StarTalk Radio - Cosmic Queries: Quantumly Stupid

Host: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Co-host: Chuck Nice
Date: November 11, 2025
(Note: Comic co-host referred to as “Gary” in the transcript.)

Overview

In this “Cosmic Queries: Grab Bag” edition, Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Chuck Nice (with Gary) tackle a wide range of listener questions—a blend of pop science, deep physics, cosmic curiosities, and tongue-in-cheek banter. The episode’s loose theme is the weirdest, silliest, and most mind-blowing questions from fans, especially surrounding quantum physics, dimensions, time, teaching, and the universe’s quirkiest features. True to StarTalk’s spirit, the science is thorough, approachable, and peppered with humor.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Flatlands, 4D Space, and Perception Across Dimensions

[03:03–07:49]

• Question: Can we, as 3D beings, observe truly 2D spaces? Would 4D beings interact with us as easily as we would with a 2D “flatlander”?
• Neil’s Breakdown:
  • “If you’re 2D, you have no thickness… how does any light or matter even interact?” But for fun, if you could, a 2D being would only disappear from view when turned edge-on.
  • 3D beings could see all inside a 2D creature; analogously, a 4D being could see all our innards:

    “A 4D person, they see all your guts.” (Neil, 06:42)

  • The challenge: “I don’t know how a 3D person would hide from a 4D person. Which way to orient ourselves, the way a 2D person can do that to us? …I have to think about it some more.” (Neil, 06:08)
• Memorable Moment: Lighthearted reminiscing about old internet cartoons and the “Operation” board game.

2. Space Elevators: Science Fiction or Imminent Tech?

[08:12–12:06]

• Inspired by: Apple TV’s Foundation and the concept of a Trantor “Star Bridge.”
• Neil’s Take:
  • “The motivation for a space elevator is you can get to an orbit without ever firing a rocket… but you’d be sitting in an elevator going 23,000 miles.”
  • “Access to space now is routine and the price continues to drop, especially because of Innovations in SpaceX … so you hardly hear talk of a space elevator anymore. It was a solution to a non-problem.” (Neil, 10:59)
  • Feasibility: Technically possible but currently impractical, given advances in rocket tech.

3. Ultimate Alien Answers: What Would You Ask an Advanced ET?

[16:10–18:02]

• Listener Q: If a superintelligent ET could grant one answer, what would you ask?
• Neil’s “Every night” Question:

  “Is the human brain sufficiently smart to figure out the entire universe?” (Neil, 16:14)

  • “If it’s not, then I’ll buffer my expectations. But if it is, then on would we march from there.”
• Gary’s Big Bang Curiosity:

  “What caused [the Big Bang] to happen? What was there before? Give me the lay of land before the Big Bang.” (Gary, 17:34)

• Philosophical Note:
  • “Origins questions are always the most challenging in science because you don’t have other examples to compare it with.” (Neil, 18:02)

4. Alien Digestive Systems, Poopless Life, and Everyone Poops

[18:56–20:25]

• Oddball Query: Do acid-blooded aliens (like in “Alien”) need digestive tracts, and do they… poop?
• Neil: “Plant-based alien… its waste product would be oxygen. That’s pretty good. …A poopless alien is totally fine.” (Neil, 20:19, 20:23)
• Comic Relief:
  • Jokes about the infamous children’s book Everybody Poops—and how it might not apply for all space life.

5. AI Teachers vs. Human Connection in Learning

[21:18–23:29]

• Question: If AI could perfectly clone a real teacher, is the human touch still “essential”?
• Neil’s View:
  • “AI can ape your style, can dig up some content, but it can’t intuit something different that might be happening in a student and make an adjustment… that remains in the realm of the inventive, creative teacher.” (Neil, 22:43)
  • The “ever-changing human” is key; adaptation is central to real teaching.

6. Does Spacetime Snap Back? Gravity, Flatness, and Entropy

[24:11–25:17]

• Listener Q: Is there a force making spacetime flat again after a massive object moves away? Gravitational entropy?
• Neil: If you remove matter/energy, “there’s no reason for the spacetime to be curved… expanding or contracting universes have large-scale shapes, unrelated to just one galaxy.” (25:06)

7. ‘Now’ in the Universe—Are We Seeing the Past?

