Cosmic Queries – ALIENS! with Jake Roper

Summary

StarTalk Radio – Cosmic Queries: ALIENS! with Jake Roper

Host: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Co-Host: Chuck Nice
Guest: Jake Roper (Host, Vsauce3 & “Could You Survive the Movies”)
Air Date: October 24, 2025

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Episode Overview

This StarTalk Cosmic Queries edition dives into the enduring fascination with aliens in film, television, and scientific imagination. With astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson at the helm, comic co-host Chuck Nice, and special guest Jake Roper, the episode explores audience-submitted questions about the science, plausibility, and pop-culture portrayals of alien life. The conversation is a lively mash-up of humor, speculation, thoughtful scientific analysis, and plenty of movie references, ranging from “E.T.” to “Arrival” to “The Blob.”

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Main Discussion Themes

1. Are We Alone in the Universe?

• Inquiry: Neil is asked if he believes we are alone in the universe.
• Neil deGrasse Tyson [03:27]:
  “It would be inexcusably egocentric for anyone to suggest that we on Earth are alone in the universe, given how old the universe is, the prevalence of the chemistry that manifests in life... It would be astonishing if we were alone.”
• Discussion: The hosts reinforce the scientific likelihood of life elsewhere, even if direct evidence is lacking.

2. Surviving Alien Movies

• Q: Which alien movie would be the easiest to survive?
• Jake Roper [06:10]:
  “The easiest one to survive… E.T. That’s what immediately popped in my head. But then you do have that whole segment where, like, oh, we need to quarantine him, because who knows what bacteria or viruses he might have.”
• Chuck [06:39]:
  Jokes about the unshown aftermath: “Five weeks later when they all have these horrible growths coming off the sides of their faces… but he’s already gone.”

Notable Science Moment

• Neil [07:00]: Shares a fact from Steven Spielberg, explaining E.T. was imagined as a plant, not animal, to account for his connection with plants in the film.

3. Alien Contamination Risk

• Neil [08:32]:
  “The kinds of diseases we think about... tend to be very specific to the life forms. The idea an alien from another planet has something that’s contagious to us is kind of low.”
• Explanation: Cross-species infections are rare, making it unlikely that an alien microbe could infect humans—though scientific caution is warranted.

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Cosmic Queries from Listeners

4. The War of the Worlds Laser – Scientific Plausibility

(Jessica from Arizona)

• Q: Can a laser turn someone into ash like in “War of the Worlds”?
• Jake [11:08]:
  “You could generate enough energy where you could just completely eviscerate a person… but it would have to be so hot that it would immediately vaporize all the moisture in your body.”
• Neil [13:12]:
  “It would require enough energy to instantly take your blood to a rolling boil and evaporate… then consume the rest of the material. And that seems to me it had to take a little longer than how long that took in the movie.”
• Fun Fact: Discussion about non-lethal weaponry (microwave crowd control) and “targeted” energy beams that exploit biological differences.

5. Could ‘Men in Black’ Exist?

(Shivang Srivastava)

• Q: Would the government create a secret agency to manage alien contact?
• Jake [17:01]:
  “I would assume that, yes, they would create an organization. Would it be as cool and sexy as Men in Black? Probably not.”
• Further Discussion: Whether the government or scientific community would hide the truth about aliens is debated, with Jake noting the disruptive potential of intelligent extraterrestrial contact.

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Pop Culture Deep-Dive: Favorite Aliens

6. Favorite Fictional Aliens

• Chuck Nice [23:23]:
  “I’m gonna give you my favorite movie alien… The alien in ‘Alien’. That thing is amazing—it’s super cunning and intelligent, we don’t know what motivates this thing, it kills everything... It’s got a mouth in a mouth in a mouth. And it bleeds acid. Whoever thought of this alien... they put a little bit of time in.”
• Jake Roper [25:01]:
  “The Thing is my favorite alien. The Thing from the movie ‘The Thing’… it’s a shapeshifter, a parasite. The scary part is: does the person it takes over know that it’s not human, or does it still think it’s human?”
• Neil deGrasse Tyson [28:18]:
  “The Blob is the best alien ever. Because it didn’t walk, talk, have two eyes, mouth, or feet… it was not an actor in a costume. That was the most creative alien Hollywood has ever come up with.”

[Notable Quote, 29:14]

• Neil: “After [The Blob] ate its first person, then it was red.”

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Science and Realism in Alien Depictions

7. Which Experts Should We Send to Meet Aliens?

• Movie “Arrival” reference: Physicist and linguist as first contacts.
• Jake Roper [33:06]:
  “For starting, because they knew there was some kind of communication happening, they needed someone there to decipher it… but wouldn’t you want a biologist?”
• Neil [33:36]:
  “I would have sent an astrobiologist and a cryptographer.”

[Fun Science Quibble, 35:01]

• Neil: Debates why aliens in movies communicate using “our weird sexagesimal counting system for angles” (latitude/longitude) and how unrealistic it is.

8. If Earth Was Attacked by Aliens, What Would You Do First?

• Jake Roper [40:49]:
  “First thing I would do is probably just relax, you know? What could I do to help stave it off? I'm just gonna chill. Pour a nice Merlot.”
• Chuck Nice [41:22]:
  “I’ll tell you what I would not do, which is shoot your gun at it… Go outside and start shooting at the sky.”
• Neil’s Take: Would try finding a way to “kick some alien ass”—but Chuck jokes Neil would retreat to a government bunker.

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Most Realistic/Believable Aliens in Sci-Fi

9. What are the Most Believable Aliens in Modern Sci-Fi?

• Jake Roper [44:19]:
  “I think [the aliens in] ‘Arrival’. The way they handled it, the way they interacted with the aliens… it felt still in this world of science realism.”
• Neil deGrasse Tyson [45:20]:
  “I’m gonna go back to ‘Contact’… That was an authentic representation of how we as a society would react to the knowledge there’s an intelligent species out there.”
• Discussion: Emphasis on approaching “alien” as something truly divergent from human or animal-like forms; praises “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “Contact” for creative non-human/non-physical depictions.

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Alien Intelligence, Probability, and First Contact Protocols

10. Intelligence of Alien Visitors

• Neil [47:14]:
  “If aliens visited us, they’re clearly more intelligent.”
• Jake [47:37]:
  “But what is intelligence?… There will be different verticals of information that we are much well versed in than they are.”

11. First Contact Protocol

• Jake [49:42]:
  “You have the light cone… There’s a speed limit to how fast information can travel. By the time you send anything back, whoever sent it is probably long gone.”
• Neil [50:18]:
  “If they just showed up, do you send diplomats? Your head of state?”
• Jake: “No, I’d send Paul Rudd. Everyone likes Paul Rudd.”
• Chuck [50:45]:
  “Let’s send the delightful Paul Rudd. How could we go wrong?”
• Neil [51:02]:
  “If we send Paul Rudd and they kill Paul Rudd, the rest of us are doomed.”

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The Most Probable Alien Encounter: Self-Replicating Machines?

