Neil deGrasse Tyson stopped by the Today show to discuss his new book.
The astrophysicist’s Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter, published last month by Simon Six, asks how it might be possible for aliens to visit Earth and gives readers tips on handling a possible encounter. A critic for Kirkus called the book “a fun romp through the possibilities of alien lifeforms and the physics that might allow them to land in our backyards.”
In the book, Tyson writes that since his childhood he has wanted to be abducted by aliens. Meteorologist Angie Lassman asked him, “If the aliens were to come down, they land in Times Square, who do you think is the person we should give to them that represents our global community best?”
“If they land in Times Square, I think no one would notice them,” Tyson said, eliciting laughs from the Today hosts. “I would bring them to the National Academy of Sciences…presuming they’re not just evil aliens who just want to harm us, as is so commonly portrayed in our fictional tales. Maybe they’re just curious, and we want to exchange ideas about how we’ve come to understand the universe.”
Asked whether he believes in aliens, Tyson said, “It’s hard for me to believe in something you have to believe in to be true.…Decades ago, the reports of UFOs [came from] the farmer in the back 40 or revelers coming out of a bar at 2 a.m., and only in recent years have the accounts been of much greater repute: the Air Force pilot, the ex-military, the ex-intelligence officer. You can’t just summarily discount these the way you might have done in the past. So I’m saying, All right, if you’ve got the alien in the back shed…is it asking too much for you to bring out the alien?”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