[26:04–27:36]

• Query: Is our “now” seeing stars as they are, or as they were?
• Neil:
  • “We see things not as they are, but as they once were… Might as well speak of it in the present.”
  • Fun thought: “If you looked in a mirror 33 million light years away, you’d see the dinosaurs going extinct.” (Neil, 27:03)

8. Time Travel Coordinates and Cosmic Complexity

[27:48–32:46]

• Listener Q: Would time travel require knowing the origin point of the universe, factoring in expansion, etc.?
• Neil:
  • “Rich Gott… would say you can [calculate it] using mathematical trajectories in the vicinity of black holes…”
  • Cautions about the “no-disruption conjecture” (can’t prevent your own existence).
  • Entertaining aside on “djinn songs”—paradoxes where something (like a song) is caught in a time loop (“Johnny B. Goode”/Back to the Future).

9. Does Light Do Work? Solar Sails, Lasers, and Propulsion

[33:26–38:52]

• Listener Q: “Does light ever do any work? What would that look like to an observer?”
• Neil’s Cool Example:
  • Bill Nye and the Planetary Society launched a real solar sail; it “did work”—reflected sunlight increased orbital height.
  • “Reflection as propulsion. Yes.”
  • Nanoprobes with Mylar sails may one day be laser-pushed to Alpha Centauri at 20% light speed—getting there in 20 years!

  • “The light is doing work. Reflection as propulsion.” (Neil, 35:28, 35:41)

10. Black Holes: Do They Eventually Eat Galaxies?

[42:14–46:43]

• Listener Q: Will galaxies eventually be eaten by their central supermassive black holes?
• Neil:
  • “The mass of the galaxy swamps the mass of the black hole. There’s a limit to how much you’re going to credit the black hole for the whole damn kit and caboodle.”
  • For most of a galaxy, the orbits don’t decay into the black hole—unless something (like friction, or a direct encounter) forces matter inward.

11. Galactic Collisions and Black Hole Mergers

[46:51–48:39]

• Listener Q: When galaxies merge, do their black holes collide?
• Neil:
  • “They will very likely eventually find each other… black holes, heavy thing in the middle.”
  • Colorful analogy: “If there were four bumblebees in the continental United States, the chances are greater that two would bump into each other than two stars collide in our galaxy.” (Neil, 47:18)

12. Wild Theories: Is Spacetime a Crystal Lattice?

[48:50–51:18]

• Listener Q: Could spacetime itself be a “super solid lattice”—defects in which form time loops and echo signals we mistake for mystery?
• Neil:
  • Intrigued, he draws parallels to how crystals channel movement, and speculates on experiments to test lattice properties.

  • “Maybe the entire fabric of the universe is a crystal... That’s intriguing.” (Neil, 50:57)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Neil deGrasse Tyson on higher dimensions:

  “If you’re looking at a 2D creature, you can see inside their organs… So I look really ugly to a 4D person.” (06:08–06:44)

• On space elevators:

  “You just get on the elevator. Third floor, women’s lingerie…”
  “What is an entire floor doing of just lingerie?” (09:37–09:59)

• Big existential questions:

  “Is the human brain sufficiently smart to figure out the entire universe?” (16:14)

• On teaching:

  “AI can ape your style, it can dig up some content, but it can’t intuit something different that might be happening in a student and make an adjustment.” (22:43)

• Time travel & pop culture:

  “That song was never actually written. It just lives in a time loop.” (31:42)

• On galactic collisions:

  “It’ll be this cosmic ballet choreographed by the forces of gravity.” (47:59)

• On big theoretical physic concepts:

  “Maybe the entire fabric of the universe is a crystal. That’s intriguing.” (50:57)

Timestamps of Key Segments

• [03:03] Flatlanders and 4D space
• [08:12] Space elevator in Foundation & scientific plausibility
• [16:10] What to ask an alien superintelligence
• [18:56] Alien digestion and waste
• [21:18] AI teaching vs. the human touch
• [24:11] Does spacetime “snap back”?
• [26:04] "Universal now" and cosmic light travel
• [27:48] Space-time coordinates and time travel
• [33:26] Solar sails and light-driven propulsion
• [42:14] Black holes & the fate of galaxies
• [46:51] Galactic collisions and merged black holes
• [48:50] The lattice-structure universe hypothesis

Tone & Style

• Language: Friendly, geeky, and accessible; Neil is direct and whimsical, Chuck Nice offers comic relief, Gary plays the “everyman” with smart, skeptical queries.
• Atmosphere: Informal Q&A, plenty of jokes, pop culture references, approachable yet deep dives on the science.

Summary

This episode is a classic StarTalk “grab bag”—mixing deep cosmology, theoretical physics, hypothetical musings, and approachable, irreverent humor. The hosts tackle everything from why a 4D being sees your guts, the real barriers to space elevators, existential questions for ETs, the (non)pooping habits of aliens, whether AI can really teach, to whether our universe is secretly a giant crystal. It’s a celebration of curiosity, clever listeners, and the never-ending fun of pondering the universe.

“Keep looking up.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson