the alien want to go into a hot tub with hot women?

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, I mean, they might meet our leaders there. Actually, these days. That. That, by the way, is a.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Did you see what she did there?

[Naima Raza]

That's a nonpartisan joke because we now know that hot tubs are an equal opportunity employer. But you really think they would want to go to our leader?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, I think they want to go to the person in charge, whether or not it's our leader. Yeah, you and their judgment. They will see our radio waves passing through space. Our cultural emissaries are early TV shows whose radio waves have escaped Earth and are now like, 70, 80 light years away.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So some of the early ones are the Howdy Doody radio show. Another one might be the Honeymooners. You'll learn how men and women treat each other. They'll see Ralph Kramden say to the moon, Alice gesturing with his fist. People used to laugh at that back then.

[Naima Raza]

What is that? Where is that from?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

What planet are you from?

[Naima Raza]

I don't know that. I grew up in Indonesia. Last time, Neil taught me about Rick and Morty. So I'm getting my fill. Getting my fill.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, I visited Indonesia for the first time recently. I did.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, I know what you thought.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I went to Bali.

[Naima Raza]

Very nice.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes, we like.

[Naima Raza]

Did you fly from Teterboro, Neil?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No. Okay.

[Naima Raza]

Okay, so tell us.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So would the alien want to go to a hot tub or to our leader? And so all I'm saying is that in these waves of radio, they would see people who we thought were important in an interesting sequence. They'll see, like, Clark Gable that everyone was talking about in the 1930s and 40s. Then they'll see, like, Marilyn Monroe. They'll see people who are cultural icons. Why wouldn't they assume that those are our leaders? There's way more content of them in these escape radio waves than any elected official or any king or queen. And so you just follow this in right on up to Taylor Swift today. Or even, or even athletes like Michael Jordan. Yeah. Or you know, so I'm thinking if they come and they ask take me to your leader, they might be expecting us to take it to one of them. I just want to keep that open,

[Naima Raza]

you know where I'm taking it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Where?

[Naima Raza]

To you.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh yes, definitely.

[Naima Raza]

I'm definitely calling you. We got bring him to call me.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Call me now as whether they'd want to go in the hot tub. So here's the thing.

[Naima Raza]

Oh no.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Do you remember Captain Kirk? Well you're from Indonesia. Do you remember Captain Kirk? I know Captain Kirk, but do you know his habits? His galactic habits? Okay, yeah, yeah. They go to some planet he loved.

[Naima Raza]

Some aliens.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They love him. Some aliens. And that she'd be like blue or green. Very shapely.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And he would kiss them. He would kiss them and they'd say what is kiss? Oh, that's an earth emotion. And then the camera would drift away and you wouldn't see them for the next scene. So my man is getting alien booty across the galaxy.

[Naima Raza]

Woo hoo.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, now here's an interesting fact.

[Naima Raza]

Please.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The very first kiss between a black person and a white person was with Lt. Uhura and Capt. Kirk in a single episode of Star Trek. She is brown skin and 100% human. And the show got hate mail from southern states.

[Naima Raza]

They cared more about it being a black woman than a blue woman or a green woman.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, that was fine. That was fine.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, fine.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

An actual woman with darkness. So what I'm saying is if the aliens come to us.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Maybe they don't care who they jump in the hot tub with. Yeah, they're fine just the way Kirk didn't. They're going the other way. That's what I'm saying. Right, yeah.

[Naima Raza]

Another thing where we take our humanoid self centrism and implant it onto robots. We don't think robots should be squares or whatever. We make them look like us.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's odd that we make robots that look like us because there's nothing enviable about the human form.

[Naima Raza]

Speak for yourself, Neil.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, no, no, no, no. I'll show you. No, no. So if I want a robot that will drive my car, I'll just make the car the robot.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So people talk about a robot doing every. No, I'll get a robot that is specific to my task and it'll do it perfectly and brilliantly. I don't need something that has arms and legs and feet and. But who says five fingers is the best? Maybe eight, maybe no, an octopus. Here's what you should fear. An octopus captures you from Earth and imprisons you in a room that has a door with three doorknobs.