12. Will We Meet Alien Robots? (‘Stargate’ Replicators Reference)

• Jake Roper [51:44]:
  “It does seem more reasonable that if we were to get a First Contact moment, it would be with some sort of machine, some sort of non- or inorganic built thing… If you create an AI, a machine that is so advanced it no longer needs you to create, it can create itself.”
• Neil deGrasse Tyson [53:07]:
  Outlines the Fermi Paradox and the argument that self-replicating robotic probes make the most sense for widespread galactic exploration. “It doesn’t take many doubling times to have a robot on every single habitable planet in the galaxy.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Neil, on movie and Wikipedia facts [08:04]:
  “Somebody actually creates information that goes on the wiki page. And I’m one of those people.”
• Chuck, on aliens’ behavior [44:49]:
  “Why do they always want to destroy us? Why is that their immediate instinct?”
• Jake, on government secrecy [17:16]:
  “If it were happening now, they would hide from us because it kind of is a disruptive thought… to know.”
• Funny closing on Paul Rudd as human ambassador [50:38]:
  “You need likable people. If they think he’s evil in some way, then we’re in big trouble.” — Neil

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:27 — Are we alone in the universe?
• 06:10 — Easiest alien film to survive
• 08:32 — Can ET infect us? Plausibility of contamination
• 11:08 — War of the Worlds laser: science or fantasy?
• 17:01 — Could Men in Black exist? (Government secrecy)
• 23:23 — Favorite fictional alien
• 25:01 — Jake on “The Thing” as favorite alien
• 28:18 — Neil on “The Blob” as most creative alien
• 33:06 — Which scientist should meet the aliens (“Arrival” reference)
• 40:49 — What would you do if aliens attacked?
• 44:19 — Most believable aliens in modern sci-fi
• 47:14 — Should we expect smarter or dumber aliens?
• 49:42 — Is there a protocol for first contact?
• 51:44 — Are replicating machines the alien life we’ll meet?
• 53:07 — Fermi paradox and self-replicating probes

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Tone and Atmosphere

The interplay is energetic and humorous, with moments of deep scientific consideration balanced by comedy and pop culture enthusiasm. The panel shows respect for the science while enjoying wild, creative hypotheticals.

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Summary

This episode is a whirlwind tour through humanity’s cinematic and scientific imaginings of alien life—balancing real science, skeptical fun, and an earnest sense of wonder. From lasers that turn people to ash, to whether government agents shroud us from the truth, to why the “Blob” is an underappreciated alien, it’s a thoughtful and entertaining look at both the fact and fiction of our cosmic neighbors.

Memorable send-off:
“If we send Paul Rudd and they kill Paul Rudd, the rest of us are doomed” – Chuck Nice [51:02]
“Keep looking up.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson [End]

Transcript

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[Chuck Nice]

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[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

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[Chuck Nice]

Hey, Neil.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

People love them cosmic queries.

[Chuck Nice]

They do. We have a lot of inquiring minds.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's a good thing. That's a good thing.

[Chuck Nice]

That is a good thing.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Plus, actually, in cosmic queries, we bring in other people who are the experts. And I just get to sit and listen. Ah, I learned too.

[Chuck Nice]

So there you have it. Who knew you were still capable of learning something what kind of what? The man who knows everything. No, I've never said I don't know everything.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, there's very well, okay, today's subject, aliens in film and tv. Oh, big subject.

[Chuck Nice]

That is a big subject.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Big subject. Huge subject for something for which there's no data. Aliens. Now, I got my own thoughts about aliens, but there are people out there who are more alien fluent than I am.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, before we get to our alien fluency, do you believe in aliens?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's not about a bleed. No.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. Do you believe that we are alone in the universe?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Is that one of the questions?

[Chuck Nice]

No, I just ask. I'm asking you personally.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. It would be inexcusably egocentric for anyone to suggest that we on Earth are alone in the universe, given how old the universe is, the prevalence of the chemistry that manifests in life. We see that biochemistry, that organic chemistry all across the universe and how long it took life to show up on Earth pretty quick. About 100 million years. Sounds like a long time short compared.

[Chuck Nice]

To how long.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And of the universe. So it would be astonishing if we were alone.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's all I'm saying.

[Chuck Nice]

All right. Very diplomatically placed without actually saying yes or no, but I. I know exactly what you mean, so it's great.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's all I'm giving.

[Chuck Nice]

It's a good answer.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's all I'm giving. All right. Well, what we have. Who we have here.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Is the one and only Jake Robert. Jake.

[Chuck Nice]

Jake. Hello.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I got your resume here. Host of Vsauce3Science channel on YouTube.

[Chuck Nice]

Vsauce.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Could you guess that he's got a YouTube pillow over his left shoulder?

[Chuck Nice]

Good for him.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. And you host the YouTube series. Could. You'd survive the movies. That is a brilliant concept, putting people through what goes on in the movies.

[Chuck Nice]

Right, right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's a brilliant concept. And so do you just never leave home and you watch movies all the time or did you, like, study this in school?

[Jake Roper]

I mean, it worked out well. Cause, yes, my job is to watch movies and then explore them scientifically.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's his job.

[Chuck Nice]

What a great job.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Somebody pays you to do that?

[Chuck Nice]

Somebody pays you to watch movies?

[Jake Roper]

I know. I don't know why. Don't tell me.

[Chuck Nice]

How do you get my son that job? Okay. He's actually doing it for free.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So in Cosmic Queries, we solicit questions from our audience, and they've been primed on this subject.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So they're coming in and they know you, but many of them, if not most, are Fans of yours. So we're gonna do this in a star talk way.

[Chuck Nice]

Absolutely.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So let's do it. Chuck, what do you have?

[Chuck Nice]

All right, well, can I start with my own personal question for you? Is that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, before.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Why are you asking him if it's okay? It's my show. Damn.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, you caught me off guard, man. All right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yes, you have my permission. Thanks. To answer him the first question. Thank you. Instead of the people.

[Chuck Nice]

People who actually. All right, so I just want to know, in your estimation, what is the easiest movie to survive?

[Jake Roper]

The easiest movie to survive? If we're talking physically, yes, I would say.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Of what. Of what genre?

[Chuck Nice]

Of.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Of alien movies.

[Jake Roper]

Yeah, like any. Oh, an alien film.

[Chuck Nice]

An alien film.

[Jake Roper]

H. The easiest one to survive, it'd be E.T. well, so. So here's the thing. I would say E.T. that's what really immediately popped in my head. But then you do have that whole segment where like, oh, we need to quarantine them, because who knows what bacteria or viruses you might have.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right.

[Jake Roper]

And that to me is kind of the interesting thing. You have this foreign creature here on Earth, right? We don't know what.

[Chuck Nice]

We have no idea.

[Jake Roper]

We don't know what it is susceptible to or what we're susceptible to from it. So, yes, in the reality.

[Chuck Nice]

So at the end of the movie. But in reality, when the kids get him back to the ship, what they don't show you is five weeks later when they all have these horrible growths coming off the sides of their faces and. Yeah, but he's already gone.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, and the movie ended.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Jake Roper]

Then they were like, well, I can't make a sequel because all the kids have horrible tumors.

[Jeff Bridges]

So.

[Chuck Nice]

Awesome.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So I have a. I have two reflections on this. Okay? One, I've had Steven Spielberg in that chair over there in my office tell me, upon being asked something related, that E.T. he imagined E.T. as a vegetable and not as an animal.

[Chuck Nice]

So he's a plant based life form.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Plant based life. That's correct. Which is how he would have that relationship with the plants. Remember?

