StarTalk Radio - StarTalk Time Capsule

Episode Date: March 28, 2013

In this episode, we highlight a few star moments from our constellation of past shows. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to new episodes ad-free and a whole week early.

Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. Welcome back to StarTalk Radio. I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson. This is a special best of StarTalk Radio. We'd like to call it our time capsule show. Today, we're going to highlight some of our celebrity interviews from the first two seasons. And let's start with my friend Stephen Colbert. Right now, I'm with Stephen Colbert in his office.

And I think he's out of character at the moment. We'll find out. We'll find out. Let's see how I feel about science. If I give it any credence at all, you know I'm not in character. So, Stephen, as of today, I've been on your show six times. Now, I might otherwise get a big head about that, but I've seen other scientists on your show often. So, I'm led to think that you actually have a soft spot for science. Am I delusional there or what?

I love science. My dad was an immunologist, and I'm thrilled by science. When I was a kid, education was valued in my house, and because I was the son of an academic and someone who was a medical researcher, an academic and someone who was a medical researcher. Science was number one, though we're also a very devout family, too. Like, my mother is sort of mystical Catholic. My father is sort of intellectual Augustinian or, you know, like, Aquin Catholic. But you understood the value of science in your life and in society. understood the value of science in your life and in society. Absolutely. I mean, yes, absolutely. My father, no fan of herbal medicine. No, repeatable results, repeatable results. That

was the mantra. So are you a science geek or just a science enthusiast? I'm a complete geek, but I wouldn't give myself the honor of calling myself a science geek because I think you have to have more knowledge of science. I have appreciation for science. I really love hearing scientists talk. I love new discoveries. I love people who are full of questions at all times. I think you've transformed the landscape of comedic talk shows or talk shows at all. The fact that you recognize scientists as having a role in the dialogue of how,

what drives the nation. Well, science is hard. Let me put it that way. Unless you approach it, I think from what I know, unless you approach it with joy and fascination and drive and all of those things hint to me that the things that scientists are trying to explain to us must be pretty interesting. And so I take them at their word

and I have them on to try to explicate that, open the rosebud of their knowledge or their desire in front of us so that we can see the beauty of the rose ourselves, if you know what I mean. That's beautiful. Thank you. Very beautiful, beautiful mind.

What a beautiful mind. So I don't want to put you on the spot like asking you to pick your favorite children, but among all of the frontiers of science, which science, which branch of science excites you most? It's astrophysics, Neil. Stop fishing. It's astrophysics. It kind of is astrophysics, Neil. Stop fishing. It's astrophysics.

It kind of is astrophysics. It kind of is astrophysics because it asks such enormous questions. You know, the... So you're not just saying that because I'm sitting here right next to you. Of course I am. But I also mean it. You know, I love, like, first questions. Why are we here? Or rather, how are we here?

And then you can obviously interpret your why. But the how are we here question is enormous and fills us with awe. And that is certainly a cosmologist and natural physicist approach those things. And that's what we do. We live that. It's a high calling. Stephen Colbert And that's what we do. We live that. We live that. It's a high calling. Stephen Colbert, he's a cool dude.

See, you need more Stephen Colberts in the science world. You really do because he's sexy and he's charming, but he was raised by a scientist, so he speaks your language. Yeah, so that's different. That's my whole point. Science needs a makeover. You need Queer Eye for the science guy. You're talking to a woman who gets a lot of her stuff from TV. But it can also

stimulate it in another direction. For example, remember I had an interview with Stephen Colbert for this show and he commented on science fiction. Let's see what he has to say about what role that played in his life. And you're bugging me right now. Science fiction was incredibly important to me.

You know, when I was 10, I remember I had this tremendous headache one day. And I was at my brother Ed's house. I'm one of 11 kids, and he's the second oldest. 11? I'm one of 11 children, yes. And there were certain sciences that my parents didn't practice. And I was lying on his bed at his house or in a guest bedroom at his house trying to sleep off this headache. And he was a huge science fiction fan and he grew up in the 1950s and had all these great original pulp science fiction and some from the 60s and 70s too. And I picked one of the books off the shelf because it was right about head level and it was The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton by Larry Niven. And I read it lying there after my headache was gone and i was hooked i read nothing but science fiction and at the same time the cosmos came out by carl sagan and um so had you not gotten this headache you might not have stared that book down to write it. I'd never. No, no. To read it. I would not have been captured by

kind of like the Romance of Science if I might talk about the Dragons of Eden by Sagan. By Carl Sagan, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Meditations on the Romance of Science. Isn't that what it's called? That's the subtitle of it. Yeah, yeah.