[Naima Raza]

Fuck.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No lock required.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You're done. You cannot open that door. Okay. Yeah, yeah. You know, you need your two knees.

[Naima Raza]

So poseable toes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Our config. Yeah, but you have to like do it yoga. And then open. You want to know? So. But whereas an octopus can just do it like that. So you take our bodies as though it's something special. Yeah, but it's not okay at all.

[Naima Raza]

I'm going to have two AI questions for you, then we're going to open it up. Could we ever become alien ourselves by putting so much silicon inside of ourselves? I say this because we are at a point where.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

What part of your anatomy are you putting the silicon?

[Naima Raza]

Any orifice. No, I'm kidding. So the. But, but honestly, we're on the precipice of AI. We're talking about neuralink, we're talking about cyborg, human. Is it possible that we will become alien to ourselves? As you write alien to us. One of your chapters through the amount of technology that we're allowing and imbuing into ourselves.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So it wouldn't even have to be technology. If we master the genome, we can just splice stuff into us that the human species had never had before. In here, I talk about what might be possible. What are the ways of being alive in the universe? Earth has an excellent sampling of this. 90 something percent of all species on Earth that have ever lived are now extinct because they didn't make it through some transition in the ecosphere. So there's a place called. It's in Canada called the. What's it called?

[Naima Raza]

The.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The what? Thank you. The Burgess Shale. We got a nerd in the back row. So there's a place called the Burgess Shale that has extinct microscopic tiny life forms that would not have otherwise been preserved as fossils were it not for the very special geologic conditions where they all were dead. Died. And you could just. The life forms with all manner of appendages and eyeballs in places. And you look at that and say, wow, this is a template for life to imagine ways of being alive. And so if you need to do that, check it out. And if you're gonna create the next Alien in the next Alien movie, you should look at that first. Or look at all the aliens in Rick and Morty.

[Naima Raza]

Yes. Okay, Wait, I gotta interrupt you though. Cause you said next Alien movie. I don't know, Neil. If you Know that you are the star of a movie trailer that has gone viral on the Internet these days. Are you aware this is not that

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

movie trailer made completely by AI?

[Naima Raza]

Yes, this is it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so two and a half minutes. If that's the one I'm thinking of. It has is made without my permission, without my consent, without my knowledge. My phone blew up like 12 hours after this posted. Neil, did you know? Have you seen this? And then I saw it and I found it disturbing. Disturbingly entertaining. All right, it's called. It's a trailer for a non existent movie. And it's called Pie Hard.

[Naima Raza]

Yes. Not to be confused with Pie Hard with a vengeance. Let's play it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

What if I told you the laws of physics were literally being destroyed? I'd say you were going crazy. Maybe I am crazy. This was supposed to be our timeline. And somehow we ended up over here. This isn't a glitch. Let it go. I'm gonna need someone who isn't afraid of risk free. Listen to me very carefully. I'm gonna get you.

[Naima Raza]

So scientists are now saying that there were a series of baffling incidents that appear to defy the known laws of physics

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

add up anymore. Which means someone, something is changing now. It's like they built a back door into the universe.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, Hello Neil. Time to divide everything by zero. Hahaha.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You were going to die.

[Naima Raza]

Let me think. Mother.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh,

[Naima Raza]

stop them. They're getting away.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

To be honest, this whole theory sounds pretty out there. You really shouldn't have called me, Neil. You don't understand. He's collapsing the goddamn multiverse. I'm not going back now.

[Naima Raza]

Send in the drones. So it was all a big fat lie?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I thought I told you to shut him down.

[Naima Raza]

It's not what you think. Ouch.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Is that not completely off the chain? It had. It didn't leave any trope unturned. Yes, it's got an alien, a black hole, a wormhole. And I didn't know initially until it was explained to me what I was doing in the sauna with Bill Gates.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, that's a COVID vaccine.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's the COVID That's the vaccine. Not the vaccine. No, those are the chips. The microchips.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, the microchips that he's injecting into. No, no, but that was what they. The conspiracy theory was that the. The vaccines contain the microchips. So was there. Can you find. This is like a spot the difference or like a. Can you find one truism in that whole trailer? One thing that would hold True. According to the laws of physics. Or Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I think the whole point is that nothing. Yeah, it was so what I noticed, you know, because if I'm represented, I'm a little more sensitive to how I'm represented.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm taller than the person representing me in that.

[Naima Raza]

Very much.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Cause I have a little middle aged man belly.

[Naima Raza]

But the way stand up, Neil. So people see tall.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm a proud of my room. Oh yeah. No, I'm.

[Naima Raza]

And this is me without heels. See, that's the.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, okay.

[Naima Raza]

Gives you a sense.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Naima Raza]

He's a tall man.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

He's a tall man. So. Oh, can I show you something? Yeah, real quick.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We're gonna dance just a little bit.

[Naima Raza]

Bill Nye gave me a dance lesson. Ballroom dance lesson. Let's see.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So you didn't ask me to give you ballroom dancing? No, I was on a competitive ballroom dance.

[Naima Raza]

Bill Nye did it after. Okay, I'm sorry I didn't learn a lot. He taught me the shoulder, the thing. Okay, so what are we doing? The physics.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Oh, so take your shoes off.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. I did this with Diplo.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Stand next to me.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Do we see this height difference? Okay. Okay. So now sit down in a chair.

[Naima Raza]

Yep. Same. The equalizer.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Most of people's height is in their legs. That's why chairs in a car, the driver's seat moves a lot forward and back and very little up and down. It just doesn't have to. Okay, so my point is.

[Naima Raza]

Yes. Tell us more.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The way I was running like a chubby little kid in this, it was like waddling as I ran.

[Naima Raza]

But you had that flip.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That was still kind of a clumsy flip. I can flip way better than that. So it was good. It was a good maneuver. But I'm just saying that was a chubby short kneel.

[Naima Raza]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And with my little middle aged man belly at my height, I would still look a little more graceful than what was shown is all I'm saying.

[Naima Raza]

Yes, I think you would. Would you want to make that movie if approached to make pie hard with that particular cast of character?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Would I permission to the AI to create me for it? Is that what you're asking?

[Naima Raza]

No. Like if you were offered a role in a Hollywood film with this kind of premise where you would bond with Sam Bankman Fried against Elizabeth Holmes after

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I bust him out of jail.

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

With my Neil's ice cream truck. Did you see it was an ice cream truck?

[Naima Raza]

Yeah. You're rich in that trailer.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So I don't have Hollywood ambitions, okay? Although I have a cameo in six Hollywood feature length movies.

[Naima Raza]

Give me a high four now.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But I have a very low bar for what I'll agree to. Very low bar.

[Naima Raza]

I can tell because you're here for Smart Girl. Dumb questions at the Comedy. Stellar every Monday night.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So I have a cameo in Sharknado 6.

[Naima Raza]

I don't even think Mark Cuban went on Sharknado 6. He was an early one.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And I have a cameo in Ice Age 5. You probably didn't know that there were four others of those.

[Naima Raza]

No.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And so is that a cartoon? No, no. Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry, sorry. It's a cartoon. So I'm an animated character in that.

[Naima Raza]

I don't know if that counts, Neil, but keep going.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, except it counts because I'm the only animated character drawn to look like the person voicing it. So it has a little astronomy vest.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And it's got my hairline and a mustache, so it's the only. Whereas none of the other characters look like their voices, so I'm kind of in it. But point. My point is both of those franchises ended with that number.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, you think this is gonna be my last episode of Smart Girl Numb Questions.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, I hope not. Should I go back to where I. No, no.

[Naima Raza]

I like. You can be wherever I'm. Okay, now we have some time for audience questions.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, I love that. Yeah, let's go back over there for a second.

[Naima Raza]

Okay. Let's get. Let's. Okay, great. Who wants to go first? Melissa. Take us in. Take us to someone. Yeah. Thank you. I need that very important feel better. I'm a skeptic. I feel that if there were aliens of the universe, they would have certainly visited by now. And I think maybe it's a Homo sapien narcissism. But. But we must be the only ones out there, because where the heck are they? Can you explain why they aren't walking among us if they're a necessary part of the cosmos?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, we're not walking among them.

[Naima Raza]

Mm.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So maybe they have the same space travel challenges that we do. Okay, why put the onus on them to visit us when you should ask, why haven't we visited them? Will the day arrive where we become the aliens to other species and become the stuff of their legends? So, yeah, it could be that aliens are everywhere in the universe, but no one knows how to travel through the depths of space. That could be it. Or perhaps the most terrifying possibility is that we are alone in the universe. The real question is if aliens have arrived. How you know, why aren't there any good photos of them? You know, do you realize a million people are airborne at any given moment?

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, we just open up the window.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Open the window. Don't open the window.

[Naima Raza]

The shade. The window shade.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The window shade. Thank you.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And if there's a mothership or there's an alien invasion, we would know.

[Naima Raza]

We would know.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But here's what worries me. You know, the evil alien trope which I talk about is deeply with us, you know, from, you know, Independence Day. Evil aliens. And what's that other. That campy movie of Mars Attack. Mars Attack?

[Naima Raza]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The evil. They don't even want to talk. They're just evil. And then I thought about it and I said, we are supposing that aliens we've never met would want to harm us with their higher technology, but maybe instead it's not based on what we suppose aliens would have, but on what we know we do to one another. Oh. In the history of civilization, it's not nice. We've had branches of our species with higher technology encounter other brand other that have lower technology. And it has never boded well for the lower technology part of us. And so maybe these alien scenarios driven by Hollywood are simply mirrors to our darkest conduct.

[Naima Raza]

Oof. Okay, that's a segment.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Have a nice day. Yes.

[Naima Raza]

Okay, next question. We have one right here. This is actually a former guest of Smart Girls Repulsions, and he's actually underage to be at the Comedy Cellar Tonight, Saborno Bar. 13 years old. He is a sophomore at NYU. He went from third grade to being in his penultimate year at university because he might graduate early.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I have a question. So are you 13 or 14?

[Naima Raza]

Yeah, I turned 14, like, two weeks ago. You turned 14 two weeks ago?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I paid attention to that and

[Naima Raza]

you didn't because you celebrated his birthday. He was on my show when he was 13.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's okay. But right now he's 14. That's all I'm saying. That's all right.

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So did you tie your own bow tie? No. Well, actually, you're in College at age 14. The least you could do is know how to talk. I'm gonna tell Bill Nye on you. Okay?

[Naima Raza]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Naima Raza]

I'm sorry.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So you got a question?

[Naima Raza]

If you've ever seen, like, the video game Half Life right there, like, the main plot is some secret government scientists accidentally open a portal to another multiverse.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Love it.

[Naima Raza]

And some evil aliens come out. And, you know, the scientists are obviously interested, just like you in asking them Questions first. But, you know, the aliens do not care. The combine, which are what the aliens are called, just immediately murk them. They kill them all and then they.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, that's what we did to each other. Yeah, go on. Yeah.

[Naima Raza]

They take out the rest of the world's governments in seven hours and enslave everyone who's left.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That sounds like a very short video game.