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, yes. All the plants got flowers and they.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Would rebloom and so that it was imagined. But since he's walking and talking and has eyeballs and shoulders, you. The natural way to think of them is as living.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

As. As animal life rather than plant life. So that's my first interesting. Yeah. Second point.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow, that is a really cool factoid.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Second point.

[Chuck Nice]

It's really cool. Go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And I. And you say, what are your sources, Steven?

[Chuck Nice]

I Know, that's like. That is the ultimate cocktail party smackdown. Just like. Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Well, I don't know if you know.

[Chuck Nice]

This, but ET is actually a plant blant based life. It's like.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Where do you get that from, Steven? I'm just saying.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, it's, it's. I've had people come up to me and say, what. What wiki page did you get that information from? And for other calculations, I said, I calculated it. Somebody actually creates information that goes on the wiki page.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And I'm one of those people.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm one of those people.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right. Okay. That's what.

[Chuck Nice]

So it's called math. It's called math. Dude, what wiki page did you get that from? A math. What, Apple. The Brain app. Yeah. What app? Yeah, yeah, right here. Go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right. Also, you can ask, what are the chances we would catch an ET Disease if he comes to Earth? What's the chance of that contamination? And here's the problem. The kinds of diseases we think about and know about tend to be very specific to the life forms.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Think about it. So an oak tree is not gonna get whooping cough.

[Chuck Nice]

Correct.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

And just like there are certain viruses that, you know, that will not. Will not be what's it transmitted?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Trans species across species. They have to mutate more in order.

[Chuck Nice]

For that to happen.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So the idea that an alien from another planet has something that's contagious to us is kind of low. Because a lot of things that are contagious to other life forms on Earth with whom we have DNA in common are not contagious to us. That's all I'm saying. But still, we gotta be cautious, just as you said.

[Jake Roper]

Excellent.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, well, let's get to the queries now. And of course, we always start with a Patreon patron because they support us. Yes, and we love them for it. This is JB from Patreon. He says, hi, Neil and Jake. This is Jessica from Arizona. In 2005, the movie War of the Worlds, starring Tom Cruise, these machines driven by aliens start eviscerating people with white laser beams, effectively turning them into ash. Would it be possible to harness light this way into a kind of super laser? If so, where would you go to.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Stay safe would be in defense against.

[Chuck Nice]

In defense against. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. So, Jake. Yeah, Jake.

[Jake Roper]

All right, so just to clarify, they're asking if the weapon that the War of the World's aliens use could be possible.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, she's saying yes. Is it possible to use light in this manner? So that is A different way of saying, is that weapon possible?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And in that way, you could fight with a weapon equivalent to what they're using, perhaps. Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Or you could defend against it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Jake Roper]

Well, actually, this is funny, because if we just. Spoilers for everyone that hasn't seen the movie yet. Gonna give you a second. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The movie is 14 years old. Forget them. They haven't seen the movie yet. I don't care. Go.

[Jake Roper]

Well, hopefully they just heard the original War of the Worlds from back in the day when you were a kid, Neil, anyway.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Exactly.

[Jake Roper]

So the way that they destroy the aliens or defeat them is by, like, a virus, a human virus gets them ill, and they all just die.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Jake Roper]

So this kind of goes back to the ET Conversation, where we actually are the. This contaminant that kills them.

[Chuck Nice]

We're the weapon, anywho.

[Jake Roper]

Yeah, we are the weapon. Just us existing, and that's kind of the par for the course for humans anyway. So, I mean, I would say it is possible. You can't. I mean, harness light. Is that what they're harnessing? We don't really know. You could generate enough energy where you could just completely eviscerate a person. I mean, that's possible.

[Chuck Nice]

True.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Well, I mean, if it's just a matter of energy. Right. Light is a form of energy, right? Now, laser beams are kind of cooler than other forms of energy, but it's just energy. So, you know, a bow and arrow is putting energy here and taking energy over here and putting it over there.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

A laser's got energy here, put it over there.

[Chuck Nice]

Right. A bullet.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

A bullet. I got energy over here. It's in the gunpowder. And now the energy is. So if you can abstract this question to just say, what are the ways you can have energy over here and put it over there, and you have more energy than they have. That's kind of what that comes down to.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But I wonder, maybe, what do you think the question was? What does it take to turn them into a pile of ash? Well, do you think maybe that was the question.

[Jake Roper]

So that's what I'm thinking right now. And in that regard, I mean, it would have to be whatever this beam is, let's say this energy beam, it would have to encompass the entirety of the person's body for all of them to instantaneously turn to ash.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Jake Roper]

So it's just focused here.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, then, boop.

[Jake Roper]

It would just pop a hole right through you. The same way that a bullet, when it impacts, it doesn't blow apart your whole entire external body. Internal Just ploop. So I guess it would be. So if we just go by heat so hot that it would immediately vaporize all of the moisture in your body.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Jake Roper]

It would just completely dry you out to such a degree that you are just dust afterwards.

[Chuck Nice]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right. So Jake is mentioning an important point because it's hard to burn something that has a lot of liquid in it.

[Chuck Nice]

Right?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The liquid. You gotta first get rid of the liquid, then you can burn what's left. Right. So you're talking about ash. If you're gonna be a pile of ash, your blood had to evaporate in some way before you even get to the ash. So the instantaneity. Is that a word?

[Chuck Nice]

Nice. It is now.

[Jake Roper]

It is now.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The instantaneity.

[Chuck Nice]

Sounds like a great Quaker Oats commercial.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Instantaneity.

[Chuck Nice]

Instantaneity. It's delicious. All right, go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So. So it would require enough energy to instantly take your blood to a rolling boil and then evaporate.

[Chuck Nice]

Evaporate.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Get rid of all the liquid and then.

[Chuck Nice]

And then consume the rest of the material.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And that seems to me it had to take a little longer than how long that took in the movie.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, right. Because. And the other thing too is if you're talking about that kind of energy, it only did that to the person. The beam didn't, as it continued, it didn't, like, shoot holes into the ground. It didn't take out buildings.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right. Or the plant life or the plant.

[Chuck Nice]

Life behind it, only the people. So, all right, so maybe it was.

[Jake Roper]

Attuned to human chemistry then.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, that's a good that I see you think about this stuff. It is very evident that crap all day long. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Because. Well, no. Okay, I got one for you. So the military and large municipalities have what's called non lethal weaponry.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Yeah. And the taser is an example of one. But another one is this truck that rolls around with this huge beam and it sends microwaves into a crowd. And the microwave, you feel like you're burning. You feel like your skin is burning. So you want to get out of that beam. And basically they aim it for the focus points wherever people are gathering and getting the most ornery, so they can disperse the crowd. Disperse the crowd. So the cool thing about microwaves is water responds to microwaves, which is why your plate doesn't get hot, but your food does in the microwave oven. So if you have one of these weapons that targets human molecules, then you could have a beam that's sort of wide enough to just enclose you, that could vaporize you, but not the stuff behind you. Oh, right.

[Chuck Nice]

Excellent.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right. What do you think of that?

[Jake Roper]

I mean, I think that that sounds fair because they do have those specific things. They have the microwave weapons that you're talking about. I mean, I remember reading an article years ago about how in the uk, to stop teens from loitering in stores, stores could play this frequency that only teenagers could hear because they still had those hairs in their ear.