Dragons of Eden, Meditations on the Romance of Science which I then... Oh, no, no, no, no. That one. Oh, no, no. That's Broke His Brain? Broke His Brain, yes, yes. Well, anyway, I read both of them.

I read a ton of things, including Cosmos and some of his fiction. So I'm just playing into what is a pre-existing ripe condition for you. Oh, gosh, yes. I mean, I love it. I'm completely captivated. I mean, before I knew you, I knew you because I knew of you because I'm a huge fan. I'm a huge fan of the way you express science. I've showed your work to my kids.

And it's distressing that Americans don't know or care enough about science because when I was a child, science captivated young people because it had become it was hot it was adventurous it was um the adventure is what i think people don't feel today maybe not i think i think it's because we were promised things like the wrist televisions and the jetpacks and they didn't come fast and the bubble cars in there right yeah and the bubble cars all that you know um we were promised uh uh too much by the Hollywoodization of science. One way to get people excited is to try to get scientists to get you sort of jazzed about it. But the entertainers, I think, can play their role as well. In my time with Stephen Colbert, we chatted.

Good segue. No, we did. We chatted about he marshaled the Colbert Nation, his supporters, his fan base, to take action to try to influence what NASA was going to do with their next voyage to the space station. This is remarkable that he would value it enough to then marshal his people, his peeps, to do this. Yeah. And I want to hear about that because that's my whole point is that it is our responsibility once you know something and you have a voice like we do right now to make that voice known and to say to people this is really important. Well, let's go. Let's check out picking up on my interview with Stephen Colbert in his office. You're listening to StarTalk. official bio for years, I wrote that my birthday was the date of the moon landing

just to see if anybody would ask me and see if somebody would catch what day I was using. That's a geek thing to do. 24th of July? No, 20th of July. 20th of July? Anyway, I put down 20th of July. That's a geek thing to do. Card carrying. Card carrying geek.

I don't remember Apollo 11 even though my mother swears. I guess I was five. My mother swears that, no, you were up like every other child in the world, and you were in front of the TV, but I don't remember it. My first remembrance of space was the 1970 eclipse. That eclipse. Yeah, there was a couple of big eclipses then.

In the 71, I think that's the Carly Simon eclipse. Which one? Total eclipse of the sun yeah yeah yeah yeah um went to nova scotia right right that one went up to new england and but through the middle of it would have gone up right it would have been where you lived right yes i think my mother thought when i stepped outside my eyes would burst into flame in my side of my. I think I was allowed out for like a second or something like that. I remember the launches. I remember the president welcoming people back. I ate space food sticks, you know, from Pillsbury, I think, or Carnation. I forgot who made them.

And I had little moon modules. I was thrilled. I remember we were allowed the very first shuttle when the Enterprise came off the back of the... The Enterprise was a non-orbiting shuttle. It was just to test the aerodynamics of it. Exactly. And so NASA threw a bone to the Star Trek fans

and called it Enterprise. We were all impressed by how much you were able to mobilize the Colbert Nation to vote on your behalf for the space station. And I looked up the numbers. You had five times the number of votes than the next highest vote-getting name for the space station module.

So this is impressive. It's a little scary, actually. Well, all I can say is, whatever the next one was like, harmony or cooperation or something like that, they need to get a legion of rabid fans. They need a robot army to attack people like I have. But did that response surprise you? No, I'm not.

I have tremendous faith in the nation. was surprised in 2006 when we got um 15 million votes for the bridge over uh the danube in hungary to be named after me when there are only 10 million people in hungary that surprised me a little bit but once once we achieved that i thought like i better be careful where i point this so it also means you you can you have the power to affect change in society that others wouldn't. So you could use sort of the humanitarian aspect of yourself to do that one day, perhaps. If my character weren't hideously selfish, that would work out. But unfortunately, everything is just related to he's the most insecure person. Let me show what I just got.

And I'm sure this will play beautifully on the radio. But this is the patch. I'm holding the patch that is actually going to be put on the, what's called the Colbert, the Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. So this is the treadmill that got named after you as a consolation for NASA reneging. Lying to me. After NASA lied to me in America and broke their own rules so much for scientists. They named a new treadmill after me, which is being launched in August. I hope to go down there for the launch.

But I just looked at this treadmill and it's a little cartoon of me and my head on top of the cartoon running on a treadmill and around it has my name as all things must for my character. And I saw this today and I thought, my goodness, is he insecure? Does he need reaffirmation at all times? And that's why he'll never achieve anything good because it always has to be about him. So going forward, you're not without power of influence of people's feelings and moods. I am enormously powerful, Neil. No, your character is. That's true. That's true. I forgot. I'm the geek. Exactly.

You're the geek. Your character's got the power. Exactly. So what do you think you can do going forward? We all know what the fascination of their subject, then, well, that's just a honey ball that might make people swallow what I think is the real treat, which is excitement and engagement by questioning the world around you. Because, oh, the world is so full of a number of things, I think we should all be as happy as kings.

And all you have to do is look for the question that you want to ask about the natural world around you. And, well, then you are given the gift of a lifetime of entertainment and enjoyment just by being alive. Stephen Colbert, thanks for being on StarTalk. Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you. That was great listening to my interview with Stephen Colbert from back in season one.

Still coming up in today's show, we sit down with comic royalty, the late Joan Rivers, and Daily Show funny man, Jon Stewart. Don't go anywhere. More of StarTalk Radio. I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson. You're listening to our first ever time capsule, a quick rewind on our comedic friends who have visited the show. My co-host Lynn Koplitz and I sat down with Joan Rivers and talked to her about almost anything and everything from our first season. Star Talk Radio is here in Joan Rivers' library.

And I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson with Lynn Coplitz and Joan Rivers. Joan Rivers. It's my library. I should be in here. Makes sense. So, Joan, StarTalk, as you know, we talk to anybody who's got something to say about the universe. And we know you've got stuff to say about everything, including the universe. So I just want to start off.

I had a bunch of questions I want to ask you. You realize that in space, particularly in orbit around Earth, there's no gravity. There's zero G. And on the moon, it's like one-sixth G. And so you realize with less gravity, things float. Do you have any thoughts about that? Do you ever thought of living in space because things float?

No. What I've thought about is i know that if you go uh around the earth if you go backwards you get younger that was in in in the movie superman yeah yeah but that that's not real though that was just superman well apparently uh suzanne summers now lives in a rocket ship so no i don't like the outfits. So I wouldn't live out of space. So it's all about the clothes. Yes. I'm sorry. I agree, but I like the idea of zero gravity, Joan, because without zero gravity, gravity is what pulls everything down.

So it does give us that more uplift. That's the only reason I would even consider going in space is the idea of I don't have that drag down. So, Joan, you don't need any more uplift, apparently. No, no, no. The point is, yeah, so you would have things up, except to wear those stupid spacesuits. Oh, good point. They look like gay exterminators.

I don't like the spacesuits. Good point. So even if you're floating, no one knows because you're wearing a spacesuit. Yes, you're wearing a stupid spacesuit. You can't get your toes down those big boots, the gravity boots. It is so not for me.

So you want open-toed gravity boots? I would like if I was good. I will wait to go on the moon until they figure out a way you can look nice. Now, I can totally see you doing for QVC something designer in the whole aerospace line. What do you see? We could do it first. The moon pin. And it makes you look thinner.

Joan is hilarious. What an icon she is. Isn't she great? I think it sounds like I love listening to this because I haven't heard it yet, and it sounds like Joan and I are two little kids playing, and you keep coming in like the papa, like the teacher, like, and really astrophysically speaking. That's because I was sitting between the two of you during that interview. I felt like, you know, I'm like, why am I even here? You know, because you all just like resonating.

