"RE-RELEASE: Neil deGrasse Tyson"

Summary

SmartLess Podcast Episode Summary: "RE-RELEASE: Neil deGrasse Tyson"

Release Date: April 10, 2025
Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Guest: Neil deGrasse Tyson

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Introduction to the Episode and Guest

In this electrifying episode of SmartLess, hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett welcome none other than astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson. The episode delves deep into a myriad of topics ranging from the fundamentals of astrophysics to the intricacies of human cognition, all sprinkled with the trio's signature humor and camaraderie.

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Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Educational Philosophy

Sean Hayes opens the conversation by highlighting Neil’s impressive background:

"[He] became interested in astronomy at the age of nine after visiting the Hayden Planetarium and is now the director of that same planetarium. After studying at Harvard, he earned his doctorate from Columbia University and was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal." (02:06)

Neil emphasizes his dedication to education over personal fame:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "I don't care about me. And as an educator, I don't think who I teach should care about me. That's like cult building." (03:07)

This approach underscores Neil's commitment to making complex scientific concepts accessible, ensuring that the focus remains on the universe rather than his persona.

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Astrophysics vs. Astronomy

A fundamental discussion unfolds as the hosts seek to differentiate between astrophysics and astronomy. Neil elucidates:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "In modern times, we do Astrophysics; astronomy is the traditional, older name for it. In the late 1800s, we figured out how to apply the laws of physics to what was going on in the universe. Thus, astrophysics was birthed." (05:36)

He further explains how spectral analysis transformed our understanding of celestial bodies, turning the universe into a comprehensible "backyard."

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Mind-Blowing Scientific Facts

Neil shares intriguing insights to fulfill his weekly "mind-blowing quota":

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "If you go to the flower of an apple orchard and count how many petals are on that flower, okay? There are five petals. Then that flower shrivels up, and then it becomes the fruit of the tree, the apple. If you cut the apple horizontally through it and you see the chambers, there are five chambers. So there's a correspondence between the number of seed chambers in the apple and the petals on the flower that became the apple." (10:39)

These observations highlight the underlying patterns and correspondences in nature, encouraging listeners to perceive the world with scientific curiosity.

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Understanding the Speed of Light and Cosmology

A riveting segment ensues as Jason Bateman probes the concept of observing the universe's past through light:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "If you look with a strong enough telescope, you can see further and further back in time because you're seeing light that is older." (10:45)

Neil elaborates on the implications of light speed:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "We are in a coronavirus right now. But if I were sitting across the table from you, you don't see me in your present. You see me in your past." (07:00)

This discussion deepens the listeners' appreciation of cosmology and the finite speed of light, reinforcing the idea that our view of the universe is intrinsically linked to its history.

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The Concept of Infinity and Human Cognition

Will Arnett steers the conversation towards the abstract notion of infinity, prompting Neil to dissect its comprehension:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "Infinity is something that is not fundamentally accessible to the wiring of our brain because our brain evolved on the plains of the Serengeti to not get chased by a lion." (21:32)

He further explores paradoxes through the example of Pinocchio:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "That sentence has no meaning in Pinocchio's universe. Even though the nouns and verbs are all in the right place. It transcends the world that you have set up to understand Pinocchio's statements and his actions." (21:32)

Neil underscores the limitations of human cognition in grappling with infinite concepts, highlighting the importance of mathematical abstraction in advancing scientific understanding.

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Lightning Round: Rapid-Fire Questions

The hosts engage Neil in a Lightning Round, tackling questions about space exploration and the feasibility of faster-than-light travel:

Sean Hayes: "How soon will we be able to travel the speed of light?" (24:08)

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "The speed of light is not just a good idea as the law of the universe. If you want to go faster, you have to tunnel through space-time or have warp drives, which is what all the science fiction ones do." (25:04)

Sean Hayes: "Why don’t we see improvements on airplanes after a hundred years?" (25:44)

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "Supersonic commercial planes like the Concorde were limited because of sonic booms over land. We're still grappling with the technological and logistical challenges of faster-than-sound travel in a practical, widespread manner." (26:04)

These exchanges provide listeners with concise explanations of complex topics, maintaining an engaging and accessible dialogue.

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Aliens: Fact vs. Fiction

Sean Hayes delves into the enigmatic world of extraterrestrial life:

Sean Hayes: "Are aliens real? Have we been visited by them? And if not, will we?" (32:55)

Neil approaches the topic with scientific skepticism:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "If we're visited by aliens, why hasn't there been concrete evidence? With the billions of photos and videos uploaded daily, why is the best evidence still fuzzy Navy videos?" (33:34)

He challenges conspiracy theories by emphasizing the lack of verifiable evidence, promoting a data-driven perspective on the existence of extraterrestrial life.

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Climate Change vs. COVID-19 Pandemic

In a poignant conversation, Neil contrasts the global responses to climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "Climate modeling is very messy with a lot of variables. We need training on how to interpret scientific models and embrace objective truths rather than allowing political agendas to overshadow scientific data." (36:00)

Regarding the pandemic's coordinated response:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "If hostile aliens visited, we'd all coordinate without hesitation. The pandemic was a practice run, but global warming presents an existential crisis requiring unprecedented global cooperation." (38:05)

Neil criticizes the fragmented response to the pandemic and underscores the urgent need for unified action against climate change, highlighting the challenges posed by human cognition and political dynamics.

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Closing Thoughts and Reflections

As the episode winds down, the hosts express their admiration for Neil’s work and his ability to communicate complex ideas:

Jason Bateman: "Please keep sharing your knowledge in the generous and interesting way that you do." (42:32)

Neil responds graciously, appreciating the hosts' efforts to blend education with entertainment:

Neil deGrasse Tyson: "Keep it going. We need the diversion, the levity, the escape." (43:16)

The episode concludes with heartfelt goodbyes, reinforcing the mutual respect and enthusiasm shared between the hosts and their esteemed guest.