[Chuck Nice]

Right? That's right.

[Jake Roper]

You could still hear the frequency.

[Chuck Nice]

I forgot about that.

[Jake Roper]

It'd be annoying to them.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So old folks just don't even hear it. And so we can chill.

[Jake Roper]

Yeah. Like what?

[Chuck Nice]

Wow. Exactly. Keep it strong where we are with teens.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's why they don't listen.

[Chuck Nice]

That's what we don't hear.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow, that's great. All right. Well, that's a great question, Jay. Jessica, that was really cool. Are you ready for another one? Here we go.

[Jake Roper]

Yes, sir.

[Chuck Nice]

This is Shivang. Shivang Srivastava. Srivastava. Yes. Shivang Srivastava. Shivang.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Shivastava.

[Chuck Nice]

Shivasthav.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, so you're going to. You're going to. Yes. I put the wrong infested on the syllable. All right, here we go. She says, hi. Dr. Tyson, do you think an organization such as MIB or Men in Black can be established secretly if the government finds aliens? I'm also really eager to know, what changes will you and Jake. Would you and Jake like to make in the movies so they are more bound to reality?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Ooh.

[Chuck Nice]

Thank you both for your encouraging science education.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So, Jay, can MIB be real? Would it be real? First, is it real? Second, would. Would the government do it if, in fact, we were sort of shielding aliens? What's your.

[Jake Roper]

I would say yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Really?

[Jake Roper]

I mean, I don't really have. I mean, everything right now is just hypothetical. But I would assume that, yes, they would create an organization. Would it be as cool and sexy as Men in Black? Probably not.

[Chuck Nice]

So here's what I want to know from both of you. Do you think the government, the scientific community especially, would shield the public from the knowledge that we are not alone?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I'm going to ask Jake about this.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Jake Roper]

I mean, I think this is a tough one because we are hunting for life out there in the universe, right? That's what we're actively doing when we go to Mars, when we just are trying to go to Europa, all these different missions. That is kind of the point. But that is a different kind of life than, I think, what most people assume life to be. We Think of life as sentient human beings that can walk around, move around, have conversations, think for themselves, not microorganisms. So when it comes to that level of, I assume an alien is this living, breathing thing that can move around and shake my hand, that I would kind of assume that the government, if it did, if it were happening now, they would hide from us because it kind of is a disruptive thought or disruptive information to know.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So with an mib kind of secret keepers.

[Jake Roper]

To a degree not as cool as mib, I don't think they have like fancy alien weapons and like cool cars and you know, they're going on all these actions giving birth to aliens on the like side of the road or whatever. But like I do think if aliens. Well, okay, aliens exist, I think.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Wait, wait, just a quick thing. In Men in Black, one of the aliens was. He was like bug life, right? I mean he was like roaches. So it's not all of them were fully manifested as humanoid forms. I mean, he was humanoid, but he was still made of bugs or.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, he was made of bugs.

[Jake Roper]

If we're just throwing it through, it's like I have a strong theory that if we go to the deep ocean that all to me is alien. It looks so foreign from what we experience here in our world of on land that it is so different. Like that could be aliens for all we know. Actually, it's a totally different environment.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm gonna say no, but. But I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say no, they're not aliens.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Well, it's very testable. You look at, you check the DNA of overlapping DNA, but otherwise it's fun to think about it.

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We gotta take a quick break. When we come back, more with Jake on Aliens in the Universe.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes on Star Talk.

[Jeff Bridges]

Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.

[Jenny Slate]

Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?

[Jeff Bridges]

Well, I dig the MA and I want to be in a T Mobile commercial like you Teach me. So Dana.

[Jenny Slate]

Oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly AT T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.

[Jeff Bridges]

Wow, impressive. Let me try. T Mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.

[Chuck Nice]

Nice.

[Jenny Slate]

Jeffrey, you heard them.

[Jeff Bridges]

T Mobile is the best place to.

[Chuck Nice]

Get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.

[Jeff Bridges]

So what are we having for launch?

[Jenny Slate]

Dude, my work here is done.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

The 24 month bill credits on experience beyond for well qualified customers. Plus tax and $35 device connection charge credit sending balance due to payout earlier. Cancel Finance Agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs 1099.99 A new line minimum 100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Ooklove Speed Test Intelligence Data 1H 202025 Visit T mobile.com hi.

[Jenny Slate]

I'm Jenny Slate and believe it or not, someone is allowing us to have a podcast.

[Jake Roper]

I'm Gabe Liedman.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I'm Max Silvestri and we've been friends for 20 years. And we like to reach out to kind of get advice on how to live our lives.

[Jake Roper]

It's called I need you guys.

[Chuck Nice]

Should I give my baby fresh vegetables?

[Jenny Slate]

Can I drink the water at the hospital?

[Jake Roper]

My landlord plays the trombone and I can't ask him to stop.

[Jenny Slate]

You should make sure that you subscribe. Subscribe so that you never miss an episode.

[Chuck Nice]

The fight for our future starts with belief in our nation and its promise.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

In our future and its potential.

[Chuck Nice]

Together we answer America's call to win.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

We are Marines.

[Chuck Nice]

We were made for this.

[Jake Roper]

This is Ken the Nerd Neck Zabera from Michigan, and I support StarTalk on Patreon. This is StarTalk Radio with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We're back. StarTalk. Cosmic queries. Aliens in the movies and TV. Yes. A subject as big as the universe itself.

[Chuck Nice]

You know what? It probably is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And I got Jake Roper on.

[Chuck Nice]

Thank God we got Jake Roper on.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I know, right? He thinks about this stuff all the time. Professionally.

[Chuck Nice]

Professionally.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Get somebody pays him.

[Chuck Nice]

Let me tell you, your parents should be so proud of you. I'm telling you right now, I'm proud of you. I am proud of you, Jake. You are what America is about. I wanna be able to save somebody at a cocktail party. So what's your son do? My son talks about aliens on YouTube. And they pay him pretty instantly.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And he bought my house.

[Chuck Nice]

And he bought my house. My son, who does not play basketball, bought my. On YouTube. Love it, bro. I love it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right, so what's the question? What? You got the next question.

[Chuck Nice]

We got the next question. Let's keep going. This is Jason, Jason Mogridge. Jason says, hey, what's up, guys? What's yours? Neil's and Jake's favorite fictional alien movie or game. And why? Ooh, nice question. That's a good one.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right, go on, Go on. Jake.

[Chuck Nice]

Jake, this is.

[Jake Roper]

No, Chuck, you. You Go first on this one, so I can think.

[Chuck Nice]

So you can think.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You got me.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, so I'm gonna give you my favorite movie, Alien. And it's gonna be very pedestrian because you're gonna say it's just the. It's the. It's the oldest trope ever.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Don't tell me what I'm gonna say about your alien.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, you're right. You're right about that. All right, all right. The alien.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The alien in the movie.

[Jake Roper]

In the movie.

[Chuck Nice]

The alien. That is my. That thing is amazing. First of all, it's super cunning and intelligent, okay? Secondly, we don't know what motivates this thing. It kills everything. But why? Why is it doing it? Third, it loves to fight. Why are you so angry, bro? Calm down. Third, it's got a mouth. In a mouth. In a mouth. That is amazing. What is that tiny little mouth for? Why? Why do you have a tiny little mouth?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I didn't know you felt this way.

