Neil deGrasse Tyson DISHES on UFO Files and Billionaire Astronauts

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]I want everybody to feel smarter coming out of here to see what everyone else has seen and think what no one else has thought.

[00:00:07]>> Smart girl >> dumb questions. Welcome to Smart Girl Dumb Questions live at the Comedy Seller in New York.

[00:00:18]>> I'm your host Sarazza and I'm going to be joined by worldrenowned astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and our alien daddy Neil deGrasse Tyson. GET UP HERE NEIL.

[00:00:38]ALL RIGHT.

[00:00:41]>> NO, you know it's uh 420 today.

[00:00:46]>> Is that right?

[00:00:47]>> Are you familiar with the occasion?

[00:00:49]>> Yes, I am. I think it has something to do with marijuana.

[00:00:52]>> Yes, but I I do not partake. Do you partake?

[00:00:55]>> I I've actually never done drugs in my life.

[00:00:57]>> Ah.

[00:00:59]I know that's why you're so smart.

[00:01:01]>> No, >> that's a crazy fact. I mean, in college, there like mounds of marijuana in front of me and they're smoking. I surely got multiple contact highs. Okay.

[00:01:12]>> But I was just watching them almost anthropologically because the human brain barely works as it is.

[00:01:22]If you're going to stir in chemicals, it'll take you someplace else. But in my experience, not closer to the universe.

[00:01:31]So yeah, I just never have.

[00:01:32]>> I I also have I've done shrooms once or twice.

[00:01:36]>> But that's all. Just some shrooms.

[00:01:40]>> Oh, by the way, what mushrooms? You said mushrooms.

[00:01:42]>> Can I tell you something about mushrooms?

[00:01:43]>> Of course. Get ready. Neil likes a creative eddy. I know this. He likes a He likes a detour.

[00:01:48]>> A creative Eddie. I like that. That's very poetic.

[00:01:53]>> What is the story? So, oh, so, uh, >> what's your mushroom story?

[00:01:57]>> We and mushrooms, if you look at the tree of life, >> yes, >> we and mushrooms are more genetically alike than either we or mushrooms are to green plants.

[00:02:10]>> What? Mushrooms aren't more like green plants?

[00:02:13]>> Who would were you paying attention to me? Let me say it another way.

[00:02:17]>> Yes. The common ancestor between humans and mushrooms split later than its common ancestor split with green plants.

[00:02:29]>> That makes sense.

[00:02:30]>> So that we and mushrooms are more genetically alike than either of us are to green plants.

[00:02:37]>> And so if you you've bitten into a mushroom before, what sometimes people call it what they say what about a mushroom?

[00:02:43]>> Meat. Tastes meaty.

[00:02:44]>> Fleshy. Fleshy >> said no one ever of kale, right?

[00:02:51]>> No one ate kale. Well, this is a meat eating kale, right? So, I'm just saying.

[00:02:55]Okay.

[00:02:56]>> And mushrooms, which are fungus.

[00:02:58]>> Yeah.

[00:02:59]>> Just love hanging out with us. That's why you get, by the way, yeast is fungus, so you get yeast infections.

[00:03:07]>> The mushroom just wants to get all up.

[00:03:08]>> The conversation's going downhill.

[00:03:11]I'm going to take it back on track from yeast infection. So, this is our second encounter on the podcast.

[00:03:17]>> Encounter. This like we're not aliens.

[00:03:18]They use the word encounter when you have we're meeting an alien. It's the second time I've been on your podcast.

[00:03:23]>> The second time I've been on the podcast. This is true. Thank you so much for for coming back.

[00:03:27]>> Delighted.

[00:03:28]>> You have now written a whole book about a first alien encounter >> that one might have.

[00:03:35]>> That one might have.

[00:03:36]>> Yeah. It's called Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter. So, it's advice. Very handy advice.

[00:03:44]>> Yes.

[00:03:45]>> If you if you meet an alien, what do you do first?

[00:03:49]>> And and it's a whole conversation about that.

[00:03:52]>> Yes. I read it. I took notes. I >> She has like dogeared pages throughout.

[00:03:57]>> I I need to be ready. I'm very impressed. Thank you.

[00:03:58]>> I need to be ready now for the aliens.

[00:04:01]>> Because Because when you meet the alien, you become the emissary of our entire species.

[00:04:07]>> Yes.

[00:04:07]>> So, you don't want to mess that up.

[00:04:09]>> Yeah.

[00:04:09]>> Okay. Don't [ __ ] it up. And if you're there, try to you want to leave the best impression possible.

[00:04:15]>> Try to leave behind your friends who think the earth is flat. You want to leave behind people who don't know what science is, are in denial of how it works, who think earth is flat, because they will totally mess up our first impression on the aliens.

[00:04:30]>> I don't want the alien to run back and say there's no sign of intelligent life on Earth.

[00:04:34]>> But here's the thing, Neil. Don't you kind of like It's like if you see a grizzly bear, you lay dead so they don't like you you could maybe want them to think you're dumb so they don't mess with you.

[00:04:46]>> Okay. So >> the pause.

[00:04:50]>> Why? Okay. So you're analogizing the alien to a grizzly bear.

[00:04:54]>> No, I'm not analogizing.

[00:04:55]>> If you're laying down, the grizzly doesn't think you're dumb. I think they're supposed to think you're dead.

[00:05:00]>> Oh, yes.

[00:05:00]>> But I don't think you're any less tasty, freshly dead.

[00:05:04]>> Oh. than moments before being alive.

[00:05:07]>> People say I taste like a mushroom.

[00:05:09]>> I've been told. Okay. So, Neil, >> yes, >> you have dedic We're going to go through the whole book. We're going to get everyone in here at the soldout show.

[00:05:16]We're going to get you all ready for your first alien encounter should it happen to you. But you dedicate this this book to quote believers and skeptics alike.

[00:05:27]>> Yes.

[00:05:27]>> So, I want to find out who's in the room.

[00:05:29]>> Sure.

[00:05:29]>> Okay. So, if you're in the room, use your voice, shout, clap, etc. If you believe that the aliens have somehow made contact or on Earth we're covering it up. Any of those things. If you are a believer, make some noise.

[00:05:45]>> Okay. Now, if you're a skeptic, you think all those people are [ __ ] crazy.

[00:05:49]Please make some noise.

[00:05:53]>> That's not 50/50.

[00:05:54]>> But Neil, you did not make any noise.

[00:05:57]You didn't shout in either camp. As an educator, I'm curious how people think so that I can address the occasional tangled mental roadways that confuse people's paths towards what is objectively true in this world.

[00:06:11]>> Aliens, what would happen first? We go to them or they come to us.

[00:06:14]>> Oh, we are so not finding them first.

[00:06:17]>> Okay, >> wait, wait. Just hear me out.

[00:06:21]>> Yeah, >> hear me out. Okay.

[00:06:22]>> We hadn't left low earth orbit in 50 years.

[00:06:29]>> Yeah.

[00:06:29]>> No, sorry. How many more than that? 58 years.

[00:06:32]>> Yes.

[00:06:32]>> We hadn't left >> low earth orbit. And you know where low earth orbit is? Take earth, shrink it to a school room globe. Okay.

[00:06:40]>> Ask yourself Bezos Branson billionaire boys rockets. How high up above the globe do they go?

[00:06:47]>> The thickness of two dimes is how high up they go. and we call them astronauts.

[00:06:53]The space station orbits less than a half an inch above the surface of the school room globe.

[00:07:01]>> We had not gone farther away from Earth than that half an inch >> in 58 years. And you want to believe that we're going to go somewhere else and meet an alien? No. They're coming here.

[00:07:12]>> Okay.

[00:07:12]>> And if they come here, they they're smarter. They got they're probably better looking.

[00:07:18]>> They're hotter. They're smarter and hotter than us.

[00:07:21]>> Just imagine how we would feel if they're smarter, they got better technology, and if they were better looking. You ever notice that all aliens are bald?

[00:07:31]>> Yeah.

[00:07:31]>> Yeah. We The least we could do is give them a head of hair. I don't I don't >> well quaffed alien.

[00:07:36]>> Wouldn't that be cool? Alien coming down off the thing with a a beautiful head of hair. You know, >> we got to send those aliens to Turkey.

[00:07:42]Look at that hair.

[00:07:45]You know, I have to say I don't think that uh Bezos billionaire boys club are going to like you doing the small hand demonstration of the half an inch.

[00:07:52]>> Now they're going to be building more rockets. More rock.

[00:07:54]>> No, they didn't even go a half an inch.

[00:07:56]They went the thickness of two dimes.

[00:07:59]Whether or not they appreciate it, I I cannot concern myself with those who are offended by what is objectively true in this world.

[00:08:07]>> 100%. So >> yeah. So if we wanted to test if any of the people on earth are aliens, say Musk, Tom Cruz, York, how would we do it? You talk about a coin.

[00:08:19]>> Very good. So in Men in Black, they did this brilliantly. If you if you looked carefully at the board that was monitoring all of the aliens on Earth, they were actual people >> that we know. Okay. But for each one of them, they look a little different. Like one of them was Michael Jackson. If someone is an alien, and they have identical human physiology, >> Mhm.

[00:08:48]>> then it's meaningless to think of them as alien. If if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, acts like a duck, it's a duck.

[00:08:56]>> Okay.

[00:08:56]>> It they'd be interestingly alien if their organs were in all different places.

[00:09:00]>> Yeah. So, if they're otherwise masquerading as human, but you know there's something different inside, take them to an X-ray machine. And if their heart is up here and their lungs are down here, they're alien.