[Naima Raza]

Well, no, because you play as someone who tries to, like, infiltrate the alien city and save everyone. Okay, so here's the thing. So I read your book, take me to your leader, and I try to do the same thing when I see a flying saucer come out of the sky. And so I pull out my Pythagorean blocks and they take out their quantum railgun and shoot a 2 centimeter hole. Screech in my grave. I sacrificed myself for you, Neil. Now what do we do? Okay, so this is like nerd on nerd action. Drop that mic, Siborno 14.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, I think there's a good chance, based on no evidence, but I think there's a good chance the aliens will not behave the way Americans would. Remember what happened to Marty when he landed in Farmer Peabody's barn. What's the first thing the farmer did? Shoot him. Because in America, you shoot and then if you survive, then you can ask questions. That behavior. Let me shoot you first. Is very human. Why should we presume it would be as alien as it is human? So I'm. So that's a b. If he puts a railgun through your head, you're just first. Okay? They're not gonna be the only one. You're not gonna be the only human they do that to. They'll do it to everybody else, and we're hosed regardless. So your best chances, I think, are to make the best impression on the alien or pretend like you can be its pet. You wanna be useful to them, like A.I. you wanna make sure A.I. doesn't decide that you are not only useless to Earth, but dangerous to it. And AI decides that it should exterminate us all.

[Naima Raza]

Yes. Okay, we have time for one more question. I absolutely loved the movie Project Hail Mary. I wonder what you thought of it. And specifically, do you think that if we were in that same situation, would the world come together as it did in that situation where we were able to fight back and so on? Or not? And then my question for Naima is, what's next for smart girl? Dem Questions. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Okay, okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Ooh.

[Naima Raza]

You go first now.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, So I happen to be friends with Andy Weir, and he handed me the second highest compliment I ever got, which is when he was writing the Martian. Because he's a software engineer turned novelist, he wanted to play loosey goosey on some physics. He said I better not, because what would Neil say if he was looking over my shoulder? And so I thought I took that as a very high compliment, that he didn't want me tweeting about his errors later on. It took me about 20 minutes to shed the identity of Ken with Ryan Gosling because he was such a convincing Ken.

[Naima Raza]

Oh, my God.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I had to peel that onion to get to Dr. Grace. For me, it was like a buddy movie between a human and an alien. So I would have preferred more focus on those issues rather than on the building of their relationship, because once I establish that they have a relationship, I don't need to continue to see that. So what Andy Weir did was blow open the Hollywood trope of the alien with the two eyes, neck, shoulders, mouth, ears, nose, and made a completely different alien, as Hollywood should be doing if they want to have any sense of imagination and creativity in that space. So I applaud Andy Weir for doing that.

[Naima Raza]

So to answer your question of what's next tomorrow, we're interviewing one of the peace negotiators, the lead peace negotiator for the original Iran deal, to talk about what it takes to have peace in this day and age and negotiations. Yeah, you didn't answer that. I didn't think.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You paused. Okay, ready? Question was about would we come together, I think, in the face of limited resources, without hope of a solution? No, we of course, will not behave. We will of course compete for the limited resources as we have done since the beginning of civilization. We fight over who you pray to and we fight over access to limited resources. That is the origin, the taproot, of most of the bloodiest wars ever fought in our. In civilization. If they had certainty that Ken would come back.

[Naima Raza]

She can't. Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That Ryan Gosling's character, Grace would come back with the solution, then I don't see why we wouldn't. We had constant monitoring of this, that people would know how to ration food until he returned. But without that knowledge, I don't give us a chance at all.

[Naima Raza]

Can we give a three word question, a three word answer?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes, three words.

[Naima Raza]

Go. What's venal probing?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so

[Naima Raza]

three words.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

How big is your ego that you would think aliens would come from across the galaxy to probe your ass?

[Naima Raza]

Oh, that's it. Mic drop. I think that is the end of it. All right, I want to say a huge thank you to my guest, Neil Degrasse Tyson coming here tonight. I know I forgot to ask Neil for a dumb question, but I wanted to yield my time to the fans to you guys to ask questions too. I didn't forget. And actually last time he was here, he asked a very good question, which is how do construction cranes get up there? And we went to find a great construction worker named Brandon Hernandez who actually answered that question for us on a past episode of Smart Girl Dumb questions. But speaking of questions, someone in the audience asked one. Her name, I found out later was Cassie because she emailed me. She's a fan and she wanted to know what's next for Smart Girl Dumb Questions. And I didn't finish answering that question. But one of the things is more live tapings. We absolutely loved being at the Comedy Cellar in New York. We're gonna do more stuff there. Probably at the end of May is the next one. So follow us on Instagram or TikTok MartianDumbQuestions. You will find out about live tapings there or on X if you prefer it there. It's ayima on X. Also, what's next for the show is just more great episodes. Neil's been back for his second episode. You gotta go back and listen to his first one. Jim Sexton, the divorce attorney is back. We released that episode with peace negotiator I was talking about. So if you want to know what's happening in Iran or not happening, you should totally check out that episode as well. And the number one thing that you guys can do to support Smart Girl Dumb Questions is actually to keep tuning in. I'm so grateful for that. To like to comment, to leave a review, obviously a five star review and to share it with humans you love. Take one episode you love, share it with a person you love or an alien you love. You know that would be a huge help because what's next for the show is not some like marriage to a huge podcast network. It is still an independent bootstrap podcast and you guys as part of the community are what makes it work and what makes me keep doing it. Anyways, back to Neil and this question of aliens. I don't know, do they exist or not? I'm definitely going to carry around a Pythagorean theorem set, a periodic table and a copy of Take me to your leader as well as an aluminum hat in case they can do the mind reading thing. And I'm going to look out for like really hot, really smart people. Because maybe they're aliens. That's what I've learned. But in all seriousness, I have a skepticism about not whether they exist because the universe is so vast, as Diplo and I discussed, they must exist, but whether they have actually made it here and how that would work in terms of the time of travel and the speed of travel. But when it comes to do aliens exist or aliens real? Like, yeah, I agree with President Obama that they are real. They exist somewhere in the world in the universe where they've made contact. On that I don't know. Jury's out. And I'm curious what these UFO files will say if ever we get to see them. But I will say that I want to remain more fact based than skeptical. I think skepticism is a good word, but also implies like a set of resistance to new things. And I also want to remain more open minded than naive. I think open mindedness implies probably like a narrower aperture than simply naive. And that kind of balance, that open minded fact basedness is what I'm going for when I'm carrying around this Pythagorean kit that I'm going to get. That's it for this episode of Smart Girl Dumb Questions. It was produced with Desta Wonderad, Melissa Lee Gibson, Sanjana Nigam and Aisha Jordan, who actually made those awesome tinfoil hats. And it was Mel's idea to make them. And Neil loved it so much that he actually took them to the Late show with Stephen Colbert the next day. We love that this episode was edited by the awesome Davey Chin. It was mixed by Johnny Simon and engineered by the amazing Peter at the Comedy Cellar. I owe Peter and Liz and Gnome and the whole team at the Comedy Cellar a huge thank you for letting us do Smart Girl Dumb Questions there. It is so fun. I love working with those guys. And thank you to all the staff who served us that night. Thank you to my friend Jason Chatfield who introduced me that night. Yes, he was my fluffer. Jason is an amazing cartoonist whose work appears in the New Yorker and he has a great substack called New York. You gotta check it out. It's my favorite favorite thing. And a huge thank you also to my friend Neil DeGrasse Tyson, my alien Whisperer, as well as Cliff Fuller and the team at Simon and Schuster for making this happen. The book is called Take Me to youo Leader. And please, please hit follow on the show. You can get the show anywhere, but you can watch it on Spotify. And if you have Spotify Premium, you can see it without any ads and probably without any aliens. That's it. I'll see you next week. For an all new smart girl, dumb questions.