[Chuck Nice]

Wait a minute. He ain't done. That's not. I'm not done. Wait a minute. Here's the end. You cut it and it bleeds acid. Come on. This thing is awesome. Whoever thought of this alien, I'm telling you, they put a little bit of time in. That's all I'm saying.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And it scurries when it escapes down the hallway.

[Chuck Nice]

No, forget that was scary. Look how fast it is. I know, right? And by the way, look at its transformation. It goes in you as who knows what.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You're just host.

[Chuck Nice]

A little crab monster actually grabs you by the face and puts the baby alien in you. And then it comes out as a little snake. Man, it's crazy. It's crazy.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Jake, have you had enough time to think now? Or are you so distracted by Chuck's. Chuck's panic attack, I'm amazed.

[Jake Roper]

Like, that was great. That was a good monologue. I mean, okay, so Alien is fantastic. I'm wearing an alien hat. Nostromo, the ship from the first one. I do love Alien, but actually in a similar vein to Alien, because I like to think of Alien as a parasite, right? The whole entire way that it gestates and bursts out. It is this parasitic relationship. So with that in mind, the Thing is my favorite alien. The Thing from the movie the Thing.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I forgot what the Thing was.

[Chuck Nice]

Is the Thing like the blob? What is the Thing?

[Jake Roper]

No. So the Thing.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But don't get. And don't confuse the Thing with them, because them were the ants.

[Chuck Nice]

Them were the ants.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

They were ants.

[Jake Roper]

Them as ants.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Them as Ants, they is something entirely different.

[Jake Roper]

Okay, all right, so back on track. Chuck, come on.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, sorry.

[Jake Roper]

So the thing is a. Well, the remake, which is the one that's most popular is this 1980s movie with Kurt Russell, directed by John Carpenter. And the thing is this organism that takes the shape.

[Chuck Nice]

I saw it. Of whatever the host is, I didn't realize that that was what I was watching. But it's a shapeshifter and you don't know who it is because it can be anything. And then at one point it became the dog or something like that. Right, Yep. Yeah, Okay, I forgot I saw that movie.

[Jake Roper]

They can take any form. And it's the thing that's scared to me about it is one is it really is a parasite, but an intergalactic parasite. And it just takes upon like you have things like the jewel wasp here on Earth.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Jake Roper]

Which is more similar to the xenomorph in Alien where it impregnates the cockroach basically. And then the larvae bursts out and becomes a full on wasp, flies away. But the thing I love because it brings up this conundrum where does the person who it took the body of the form of, is it aware that it's not human? Or does it think that it's human, but it has something else controlling its mind? Interesting. I think that's a really nice conundrum.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Look in the mirror. The mirror tells you you're human, right?

[Chuck Nice]

Right. Yeah, yeah. So you like the fact that you could be infested with this parasite or occupied by this parasite and still think you are you, but just going about your life, but really you're just a puppet of a galactic parasite and you.

[Jake Roper]

Have no idea, potentially the people around you have no idea that you are no longer you.

[Chuck Nice]

Right, right.

[Jake Roper]

That's pretty cool. I think that's pretty spooky. Whereas with like traditional aliens or an alien, you know, it's an alien, like, okay, you're terrifying, you're not. You're not friendly. But if it was just Neil, we're like, oh, Neil, how you doing? And for all this time he's been this parasitic alien.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I am fine. So what's the difference between them and Invasion of the Body Snatchers fundamentally?

[Jake Roper]

So that's a great question. There isn't much.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Jake Roper]

It is similar.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Jake Roper]

I think it's just redone in the style.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Jake Roper]

They're both these alien creatures that take over humans. I think in Invasion of Body Snatchers its motivation is much more clear. It's there to take over the planet.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Jake Roper]

In the thing, they just find this crass spaceship from like thousands of years ago, and there's no reason as to why it's there or what the purpose of this alien is. The alien never expresses its intent. It's just this vicious force.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, that's a good one.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right, Neil, I have a good answer. And then a cop out answer. Uh, oh, my good answer is I think the Blob is the best alien ever. The Blob, because it didn't walk, it didn't talk, it didn't have two eyes, shoulders, mouth, nose, feet. You know, as much as we like Alien versus Predator, the Predator was great, right? But it's still very humanoid. It's even the approximate height of a human. You could look, you know, Arnold stared straight in his eyes now, right here, right?

[Chuck Nice]

Kill me.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

If it bleeds, we can kill it, Right? Okay, so I'm thinking this was the most creative alien Hollywood has ever come up with because it was not an actor in a costume. Okay? And people forget what color is the Blob. Do you remember red? Red. Except when it first landed, it was completely transparent. Oh. After it ate its first person, then it was red.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, I gotta go back and check that out.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yes, yes. Jake, did you know that?

[Jake Roper]

I did know that.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, it can't stump.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. Unstumpable.

[Jake Roper]

I just showed my girlfriend the Blob because she'd never seen it, so we just watched it the other week.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so it's fresh and. It's fresh.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It might have been Steve McQueen's first movie or very early in his. In his repertoire anyways. I think that's the most imaginative. Plus it comes through the grill, right?

[Chuck Nice]

It comes through everything of the.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Of the air conditioning ducts.

[Chuck Nice]

Any, any opening.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Any opening.

[Chuck Nice]

Ooze its way through the door. Yeah, yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So that and favorite Alien, I think, is from Contact.

[Chuck Nice]

Contact with Jodie Foss.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

Wait a minute, so you mean when she was inside of that portal.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You never see the alien. That's why it's my favorite alien.

[Chuck Nice]

Right? Because he says, I've taken on this for him to make you comfortable. No, no.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Well, that's. Yes, yes, sir. But the alien. You do not know what the alien looks like. The alien exists in some way that is not material, that does not lend itself to material presence for your eyes.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So. And that way. And by the way, 2001 and its sequel, 2010, neither of those show the alien either.

[Chuck Nice]

Right?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So I like it when they don't show it to you. Okay, that's all that's cool.

[Jake Roper]

I like that this actually brings up. I'd love your thoughts on this. I always like to think that if we were to see an alien, that we wouldn't really be able to comprehend it. Which is why I always think that the old school look of like the. The gray alien, you know, big head, big black eyes. Because we only understand things in the shapes that we can currently comprehend. But if something were not bound by our understanding of the world, could it look entirely different in a form that we just don't understand and have to put it into a form that we do understand?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No, I would. I don't think so. If you're open enough to what can be. It's just a thing that now. No, you don't have a reference for it, but it's a new thing that you make new references for it. So for example, in Star Trek you have the Horda. The Horda is basically a rock, right? And it's alive as a rock. That doesn't look like any alien anyone's dreamt of before. But it can move through silicates like we move through air. Cause the rock is silicon based, most of them. So I thought that was cool. Would you agree that was a creative attempt?

[Jake Roper]

That is really creative.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Just to think outside of the box. The hoarda. Cool, cool. Very cool.

[Jake Roper]

No, that is. Sorry. Just back to the Blob though, real quick. I know we got more questions, but that's to your point. What makes the Blob so great is that it isn't this traditional flesh and blood, looks like a. Has legs and arms kind of character. It's this blob, this shapeless form that just moves around and go through objects or things that we can't physically or that a physical being couldn't.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Plus a bullet doesn't stop it, right? No. And not because it's impervious. It's just irrelevant, Right, Exactly.

[Chuck Nice]

It is like shooting water.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Or shooting air.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's my vote. So we got our three votes there.

[Chuck Nice]

Nice stuff. Good stuff, guys. All right, so shall we move on to Ryan Ramboer? And Ryan wants to know this. In the movie Arrival, the government sends two different scientists from two different fields of study. If you had to choose two people, who would you send into an alien spacecraft? Interesting.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Just to remind people in Arrival, the recent arrival. Recent arrival. Recently.

[Chuck Nice]

Sorry, I just got here.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So they sent a physicist, a particle physicist and a linguist. Okay. Would you have. Jake, would you have sent different people in? I totally would have sent different people in. Who what would you have sent in, other than yourself? Who would you have sent?

[Jake Roper]

I mean, I think. But that was also a very specific thing where they chose a linguist because they knew there was some kind of communication happening and they needed someone there to help decipher it right after the fact. So for starting.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. It's a tune in after the fact.

[Jake Roper]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

But when you said, go ahead, I'll let you know.

[Jake Roper]

I was going to say, but if we're starting from that point, then I think that can a particle physicist. Doesn't seem like. Wouldn't she want some sort of biologist?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I think so, too. That's why I would have sent an astrobiologist and a cryptographer.

[Chuck Nice]

And a cryptographer. Right, right, right. That makes sense. See, I agree with that. Or I would have sent, like, a theoretical mathematician. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Fine.

[Chuck Nice]

Because, I mean, listen, for them to get here, you had to use math.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Sure.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Sure.

[Chuck Nice]

And I think that math would be the same for us.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. But astrobiologists know math, so we're good here.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right. It's part of our curriculum.

[Jake Roper]

See?

[Chuck Nice]

You know. See, you just think that physicists are so damn great. No, no problem.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I just remove the physicist from that equation.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Put in an astrobiologist and a cryptographer. The cryptographer is going to know math, too. Right, Jake? Cryptographer knows him.

[Chuck Nice]

Of course.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Here's my question to you, Jake.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

How do they know that the septopod, or whatever it was called.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That thingy thing was communicating.

[Chuck Nice]

In.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The direction they are looking rather than in his own direction. And they should then be studying the mirror image of it.

[Jake Roper]

Yeah. Flipping it.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow. Well, I think you thought too hard about that.

[Jake Roper]

You just ruined the movie for me. The movie says my answer.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm just saying, because the thing is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Writing on transparent glass, Right. It's writing what it thinks. And everyone is thinking it's its own.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Somebody's got a. We need a mirror in there at some point. Jake, what's your take?

[Jake Roper]

My opinion is that the aliens are very considerate. So they were like, we're gonna make it easy for you guys. We traveled all this distance. We are smart enough to know that we're gonna flip it for you. We're gonna draw backwards.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I will tell you this. If aliens come up to me and they put it as a glass window.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I ain't writing shit backwards.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. I'm not writing. But here's my point. And this is my only.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Making faces. Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

My only problem with the movie is this.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What?

[Chuck Nice]

If you are smart enough for intergalactic travel, are you going to tell me that you can't learn English in a few days? I'm just saying.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, that was my problem. That was my problem with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Right. Okay. Do you remember that scene where they figure out where they're gonna land? Do you remember that scene the teletype gives the longitude and latitude. They say, wait a minute, that's a coordinates on Earth. And then they go get the map. And if it's Devil's Tower, it's like, oh, my gosh. And I'm hitting. You know my issue here, Jake. It's our latitude goes from 0 to 90. Who thought that up? Okay. And between 0 and 1 and 1 and 2, it's split into 60 parts. Okay? And the longitude is an act of politics. That put the Prime Meridian through Greenwich. So if you were an alien and you know our coordinate system, you come up upon Earth. There's no grid lines on Earth, right?

[Chuck Nice]

Hey, look at that. It's a Pl made by world map. There's no grid lines.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So if you come up to the Earth, you have to understand our weird sexagesimal counting system for angles. And you have to know the politics that put the Prime Meridian going down through Greenwich.

[Chuck Nice]

And if you knew that much about.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Human culture, you just say, hey, what's happening? What's happening? I'm landing to the left of devil's tower at 4:30 this afternoon.

[Chuck Nice]

See you then.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Boom.

[Chuck Nice]

Now, did you tell Steven Spielberg that when he was here?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right, what's the next question? Go, go.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, next question, next question. Here we go. All right, this is. Oh, I like it. This is 7205. 72. And thank you so much for that name, by the way. If our planet was being attacked by aliens, what's the first thing you would do? Now, this is an attack, guys.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Attack.

[Chuck Nice]

Not a visit. An attack. Okay, what's the first thing you would do?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We don't have time in this segment.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

When we come back, we're gonna find out what's the first thing Jake is gonna do when aliens attack. And Star Talk returns.

[Jeff Bridges]

Morning, Zoe. Got donuts.

[Jenny Slate]

Jeff Bridges, why are you still living above our garage?

[Jeff Bridges]

Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T Mobile Mobile commercial like you teach me. So, Dana.

[Jenny Slate]

Oh, no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly AT T Mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most Powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.

[Jeff Bridges]

Wow, impressive. Let me try. T Mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.

[Jake Roper]

Nice.

[Jenny Slate]

Jeffrey, you heard them.

[Jeff Bridges]

T Mobile is the best place to.

[Chuck Nice]

Get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.

[Jeff Bridges]

So what are we having for launch?

[Jenny Slate]

Dude, my work here is done.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

The 24 month build credit is on experience beyond for well qualified customers + tax and 35 device connection charge credit sending balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Finance agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs 1099.99 A new line minimum 100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required. Best mobile network in the US based on analysis by Oklahoma Speed Test Intelligence Data 182025 Visit T mobile.com hi, I'm.

[Jenny Slate]

Jenny Slate and believe it or not, someone is allowing us to have a podcast.

[Jake Roper]

I'm Gabe.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We. I'm Max Silvestri and we've been friends for 20 years and we like to reach out to kind of get advice on how to live our lives.

[Jake Roper]

It's called I need you guys.

[Chuck Nice]

Should I give my baby fresh vegetables?

[Jenny Slate]

Can I drink the water at the hospital?

[Jake Roper]

My landlord plays the trombone and I can't ask him to stop.

[Jenny Slate]

You should make sure that you subscribe so that you never miss an episode.

[Jake Roper]

I need you guys.

[Jeff Bridges]

Foreign.

[Chuck Nice]

Netcredit is here to say yes.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

To a personal loan or line of credit.

[Chuck Nice]

When other lenders say no, apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Loans offered by NetCredit or lending partner.

[Chuck Nice]

Banks and serviced by Netcredit.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Applications subject to review and approval.

[Chuck Nice]

Learn [e-mail] partners NetCredit Credit to the people.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We're back. StarTalks segment three of Cosmic Queries. Aliens in the movies with Jake Roper.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right. Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

This. This dude. This what he does.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. Awesome. It's a great job.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's not only what he does. That's all he does.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh my goodness. I'm so jealous. I'm so.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He's actually sitting on a toilet right now. He never leaves. Just never leaves that space.