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Notable Quotes

• Sean Hayes: "Do you think global warming is the next pandemic that we're gonna be dealing with?" (37:29)

• Neil deGrasse Tyson: "Every disaster movie begins with people ignoring the warnings of a scientist." (36:51)

• Will Arnett: "Imagine infinity as a library filled with books on every possible subject, including how to describe that library itself." (19:41)

• Jason Bateman: "Do you think if you went up to space and then you came back down, if you just did one lap, you would be depressed?" (43:24)

These quotes encapsulate the essence of the episode, blending scientific insight with relatable humor.

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Conclusion

This episode of SmartLess masterfully intertwines humor, curiosity, and profound scientific discourse. Neil deGrasse Tyson not only educates but also inspires listeners to gaze beyond the horizon, fostering a deeper appreciation for the cosmos and the intricate tapestry of existence. Whether you're a science enthusiast or a casual listener, this episode offers a captivating journey through the stars and the human mind.

Transcript

[Sean Hayes]

Hey, everybody. You're listening to Smartless, hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and myself, Sean Hayes. I know. I wish my voice was more masculine, too. This show is about learning through laughter and the brains of people around the world who are far smarter than us three idiots. And each week, one of us brings on a guest who the other two don't know about. So with that, let's jump into the Smartless rocket ship and let's blast off into the universe together. Ooh. I think I just turned myself on.

[Will Arnett]

Smart, smart, smart.

[Jason Bateman]

I went to seventh grade with Janet Jackson.

[Sean Hayes]

Are you serious?

[Jason Bateman]

Did you? At a school called Valley Professional. It was a perfect. Hold on. It was a school that was only from 9am to 12pm so that you had your afternoons free for auditioning for auditions. Yeah, it was sort of like the back of a gas station on Sherman Way and Vineland. And I'm not sure they were accredited. I think chances are high that they were not accredited.

[Will Arnett]

I went to high school with. With one of the kids. This is not a bit from. From the original Degrassi Junior High.

[Sean Hayes]

So I went to college with. I was piano majors with Craig Robinson from the office.

[Will Arnett]

Really? Oh, I knew that. Wait, I knew that.

[Sean Hayes]

Piano majors together? Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

What's a piano major?

[Sean Hayes]

You major in piano and you don't minor in it. Get it? Major.

[Will Arnett]

There are different ranks. There's different. Because I was a piano colonel, but. And then.

[Sean Hayes]

That is so dumb. I can't believe you. It's the stupidest.

[Will Arnett]

Of course you're gonna laugh. I just watched you, Hayes, because I knew. I knew that would get me. Anyway, at ease.

[Jason Bateman]

Who's our guest? Whose guest is it today?

[Will Arnett]

Whose guest is it today, guys?

[Sean Hayes]

Today. My guest today today grew up in the Bronx. He became interested in astronomy at the age of nine after visiting the Hayden Planetarium. And today.

[Jason Bateman]

Is this Derek Jeter?

[Sean Hayes]

No, it's not Derek Jeter. Close. He's now the director of that same planetarium. And after studying at Harvard, he earned his doctorate from Columbia University. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal.

[Jason Bateman]

Shaun, you've really done it this time.

[Sean Hayes]

He's known for his ability to make difficult concepts accessible to every audience. Will?

[Will Arnett]

Sure. Yep.

[Sean Hayes]

So, guys, we have with us today, Matt, favorite astrophysicist of all, infinity, Neil Degrasse Tyson.

[Jason Bateman]

Unbelievable. Sean, what a gift.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Hey, guys.

[Jason Bateman]

What an honor.

[Sean Hayes]

Thank you so much for being on here. I know this is very nice of you to come and chat with us today. I wanna, you know, do people kind of like jump right in and ask you things about the universe in the same way one might, you know, after discovering someone's a doctor and go, you know, I have a pain in my.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Lower back without hesitation.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. Instead of asking you about you first.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. No, I don't care about me. And as an educator, I don't think who I teach should care about me. That's like cult building.

[Sean Hayes]

Really?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. So compare these two scenarios. Someone comes up to me and says, hey, aren't you Neil degrasse? I said, yes, tell me more about a black hole than this. So that's the perfect educational encounter. The one that's not is, are you Neil Tyson? I said, yes. Oh, what's your favorite color? What's your favorite? And all of a sudden I become the object of their curiosity rather than the universe itself. And in that way, I have failed.

[Sean Hayes]

And you don't like that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, it's a failure. No, no, it's a failure of my educational efforts if I become the object of their interest. That's all. I'll do it and I'll accommodate it. And, you know.

[Will Arnett]

But on a certain level, you feel like you failed in your objective.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Must not have made the science interesting enough for them to come at that.

[Sean Hayes]

But not knowing you, I would think you know all I ever see of you. And again, I'm such a huge fan of yours. And I could hear you talk about all of crap, which I love, for hours.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, but the stuff that he spent his life studying you, you. You summed up as crap. Thank you, Sean.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. I have a PhD in crap.

[Sean Hayes]

This is why I don't have a PhD.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Crap is piled high in deep. That's what the PhD says.

[Sean Hayes]

No, but you know what I'm saying. Like, I, I like, I want to get into that. And believe me, you will answer all of my questions.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm here for you.

[Sean Hayes]

Yes, but like, when I read that thing that you first became enamored with the universe at nine years old, going to the Hayden Planetarium and now you're the director of the Hayden Planetarium, like, most teenagers don't have that drive, you know, when you. Because I read that you obsessively studied astronomy when you were a teenager, and so most teenagers don't have that drive. What was the thing that kept you going? It was like, oh, my God, the thirst for knowledge.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It was the. It wasn't so much a thirst for knowledge, but the fact that I knew that when I looked up, I was completely steeped in ignorance and boundless ignorance. And so there's this Quest.

[Sean Hayes]

Jason usually just looks in the mirror and that happens.

[Will Arnett]

He's so connected with that thought.