[00:09:12]>> And the way you do that is they did it in the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

[00:09:18]>> Oh, yeah. They did.

[00:09:19]>> One of the most terrifying movies there ever was. And the only aliens were humans because the aliens inhabited their bodies and they were your friends, your loved ones. And you didn't know until you learned they had no emotions >> because they couldn't copy our emotions.

[00:09:38]And that's how you found out. And there's that what does that show on Apple uh Plus?

[00:09:43]>> Florus.

[00:09:44]>> Florabus. It's the hive mind of other people who otherwise look human. They would pass the physiology test, but they were alien in their minds.

[00:09:55]>> So, this sounds like another >> sounds like another what?

[00:09:58]>> That That's your planetarium director voice that you're doing there.

[00:10:03]>> Welcome to the universe.

[00:10:08]>> I I tried backstage to do this with Neil. Should I try?

[00:10:11]>> Try try.

[00:10:13]>> Welcome to the universe.

[00:10:15]>> Okay, that's good. That's that's the voice you get at the doorway entering the universe.

[00:10:21]>> Okay. But but once you're in the universe, the voice has to come from everywhere. I know what it was. Her voice is what for some reason we all agreed is the voice of the computer telling you that everything is about to self-destruct.

[00:10:38]>> Say, give me some say.

[00:10:39]>> Yes. The world will self-destruct.

[00:10:41]Please proceed calmly to Yeah. Neil Degrass Tyson was robbed by Morgan Freeman. Is that what we wanted to say?

[00:10:48]>> Welcome to the universe.

[00:10:52]>> Hang tight for a second. We'll be right back.

[00:10:55]>> I brought you something, Neil. Really?

[00:10:57]>> A gift? Yes.

[00:10:58]>> What's that?

[00:10:59]>> I What?

[00:11:01]>> I read about these. They can apparently protect you from alien telepathy. Tin >> for all hat.

[00:11:05]>> And also from government surveillance. I I I found it on the internet. Would you like to wear it?

[00:11:11]>> Only in the moment I feel at risk.

[00:11:16]So, no. Would you like to crumple it up and throw it?

[00:11:18]>> So, I did know. No, no, no, no, no.

[00:11:20]Because, in fact, I talk about these in the book. There's a chapter on alien powers.

[00:11:24]>> Oh, yes. I remember that.

[00:11:25]>> There's a whole chapter on what is it about us that might look really alien to them.

[00:11:31]>> For example, let's say you befriend the alien and you're hanging out and then you tell the alien, "Excuse me, I have to lay down horizontally and be semicomaosse for onethird of Earth's rotation.

[00:11:44]That means sleeping for people who didn't get the joke, >> right? I mean, I could say 8 hours, but the alien won't understand hours, but they'll know Earth's rotation. So, this is alien talk. You're you're befriending them. So, the alien would say, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG? WHAT IS THAT?" If the alien doesn't sleep, but here's a problem with putting so much human things on an alien.

[00:12:05]>> You're going to wear the hat.

[00:12:06]>> Fist my bump.

[00:12:10]>> But you're going to wear the hat, Neil.

[00:12:12]No, you don't want >> I'm going to tell you how and when to wear the hat. Okay. So, >> okay. Don't wear the hat.

[00:12:19]>> So, there's a whole chapter. Oh, one other thing that we >> Neil, no more creative heading.

[00:12:24]>> No, no, no. Last one. Last one.

[00:12:25]>> Okay.

[00:12:26]>> So, just you got to the book tries to set prepare you >> for this first encounter. And if the alien has just a little dog in it, let's say, because you don't know what you don't know anything just doesn't take much. Then the alien lands, the first thing it might do is want to go around and sniff your butt.

[00:12:45]>> Okay. You have to be ready for that and not chastise the alien.

[00:12:49]>> Yes.

[00:12:49]>> Cuz dogs do that all the time. You don't scull them.

[00:12:52]>> No, >> that's just how they That's how they roll.

[00:12:54]>> That's how they roll.

[00:12:55]>> Okay. And if the alien walks up to you and there's some appendage hanging out in front, don't just grab it and shake it.

[00:13:02]>> You don't know what part of the alien anatomy you just grabbed. Neil, you could you could be cancelled in the universe if you grab that appendage >> because you don't know.

[00:13:12]>> You don't know.

[00:13:13]>> So, just don't go with assumptions. Now, there's a whole chapter on alien powers.

[00:13:18]So, at the part where they have powers, one of them might be the power to either read your mind >> or influence your mind.

[00:13:26]>> Yes.

[00:13:27]>> Famously, they do this in Star Wars with the the Jedi. What do they call this thing?

[00:13:35]>> M trick. The Jedi mind track mine. Okay.

[00:13:37]Where >> you know you don't have passage through the gate.

[00:13:40]>> Yeah.

[00:13:41]>> And is it I have passage through the gate.

[00:13:44]>> Yes, you do have passage through the gate. Okay. So, you get inside their head to get them to think something that they would not otherwise have thought.

[00:13:52]That is only possible if you can interact with the electromagnetic field.

[00:13:58]>> Okay, >> that your brain generates.

[00:14:00]electrochemical, but it's the electrical ones that come out of your head and can be measured.

[00:14:06]>> Okay? You can create a cage with metal that is completely impervious to electromagnetic energy.

[00:14:15]>> It's called a Faraday cage. If if I put you if I put you in this cage >> that's surrounded by metal and put you in a lightning storm.

[00:14:23]>> Yeah.

[00:14:24]>> If you get hit by lightning, it'll go around the cage and you are completely safe inside. So even though they call it a tin foil hat, they really mean aluminum foil hat. And this would count as a Faraday cage on your head. So what I say in there is those aliens would be able to get inside everybody's head except those people who are wearing tinfoil hats.

[00:14:44]>> See, we're protected now, Neil.

[00:14:48]>> From aliens reading the electromagnetic energy of your brain >> if they could.

[00:14:53]>> Yes. Right now in Washington, there's a lot of discussion about the UFO files and uh we're going to beam in President Trump for a moment because he's just spoken about these files at Turning Point USA. And let's see what he said >> to begin releasing government files relating to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena.

[00:15:14]So, I'm pleased to report today. I thought I'd save it for this crowd cuz you're a little bit out there, you know, a little bit that this process is well underway and we found many very interesting documents, I must say, and the first releases will begin very very soon.

[00:15:32]>> Many very interesting documents coming out very very soon. Um, have have you been uh constantly refreshing alien.gov, which is a real website, Neil, to find out about the phenomena I'm not authorized to say what I know about them.

[00:15:50]>> All right. So, so I have a couple of questions.

[00:15:55]>> Okay.

[00:15:55]>> All right. Many people who are sure the government is masterminding a cover up.

[00:16:00]>> Yeah.

[00:16:01]>> Okay.

[00:16:03]These are the same people typically who are certain that the government is a oversized bloated bureaucient bureaucracy. Mhm.

[00:16:13]>> I don't see how both can be the true at the same time.

[00:16:17]>> Omnipotent, incompetent all at once.

[00:16:18]>> Yeah, I I don't see how they're true.

[00:16:20]But plus, it would be odd if the aliens only visited government facilities.

[00:16:26]>> Yes, they like they like areas.

[00:16:28]>> I'm just asking. Is that a fair I'm just asking.

[00:16:31]>> Neil, have you ever been to the DMV?

[00:16:33]It's very exciting. You would you wouldn't want to go. Okay. So, I want to ask you this, but >> So, here's the thing. People think >> Yes. that people think, >> yes, tell us >> that there's some big government cover up. How could there be a cover up when in 2023, 2024, and 2025, there's a parade of people in Congress >> from they were insiders giving firhand knowledge of alien crashed hardware and aliens themselves. If they're all government officials and all saying this in Congress, then it's not a cover up anymore. I I see that. So, so, so what is the cover up you're looking for when they're saying it's real? And I thought that was when they pulled out all the documents, but apparently there's more.

[00:17:19]>> There's more >> that will be strategically announced when he needs it in the news cycle.

[00:17:25]>> There's another kind of files they're putting away. So, here's the thing, Neil.

[00:17:30]>> But when say that these files come out, would you look at them and what would you control F? What's the Neil deGrasse Tyson control F on alien.gov? of as and when they come out the keyword >> is control F the find.

[00:17:42]>> Yes >> feature. Okay on a Mac it's command F.

[00:17:46]>> Yeah. Command F.

[00:17:47]>> Yeah. Oh. So I'd be delighted to learn what's in the documents. I don't know that they would say much different from what people already said is in them.

[00:17:55]That they found crash saucers and they got aliens in a locked box in the back or locked cabin, >> a locked shed. And that, you know, I I'm I'd be surprised if it was different from that, but what I really want is for them to bring forth the alien, that real alien body. But you wouldn't look for any words. There's no key words that you would What would you I mean, if you got that, would you just read it from head to my find what to find? No, no, I don't. No. If you do a command F, you are presuming you know what word you should look for >> rather than let the document be what it needs to be >> for you to understand it. Okay.

[00:18:33]>> I will not prejudge a document by searching within it. By the way, AI will do that.

[00:18:39]>> Yes, >> it will. We're going to get to AI.

[00:18:42]>> Okay, fine.

[00:18:42]>> In a moment. But first, we're going to first we're going to see because the reason this whole UFO files conversation has come about recently is because of a viral clip. Another clip uh featuring President Obama.

[00:18:54]>> Are aliens real?