[Jake Roper]

He said you wouldn't tell.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, that's too funny. Okay, so before we went off, here's the question. 720572 says this. If our planet was being attacked, guys, by aliens, what is the first thing you would do? Not a visit, an attack, Jake.

[Jake Roper]

First thing I would do is probably just relax, you know? What could I do to help Stave it off. I'm just gonna chill. Turn on some startalk radio, Pour a nice Merlot.

[Chuck Nice]

Very nice.

[Jake Roper]

Is that a wine? I think that's a wine. And then just.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, it's a wine for death.

[Chuck Nice]

Glass of wine and chill. Yes. Instead of Netflix and chill. Alien Attack and chill.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Interesting.

[Chuck Nice]

I'll tell you what I would not do, which is what they do in.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The movies, which is shoot your gun at it.

[Chuck Nice]

Go outside and start shooting at the sky.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Here's a mothership, right? And you think you're going. You think.

[Chuck Nice]

You think, right?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Jake Roper]

So, Neil, what would you do?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So, Jake, you have surrendered to them, correct?

[Jake Roper]

Well, if they're attacking, like, I'm sorry. So I guess my assumption was that it's the ship that's attacking us. If they sent ground troops and we're going, like, house by house, door to door, then, yeah, I'd probably fight back. But if there's just a giant mothership blasting Earth, similar to Independence Day, then I just hang out and hope that it all clears, man.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. I'm kind of wishing.

[Jake Roper]

What am I supposed to do?

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, I mean, listen, like, you know, I'm not going. Like, when you brought up Independence Day, the scene that really burned my shorts was when all the people got on top of the Capitol Records building to look at the aliens to get a better. To get a better view of the aliens. And then, of course, they were all incinerated by a particle beam that wiped them. Like, I don't get that. I don't want to meet aliens like that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You realize Independence Day is War of the World?

[Chuck Nice]

Really?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

How do we attack? How do we triumph over the aliens? With a virus.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, look at you.

[Jeff Bridges]

Ooh.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, you didn't know that?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Check.

[Chuck Nice]

That was good. Check. You got me. I'm gonna tell you, that was good.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Check.

[Chuck Nice]

So, a biological virus and a cyberlogical virus.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay? So I like. I like Jake. And I like keeping him around. So I'll put him in with his bottle of Merlot.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I'll get him a good bottle of Merlot.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Get you a Chateau Petras. Okay. From maybe Merci 1989 would be a really good bottle of Merlot for you. Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Very nice.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And look that one up. And so then I like him. We'll keep him around, and I'll go out and try to figure out how to kick some alien ass.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay? Neil is full of it. Because what you don't know, Jake, is that Neil has many government connections. Many, many government connections. He will be in a bunker Safely secured, drinking that chateau.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Who's sharing it with a couple generals who will be consulting him on what we should or should not be doing.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We can't let people know that. Yeah, man.

[Jake Roper]

I don't think Neil was lying when he said that he would check on me. And then when he did leave, though. Yes, he would go to his bunker. No, I'll be right back.

[Chuck Nice]

Of course I'll be right back.

[Jake Roper]

The bunker.

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Jake Roper]

Hanging out, smoking cigars, living his best life.

[Chuck Nice]

Cool.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Chuck, what's the next one?

[Chuck Nice]

All right, here we go. This is Zevi coming to us. She's a YouTube fan. What is the most believable depiction of aliens you've seen in modern sci fi? Good question. What's the most believable alien?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Let's go modern. Let's define it. 1980s onward.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, let's say 80s onward.

[Jake Roper]

Okay. I mean, the first thing that pops my head, I think, would be arrival.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Jake Roper]

I think the way that they handled it, the way that they interacted with the aliens. The way that the aliens interacted with us.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

How about the fact that it was a septapod? That didn't disturb you at all?

[Jake Roper]

Because I think. No, the issue that I have with most. Not an issue, because I do enjoy them, but with most alien invasion films where they come to Earth, is why do they always want to destroy us? Why is that? Their immediate instinct is like, let's just kill everybody.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's because that's what we would do if we landed on their planet. In fact, that's what we've done to each other when we land on each other's continents.

[Jake Roper]

So that's why, I think, though, we write it that way, because that's what we would do. So we put our own self in those scripts when we write aliens. But if they were smart enough, if they could traverse these incredible distances, would their first action be aggression?

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. I mean, I think only if we were food, would they. Because otherwise.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

To Serve Man.

[Chuck Nice]

Right, right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You got the Twilight Zone episode.

[Jake Roper]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

To Serve Man.

[Jake Roper]

What is it that. It's resource gathering. They do a lot of that. But I feel like Arrival had a pretty, in my mind, good depiction, where obviously they took liberties with some of the science, but it felt still in this world of science, realism, or at least they were trying to obtain that, and I really appreciated that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What about the Day the Earth Stood Still?

[Chuck Nice]

Ooh, the Keanu Reeves.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The new one with Keanu Reeves, either. Well, either. I mean, there was the robot in the first one, but that wasn't really the Alien, Right. There's something else controlled. Something else. So because you're trying to. Oh, I got it. I got you here. Okay. In that same vein, I'm gonna go back to Contact because it was. I thought that was an authentic representation of how we as a society would react to the knowledge that there's an intelligent species out there. So I agree with you. You want some authenticity. That isn't always violence. Right. But then if you're creative enough as the screenwriter or as the storyteller, you would put some of those authentic reactions in it. As I agree they did with arrival.

[Chuck Nice]

See, I think when you said the daily Earth is still is even more so because it's. It is a non biological life form. Like I think our first contact, if we send something out, it's not gonna be a human being. We're gonna send something out that might make contact. So that would be the first encounter that from the opposite way.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right, next question.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, here we go. This is Wes Miller. Would you rather aliens be far more intelligent than humans or far less intelligence than humans?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Here's the thing. If aliens visited us, they're clearly more intelligent.

[Jake Roper]

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to. Because I guess again we're assuming aliens are these life form style creatures and we're not finding them. To your point, Neil, they're like coming to find us. So, yeah, I guess they just intrinsically would be more intelligent. But then I guess. Sorry, now I'm just being pedantic, but like, what is intelligence?

[Chuck Nice]

Do they.

[Jake Roper]

They'll know more than us about certain things, but I'm sure there'll be different verticals of information that we are much well versed in than they are.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Jake, if they got here in a spaceship across the intergalactic space, they know more about everything than we've ever known about anything.

[Chuck Nice]

That's probably the case. Unless, of course.

[Jake Roper]

But are they gonna know about delicious like tacos and nachos, Neil, Will they know that?

[Chuck Nice]

They will once they take over the Earth, that's for sure. But what if they're like. What was the movie? Wall E. Wall E. Well, and they were escaping a planet, put on a ship that was run by an AI that took care of their every need. And they just became dumb fatties floating around on chairs. Right. Then they arrived someplace.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Damn, you just ruined that whole movie. Dumb fatties riding on chairs.

[Chuck Nice]

But then instead of trying to wait until they're their planet was healed, it just takes them on an intergalactic mission. So here are people living in this enclosed society for all these, like it could be millennia if you wanted it. Then they get someplace which is Earth, they find us, and what we end up seeing is incredible technology with a bunch of dumb fatties flying around chairs.