[Jason Bateman]

I actually sleep with my eyes open.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, because the fact that there's something around us that we know about, which we know so little became this infinite source of curiosity for me. And I've never been the same Since. Since age 9. And I didn't know that. Most people are still sort of ambling in college. What am I going to major in? Oh, you majored in astronomy. Was that because it's early in the Alphabet, you know? No, my stuff goes de with regard to that.

[Sean Hayes]

And to that point, explain to people like us, idiots who don't know what the difference between astrophysics and astronomy is.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, so we all, in modern times do Astrophysics, astronomy is the traditional, older name for it. But in the late 1800s, we figured out how to apply the laws of physics to what was going on in the universe. And thus was birthed astrophysics. Before then, it's like, well, the star is over here, and it's this bright, and it's that color. Oh, it might be moving. Okay, so let's call it a planet. Or it's got a tail. So we call it a comet. So it's descriptive. In the 19th century, we learned how to take spectra of stars. And a spectra breaks the light into its colors like a rainbow. And when you do that, you learn things like how fast is it moving, how fast is it rotating, what it's made of, how long ago it was born. You can create models of that. And so all of a sudden, the universe becomes our backyard.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, because, you know, when I still do this, I mean, on the dumbest level, on the most simplest level, there's places on earth and it's wearing thin, where the air is cleaner and you can see more stars somewhere like Hawaii or whatever. And you lie there and you. Like a kid. I still act like a kid. And I look up. And the longer you look up at a clear sky, to all the stars, you can't help but think about everything you're talking about, which is, where do we come from? That light that we're seeing is like way older than the Earth. And whatever.

[Jason Bateman]

That's the one that got me. When I. When I was about 12 years old, the teacher said to me, he said, look up. He said, you see? See that star? I don't know what I was doing with the teacher in the middle of the night, but he said, the light that you're seeing, that's the next.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's another episode.

[Jason Bateman]

It's a different episode. It's a whole different podcast. That one's called you don't want to know. Then on a very special you don't want to know. So he said, the light you're seeing right now left that star back in the Roman Empire. And I said, well, what is, what does that mean? He says, well, the speed of light is. And correct me if I'm wrong here, 186,000 miles a second.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You got it?

[Jason Bateman]

So 186,000 miles a second, you just.

[Sean Hayes]

Pull that out, you know that.

[Jason Bateman]

I mean, he left a mark. Hold your jokes. Hold your jokes, Will. So if you travel at 186,000 miles a second for a year, that's a light year. Yeah, so that's a. So it's a measurement of distance. So he said, so the light traveling at 186,000 miles per second since the Roman Empire, that's how far away that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That, that light is only just now reached, Correct? Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

And he said, and he, he said, he said, for instance, the sun, the heat that you're feeling on your face, this was, this is after we woke up. He said, he said, he said, he said, that's.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And he put down the cigarette to y.

[Jason Bateman]

Put it out on my forearm. And he said, that is seven minutes old. The heat from the sun. So that's how far the sun is away.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so I don't know how you got the speed of light correct and that number wrong, but you're close enough. No, you're close enough.

[Will Arnett]

It's a long night.

[Jason Bateman]

So it's not seven minutes away.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I would've given you the correct number. I mean, to know the speed of light to that precision and then get that other number wrong, that's a little weird. But it's 8 minutes and 20 seconds, 500 seconds. I was so close. And by the way, it's not only only the light that takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach us, so too does it take the sun's gravity. So if you are some giant and plucked the sun out of the middle of the solar system, we would still orbit, we would still feel its gravity. We would not know any different for 8 minutes and 20 seconds. And at that instant, we would plunge into darkness and fling out into interstellar space.

[Will Arnett]

So, so that is. Those moments, those things though, you know, a teacher telling Jason that thing, those are mind blowing moments. And I've had those mind blowing moments where I hear things which obviously throughout. Because of what you do throughout your life, you must have had a million mind blowing Revelations and stats and things thrown at you and discoveries that you've made. Have you reached a point where it doesn't blow your mind anymore, or what are the things that blow your mind about the universe around us?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So everyone, I think, should have their mind blown at least once a week. Okay? That's the mind blowing quota, I think, should be about that. And if mind's blowing means you're not reading enough or you're not exploring enough, because there's stuff out there, I'll give you. Here's a simple one. Ready? If you go to the flower of an apple orchard and count how many petals are on that flower, okay? There are five petals. Then that flower shrivels up, and then it becomes the fruit of the tree, the apple. If you cut the apple horizontally through it and you see the chambers, there are five chambers. So there's a correspondence between the number of seed chambers in the apple and the petals on the flower that became the apple. I mean, this is just kind of, if you don't notice that, start noticing it. And then there are places where. And that's not even anything. That's got nothing to do with the origin of the universe, but it's something simple that's around you.

[Jason Bateman]

I've had a question that I've been waiting to talk with somebody like you to help me try to answer.

[Sean Hayes]

And it takes a cream, right? You're looking for a cream or an ointment.

[Jason Bateman]

Or an ointment or a gel. The. Okay, so if you look with a strong enough telescope, you can see further and further back in time. Right? Because you're seeing light that is older and. Or new. Well, you'll contextualize that for me. But basically, you could effectively look at the Big Bang.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, the origin of the universe.

[Jason Bateman]

Exactly. So you are looking at the past.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And then, by the way, just to be clear, yeah, we're in a coronavirus right now. But if I were sitting across the table from you, you don't see me in your present. You see me in your past. Light at 186,000 miles per second goes 1 foot per nanosecond, 1 foot per billionth of a second. So if we're like three feet across from each other, you see me not as I am, but as I once was 3 billionths of a second ago. We don't make a big deal of that because human lifespan is much longer than billionths of a second. But if I start getting farther and far. The moon is one and a half light seconds, the sun 500 light seconds, the nearest star, four light years. You keep going farther and farther away. You get to significant timeframes back into the past of the object you're observing. And that's where cosmology comes in. It's how we decode the record of the universe because it takes light so much damn time to reach us.