Because you were keeping us both down to earth and sane. You know, and plus Joan's been around for many decades, as we know. I don't think she'd appreciate that. Well, no, she'd admit to that. And she's, of course, around for many decades, as we know. I don't think she'd appreciate that. Well, no, she'd admit to that. And she's, of course, around in the 1960s. And we recently had, in July 20th, 2009, was, of course, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. And so always wanted to know what people were thinking and doing back then. And so very much I wanted to know that from Joan.

Let's find out what she had to tell us. Okay. I was at Fire Island, and I remember that we had a wonderful little house, my husband and I, and we had friends over, and I remember sitting and watching,

as we all did, on television, watching them land on the moon. And then all those insane rumors started that they didn't land on the moon, they did it in New Jersey in a hangar. In a hangar.

Remember all that stupidity? And it was very exciting. And I remember that China, do you remember this, came out and said, we have our own space plan and we will have, I remember this clearly, a restaurant up on the moon in 2001. China made a big announcement. And Israel already made reservations. But I remember China saying that, you think you're so smart, we will have a restaurant up on the moon in 25 years.

And I thought, oh, just say how smart we are. Well, I have to say, but it would have no atmosphere. No. Oh, oh. Am I allowed to crack a joke every now and then? You're allowed to try, baby. It was really fun because I got to go back to some of the shows that I really loved and that I thought were comically rich that I thought Joe would really enjoy. And, you know, one of the best ones was The Virgin Galactic.

Oh, space tourism. We had to bring that subject to her. We just had to because I just, you know, I interviewed people on the street for that show and just so people at home know what we're talking about. It was on space tourism and Richard Branson has Virgin Galactic. The aviation entrepreneur, Richard, billionaire. Yeah. He's not going on the first voyage, but he's really pleased to take 200 grand from you

to put you on it. Selling tickets to it. Yeah. And everyone, I interviewed people on the street, and a lot of seniors were all for it. And a lot of the young people were like, heck no. And you yourself, Neil, said no. You were like, I'll try the fifth or sixth one.

I'd heard too much about maiden voyages of ships. We've seen blimps blow up. No, thank you. We've seen blimps blow up. No, thank you. I've seen those stories. So I wanted to know what Joan at 75 years old, what her reaction would be. Well, let's find out. Only if there was a first class section. There isn't.

JoJo, right now, there's no flight attendant or meal included. Nope. And you can sit next to anyone. Nope. Nope. Nope. You might not even have a bathroom because it's just a flight up and then back. It's just like it's a suborbital and you come back.

No, I definitely like first class. I like my own bathroom. I want to be given earplugs. I want to be given... No, I would not go. Wouldn't you be angry if you didn't get a window seat? That was my whole thing. For 200 grand?

For 200 grand, I want a thing that you can sleep on. Absolutely. Sleep a seat. And definitely a flight attendant. For 200 grand, rubbing your feet. A flight attendant? I want three gay men lined up. So we asked Joan about aliens in space visiting us and what she thought about that.

All right. Do you think that there is life out in outer space as we know life? That's a perfect question. Excellent question. And if you look at how big the universe is and how common the chemistry is of life, we're made of ingredients that you find everywhere in the universe. Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen. It's the most common ingredients in the universe.

And the universe is vast. It's been around a long time. It would be inexcusably egocentric to suggest that life on Earth is alone in the cosmos. But we keep thinking the search is for intelligent life. What we might find is like pond scum. Like at this point, we're dumbing it down. We just want to find anything. Anything.

So that's an interesting point. If we find life out there there it could be smarter than us or dumber do you have a feeling about that if they're smarter than us they might treat us the way we make us pets right but I always wonder

the whole universe it's something so incomprehensible at least to me because where does it stop where do you fall off if it goes on forever are there other planets that we could eventually of all these to me. Because where does it stop? Where do you fall off? If it goes on forever, are there other planets that we could eventually connect with?

Should we fear aliens coming to us or should they fear us if we visit them? No, I think we should be terrified if they're coming to us. Terrified. I don't want to know about it. I don't want to have to make friends with them. I don't want to wear a dog collar.

I'm not interested in saying she used to be a funny person on Earth. But the way what would... You could end up a pet. You could end up a pet in someone's house. I could be a rescue pet. You could rescue a lot worse pets, I tell you what. She would be one heck of a rescue pet.

Comedians are observers of culture, and science is, I think, when it's the material for comedians, I'm charmed and tickled to realize that it can be a comedic substance. I mean, I can't. No, we asked Joan. I was curious what her educational background is, because no one ever asks that of a comic. No one cares. They're like, just dance, monkey, dance. But she's a very smart woman, very smart businesswoman, and very smart. You know, Joan is that rare breed of book smart and common sense smart.

And then you can turn that into a fortune. I asked her, what science does she study? Let's find out. I love biology. I was very good in biology. I was very good in biology i was very good in geometry i was a terrific geometry student because it's very logical and i like the logic of it have you used geometry you've majored in geometry and then you use geometry i've never used john i just

loved it because it made i love things that make sense and you can control and geometry is a very controllable science well okay since so is huge so is humor and comedy right so do you do you do you come comedy is not controllable because you can think something is very funny and uh nobody else does you don't control an audience you can never control an audience but uh geometry yes you can't control this to that equals this it's controllable and that's it and you can't change it and i can't change it and that's a comedy you have some idiot in the front row that can ruin your whole show so there's nothing to do with it now neil was talking neil's always asking me if there's a formula to joke writing and my type of joke writing there's no formula i'm just gonna i

don't work that hard you can't there's no formula no formula. No. I don't think so either. And the strangest things they think are funny. You know, you'll write and work on something you think is hilarious and it isn't. And then you'll say, and they'll go, and you go, that's funny? Okay, that stays in the act.

I always have them laugh at the set up. Like, I'll set up a joke and they'll laugh and laugh and I'm like, really? I haven't even gotten there yet. I don't understand why we're laughing. Like, I'll set up a joke, and they'll laugh and laugh, and I'm like, really? I haven't even gotten there yet. I don't understand why we're laughing. Okay, so we conclude that comedy is not geometry. It's not geometry. It is not a science.

Comedy is, there is no such thing as a science of comedy, and people that try to teach it, I feel, are so cruel. So if anyone is listening out there, if you've got any kind of a logical mind, don't take a course in comedy. Lessons for the for those in school.

You're listening to a rewind of our first ever Time Capsule show. I'm the host of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson. We'll be back with more Joan Rivers and John Stewart coming up This is StarTalk Radio, and I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson. Welcome back to our time capsule show. Let's finish up our interview with the late comedic legend, Joan Rivers.

I always want to know if somebody owns a telescope and what people's reactions are to them. So, I asked that of Joan. Let's see what she says. We did a whole show on telescopes. In fact, our opening show. Because it was the anniversary of Galileo. 400th anniversary of Galileo and his telescope. I dated him.

Galileo. The telescope was... He had a very small... You know what, and so he made this law. It was small. It was an extension. You know how men. The bigger the telescope, the smaller the. Yes, the bigger the telescope.

Oh, Jen, our listening crowd are right now peeling Spock ears back, getting so angry. We're not going to watch that roast, how dare she. So did you ever own a telescope? Yes. I have a country house, and I have views of the mountains, and I love to look at them. I own a telescope. Also, again, it's a great decorating prop.

And when you say you love to look at them, you love to look at the sky or you love the mountains, not the other neighbors? No, no, no. I like to look at the sky or you love the mountains, not the other neighbors? No, no, no. I like to look at the mountains in the fall because it's pretty. I don't care what the... No. But I think it's wonderful.

I love the heavens. I think they're very beautiful. I can't even find the stupid Milky Way, though. I'm not very good. Well, not from New York, you're not going to find the Milky Way. You've got to be like in the boonies for that. I feel better. Because I can't find the North Star.

If I was stuck in a boat, I'd be screwed. We'll give you GPS, and then you're good. Oh, yeah. That's a joke. When Stephen Colbert was on the show, you asked him a great question that I love about science and where does he feel we should be by now. Yeah, yeah. And he was flustered because he said he thought he would have his own robot and flying cars so we asked joan the same thing what she

wanted for for out of science by now what was she what she expected okay let's see what she said my cousin married a woman who was at harvard who worked on making spaceships edible. Because if anybody got work on the day she died in a program at Harvard, because if they went up and they got stuck in space, it would take them like eight or ten years to get somebody else up there to bring them back. So I would say, how are you, Shirley? And she'd say, we made the most delicious split pea desk. That's nasty. It's not true.

It's really true. Really. It makes sense, though, when you think about it. He says, if they're stuck up there, they say, Lynn, we're starting right now, Lynn, to figure out how to get you down. We'll be up there in 2014. What are you going to do? You're going to start eating your spaceship. That's what I you going to do? You're going to start eating your spaceship. That's what I was

going to say. First of all, I would lose weight before I went up because I would not want people looking at me with a bottle of A1 going, she's got the big booty. We start with her. We finish with that little one over there. This is the one we start with. I asked her if she'd ever seen a UFO.

Okay, let's see what she has. I have a friend who is doing a documentary on it. And she has interviewed so many really smart people who will not give out their names because they feel it will really hurt them by saying they have seen it. I have not seen it. A friend of mine in Connecticut saw them.

And she and the husband saw it in their car together. But I don't know. I never had anyone from Harvard or Yale ever come up and say, I've seen a UFO. It's always like two idiots with no teeth. You know, I saw it. I was, you know, I was skinning a rabbit,

and there it was. Or they use it as some sort of excuse for something. I'm sorry I didn't come home. I was abducted by aliens and proved. But I also had another friend who's very smart. He does ALF. You remember ALF? The funny little comedy.

The show. The TV show. The TV show and the character. And he writes ALF. And he swears he was in his house at Malibu. And he opened up his eyes. And there was this thing hovering right outside his window and then uh woke his wife up showed it to her and then again it went away so i know two people i respect that have seen them and then a lot of people that

ask us that i don't respect that have seen them but none of them are dragged like an alien carcass in front of you to look at no but my cousin my cousin Sheila claims they abducted her from a Starbucks. And they took her towards, I think it was Venus, and they let her go because she kept saying, are we there yet? Are we there yet? But we asked her one last question. What did she want to see happen in her lifetime,

scientifically? What kind of discovery? What? Just in her lifetime. I don't know how many more years she's got what does she tell us that bernie madoff gets out of jail calls me up and tells me where the 62 billion dollars are then you can die after bernie and i spend it all he'd be a good one to slap what would would I like to see? I would like to see the planet cleaned up. I think we're being very serious. I shouldn't be.

But I think it's a disgrace what we are doing to our atmosphere. It's a disgrace what we are doing to our planet. And I think we better clean ourselves up. And also, I'd like to live until they can tell me nothing is going to fly in from outer space and destroy us. That is very scary when they say a meteorite may come down and may kill you. And that's terrible. It just makes me want to charge up more on my Amex card. That's so funny.

I have the same one. Can you tell me exactly when it's going to hit? Actually, so it's not the day we'll tell you it'll never hit. It's the day we tell you that if it's headed towards us, we can do something about it. Yes. Yes. Yes. I just want to know.

Science, I think, wastes so much time on stupid things. And I think we should clean up the universe and clean up the space. And don't worry about going out into space. They'll come and find us. So, Joan, any parting thoughts for the StarTalk audience? Just that I think how wonderful it would be if there was something out there and if they were all single and Jewish. Single and Jewish.

A billion thanks to Joan Rivers for joining us on StarTalk Radio. Now let's get to our next interview with TV star and comedian John Stewart. He sat down with us to talk about his then new book, Earth, A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race. Check it out. It's his book that's out now, Earth, A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race. And in this book, it's imagined as

just something that we leave behind after we're extinct and aliens come and find it. And that's how they learn all about us. It's the idea that we've been stalking the universe for all this time. So let's begin that interview. And in fact, I taped it live in his office a few weeks ago. And we're slicing it into our program and we can chat about it as we interrupt it at will to comment on where it's going and where it's coming.

Let's start it off. Very good. Love your book. Man, what a concept that is. to comment on where it's going and where it's coming. Let's start it off. Very good. Love your book. Thank you. Man, what a concept that is. I don't know why nobody did it 30, 40 years ago. Because nobody wanted to waste that much time. That's right.