[Jake Roper]

True. Well, sorry. Last thing I want to say about really smart aliens. I will go back to ET Though, as a consideration where ET Was able to get to Earth, yet didn't even know what Reese's Pieces were. What an idiot.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What an idiot.

[Jake Roper]

What a dumb alien.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's funny. Okay. All right, next.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, here we go.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Running short in time. See if we can get a couple in here. Okay, go.

[Chuck Nice]

This is Prabha Hanjan. Talang says this. If we ever contact an alien species, is there a first contact protocol? A true to life first contact protocol?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Well, Jake, I don't know if there is, but if there was one, what would you want it to be?

[Jake Roper]

Ah, I mean, I. You know what? I never even thought about this question before.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, we stumped, Jake.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow, Jake.

[Jake Roper]

Well, because I always assumed. Well, because you have the light cone, right. Which we don't have to go too into detail, but information. Unless we can figure out tachyons, all these different things. There's a speed limit to how fast information can travel.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Tachyons travel fast and move backwards in time.

[Chuck Nice]

Right?

[Jake Roper]

Far enough away to send us a message. By the time you're able to send anything back, whoever sent it is probably long gone. So I've never really thought about the idea of what would we say? There has to be a protocol.

[Chuck Nice]

Interesting.

[Jake Roper]

There's a protocol for what?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You would send a radio signal if we communicated that way. But if they just showed up. Do you send your diplomats? Do you send your diplomats? You send your head of state?

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, let's hope not.

[Jake Roper]

No, I'd send like, I'd send Paul Rudd. Everyone likes Paul Rudd.

[Chuck Nice]

That is an excellent answer.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You need likable people. Very good. If you send the most likable human, then that's your best chance.

[Chuck Nice]

There you go. Let's send the delightful Paul Rudd. How could we go wrong?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's a brilliant answer.

[Chuck Nice]

I like it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Just send the most friendly among us.

[Chuck Nice]

Right?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And if they think he's evil in some way, then we're in big trouble.

[Chuck Nice]

Big trouble. Right.

[Jake Roper]

Yeah. We're bones.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

If we send Paul Rudd and they kill Paul Rudd, the rest of us are doomed. There's no hope for humanity. We're done. We're cooked.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Chuck, give me another question.

[Chuck Nice]

Last one, last one. Okay, here we go.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Hi.

[Chuck Nice]

Dr. Tyson and Mr. Roper. Ooh, look at that. This. This is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You got a mister out of this.

[Chuck Nice]

This is Elias. Elias from London. And I wanted to ask your thoughts on aliens, like replicators from the Stargate series. Series Robots who replicated themselves using available resources on every planet. Do you believe this is the most probable form of alien life that we will ever encounter? Wow, what a. Whoa.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What an excellent question. Real good question, Jake. What do you have on there?

[Jake Roper]

I mean, this brings up what kind of. Chuck mentioned earlier that it does seem more reasonable that if we were to get a First Contact moment, it would be with some sort of machine, some sort of non or inorganic built thing. And then also when it comes to replicating it, this is the whole idea about the singularity that I always love. Or just advanced AI, where if you were able to create an AI, like a machine that is so advanced it no longer needs you to create, can create itself now. So I do think that could be a very real possibility because, I mean, I'm still stuck on that brilliant idea that Chuck had, because Chuck is a brilliant, attractive, smart, humble person, which is that it would be some sort of robotic creature, would probably be the first contact.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, Chuck, very nice there.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, thanks.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, he complimented you.

[Chuck Nice]

He did, yes, 12 ways from Sunday. And I'm gonna use every day I can.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So I wanna just put some emphasis on that. Okay, so the Fermi paradox, which is how come the aliens haven't been here? Well, why would we expect that to happen? Because in the lifetime of the universe, they would have colonized every planet in the galaxy. Well, how do you justify that? Well, if you send a robot that can duplicate itself, then it goes to a planet and then it makes two of itself, and then they go to two planets.

[Chuck Nice]

Ah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And then they make two of themselves and they go to four planets, and then eight and then 16. It doesn't take many doubling times to have a robot on every single habitable planet in the galaxy. That will take much less time than the amount of time the galaxy has been around. So either you bring humans there and duplicate themselves, or you bring robots. But there would have been some evidence if they really were of a colonizing species. Right. So, yeah, this idea that you can duplicate yourself, that's really the only realistic.

[Chuck Nice]

That is the most realistic.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Most realistic way.

[Chuck Nice]

Fantastic, right? Oh, that's great.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We speak English in the United States because England sent a colony that spoke English. That's right. So now we went to the moon, not England.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. England sent the colony that then went to the moon.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So That's. You want to think about what. What you've actually put into motion, right? And so. Yeah. Yeah, that's good.

[Chuck Nice]

Good stuff, man.

[Jake Roper]

Great way to think about it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Jake. Love you, man.

[Chuck Nice]

That was fun, Jake.

[Jake Roper]

Oh, thank you guys so much. This is great.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We got to do this. We will. We will find a way to get your ass back on here.

[Jake Roper]

Matrix. Do it. I'm down.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Do a whole thing on just a Matrix.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, yeah, well, because there's three movies.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No, no. There's only one, mate.

[Chuck Nice]

I don't know what happened the other something happened. I'm not sure. I'm gonna be honest. I'm gonna be honest.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But the first one was I can over analyze Matrix. Okay, okay. I've seen that movie. How many times you seen the Matrix?

[Jake Roper]

Too many.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Too many. Yeah, me too.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, I'm kind of there too.

[Jake Roper]

Well, actually, you know what? I shouldn't say too many. That sounds negative. Not enough.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, wow.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, okay.

[Chuck Nice]

All right. Matrix of this.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The question is, are you a virus on this earth?

[Jeff Bridges]

A virus.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right, Jake. We gotta call it quiz there, Chuck. Thanks for being on.

[Chuck Nice]

Always a pleasure, Jake.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We'll find you again. I don't know where you're hiding, but we'll find you. Thank you. All right. This has been Star Cosmic Query's Aliens Edition. I'm your host, Neil Degrasse Tyson, as always bidding you to keep looking up.

[Jenny Slate]

Hi, I'm Jenny Slate and believe it or not, someone is allowing us to have a podcast.

[Jake Roper]

I'm Gabe Liedman.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I'm Max Silvestri and we've been friends for 20 years. And we like to reach out to kind of get advice on how to live our lives.

[Jake Roper]

It's called I need you guys.

[Chuck Nice]

Should I give my baby fresh vegetables?

[Jenny Slate]

Can I drink the water at the Water Hot hospital?

[Jake Roper]

My landlord plays the trombone and I can't ask him to stop.

[Jenny Slate]

You should make sure that you subscribe so that you never miss an episode.

[Jake Roper]

I need you. Go.

[Chuck Nice]

Imagine relying on a dozen different software.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Programs to run your business, none of which are connected.

[Chuck Nice]

And each one more expensive and more complicated than the last. It can be pretty stressful. Now imagine Odoo. Odoo has all the programs you'll ever need and are all connected on one platform. Doesn't Odoo sound amazing? Let Odoo harmonize your business with simple, efficient software that can handle everything for a fraction of the price. Sign up [e-mail]. that's O-O-O.com.