[00:18:56]>> Uh they're real, but I haven't seen them. And and and uh they're not being kept in uh what is it? Area 51.

[00:19:03]>> Area 51. There there's no underground uh facility unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they they hid it from the president of the United States.

[00:19:14]>> So Neil, >> yeah, of course, if it's a real conspiracy, why would a president say we actually have them? He'd be the No, no.

[00:19:21]The president say that's a funny comment because if he's part of the conspiracy, that's exactly what he would say.

[00:19:30]>> Yes. But but Neil Neil, are you part of the government conspiracy to keep this from President Obama and other presidents?

[00:19:39]>> I'm not authorized to No. Okay.

[00:19:42]Obviously, if it's a government conspiracy, the president is in on it.

[00:19:46]You know, alien, but he said aliens in the universe. Yes.

[00:19:48]>> As anyone who studied the problem would say, and he's an educated man, so he knows what one would say in that situation. the clip. I It just was >> But everyone took that and said that means they're actually aliens in the lock box. But then he then denies it.

[00:20:03]>> Did But then he had to walk it back.

[00:20:05]President Obama had to walk it back. Did he call you during this time? Did you speak to President Obama?

[00:20:10]>> Uh not during then, but while he was president, we had some conversations.

[00:20:13]>> But not during this alien walk back situation.

[00:20:16]>> No, not since then.

[00:20:17]>> Not since then. Okay. Okay. Do you think it says more about >> Don't you want to know what we talked about WHILE WE WERE TOGETHER?

[00:20:23]>> NO, BECAUSE IT'S so long ago. You just moved on.

[00:20:26]>> I don't know.

[00:20:27]>> Too late. Not bad.

[00:20:29]Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did But did you talk about aliens is my question >> briefly? But nothing substantive.

[00:20:35]>> What did you talk about that was substantive?

[00:20:37]>> Oh, a lot of things. Just the state of the world. I had dinner with him.

[00:20:40]>> You met him at Roswell and then you guys >> Yeah. No, no, we did not meet at Roswell.

[00:20:44]>> Okay, you're correct that.

[00:20:46]>> No.

[00:20:46]>> Um, >> and they mentioned Area 51.

[00:20:48]>> They mentioned Area 51. And if we did stockpile aliens, that's where we would put them >> because >> well cuz it's top secret facility with or without aliens. It's top secret air force facility >> in New Mexico. What I But I just still have these other questions.

[00:21:07]>> Yeah.

[00:21:08]>> Like why hasn't the janitor snuck out a photo of the alien?

[00:21:13]>> Yes.

[00:21:14]Because the janitor would lose his job that day, but he would be the most famous, richest janitor there ever was.

[00:21:23]>> His stuff, that video would go viral faster than kitten videos.

[00:21:29]>> There's a lot of questions out there right now from the tinfoil hatwearers.

[00:21:32]>> Okay, that's that I don't have any problems with any of their questions.

[00:21:36]I'm perfectly happy to believe that there are aliens in the back room.

[00:21:43]>> But if you want to turn my sentence from believe to know, >> yeah, >> you got to bring out the aliens. Is that too much to ask?

[00:21:51]>> No, >> I don't think so.

[00:21:53]>> Not.

[00:21:54]>> Okay.

[00:21:54]>> Did you read this piece in the journal last summer where they >> certainly not the journal? You mean the Wall Street Journal?

[00:21:59]>> The Wall Street Journal.

[00:22:00]>> No.

[00:22:00]>> Okay. Certainly not. Oh, okay. Well, I don't read the Wall Street Journal. I'm sorry.

[00:22:06]>> No, there was a there was a story about >> That's how I know. That's how I could answer that in advance. Okay.

[00:22:10]>> There was a story about how Area 51 there was they actually created uh misinformation about aliens. They sent somebody out to put saucers up in a cafe near Area 51 to distract people from a stealth ship that they were building against Russia. Did you see that?

[00:22:24]>> I I I can believe that. Yeah, sure.

[00:22:26]There was another thing where >> if everyone thinks there are aliens coming, >> more people will look up and report what they see.

[00:22:35]>> Yes.

[00:22:35]>> And it was the Cold War. So if Russia was testing some new kind of thing, you'd want as much data as you can because the population of the country functionally crowdsources what is happening in the sky. Yeah, >> we see the sky more thoroughly than specialized places in the military that are looking up in their location. Now, we have satellites, of course, that can do this. I'm just saying that if you say there might be aliens, keep looking up, and then everybody looks up all the time, giving excellent data back to the military, which is exactly what they want.

[00:23:11]>> We'll come back to all this, but I want to really get to the etiquette part, the etiquette part, because we don't want to say if they show up, if they show up, we want to know what to do. And you've said already, don't grab them by the appendage.

[00:23:20]>> But yeah, if there's an appendage sticking out, >> let them sniff your butt.

[00:23:23]>> If they if that's what they want. Yes.

[00:23:24]>> If that's what they want. Okay. Um, and you also write in the book that we should have a kind of it's it's like the opposite of a zombie go bag. You recommend having a prep some a prep kit uh for when the aliens show up because you want to prove we're intelligent. You have two things in there.

[00:23:39]>> Yeah. Cuz I think unlike what you said, I think if we show that we're intelligent, they might then respect us.

[00:23:46]>> Yeah. Whereas, if you just lay down dead or do something stupid, the aliens just say, "Come on." They'll either go back saying there's no intelligent life on Earth or invite all the other aliens to give them another planet to dominate.

[00:24:00]>> Okay. I hope I'm not the emissary.

[00:24:02]>> Or they might turn us into their pets.

[00:24:04]>> Could be nice. We te We treat our pets well as >> we treat our pets really. We spend 10 times as much money on pet accutraments than the government spends on homeless people.

[00:24:17]>> Yes.

[00:24:19]>> Factor of 10.

[00:24:19]>> Factor of 10.

[00:24:20]>> I I the real numbers in here. It's around a factor of 10.

[00:24:22]>> It's a factor of 10. So you talk about carrying around two things. The first is the Pythagorean theorem. Yes.

[00:24:28]>> Or blocks that could help you demonstrate that you know it.

[00:24:31]>> Yes.

[00:24:32]>> And the second is a periodic table of elements.

[00:24:34]>> Yes.

[00:24:35]>> Do you have both of these things right now?

[00:24:37]No.

[00:24:39]>> Is that because you think you're not going to see an alien tonight?

[00:24:41]>> Yeah. Tonight I did not >> prep myself for that possibility.

[00:24:47]>> But >> explain.

[00:24:48]>> Were I to go out alone on the country road? Cuz I've always wanted to be abducted like since childhood.

[00:24:54]>> No, I am >> dead serious about not that I want to leave Earth. I love me some Earth. It's just that I I've been a curious, geeky kid since I was 9 years old. Ever since I could look up, I've wanted to know the universe. Ever since a first visit to the Hayden Planetarium.

[00:25:14]>> Yeah, >> that's where I now serve as director.

[00:25:16]That was the place that turned me on.

[00:25:18]>> And because growing up in the Bronx, >> we don't have access.

[00:25:25]Nowhere in the city does does anyone have a relationship with the night sky.

[00:25:29]>> Yeah.

[00:25:30]>> There were tall buildings and back when I grew up, there was light pollution, air pollution. Mhm.

[00:25:34]>> So, the planetarium was my haven. And I went there and the first time I saw the stars come out. I said, "This is a hoax."

[00:25:42]>> The stars, >> I know how many stars in the night sky, there's eight of them that I saw from the Bronx. So, so I didn't believe it.

[00:25:50]At first, I thought it was a beautiful hoax, but a hoax nonetheless. But since then, I wanted to become one with the universe. And in fact, I dare I say, I think the universe chose me.

[00:26:02]>> Yeah. to follow it >> into the cosmos. So from that day on, so I've been thinking about it ever since.

[00:26:09]So this this book is came out now.

[00:26:10]>> Yeah.

[00:26:11]>> But it's it's lifelong reflections on what I would say, how I would behave, how would I convince even if it langu if it's its language.

[00:26:27]So you want some some symbols. Yes. The Pythagorean theorem. You learn that as math.

[00:26:32]>> Yeah.

[00:26:33]>> But it's really symbols.

[00:26:35]If you draw a square off one side of that triangle, its area is a squ.

[00:26:42]>> Yes.

[00:26:43]>> b 2. C². So if you draw a right triangle and three squares coming off the sides, you're telling the alien, you know that a square plus b² equ= c^² because those are squares.

[00:26:57]>> Yes. And it it gets exciting.

[00:26:59]>> They don't even have to know your symbols.

[00:27:01]>> Yeah.

[00:27:01]>> They don't have to know what A, B, or C is. Two is squared. They don't have to know that.

[00:27:06]>> They have to see.

[00:27:07]>> So the alien likely can see because sight is something that was developed multiple times independently in the tree of life.

[00:27:22]>> Oh.

[00:27:23]>> Independently.

[00:27:24]>> Do mushrooms have eyes?

[00:27:25]>> No.

[00:27:28]Generally things that move want and need eyes, >> okay?

[00:27:33]>> And mushrooms don't.

[00:27:34]>> Okay? So the fly eye, the octopus eye, the echolocation of bats, the the mammal eye, the the vertebrate eye are completely different >> lineages with no common origin in the tree of life. So important is sight that it arose in multiple ways because sight is your sense that allows you to know the farthest of what's happening.

[00:28:00]>> Yeah.

[00:28:01]>> In the in the world to warn you against a predator to see where there might be food. So I'm going to say the aliens can probably see, but they might not see in visible light.

[00:28:12]>> So um okay, this is what we want to show them. We have a periodic table. We got wait. Okay. No, no, no, no.

[00:28:19]>> So, so the periodic table >> don't read us the whole periodic table.

[00:28:22]>> No, no, I'm not. I'm not.

[00:28:24]>> I'm not. Periodic table.

[00:28:26]>> Yes.

[00:28:26]>> Okay. They won't have the symbols we have. Of course, they won't.

[00:28:30]>> Okay. By the way, we have some interesting symbols, by the way.

[00:28:33]>> Okay. We We can't discuss them.

[00:28:38]>> These elements exist on Earth as in the heavens.

[00:28:44]>> Okay. We find them across the universe and across time >> and it's the organization of the table >> that reveals that we know quantum physics >> because that's why some elements are above others. It's not just throw them in a table.

[00:29:00]>> Do you realize in science fiction they always try to find life forms based on what other element?

[00:29:05]>> Hydrogen.

[00:29:07]>> No, we're based on carbon. Give me another one.

[00:29:09]>> Silicon. Real sci-fi fans there. So we heard about silicon other you know why they come up with silicon silicon sits directly below carbon on the periodic table and all elements in a column >> make the same kinds of molecules.

[00:29:24]>> Ah >> so you you thank you for the twilight zone music there. So >> do it in the microphone. So we record it.

[00:29:33]>> Okay. So So every molecule in your body that's based on carbon, swap it with silicon. And so the idea is maybe we can make siliconbased life on the on the blueprint that we already have. This is the creativity of science fiction, right? Point is these elements are across the universe. If they know anything about the elements, they would organize them in the same way. So, we would show a chart >> of boxes and they will know immediately it's a periodic table even if our symbols don't match.

[00:30:06]>> I love it. So, what this is all the stuff that we can use to prove that we're intelligent. What if we wanted to not let them see how dumb we are? So, what would you most social media phenomenon would you most want to hide from the aliens? All of them.

[00:30:18]>> Our belief in manifestation, gender reveal parties, or DJ as a viable career path for a millennial man. Yeah. Each of those would be too complicated for them to I mean unless they're really really smart in our culture.

[00:30:36]>> Yeah.

[00:30:37]>> So So you said gender reveal parties.

[00:30:40]>> Yes.

[00:30:40]>> And what's the what's the >> manifestation?

[00:30:42]>> I don't what does manifestation >> when you can manifest like I just thought of having Neil Degrass Tyson at the comedy seller. Now I'm h it's happening because I thought of it.

[00:30:48]>> Oh but you didn't produce me out of thin air.

[00:30:51]>> But manifestation means like you want it therefore you wanted to win a Oscar therefore you won an Oscar.

[00:30:55]>> Right. So, so what happens is they don't interview all the people that wanted to win an Oscar and didn't.

[00:31:00]>> Yes.

[00:31:04]>> That's what happened.

[00:31:05]>> They need to be in the data set as well.

[00:31:08]>> Okay.

[00:31:08]>> Okay. Well, can I give an example?

[00:31:11]>> Sure.

[00:31:11]>> Okay. So, let's say I get a thousand people. Yeah.

[00:31:13]>> And I give everyone a coin and I say, "Flip the coin. If you have tails, just sit down."

[00:31:18]>> So, so now how many left? Approximately 500. Yeah. Half of them. So, flip a coin. Half sit down. Flip a coin. Half It's 500 sit down, 250, 120, 60, 30, 15, 8, 4, 2, and there's one person standing at the end. Okay. Do you realize in this experiment that last person standing flipped heads 10 consecutive times?

[00:31:48]>> What does the press do? The press goes to that person. They say, "How do you feel about this? Did you know you would win? I felt Head's energy halfway through and I just knew and all kinds of [ __ ] comes out of their mouth that they believe for themselves.

[00:32:05]>> Yeah.

[00:32:06]>> But the other people who felt heads energy who didn't make it to the end are not interviewed by the press.

[00:32:13]>> So you don't get the full hammer of the statistics of the failure of everybody who wanted to flip heads 10 consecutive times. This is this is probability and statistics. And the human mind is woefully inept at thinking statistically about the world. And that saddens me. And it's no one's fault. It's not your fault.

[00:32:36]>> Do you know that?

[00:32:38]>> I probably don't.

[00:32:40]>> Yeah. Tell me >> that arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, uh calculus, >> yes, >> were all invented before the first person thought that it might be a good idea to take an average of numbers.

[00:32:59]>> Probability is the last of the branches of math. And how can that be with all these brilliant thinkers that came before us? There must be something about our brain wiring that is incommensurate with thinking that way.

[00:33:14]And there's an entire industry that exploits that weakness and they're called casinos.

[00:33:19]>> Okay.

[00:33:20]>> Yes.

[00:33:21]>> They they I I'm in a casino. There's someone uh betting on a seven in the roulette table. I say, "Why do you keep betting on seven?" They say, "It's due."

[00:33:31]And I say, "It's not due."

[00:33:34]And and they show the previous roles.

[00:33:36]Yes.

[00:33:37]>> And and there's no seven there. See, it's still >> No, IT'S NOT.

[00:33:42]>> YEAH.

[00:33:43]>> They're exploiting our weakness. Do you know Do you know that the American Physical Society?

[00:33:50]>> I don't.

[00:33:51]>> We are a So, the physicists of the country, we were going to have our annual conference in San Diego. There was a hotel snafu and we had to pivot.

[00:34:00]And the MGM Grand, then the MGM Marina, one of the biggest hotels in the world in Vegas, said, "We'll take you."

[00:34:07]>> Oh god.

[00:34:07]>> Because it's on the spot last minute. So all the physicists went to Vegas.

[00:34:13]>> And what happened >> a week later?

[00:34:15]>> Yeah.

[00:34:15]>> There's a newspaper headline.

[00:34:17]>> Physicists in town, lowest casino take ever.

[00:34:23]The American Physical Society was told to never return to the city.

[00:34:27]>> Oh, that's why. Okay, this >> it's not that we knew the odd, it's we just didn't play. Will you give me one conspiracy theory?

[00:34:36]>> I will later.

[00:34:38]>> Cliffhanger. We'll be right back.

[00:34:41]>> Guys, today's sponsor dumb question is from me. I'm going to take the next minute to tell you a little bit about Smart Girl Dumb Questions and to ask you for your help in continuing to make independent, fact-based, and curious journalism. No, I'm not going to ask you for money. Here's what I need. I would love you to tell 10 of your friends about the show or hundred. I don't know.

[00:34:59]Blast that reunion group that you muted and definitely tell your mom and tell your mom to tell her friends too. Even if you don't like the show and you're just like hate watching it or listening to it, tell your t of your friends to hate watch it, too. Numbers are numbers, people.

[00:35:15]Speaking of Vegas, if you were an alien, where would you first show up? Because Vegas seems like a good place for camouflage.

[00:35:21]>> No. No. So, here's here's where the aliens should not show up.

[00:35:25]>> Okay.

[00:35:25]>> Okay. Or maybe they should. If the alien lands at Comic-Con, >> problem.

[00:35:32]>> They'll go back home saying they're just like us.

[00:35:34]>> Yeah, >> I kind of like Comic-Con people.

[00:35:38]>> Yeah.

[00:35:39]>> The the biggest fight they'll ever get into is like with lightsabers in the cafeteria over whether their costume is more accurate.

[00:35:48]>> Yes.

[00:35:49]>> Okay. You cannot imagine Comic-Con nerds in a geopolitical armed conflict.

[00:35:56]>> Yes.

[00:35:57]That's not how that works.

[00:35:59]>> Okay.

[00:36:00]>> Okay.

[00:36:00]>> What about New Jersey? There were all these ilia there were all these sightings. People said >> there was I was interviewed on CNN when that happened because they they there were these sightings. Uh may maybe some were drones. Maybe some others were airplanes coming in to the two airports.

[00:36:15]Um >> the Newark airport and >> Teter Bar.

[00:36:21]>> Yes.

[00:36:21]>> There's a rich person who knows Teter Bar.

[00:36:24]>> Get a ride with that person on the way.

[00:36:26]You didn't even pause.

[00:36:28]>> Teter.

[00:36:29]>> What is the name? Oh, Teter. I think it's Peter Barrow. Yeah.

[00:36:33]>> That's where private jets land.

[00:36:35]>> Yes. Only take off.

[00:36:38]>> Oh, and take off. Yes. Thank you.

[00:36:40]>> So, and some might have been drones, but there was some that were not explained.

[00:36:45]>> Okay.

[00:36:45]>> And so, they asked lawmakers to and the Pentagon commented and they said, uh, uh, >> the Pentagon said, "We don't know what they all are, but we know they're safe."

[00:36:54]>> Yeah. Those two phrases do not belong in the same sentence. And I said this on CNN. I said, "It is not comforting for the government, for the for the Pentagon to say, you do not know what they all are, but then you're going to tell me that they're safe."

[00:37:11]>> Yeah.

[00:37:11]>> That does not work with me. Okay.

[00:37:14]>> But what I did tell them Yes. was, you know, I'm a I'm an Earthling, so all I really know are Earthling values, but if I were an alien >> Mhm.

[00:37:28]>> I'm think and I'm visiting Earth.

[00:37:30]>> Yeah.

[00:37:31]>> I'm thinking the first place I visit would not be northern New Jersey. I'm just Yes. No offense to New Jersey people, but of all the places to visit, Tahiti, the Great Pyramids, you know, the Barrier Reef. Yes, >> you're going to go to New Jersey.

[00:37:49]Really? So, soy.

[00:37:52]That's why I found the alien hypothesis incredulous in that example.

[00:37:57]>> So, not Northern New Jersey, not Vegas, maybe Comic- Con. We'll see. Comic-Con.

[00:38:02]I like the title of your book, Neil, Take Me to Your Leader, and I I know we imagine this is what So people take pictures.

[00:38:07]>> Yes. Publisher. Okay. Um Neil, by the way, felt this for the first time backstage.

[00:38:13]>> Yeah. It just came out like Friday, and this is the first book I've been able to touch.

[00:38:17]>> Let's get philosophical for a second.

[00:38:18]>> Love it.

[00:38:19]>> There's some tension in your book, Neil.

[00:38:21]Did you feel the tension? Like you felt the tension in their marriage? Did you feel the tension in your book?

[00:38:26]>> No.

[00:38:26]>> There there's a tension in your book.

[00:38:28]>> I know. I know what the tension is. It's the urge to want to believe all the eyewitnesses juxtaposed with my natural skepticism as a scientist.

[00:38:37]>> Oh, no. It's it's >> Is that not the tension that you felt?

[00:38:40]What is the tension you feel?

[00:38:41]>> The tension I felt is a tension about all of us, not you specifically, but all of us, which is that there's this desire, but I do want to hear about that one. We're going to get to that one.

[00:38:50]There's this desire like we're very self-centered. We think the Earth revolves around us. We think the hottest chick on our planet is Miss Universe, as you point out.

[00:38:57]>> Yeah, it is weird. Did they check Mars?

[00:39:00]You know why? Why? Why? Anything that's Earthwide, we say it's universal. No, it's not. It's Earthwide. Get your language straight.

[00:39:08]>> Totally.

[00:39:08]>> Miss Universe is Miss Earth. Okay.

[00:39:12]>> Way to demote.

[00:39:13]>> Get me started.

[00:39:13]>> Miss Mexico, I believe it is right now.

[00:39:15]Um, and then on the other side, there's also, >> is that right? Miss Mexico is Miss Universe >> right now. Yeah.

[00:39:19]>> But we also have at the same time what you have called the gap of the gods. The >> god of the gaps.

[00:39:26]>> God of the gaps. this desire to like so we want we think we're the center of the universe and at the same time we feel powerless we want to explain things by God by aliens by simulation theory I'm just curious how you think we hold these two irreconcilable truths and what percentage is the right percentage for each of us to have inside of us >> yeah I don't want to prescribe in a free country how people should think about any of this okay >> I help you out giving you some platforms to stand on that has some >> firmness to it but you go back in the day when a storm would ravage the coast and they say, "Oh, Poseidon is angered.

[00:40:02]We must sacrifice something at Poseidon's temple." So, Poseidon explained that and everybody was just fine.

[00:40:09]>> Yeah.

[00:40:10]>> That lightning bolt would strike. Oh, Zeus was angry.

[00:40:13]>> Later on, Jupiter is angry. So, philosophers call this God of the gaps >> where you don't quite understand something in the natural world. You invoke the wrath or the grace of God as an account, >> God of the gaps. What I have noticed in recent years is now if somebody sees something in the sky they can't explain is like alien of the gaps >> except that doesn't have the same resonance. So I changed it to aliens of our ignorance.

[00:40:47]>> There's a light in the sky moving in a way I don't understand. Must be aliens.

[00:40:52]uh there's something I there's a glow in the horizon must be alien >> you don't understand it rather than I have no idea what I'm looking at and then just move on with your life so we require of our scientists generally not so >> but everybody else requires that every question have an answer yes >> that they can go home with >> and but as a scientist you must learn to love the questions themselves >> lest your bias influence the answer that you derive just to make you happy to go home with an answer rather than to be steeped in the ignorance that we actually cherish. I cherish ignorance.

[00:41:33]Ignorance is not a bad word. It's a place I have yet to tread.

[00:41:37]>> Yes.

[00:41:37]>> And and not only that >> as the area of our knowledge grows >> Yeah.

[00:41:46]>> so too does the perimeter of our ignorance.

[00:41:49]>> I love that.

[00:41:51]So, I don't see any ending here >> between what we discover and where we might ultimately land.

[00:41:59]>> You have wanted to be abducted >> all the time, >> but it hasn't happened for you. I'm sorry.

[00:42:04]>> It hasn't. There's even there's even a book written by a UFO expert called How to Avoid Being Abducted by Aliens. And I violated every suggestion in that book.

[00:42:16]You You know what? And Neil, they say that if you're like a single woman dating in New York, they say like it will happen for you when you least think about it.

[00:42:23]>> So maybe tonight.

[00:42:24]>> Wait, what will happen? You'll meet you'll meet the man. You'll meet the alien. You'll meet the alien.

[00:42:27]>> You said that right after we talk about aliens, right?

[00:42:29]>> That's true.

[00:42:30]>> Hey, they could have a Captain Kirk proclivity. I'm not judging Peter B over there. Um but have you ever We've seen all this evidence. Not evidence. Sorry.

[00:42:38]I want to I want to correct myself. I saw you get there testimony.

[00:42:40]>> There's testimony.

[00:42:41]>> No end of testimony.

[00:42:42]>> Yeah. And some of that testimony comes from like you know a commander David Fvore who spent 18 years up there the skies flying around US Air Force David Grouch testifying before Congress. Did you >> at any point did you feel tempted, interested, intrigued or were you skeptical throughout? I'm curious when you're watching that happen what is happening to you that testimony. Are you watching the testimony?

[00:43:05]>> Yeah, some most of it. Yeah, I've watched a lot of it. So what what is happening inside of you when cuz I imagine you like on a blackboard proving that it's not true what they say.

[00:43:14]>> No, no, no. I'm not here to say that people's testimonies are false.

[00:43:19]>> I'm here to say this is intriguing.

[00:43:21]Let's investigate it further. But until you fork up the alien, it's just a matter of whether we believe you or not.

[00:43:30]>> Ah, >> if they for It's like, do you believe in elephants? Well, if you've never seen an elephant, you'd have to line up all the people testifying. You know, they have a big rubbery hose coming out the the front and they breathe through it. They eat through it. They pick stuff up with it. Then they have this ivory things sticking out these two teeth that sticking out. They got big big ears and big old tree trunks for legs. You say, "This person is crazy." Plum crazy.

[00:43:59]>> Okay.

[00:44:00]>> You got to believe me.

[00:44:02]>> And then So that's a 2-hour documentary.

[00:44:04]Yeah.

[00:44:04]>> Lining people up, testifying >> the age of disclosure.

[00:44:09]>> They're testifying >> that their witness to elephants.

[00:44:14]>> Did you?

[00:44:14]>> Whereas if they brought out the elephant in the first five minutes, it's a 10-minute documentary.

[00:44:23]Five minutes to bring out the elephant and five minutes for the rolling credits.

[00:44:28]>> I did. What I really like about this book is it's also like cultural criticism about Hollywood. Do you ever did you watch Age of Disclosure? Did you watch it from like start to finish that movie?

[00:44:36]>> I watched every moment of it. Yes. Okay.

[00:44:38]And it's a parade of highly convincing, highly decorated, highly uh and people giving calm testimony >> of all the things that people talk about. The tic tac incident, the hellfire, >> the tik tok uh >> the tic tac.

[00:44:53]>> The tic tac. It was like this fuzzy tic tac in the monochromatic screen of Navy pilots that they could not explain or track. And I just thought, you know, we all have a smartphone that can take high resolution color images.

[00:45:10]>> So why is our best image of an alien a monochromatic tic >> tac in a navy screen? So it would mean the aliens went to restricted naval airspace. Oh, here's what. Maybe the aliens are actually fuzzy.

[00:45:26]>> That could be. They could have a lot of hair and be very fuzzy.

[00:45:28]>> We've got to allow that possibility here.

[00:45:31]>> Is there any one that you found more convincing than the others?

[00:45:34]>> I found they were all convincing. One of them said he encountered an alien and the alien had some infrared ray and that he was harmed by it and had to get medical attention.

[00:45:44]>> So, I I don't have a problem with any of their testimonies.

[00:45:48]>> Yeah. You asked me for a conspiracy theory. There is one 11 scientists they they say have gone missing or disappeared dead in the last uh 2022 to 2026 era. Okay. And this is >> so so the >> here's another one.

[00:46:01]>> People are worried.

[00:46:02]>> So the absence of evidence is not the same thing as the evidence of absence.

[00:46:08]>> H but if everything is >> so someone goes missing.

[00:46:14]>> Yeah.

[00:46:15]>> Have you do you have their body? That would be evidence of absence.

[00:46:19]>> Yes. But otherwise, you have an absence of evidence. If they're just missing, maybe they're in the Bahamas. I mean, I don't know.

[00:46:26]>> Yeah.

[00:46:27]>> Or or maybe the aliens took them.

[00:46:29]>> In in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, we had all these stories about uh military pilots disappearing. Yeah.

[00:46:36]>> And the aliens apparently aliens had them >> and they brought them back and they got re repatriated or whatever the word is back to American soil.

[00:46:45]>> Okay. So, I like the title, Take Me to Your Leader. I I I like that. I think this is what we think they would say to us. But also, I have seen the film Love Actually. Have you seen the film Love Actually? Scoop. Here's the scoop on the story.

[00:46:57]>> A British guy comes to America. He has a lot to do in America. He doesn't say, "Take me to your leader."

[00:47:03]>> He comes and he hangs out in a hot tub with hot American chicks. So, why do you think an alien would want to see our leader explore? No, he's just a person in that movie.

[00:47:14]>> Oh, okay.

[00:47:14]>> Now, you wanted to see the movie cuz he thought it was nerdy.

[00:47:16]>> Okay. So would >> So you're asking would the alien want to go into a hot tub with hot women?

[00:47:22]>> Yeah.

[00:47:22]>> I mean they might meet our leaders there actually these days.

[00:47:27]>> That that by the way is a >> Did you see what she did there?

[00:47:32]>> That's a nonpartisan joke because we now know that hot tubs are an equal opportunity employer.

[00:47:41]>> But but you really think they would want to go to our leader?

[00:47:44]>> No. I think they want to go to the person in charge whether or not it's our leader.

[00:47:52]>> Yeah. You >> and their judgment they will see our radio waves passing through space. Our cultural emissaries are early TV shows >> whose radio waves have escaped Earth and are now like 70 80 light years away.

[00:48:05]>> Yeah.

[00:48:06]>> So some of the early ones are are the Howdy Duty radio show. Mh.

[00:48:13]>> Another one might be the honeymooners.

[00:48:15]You'll learn how men and women treat each other.

[00:48:18]>> Mhm.

[00:48:19]>> They'll see Ralph Craden SAY TO THE MOON, ALICE gesturing with his fist.

[00:48:26]People used to laugh at that back then.

[00:48:28]>> Where where's that from?

[00:48:30]>> What planet are you from?

[00:48:32]>> I don't know that. I I grew up in Indonesia. The last time uh Neil taught me about Rick and Morty. So, I'm I'm getting my fill. My fill.

[00:48:39]>> Oh, I visited Indonesia for the first time recently. I did.

[00:48:42]>> Oh, I know what you thought.

[00:48:43]>> I went to Bali.

[00:48:44]>> Very nice. Very nice. We like to >> Bali. Did you fly from Teeter Bro, NEIL?

[00:48:51]>> NO.

[00:48:52]>> OKAY. SO, tell us.

[00:48:53]>> So, so, so would the alien want to go to a hot tub? Yes. Or to our leader? And so, all I'm saying is that in these waves of radio, >> they would see people who we thought were important in an interesting sequence. They'll see like Clark Gable that everyone was talking about in the 1930s and 40s. Then they'll see like Marilyn Monroe.

[00:49:15]>> They'll see people who are cultural icons. Why wouldn't they assume that those are our leaders? There's way more content of them in this in these escape radio waves than any elected official or any king or queen. Mh.

[00:49:29]>> And so you just follow this in right on up to Taylor Swift today or even or even ath athletes like Michael Jordan or or you know so I'm thinking if they come and they ask take me to your leader they might be expecting us to take it to one of them.

[00:49:47]>> I just want to keep that open.

[00:49:48]>> You know where I'm taking it?

[00:49:50]>> Where?

[00:49:50]>> To you.

[00:49:51]>> Oh yes. Definitely.

[00:49:52]>> I'm definitely calling you. We got we got bring him to >> call me.

[00:49:57]>> Call me now. Now, as whether they'd want to go in the hot tub. So, here's the thing.

[00:50:02]>> Oh, no.

[00:50:03]>> You remember Captain Kirk? Well, you're from Indonesia. Do you remember Captain Kirk?

[00:50:08]>> I know Captain Kirk, >> but do you know his habits? His galactic habits. Okay.

[00:50:13]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:50:13]>> They go to some planet.

[00:50:15]>> He love They love him some aliens. man that she'd be like blue or green very shapely.

[00:50:25]>> Yeah.

[00:50:26]>> And he would kiss them. He would kiss them and they say, "What is kiss?" Oh, that's an earth emotion where they And then the camera would drift away and you wouldn't see them for the next scene.

[00:50:36]>> So my man is getting alien booty across the galaxy.

[00:50:41]>> Woohoo.

[00:50:42]>> Okay. Now, here's an interesting fact.

[00:50:45]>> Please.

[00:50:48]The very first kiss between a black person and a white person was with Lieutenant Uhura and Captain Kirk in a single episode of Star Trek. She is brownskinned and 100% human and the show got hate mail from southern states.

[00:51:12]>> They they cared more about it being a black woman than a blue woman or a green woman.

[00:51:15]>> Oh, that was fine.

[00:51:16]That was fine.

[00:51:17]>> Fine. An actual woman with dark. So, what I'm saying is if the aliens come to us >> Yes.

[00:51:24]>> maybe they don't care who they jump in the hot pot tub with.

[00:51:27]>> Yeah.

[00:51:28]>> Just the way Kirk didn't go the other way. That's what I'm saying, right?

[00:51:32]>> Yeah. Another thing where we take our humanoid self-entricism and implanted onto robots. We don't think robots should be squares or whatever. We make them look like us.

[00:51:42]That's odd that we make robots that look like us because there's nothing enviable about the human form.

[00:51:49]>> Speak for yourself now.

[00:51:52]>> No, no, no, no, no. I'll show you. No, no. So, if I want a robot that will drive my car, >> I'll just make the car the robot.

[00:52:02]>> Yeah.

[00:52:02]>> So, so people talk about a robot doing No, I'll get a robot that is specific to my task and it'll do it perfectly and brilliantly. I don't need something that has arms and legs and feet. But who says five fingers is the best? Maybe eight.

[00:52:17]Maybe, you know, an octopus.

[00:52:19]Here's what you should fear.

[00:52:24]An octopus captures you from Earth and imprisons you in a room that has a door with three doorork knobs.

[00:52:35]>> [ __ ] >> No lock required. Yeah, >> you you're done. You cannot open that door.

[00:52:45]>> Okay.

[00:52:46]>> Yeah. Yeah. I you know your two knees.

[00:52:49]Yeah. So So >> poseable toes >> our >> Yeah.

[00:52:53]>> Conf. Yeah. But you'd have to like >> do and then open. WHY DO YOU DO NO. SO but whereas an octopus can just do it like that. So you take our bodies as though it's something special. Yeah.

[00:53:05]>> But it's not.

[00:53:06]>> Okay.

[00:53:07]>> At all.

[00:53:08]>> I'm going to have two AI questions for you. Then we're going to open it up.

[00:53:11]Could we ever become alien ourselves by putting so much silicon inside of ourselves? I say this because we are at a point.

[00:53:18]>> What part of your anatomy are you putting the silicone?

[00:53:20]>> Any orifice? No, I'm kidding. So, uh, the but but honestly, we're on the precipice of AI. We're talking about neural link. We're talking about cyborg human. Is it possible that we will become alien to ourselves? As you write, alien to us, one of your chapters, through the amount of technology that we're allowing and imbuing into ourselves. So it wouldn't even have to be technology. We if we master the genome, >> we can just splice stuff into us that the human species had never had before.

[00:53:47]In here, I talk about what might be possible. What what are the ways of being alive in the universe? Earth has an excellent sampling of this. 90s something% of all species on Earth that have ever lived are now extinct because they didn't make it through some transition in the ecosphere.

[00:54:08]>> Yeah.

[00:54:09]>> So, there's a place called it's in Canada called the what's it called? The um the what?

[00:54:16]>> Shale.

[00:54:16]>> Thank you. The Burgess Shale. We got a nerd in the back row.

[00:54:22]So there's a place called the Burgess Shale that has extinct microscopic or tiny life forms >> that would not have otherwise been preserved as fossils were not for the very special geological conditions >> where they all were dead. And you can just the life forms with all manner of appendages and eyeballs and places and and and you look at that say, "Wow, this is a template for life >> to imagine ways of being alive." And so if you if you need to do that, check it out. And if you're going to create the next alien in the next Alien movie, Yeah.

[00:55:02]>> you should look at that first or >> or look at all the aliens in Rick and Morty.

[00:55:07]>> Yes. Wait, I got to interrupt you though because you said next alien movie.

[00:55:13]>> I don't know Neil if you know that you are the star of a movie trailer that has gone viral on the internet these days.

[00:55:18]Are you aware?

[00:55:19]>> This is not that movie trail made completely by AI.

[00:55:22]>> Yes, this is it.

[00:55:23]>> Okay. So, >> if that's the one I'm thinking, it has is made without my permission, without my consent, without my knowledge. My phone >> blew up like 12 hours after this posted.

[00:55:36]Neil, did you know? Have you seen this?

[00:55:38]And then I saw it and I found it disturbing I got disturbingly entertaining.

[00:55:50]>> All right.

[00:55:51]>> It's called Stay Calm.

[00:55:52]>> It's It's a trailer for a non-existent movie and it's called Pie Hard.

[00:55:58]>> Yes.

[00:55:59]>> Not to be confused with Pie Hard with a Vengeance. Let's play it.

[00:56:05]What if I told you the laws of physics were literally being destroyed?

[00:56:11]>> I'd say you were going crazy.

[00:56:15]>> Maybe I am crazy.

[00:56:20]>> This was supposed to be our timeline and somehow we ended up over here. This isn't a glitch. Let it go. I'm going to need someone who isn't afraid of risk.

[00:56:31]Listen to me very carefully. I'm going to get you out.

[00:56:39]>> So, scientists are now saying that there are a series of baffling incidents that appear to defy the known laws of physics.

[00:56:46]The math doesn't add up anymore, which means someone something is changing the matter.

[00:56:56]>> It's like they built a back door into the universe.

[00:56:58]>> Uh-oh.

[00:57:08]Hello Neil.

[00:57:13]Time to divide everything by zero. Haha.

[00:57:18]>> You were going to die.

[00:57:19]>> Let me think, mother.

[00:57:25]>> Oh [ __ ] >> Stop them.

[00:57:29]They're getting away.

[00:57:31]>> To be honest, this whole theory sounds pretty out there.

[00:57:35]>> You really shouldn't have called me Neil.

[00:57:40]>> You don't understand. He's collapsing the goddamn multiverse.

[00:57:45]>> I'm not going back. Neil, >> send in the [ __ ] drones.

[00:57:52]>> So, it was all a big fat lie.

[00:57:54]>> I thought I told you to shut him down.

[00:58:04]It's not what you think.

[00:58:16]>> Ouch.

[00:58:31]Is that not completely off the chains?

[00:58:36]>> It had >> It didn't leave any trope unturned.

[00:58:41]>> Yes. It's got an alien, a black hole, a wormhole. And I didn't know initially until it was explained to me what I was doing in the sauna with >> Oh, that's the co vaccine.

[00:58:53]>> That's the co the vaccine.

[00:58:54]>> Not the vaccine. No, those are the the chips. The microchips.

[00:58:58]>> Oh, the microchips that he's injecting into.

[00:59:00]>> No, no, but that was what they the conspiracy theory was that this the vaccines contain the microchips. So, uh, was there can you find this is like a spot the difference or like a can you find one truism in that whole trailer?

[00:59:12]One thing that would hold true according to the laws of physics or Neil deGrasse Tyson.

[00:59:17]>> I think the whole point is that nothing.

[00:59:22]>> Yeah, it was. So, what I noticed, you know, cuz if I'm represented, I'm a little more sensitive to how I'm represented. Yes. I'm taller than the person representing me in that.

[00:59:33]>> Very much.

[00:59:33]>> Yeah. Because I have, you know, a little middle-aged man belly, but the way >> Stand up, Neil, so people see >> tall.

[00:59:41]Oh, yeah. No, I'm >> And this is me without heels. See, that's okay.

[00:59:44]>> Gives you a sense.

[00:59:45]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:59:46]>> He's tall. He's a tall man. He's tall.

[00:59:47]>> So So Oh, can I show you something? Yeah.

[00:59:52]Real quick.

[00:59:52]>> Yeah.

[00:59:53]>> This is We're dance just a little bit.

[00:59:54]>> Bill Nye gave me a dance lesson.

[00:59:57]>> Ballroom dance lesson. Let's see.

[00:59:58]>> So you didn't ask me to give you a ballroom dancing?

[01:00:01]>> No. I I was on a competitive ballroom dance.

[01:00:03]>> I Bill and I did it after Wait, but I didn't learn a lot. He taught me the shoulder, the thing. Okay. So, what are we doing? The physics.

[01:00:10]>> Okay. Oh, so take your shoes off.

[01:00:12]>> Okay.

[01:00:13]>> I did this with Diplo.

[01:00:15]>> Okay.

[01:00:16]>> Yeah.

[01:00:16]>> Okay. Stand next to me.

[01:00:17]>> Yes.

[01:00:18]>> Okay. Do we see this height difference?

[01:00:20]>> Okay. Okay. So, now sit down in a chair.

[01:00:24]>> Yeah.

[01:00:28]>> Same.

[01:00:29]>> It's the equalizer. Most of people's height is in their legs.

[01:00:34]>> That's why chairs in a car, the driver's seat moves a lot forward and back and very little up and down. It just doesn't have to. Okay. So, my point is >> Yes. Tell us more.

[01:00:46]>> The way I was running like a chubby little kid in this.

[01:00:50]>> Mhm.

[01:00:50]>> It was like waddling as I ran.

[01:00:53]>> Well, you had that flip.

[01:00:55]>> That was still a kind of a clumsy flip.

[01:00:56]I can flip way better than that. So, it was good. It was a good maneuver. Yeah.

[01:01:01]>> But I'm just saying that was a chubby short meal.

[01:01:06]>> Yeah.

[01:01:06]>> And at with my little a middle-aged man belly at my height, I would still look a little more graceful than what was shown is what is all I'm saying.

[01:01:15]>> Yes, I think you would. Yeah.

[01:01:17]>> Would you want to make that movie if approached to make Pie Hard >> with that particular give permission to the AI to create me for it? Is that what you're asking?

[01:01:27]>> No. If you were offered a role in a Hollywood film with this kind of premise where you would bond with Sam Begman Freed against Elizabeth Holmes >> after I bust him out of jail >> with my Neil's ice cream truck. Did you see it was an ice cream truck?

[01:01:42]>> Yeah.

[01:01:42]>> Um >> you're rich in that trailer.

[01:01:44]>> So I don't have Hollywood ambitions.

[01:01:47]Okay.

[01:01:47]>> Although I have a cameo in six Hollywood featurelength movies.

[01:01:54]>> Give me a high four now. Woo.

[01:01:59]>> So, but I have a very low bar for what I'll agree to.

[01:02:02]>> Very low bar.

[01:02:03]>> I can tell because you're here for Smart Girl Dumb Questions. That's a caller.

[01:02:07]>> No. So, I have a cameo in Shark NATO 6.

[01:02:12]>> I don't even think Mark Cuban went on Shark NATO 6. Hearly one.

[01:02:16]>> And I have a I have a cameo in Ice Age 5.

[01:02:21]You probably didn't know that there were four others of those. No.

[01:02:24]>> And so, >> is that a cartoon? No. No.

[01:02:27]>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. So, I'm an animated character in that.

[01:02:31]>> I don't know if that counts, Neil, but keep going.

[01:02:34]>> Well, except it counts because I'm the only animated character drawn to look like the person voicing it.

[01:02:42]>> So, it has a little astronomy vest.

[01:02:44]>> Okay.

[01:02:47]>> And it's got my hairline and a mustache.

[01:02:51]Oh, >> so it's the only whereas none of the other characters look like their voices.

[01:02:55]>> So So I'm kind of in it. But point it my point is both of those franchises ended with that number.

[01:03:01]>> Oh, >> you're you think this is going to be my last episode of Smart Girl Dumb Question?

[01:03:05]>> Okay.

[01:03:06]>> I hope not. Should I go back to where I was?

[01:03:07]>> No. No. No. I like I I could be wherever I'm um Okay. Now we have some time for audience questions.

[01:03:12]>> Oh, I love that. We'll get back over there for what's great. Who wants to go first? Melissa, take us in. Take us to someone. Uh yeah, thank you. I need that. Very important. Um, oh, feel better. Um, I'm a skeptic. I feel that if there were aliens of the universe, they would have certainly visited by now. And I think maybe it's a homo sapien narcissism, but we must be the only ones out there because where the heck are they? Can you explain why they aren't walking among us if they're a necessary part of the cosmos?

[01:03:44]>> Well, we're not walking among them.

[01:03:46]>> Mhm. So maybe they have the same space travel challenges that we do.

[01:03:51]>> Okay.

[01:03:52]>> Why put the onus on them to visit us when you should ask why haven't we visited them?

[01:04:02]>> Will the day arrive where we we become the aliens to other species >> and become the stuff of their legends?

[01:04:11]So yeah, it could be that aliens are everywhere in the universe, but no one knows how to travel through the depths of space.

[01:04:20]>> That could be it. Or perhaps the most terrifying possibility is that we are alone in the universe.

[01:04:30]>> The real question is if aliens have arrived, how you know why aren't there any good photos of them? You know, >> do you realize a million people are airborne at any given moment?

[01:04:42]>> Yeah, we just open up the window.

[01:04:43]>> Open the window. Well, don't open the window.

[01:04:46]>> Just shade. The window's shade.

[01:04:47]>> The window shade. Thank you.

[01:04:48]>> And if there's a mother ship or there's an alien invasion, we would know.

[01:04:53]>> But here's what worries me.

[01:04:55]>> You know, the evil alien trope, which I talk about, >> is is deeply with us, you know, from, you know, Independence Day. evil aliens and what's that other that campy movie of Mars Attack. Mars Attack.

[01:05:08]>> Yes, >> they're evil. They don't even want to talk. They're just evil. And then I thought about it and I said, >> "We are supposing that aliens we've never met would want to harm us with their higher technology." M >> but maybe instead it's not based on what we suppose aliens would have >> but on what we know >> we do to one another. Oh, >> in the history of civilization, >> we've had a spe we've had branches of our species with higher technology encounter other br other that have lower technology and it has never boated well for the lower technology part of us. And so maybe these alien scenarios >> driven by Hollywood are simply mirrors to our darkest conduct. Oof. Okay, >> that's a a segue.

[01:06:08]>> Okay, next question. We have one right here. This is actually a former guest of uh Smart Girl Questions, and he's actually underage to be at the Comedy Seller tonight. Saboro Bari is 13 years old. He is a sophomore at NYU. He went from third grade to being in his penultimate year at university cuz he might graduate early.

[01:06:27]>> Wait, I have a question. Wait, so are you 13 or 14?

[01:06:29]>> Uh, yeah, I turned 14 like two weeks ago. You turned 14 two weeks I paid attention to that and you didn't.

[01:06:35]>> Okay.

[01:06:35]>> He you celebrate his birthday. He was on my show when he was 13.

[01:06:38]>> That's okay. But right now he's 14.

[01:06:40]That's all I'm saying.

[01:06:41]>> Okay. Okay. So Barno, >> so did you tie your own bow tie?

[01:06:44]>> No.