[Will Arnett]

And Sean, you were going to take cosmology, right, at one point just.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, for my skin. For my skin.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

That's why I glow. That's why I glow like a star beautifully.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Jason Bateman]

So the. So if you're looking back at something that happened a long time ago, that is the Big Bang. Somewhere in that Big Bang is our planet, is, is the Earth, and therefore every. You see the Earth before anything has ever happened on it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No.

[Jason Bateman]

So if you can see. So if you can see back, I'll.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Let you continue, but I should really stop you there. But I'll let you continue.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, so let's, let's make an assumption that the Big Bang was the start of everything. So at some point, whatever we're. We're rolling around on here, on this, this rock was in there. My point is, if you can see all the way back that far, is there a theory, because it would be impossible to actually construct, where you could set up a series of mirrors where you could look back and forth and back and forth and back and forth enough times, theoretically, where you could see yesterday?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Jason Bateman]

If we can already see the Big Bang, that's got to be harder than seeing yesterday. But if you constricted that into, or contracted that rather, into a series of mirrors, then maybe you could have eventually see last week, last month.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. So if you put a mirror one light day away from you and you look at it, you will see yourself yesterday.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. But that requires a mirror. The Big Bang is not a mirror. So when you see evidence of the Big Bang that far out, you're not seeing us go through the Big Bang, you're seeing another part of the universe go through the Big Bang. If they looked to where we are, they don't see our light from you right now in this podcast. No. They see Earth and our galaxy 14 billion years ago when we were going through the Big Bang. So you have to be that distance away to see that far in the past.

[Jason Bateman]

So there is no way to construct a window into the past by setting up a series of well tuned mirrors?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, if someone else set that up for you. Yeah. So you can set up a mirror seven light days away, and then you look at it, you'll see yourself two weeks ago because it's seven days out, seven days back.

[Sean Hayes]

So in theory, like Jason could apologize to me for certain things that he did.

[Jason Bateman]

In theory.

[Will Arnett]

Do you think we could set enough mirrors in a row so that we could look far back enough to see the start of Jason's question?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No. Top scientists, still trainers trying to work out.

[Sean Hayes]

I wanted to go back again. A lot of people don't ask you about you and I'm interested in you as well as all the other stuff and I still want to get to that. But. But you have two kids, right? Did they ever follow in your passion or do they have. Are they on TikTok and that's it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There was never that expectation or obligation and they had freedom to think what they want, to study what they want, and they're each doing different things right now. But I can tell you that by the time they were 12 or 13, certified scientifically literate.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, wow.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

You don't have to tell us, but are they in that world of science?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, no, but they're scientifically literate. So the difference is if you're scientifically, it means your brain is wired for inquiry, it's wired for thought. So that at a young age. I'm happy that they were also polite when they did this because otherwise would be embarrassing. If you were a grownup, walked into the room and you said something, oh, I checked my horoscope sign today and my 12 year old, 13 year old kids heard that they would say, well, what did you find? They would start asking questions and what are you basing that on? And have you tested it? And they would just calmly sort of ask the questions to drive you into the corner that you really are in because you have no foundation for those thoughts. That's the science literacy that I'm talking about, that anybody can and should cultivate for themselves. Whether or not you become a scientist.

[Jason Bateman]

Neil, if you could pick one subject that you would have an equal level depth of knowledge about, what, what would it be? Is there, is there another, Is there another area?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Thanks for that question. If I had a. If there's a parallel universe.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, here we go.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

An alternative. Not in this universe, but another universe. In another universe, I would be writing songs for Broadway musicals.

[Sean Hayes]

Are you serious? Do you write? Do you play anything?

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, here's the thing.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, that's why it's another universe. That's what I said. This is, this is. So I don't have musical ability, but I do. I like to write. I like knowing the effect that words have on your emotions, on your thoughts, on your enlightenment. I like simplifying phrases. And good songs are not complex stories. Go read a book. If you wanted a complex story, it's got to hit you emotionally. So I am my family. We go to musical theater. Often I will tear up at a simple Broadway boy meets girl musical. Or nowadays it's boy meets boy, girl meets girl. Any of those where there's the expression of human emotion.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, thank you for checking out the 2010 smash hit on Broadway, Promises, Promises, starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. That's so nice of you. That's incredible.

[Jason Bateman]

Way to go backstage, Neil.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So if I had an alternative universe, so I'd like to write. And so when I write my books, each sentence, each phrasing, each turn of the syllables of a word, I'm thinking about how that lands in the reader. And I think if it's done well, that's what it should be like, because then you'll just want more of it. So if there's another universe, that's what I'd be doing in that universe.

[Jason Bateman]

I have an idea, and I'm not being snarky here at all. What if you wrote a space musical? Like, if you. I could see that would be really interesting. If you somehow. I mean, would anybody think to make a musical about Hamilton? You know, like. That's bizarre.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. The fascinating fact about Broadway musicals is that they have been on every possible subject you couldn't ever have imagined. Hamilton Katz, the prime minister of Argentina. You know, just make the list. How does that even happen?

[Jason Bateman]

So why don't you. So why don't you do that?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Because that's another. Didn't I. How did I start this? I said, in another universe.

[Jason Bateman]

But you could be the creative consultant.

[Sean Hayes]

You're saying he could write the book and somebody else could write the music?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I think so. I would need a. I do have some ideas and I have notes in my book, but that's not. I got other. I got the ufo, but we're making deals here.

[Will Arnett]

But, you know, it's funny that you say, Neil, that you say, you know, that they've. They've. There are Broadway musicals based on every conceivable subject. The president of Argentina with Evita. They're, you know, whatever it is. And that kind of reminded me of. And this whole conversation reminded me of somebody one time explaining to me the idea of infinity. And they said, imagine. Infinity is. Imagine a room. Imagine a library that is filled with books on every possible subject, including me describing that library to you. There's a book about me describing. Describing that book to you. There's on every possible.

[Sean Hayes]

Let me go with the mirrors again.

[Will Arnett]

The effect of me describing that to you.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, we got it.

[Will Arnett]

Effect that has on butterflies. Like whatever.

[Jason Bateman]

Understood. Moving forward.

[Will Arnett]

So then imagine that they're stacked in every direction.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

As far as you can see. They said that's what infinity is.

[Jason Bateman]

We got it.

[Will Arnett]

No, no, no.

[Jason Bateman]

The libraries themselves end it with a question. Will, can I talk to you for a sec?

[Will Arnett]

My question is this.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, I got one for you. I'll give you a starter. Infinity. Right. Because it's not really infinity, but it is something to think about. So if. Consider that if you open a dictionary, every word used in the definition of every word is in that same dictionary.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's kind of mind blowing.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, that is interesting. I never thought about that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, now the other things that are sort of transcend comprehension. Pinocchio. Okay, here's a sentence that Pinocchio utters. Ready? My nose is about to grow. What will happen?

[Jason Bateman]

It's going to grow.

[Sean Hayes]

It's going to grow.

[Will Arnett]

Probably not going to grow.

[Sean Hayes]

It's not because he's a liar. Let me finish. It's not going to grow.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That. That means he was lying, so.

[Jason Bateman]

That's right. So it's not going to grow.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No. That means he was telling the truth.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, so let me get to some other questions I have.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So my point is, that sentence has no meaning in Pinocchio's universe. Even though the nouns and verbs are all in the right place. It transcends the world that you have set up to understand Pinocchio's statements and his actions. It's a very simple sentence.

[Will Arnett]

Given that we agree upon the rules of Pinocchio.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes, yes. We all. Of course we agree. Of course we agree. Given those rules. This is a sentence that cannot even be uttered in his world. Okay? So infinity is something that is not fundamentally accessible to the wiring of our brain because our brain evolved on the plains of the Serengeti to not get chased by a lion. Okay. Not get eaten by a lion. So the tools we need to not die in our evolutionary past do not include infinity now.

[Will Arnett]

So based on that. So, Neil. So our brains are not wired to understand the concept of. Fundamentally to understand the concept of infinity.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. There's an absence of logic. We are logical creatures relative to other life forms, but our capacity to not be logical knows no bounds.

[Will Arnett]

But the fact is, you know that. And so you have to make certain leaps in order to trust to how do you hack that in order to make, you know, discoveries and things that you have to do, what is. Do you know? And are you just aware of your own inability to do it at the same.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Simultaneously, it comes from the math. So you do the math long enough, then you absorb the math as part of your intuition so you can think intuitively about what the math equations would have done rather than relying solely on how you would have not gotten eaten by a lion and the wiring that that provides. So you start building up other wiring in your brain that empowers you to think in these other ways. And this is how you think in the quantum. The quantum world is really weird. Particles popping in and out of existence, particles simultaneously existing as a wave and a wave particle duality. You might have heard of this. All of this is fundamental, and the mathematics describes it. The experiments measure it. The brain cannot comprehend.

[Sean Hayes]

I know we don't have a lot of time and have tons of questions, so let's do like, not a rapid.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Fire, a lightning round. I'm good. I got you. Okay, let's do it.

[Jason Bateman]

So, boxers or briefs?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And by the way, my lightning answers need to be matched with your lightning questions just to be clear in order for that to work.

[Jason Bateman]

No, we're.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You're.

[Jason Bateman]

We're here to listen to you if.

[Sean Hayes]

You guys have, like, something to follow. But these are really. I wrote. I wrote these down because I'm starting to know, are we ever going to get to Mars? And why do we want to?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We will if it has geopolitical priorities, but otherwise, I think it's a very distant dream. So if China says they want to put military bases on Mars, we're there in nine months, if not really.

[Sean Hayes]

Really.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

We're going to the moon again. Is that right? Did I just read that?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Because other countries are gaining power over what's called cis lunar space, the space between Earth and the moon. And that's the new high ground. So there are geopolitical forces that make all of that happen. The business cases come later. The tourism, then all the rest of this. And the SpaceX. That all comes after the first forays out. There are countries who have geopolitical interest in mind. Columbus came to the New World. Did Queen Isabella say, oh, Columbus, take pictures and bring them back and tell us? No. It was like, here's a satchel of Spanish flags. Plant them wherever you go, and find a shorter trade route to India.

[Will Arnett]

It's always been the driver of humanity.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Always, always.

[Sean Hayes]

So because I'm obsessed with the speed of light. How soon will we be able to travel the speed of light? Because so many scientists never, you know, through the. Through the. Wait.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Next.

[Sean Hayes]

But wait. They've informed us of certain laws of physics. I'm just wondering, when do we start applying those?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So breaking the light barrier is not the same thing as breaking the sound barrier. Right. When you heard people say, oh, we'll never fly, and they were just idiots. You know why? Because birds fly and they're heavier than air. You just haven't figured it out yet. And can you never go faster than sound? Rifle bullets went faster than sound before we had planes. So we can make things faster than sound. Just figure it out. The speed of light is not just a good idea as the law of the universe. And if you want to go faster, you have to, like, tunnel through space time or have warp drives, which is what all the science fiction ones do. They don't just actually travel faster than light. They try to find some plausible scientific accounting for how they can travel faster than light. And I applaud them all for that. Right.

[Sean Hayes]

So why then, after what seems like a hundred years, is the only means of fast travel an airplane? Because doesn't it seem like by now there should be some kind of improvement on the plane? The only improvement is, you know, the.

[Jason Bateman]

Sean, don't get pissed off.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I know he sounds angry.

[Will Arnett]

I sound aggro today.

[Sean Hayes]

I am, because I'm frustrated that this.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Is the lightning round. Right. I'm gonna tell you.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Here it is.

[Sean Hayes]

Now somebody else is angry.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Some of you are old enough to remember the Concorde. Sst. Supersonic, right?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so that's like the next leap from an ordinary airplane. Do you know something? We didn't have a supersonic commercial plane, but France and England did. That was the Concorde.

[Sean Hayes]

And I always wondered why they stopped making them.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, you know why. Oh, well, wait a minute. Why can't they fly to Los Angeles? Oh, we're not going to let them. Because they'll have a sonic boom over the continental United States. So we cut them off at their kneecaps and said, yeah, you can fly, but you can only cross the ocean. That greatly limited the growth of that supersonic industry.

[Sean Hayes]

And why don't we want a sonic boom over the country? Because it's too scary. What?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It can shatter dishes and things and knock them off.

[Jason Bateman]

The space shuttle did it, though.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, that's because it's coming in over Florida and it's over low density area and mostly ocean. So you can do it.

[Will Arnett]

You have to understand, Neil. Sean's theory is that if you're high enough, anything's okay.

[Sean Hayes]

That was so stupid.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So what we really want is hypersonic transportation where you get to Tokyo in an hour and a half. This would be suborbital. I want that.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. That's even faster than just the Concorde. You know, if you go suborbital, you are not farther than 45 minutes from any two places anywhere on Earth. Here's the problem. What does it mean? That it took you an hour and a half to drive to the airport and another 45 minutes in TSA. So it took you three hours and then you gotta park the car three hours to take a 45 minute trip to Tokyo. There's a point where just put me on an airplane where I have Internet and movies and I'm fine and I don't need to get there faster.

[Jason Bateman]

So correct me if I'm wrong. This is what suborbital is. The Earth is rotating at 1,000 miles an hour. Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

At the equator. At the equator.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay. So, so it's, it's spinning around, let's say a thousand miles an hour. A plane.

[Sean Hayes]

Really?

[Jason Bateman]

Let's. For interest in math or what easy numbers. That goes 500 miles an hour.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

500 miles an hour.

[Jason Bateman]

Right. So if you're going the direction the Earth is rotating, you're never going to get to that destination. No, because you, because you're inside this three mile gravitational bubble. Right.

[Will Arnett]

Neil, you should know that the teacher told him that on the second night. Because he stayed for a second night.

[Jason Bateman]

We had a wonderful time. Wonderful time.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, no. So if you launch your plane at the equator and you stay in Earth's atmosphere because it's flying through the Earth's atmosphere. Earth is turning as 1,000 miles an hour. The air is moving at a thousand miles an hour. The plane is moving at 1000 miles an hour. Now it goes 500 miles an hour. So it's going 1500 miles an hour through space.

[Jason Bateman]

But if you go straight up and you leave this three mile sort of bubble, you then leave gravitational pull and you can take advantage of that thousand mile an hour spin.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So they want that thousand miles per miles to get a little extra boost to go into orbit around the Earth. And orbital speed is 18,000 miles an hour. So you get a little, get a little boost by doing that. If you go back the opposite way, you got to make up 2,000 miles per hour worth of speed.

[Jason Bateman]

But even if you just went straight up like a rocket does, and you.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Lose that in fact they don't. I'm saying if, but if most just be clear. Just some people don't know.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Most of the energy of a rocket launch is not to go up. It is to go downstream and give it enough sideways speed so that it doesn't fall out of the sky. Wow. So that, so the space shuttle, the space station, they're all going 18,000 miles an hour sideways. That's why Mission control, you're now go through the, execute the roll program. And this is the space shuttle now going sideways, downstream or down. So that's. So they're not going up, they're going sideways. That's most of their energy. We think space is up. You know how high up they go. Where do you guys live? Where you live in la. Okay.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They are less above Earth's surface than the distance of San Francisco from Los Angeles. Okay. Wow. In fact, they're half that distance. What's it, how many miles San Francisco?

[Will Arnett]

It's like four, 300 miles. 350 miles.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, it's about three.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, yeah, about 350 miles. So two thirds of that. That's the height that the space shuttle flies. So you can drive that in a few hours. That's not even what the rocket is doing. Okay. It's just getting up above the atmosphere because it doesn't have to plow through air, by the way. If we didn't have an atmosphere, it would just go sideways, just launch it sideways.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay, so once you're above the atmosphere, you're outside the gravitational pull. Right. How tall is the atmosphere?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, the last we checked, Earth is orbited by the moon. The Moon feels Earth's gravity. So all astronauts are deep within Earth's gravity. The difference is they're weightless, not because they've left Earth's gravity, but because they are falling towards Earth. So here's the brilliance of Isaac Newton. You want to do something mind blowing? Here it is, Isaac Newton, he said, hmm, there's the moon in orbit around the Earth and I drop an apple and it falls straight to Earth. Is this the same thing or is it two different things going on? And then he had a thought experiment. This is why he's Isaac Newton and we're the rest of us. He said, suppose I have a mountain and I have a cannon and I fire a cannonball from that mountain horizontally. It'll go out a few hundred yards and hit the ground. Right. Suppose I fire it faster, it'll go farther along Earth's surface before it hits the ground. Let me Keep increasing the speed and it falls farther and farther away from you. There must be a speed where it falls so far away from you, it completely goes around the Earth and hits you in the back of the head. Well, at that point, just duck and the ball continues in what we call orbit. And that entire time it was falling towards Earth. The difference is it fell by the exact amount that Earth curved away from it.

[Sean Hayes]

I try to throw knowledge at Jason from a distance and it never hits him in the head. Never ever hits him in the head.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, just think about this is. This is profound. Think about this. Yeah, it's incredible going sideways so fast that when you've dropped a foot. When you've dropped a foot, Earth's curvature curves away from you by a foot.

[Will Arnett]

So you never catch. You never catch up to it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You never catch up to the Earth. Thus is the definition of an orbit. And you are in free fall the entire time. Like cutting the cables of an elevator, falling straight down, except you happen to have sideways motion. And so falling straight down means you never hit the Earth.

[Will Arnett]

Neil, there's a lot of debate about this, because I know you gotta go, but there's a lot of debate about it. Do you agree a lot of people say that the best season of Will and Grace was season five. Do you think that that's true? Because.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, wait, I know you have to go, but I really. This is the biggest one I wanted to talk to you about, and you can. We can just plow right through it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

What's that?

[Sean Hayes]

I want to talk about aliens. I love them. I want to meet them. If I.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Nobody doesn't love the aliens.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, sure, I would be with them. Are they real? Have we been visited by them? And if not, will we? Because. And this is the other follow up thing I watched. You know, I'm like an obsessed documentarian about aliens in space and all that flying. Area 51. So Bob Lazar has this documentary. Did you see it? It was about he. He claimed he had or has some element that is not of this Earth. Which alien craft is made up of. Is this. Do you know this?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I've heard of these claims, but they don't offer it to laboratories to. I mean, here's the thing. If we're visited by aliens, why. Maybe we've been visited.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay, maybe I think we have.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, let me offer you countervailing thought regarding that. Do you realize we collectively upload a billion photographs and videos to the Internet per day? Per day. Every day we upload more photos and videos to the Internet. That existed in the world in the first hundred years of photography. We have photos of extremely rare phenomena like buses tumbling and in hurricanes or in tornadoes. In the day, you wouldn't say, oh, that's interesting. Let me go home and get my camera and film this. No, everybody's got a camera, right? Until we had. Until everybody had a camera, you had all these reports of people getting abducted. Where's the photo of the craft? Where's the. Why is it that your best evidence for aliens visiting is fuzzy Navy video?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, I know.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I get that. Why is that your best evidence?

[Will Arnett]

What do you think about the Navy video, Neil? What do you think?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I don't know what it is. That's why it's a. You. Unidentified flying object.

[Sean Hayes]

In this documentary, they say, you know what you're saying. Why wouldn't aliens come down and greet us? And why don't they say hello? Because. And the explanation is they are afraid of us, and they're afraid what we would do to them.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So the common denominator of all conspiracy theorists is when they don't have the data, they have to invent something to bridge the gap in their data. So I'm not bridging any gap. I'm saying everybody is a recorder. Where is the evidence of these visitations? Why is it that crop circles only happen when nobody's looking? All right, why are the aliens just shy? Okay, aliens are shy, then maybe they don't want to be disturbed by us. Fine. Okay? But when the aliens finally come who are not shy, I don't think they're only gonna show up in fuzzy Navy video.

[Sean Hayes]

So let's close with this. First of all, we do have one thing in common, you and I. You have over a dozen honorary doctorates because of all the knowledge in your brain, While I have over a dozen doctors treating the condition of my brain. So what are the scientists. What are the scientists getting right right now? And what are they getting wrong as far as Covid and global warming?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so one of the challenges is when you model climate, it's very messy. There's a lot of. There's the heat from the sun, there's the uptake of carbon dioxide in the ocean. There's the spewing of carbon dioxide. It's very complicated. And so what we need is training on how to think about models presented by scientists, because every model has an uncertainty range. And so you present the model and the uncertainty range to lawmakers and to policy people and say, here's the best available knowledge. Now find a political solution to this you don't say, take the politics and say, oh, we deny what your scientists are saying. What is that? What are you doing? This is a recipe for disaster, as I've said. I think I tweeted this recently. Every disaster movie begins with what, people ignoring the warnings of a scientist?

[Sean Hayes]

Right, right, right, of course.

[Will Arnett]

But it goes to what you were saying before. As we know, and whether people want to admit it or not, we are constantly driven by geopolitical goals, et cetera. Personal.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And I accept that. But just don't put those in front of objectively true scientific information. Of course, because then you're arguing a house of cards and nothing good will ever come of that. So maybe we need to retrain people to understand what science is, how and why it works. What is an objective truth? What does it mean to be convinced by something? Why do we have people who think Earth is flat?

[Will Arnett]

Why?

[Sean Hayes]

I know, it's crazy.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Where is the failure?

[Sean Hayes]

Do you think global warming is the next, quote, pandemic that we're gonna be dealing with?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, it's an existential crisis that's happening on a longer timescale than the pandemic is. So the timeframes over which things have been happening with regard to the pandemic are rapid. They're happening hourly. All right? And we all need to behave coherently to fight it. It's like saying, oh, well, some states wants to open before other states. And my favorite analog to that is that's like opening a peeing section of the pool.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Just go to that section of the pool and pee there. Here's the problem. The virus is not visible. Okay. By the way, if your pee turned purple in contact with the chlorine, everybody would be called out for that. Okay?

[Sean Hayes]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Instantly. But you can't see the virus, and so people think they're somehow immune to it. But if a monster came out of the woods, grabbed people, at the rate that COVID deaths are happening, grab them and bit their head off and spill their bloods in the streets. The coordinated effort in the world to get rid of this creature would know no bounds. Okay?

[Will Arnett]

Right, Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So here we have a virus that you can't see and somehow you think is not gonna affect you. This is a problem with human cognition and human. Again, it relates to the Serengeti. Is it big and it can eat you? I'm scared of it. Otherwise, I don't know. I'm not scared. Okay. Even though if I should be.

[Sean Hayes]

It's amazing. The resources that the government uses and the money and the power to solve this problem almost immediately when they could do that with anything.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Very good point. And so for me, it was a shot across our bow. Think of if hostile aliens came and visited. We should all coordinate. Put down your weapons against each other because they're after humans and we are all human. And it could be the greatest peace inducing force there ever was for all humans to realize they have a common enemy. So my point is this is a practice run. Global warming is happening on a slower timescale than weeks, yet we all have to coordinate. You can't say, well, if China's not gonna fix the air, why should I? When air molecules don't need passports to go from one country to another. Neither do water molecules molecules and pollution molecules. So at some point we have to think globally as one species. And I don't see that happening anytime soon.

[Will Arnett]

You know, we did. There was an initial big response to this pandemic. And when people were, you know, everybody's locked down all of a sudden, nobody knew what to do. But it's about that sustained interest in it. And it's somebody, I remember somebody saying, it's such a, we're experiencing such an American lockdown that eventually people are like, I'm kind of bored of it now.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It's not headlines anymore.

[Will Arnett]

It's not really, yeah, it's not really that interesting to me anymore. And the problem is that what happens is once again certain interests, special interests, they start to outweigh the value of this sustained interest in overcoming this.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So let me be devil's advocate here for the moment. So you're a restaurant worker, and now restaurants are closed by law. Okay, You're a busboy, you're a whatever. And so the problem is, we didn't go into this with a plan to give people hope and expectations for how they will return to normal. Right. So the governmental handling of this scientific information, you know, in hindsight, it's easy to say that it was botched. I don't know how to have done it differently. I don't have a silver bullet here. But I can tell you the next time this happens, we gotta have a rollout plan. And the factory floors, factory, you go into virus mode and people separate and the production goes down a little, but it doesn't go to zero. Okay? And you have people shifts and people work this eight hour shift and that eight hour shift so that they're not right on top of each other. We didn't have any of those plans. And that's what you need.

[Will Arnett]

Do you think that we need to get ready for this happening. Not necessarily with corona or a different corona or whatever it is, that this is our new reality.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It's called disaster preparedness. And the problem is no one wants to spend money on it if it's not an obvious threat. And let me get back to the CO2 warming the planet. If CO2 were purple and you'd walk by a car and you saw purple stuff coming out. Purple's too pretty. If it was sludgy brown and you see this coming out and you see it coming out of smokes and you see that and it just stayed in the air, you would say, we gotta stop this. This is hurting me. This is coming, but it's invisible and you can't smell it.

[Sean Hayes]

It.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And so we. We're very ostrich, like, in this regard.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, Neil, I know you got to run. I'm a huge fan of science, I'm a huge fan of facts, and I'm a huge fan of good people. And you are all three of those things, so thank you so much.

[Will Arnett]

You've had. You've had like three or four fax machines in your life, haven't you?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, for sure. And I. And I just. I still use it. I get, like, auditions from it and like. Yeah, I got to refill, actually. No, but, Neil, thank you so much.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Please keep sharing your. Your, Your. Your knowledge in the. In the generous and interesting way that you do.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And, and, well, thanks for that. And I'd love to come back on. I mean, when you. We'd love all your other guests say, no, I'm never doing that again. You can call me back.

[Will Arnett]

Listen, I was going to say. I can't speak for the other guys, but I can. I. I would say we. I know that we. That we would all be delighted to have a part two with you.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

If you'd be willing to do it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Because the universe is vast. And I also want to say just. If I could spend just one moment fanboying. You guys make really fun movies. And they're just, for me, a little bit. It's a little bit of escapism in it.

[Sean Hayes]

Movie.

[Jason Bateman]

Thank you.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So just keep. Keep it going. We need it. We need the. The diversion.

[Jason Bateman]

Levity.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The escape. Yeah, the levity.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, thanks.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Path, which would be the opposite of gravity.

[Jason Bateman]

Way to bring it back around. Beautiful right there. Well, thank you very much, Neil.

[Sean Hayes]

Thanks.

[Jason Bateman]

All right, guys, we'll see you later. Bye.

[Sean Hayes]

Isn't he, like, for me. I don't know why I have that chip in my Brain that is endlessly fascinated by that stuff. I could talk for hours and hours and hours about all of those subtopics.

[Jason Bateman]

Same here. I'm incredible. The one thing I wanted to ask him, and I could ask you guys the same, because I don't know what my answer would be about it either. Do you think if you went up to space and then you came back down, if you just did, like, one lap and you came, would you be, like, depressed? Oh, just literally to get up so high, to, like, look back down at the Earth, then come back down, everything would be so anticlimactic. I wonder if it would be.

[Sean Hayes]

I think more people need to think like that. Like, you're saying Jason is. Well, any astronaut I've heard in an interview or I think they say the exact same thing you're saying. You go up there, you got a picture and an image of the world we live in, and you realize how small it is. And every astronaut that has experienced that has said, you realize that we're all the same and that why can't we figure out how to get along? You know what I mean?

[Will Arnett]

And. And I think every astronaut always has asked it, like, what is that experience when you're out in space and they say, it's out of this world?

[Sean Hayes]

Nice. Well, you just dropped out for a little bit.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Sorry.

[Will Arnett]

What happened?

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, there you are. You're back.

[Jason Bateman]

Trust me, it was pretty good, Sean. Well, did you guys learn anything today?

[Will Arnett]

So much. How badly do we need to have him?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

He should be.

[Will Arnett]

We should have him on, like, once every three months just to keep us, you know, what's going on with the Cosmo, what's happening?

[Sean Hayes]

Right? Right? When Neil said, every single day, we upload over a billion photos. And Will goes. I mean, the four of us.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, he loves to post. Will's a real poster.

[Will Arnett]

I know.

[Jason Bateman]

I just tag it. Post it like it will.

[Sean Hayes]

Do you tweet still?

[Will Arnett]

Rarely.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. He does Wills with a very frequent. It's like, hey, lines are long at Starbies today. It's like, shut up, Will.

[Will Arnett]

Hey, it's my right to call it Starbies.

[Sean Hayes]

I wanted to. I wanted to ask Neil if he starts his day off at Star Bucks.

[Will Arnett]

Wow.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow.

[Will Arnett]

He probably pays with Starbucks.

[Sean Hayes]

Do you guys get that? Do you guys get that?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, no, I got it, son.

[Will Arnett]

Do you get your own joke? You even get your own.

[Jason Bateman]

All right, let's let our listener get to dinner or whatever.

[Will Arnett]

I love the idea that all our. Anybody who listens to our podcast is going. Is rushing to a meal.

[Jason Bateman]

We have to book our sole listener at some point.

[Sean Hayes]

That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.

[Will Arnett]

Thank you, Sean.

[Jason Bateman]

All right. Love you guys.

[Will Arnett]

Love you guys.

[Sean Hayes]

Love you, too. Bye.

[Will Arnett]

Bye.

[Jason Bateman]

Bye.

[Will Arnett]

Smart, Smart lesson.