[01:06:45]>> Oh, well actually >> you're in college at age 14. The least you could do is know how to tie. I'm going to tell Bill Nye on you.

[01:06:52]>> Okay.

[01:06:53]>> Okay. I'm sorry.

[01:06:55]>> So So you got a question. Oh, if you've ever seen like the video game HalfLife, uh right there, like the main plot is some secret government scientists accidentally or open a portal to another multiverse and some evil aliens come out and you know the scientists are obviously interested just like you and asking them questions first, but uh you know the aliens do not care. Uh the Combine, which are what the aliens are called, just immediately merck them.

[01:07:20]They kill them all and then they take >> Yeah, that's what we did to each other.

[01:07:23]Yeah. Go on. Yeah. They take out the rest of the world's governments in seven hours and enslave everyone who's left.

[01:07:29]>> That sounds like a very short video game.

[01:07:32]>> Well, no, because you play as someone who tries to like infiltrate the alien city and save everyone. So, here's the thing. So, I read your book, Take Me to Your Leader, and I try to do the same thing when I see a flying saucer come out of the sky. And so I pull out my Pythagorean blocks and they take out their quantum rail gun and shoot a 2 centimeter holes for each grade. I sacrifice myself for you, Neil. Now what do we do?

[01:07:58]>> Okay, so >> this is like nerd on nerd action.

[01:08:05]>> Drop that mic, Saborno 14.

[01:08:08]>> Okay. Uh, I think there's a good chance based on no evidence, but I think there's a good chance the aliens will not behave the way Americans would. Remember what happened to Marty when he landed in Farmer Peabody's barn? What's the first thing the farmer did?

[01:08:33]>> Shoot him. Because it's America, you shoot. And then if you survive then you can ask questions. That behavior, let me shoot you first, is very human.

[01:08:46]Why should we presume it would be as alien as it is human?

[01:08:51]>> So I I'm So that's a b if he puts a rail gun through your head, you're just first.

[01:09:01]Okay.

[01:09:02]They're not going to be the only one.

[01:09:04]You're not gonna be the only human they do that to. They'll do it to everybody else and we're hosed regardless. So, so your best chances, I think, are to make the best impression on the alien or pretend like you can be its pet. You want to be useful to them like AI. You want to make sure AI doesn't decide that you are not only useless to Earth, but dangerous to it. And AI decides that it should exterminate us all.

[01:09:31]>> Yes. Okay. One, we have time for one more question. Um, I absolutely loved the movie Project Hail Mary. I wonder what you thought of it and specifically do you think that if we were in that same situation, would the world come together as it did in that situation where we were able to fight back and so on uh or not? And then my question for Naima is what's next for smart girl dumb questions.

[01:09:57]>> Oh, thank you.

[01:09:59]>> Okay. Okay.

[01:10:01]>> You go first now.

[01:10:02]>> Okay. So, I I happen to be friends with with Andy Weir, and uh he he handed me the second highest compliment I ever got, which is when he was writing The Martian. He was cuz he's a software engineer turned novelist. He wanted to sort of play Lucy Goosey on some physics. He said, "I better not because what would Neil say if he was looking over my shoulder?"

[01:10:28]And so I thought I took that as a very high compliment that he didn't want me tweeting about his errors later on. It took me about 20 minutes to shed the identity of Ken with Ryan Gosling cuz he was such a convincing Ken.

[01:10:46]>> Oh my god.

[01:10:47]>> I had to un I had to peel that onion to get to Dr. Grace. Um, for me it was like a buddy movie between a human and an alien. So I would have preferred more focus on those issues rather than on the building of their relationship >> cuz I once I established that they have a relationship I don't need to continue to see that. So what Andy Weir did was blow open the Hollywood trope >> of the alien with the two eyes, neck, shoulders, mouth, ears, nose and made a completely different alien.

[01:11:24]as Hollywood should be doing if they want to have any sense of imagination and creativity in that space. So I applaud Andy Wear for doing that.

[01:11:34]>> So to answer your question of what's next, tomorrow we're interviewing one of the peace negotiators, the lead peace negotiator for the original Iran deal to talk about what it what it takes to have peace in this negotiations. You Yeah, you didn't you didn't answer that. Do you think I got I got Okay, ready.

[01:11:52]question was about would we come together >> I think in the face of limited resources without hope of >> of a of a solution no we of course will not behave >> we will of course compete for the limited resources as we have done since the beginning of civilization >> we fight over who you pray to and we fight over access to limited resources that is the origin the the taproot of most of the bloodiest wars ever fought in our in civilization.

[01:12:27]if they had certainty that Ken would come back.

[01:12:33]>> Ken, >> yes.

[01:12:35]>> That that Ryan Gosling's character, Grace, would come back with the solution, >> then I don't see why we wouldn't that we had constant monitoring of this, then that people would know how to how to um ration food until he returned.

[01:12:51]>> So, but without that knowledge, I don't give us a chance at all.

[01:12:56]>> Can we give a three-word question? A three- word answer.

[01:12:57]>> Yes. Three words.

[01:12:58]>> Quick word.

[01:12:59]>> What's a venal probing?

[01:13:01]>> Okay.

[01:13:03]So, >> three words.

[01:13:05]>> How How big is your ego that you would think aliens would come from across the galaxy to probe your ass?

[01:13:16]>> Okay, that's it. Mic drop. I think that is the end of it. All right. I want to say a huge thank you to my guest Neil deGrasse Tyson coming here tonight.

[01:13:30]I know I forgot to ask Neil for a dumb question, but I wanted to yield my time to the fans, to you guys to ask questions, too. I didn't forget. And actually, last time he was here, he asked a very good question, which is, "How do construction cranes get up there?" And we went to find a great construction worker named Brandon Hernandez, who actually answered that question for us on a past episode of Smart Girl Questions. But speaking of questions, someone in the audience asked one. Her name I found out later was Cassie because she emailed me. She's a fan and she wanted to know what's next for Smart Girl on Questions and I didn't finish answering that question, but one of the things is more live tapings. We absolutely loved being at the Comedy Seller in New York. We're going to do more stuff there. Probably at the end of May is the next one. So follow us on Instagram or Tik Tok, Smarkgirl Dumbestions. Uh you will find out about live tapings there or on Axe if you prefer it there. It's Naima on X. Also, what's next for the show is just more great episodes. Neil's been back for, you know, his second episodes. You got to go back and listen to his first one.

[01:14:22]Um, Jim Saxon, the divorce attorney, is back. We released that episode with peace negotiator I was talking about.

[01:14:27]So, if you want to know what's happening in Iran or not happening, you should totally check out that episode as well.

[01:14:32]And the number one thing that you guys can do to support Smart Girl Questions is actually to keep tuning in. I'm so grateful for that. To like, to comment, to leave a review, obviously a fivestar review, and to share it with humans you love. Take one episode you love, share it with a person you love or an alien you love. You know, that would be a huge help because what's next for the show is not some like marriage to a huge podcast network. It is still an independent bootstrap podcast and you guys as part of the community are what makes it work and what makes me keep doing it.

[01:15:00]Anyways, back to Neil and this question of aliens. I don't know do they exist or not. I am definitely going to carry around a Pythagorean theorem set, a periodic table and uh a copy of Take Me to Your Leader as well as an aluminum hat in case they can do the mind reading thing. And I'm going to look out for like really hot, really smart people because maybe they are aliens. That's what I've learned. But in all seriousness, I have a skepticism about not whether they exist because the universe is so vast. As Diplo and I discussed, they must exist, but whether they have actually made it here and how that would work in terms of the time of travel and the speed of travel. But when it comes to do aliens exist or aliens real like yeah, I I agree with President Obama that they are real. they exist somewhere in the world in the universe where they've made contact on that. I I don't know. Jury's out and I'm curious what these UFO files will say if ever we get to see them. But I will say that I want to remain more um fact-based than skeptical. I think skepticism is is a good word, but also implies like a set of resistance to new things. And I also want to remain more open-minded than naive. I think open-mindedness implies probably like a narrower aperture than simply naive. And that kind of balance, that open-minded fact-basedness is what I'm going for when I'm carrying around this Pythagorean kit that I'm going to get. That's it for this episode of Smart Girl Dumb Questions. It was produced with Dustin Wrad, Melissa Lee Gibson, Sunja Nigum, and Aisha Jordan, who actually made those awesome tinfoil hats, and it was Mel's idea to make them. And Neil loved it so much that he actually took them to the Late Show with Steven Coar the next day. We love that.

[01:16:29]Um, this episode was edited by the awesome Dave Chin. It was mixed by Johnny Simon and engineered by the amazing Peter at the Comedy Seller. I owe Peter and Liz and Gnome and the whole team at the Comedy Seller a huge thank you for letting us do Smart Girl Dumb questions there. It is so fun. I love working with those guys. And thank you to all the staff who served us that night. Thank you to my friend Jason Chatfield who introduced me that night.

[01:16:49]Yes, he was my fluffer. Jason is an amazing cartoonist whose work appears in the New Yorker and he has a great substack called New York cartoons. You got to check it out. It's my favorite favorite thing. And a huge thank you also to my friend Neil Degrass Tyson, my alien whisperer, as well as Cliff Fuller and the team at Simon and Schustster for making this happen. The book is called Take Me to Your Leader. And please, please hit follow on the show. You can get the show anywhere, but you can watch it on Spotify. And if you have Spotify premium, you can see it without any ads and probably without any aliens. That's it. I'll see you next week for an allnew Smart Girl Dumb questions.