But we did here at the show, and that's why we did it. Everything is in that book. It is hilarious. It is fun. And the full title is Earth, the book. And the premise there is civilization's gone. All that's left here is the book. And they pick up the book. And the premise there is civilization's gone. All that's left here is the book. And they pick up the book, and this is how they learn about us.

This is our record of the entirety of man's existence here on this earth. This is like the Voyager record that went out into space, that captured culture. The only difference is it's obviously abbreviated somehow in okay in that 234 pages what's your favorite part of that book i have my favorite parts and i'll share them with you in a minute the favorite parts for me are the smallest jokes that we came up with in periods of delirium like it was never a good idea to judge a book by its cover and it's a picture of weathering heights and on it was a picture of a dog going to the bathroom. You know, that kind of thing. So some of the most ridiculous little silly jokes are some of my favorites. And what I like about it is its breadth of subjects that it covers.

For example, in the section on psychology, there's no real psychology listed there. Well, I was a psychology major, so I know just how little there is to list. There's really nothing. So you have all this pseudo-scientific stuff listed there. That's right. You're just telling it like it is. Telling it like it is.

So it's taking names. That's right. Pluto is in there. Pluto is in there. I will not back down from Pluto. You still haven't gotten over it. Can I tell you something, though? You couldn't keep it out of your book.

We did call it a trans-Neptunian object. That's good. We did not call it a planet. You got the science right. That's good. We don't want to mess around. One of my favorite parts is where you talk about how we all thought everything revolved around us and the evolution of that thought and what remained after it.

So we learn we're not in the center of everything, but there's still sort of a holdout. An arrogance. An arrogance. But we nonetheless name the planets after gods. So we learn we're not in the center of everything, but there's still sort of a holdout, right? It's like... An arrogance. An arrogance. But we nonetheless named the planets after gods. What we learned is that we were in control of our destiny, that there was no real spirituality, that was all a series of chemical interactions, but we named the planets after gods, just

to be sure. Just to be sure. You just didn't know. Okay, that's what we think. But at the end of the day, let's say we're wrong. Hey, look, Saturn, huh? Saturn. You're Saturn. Saturn. You don't want to piss them off too bad. That's exactly right. So we work it

all through. And there are people who think there's actually a face on Mars. Who are these people? Do they watch your show? I would assume. I would hope so. Well, you know, the man on the moon, there's always a big thing that there was a face on the moon. You know, the craters from this distance. But they didn't think it was actually a man on the moon.

They just said it looked like it. The people are thinking there's actual civilizations on Mars. Or that Mount Rushmore was naturally carved. The Mount Rushmore being naturally carved is probably because people are confusing Mount Rushmore with something else, so they're hearing Mount Rushmore. It's a lack of knowledge of what

Mount Rushmore is, more than you would show them a mountain with presidents' heads on it, and then they would go, that's got to be wind, right? That is so hopeful for this country that you say that. No, no, no, I'm sure that's what it is. That is so hopeful. Whenever they ask those questions, it's always like, is Mount Rushmore a natural? And people always think like, oh, right, Mount Rushmore. They're just thinking of a different thing.

I wish I had that much hope. Oh, I absolutely have that much hope, although my kids still believe the moon is following them. And how old are they? 28, 26. Yeah, okay. Six and four. Okay. But they believe that the moon is following them.

Yeah. And that daddy is powerless to stop it. Why don't they credit daddy with the power for having done that in the first place? Here's what they credited daddy with, the power to tint our windows so that we could roll them up and not see the moon anymore. Other than that. You missed out on a power opportunity over your kids. That's exactly right. Saying it is by the power that I have over the cosmos that I make the moon follow us

and nobody else. Listen, I put the milk on the highest rack in the refrigerator. Believe me, I have the power. There's nothing that happens in that house. They can't open a juice box. I don't need to lord it over them anymore. More with Jon Stewart right now. No topic is left untouched in Jon Stewart's book, including religion.

And I don't know that he's ever been charitable to religious thinking. Yeah, I think he is definitely a comic who has a point of view. And I like it. So in our next segment, I talk to him about the religious content of the book and see where his points of view take us. Interesting. So let's go right on in and find out what he says. So in this book, it touches all parts of culture and people and time. Religion, science. What do you say about religion in there?

Do you remember? We just mentioned it as being a 100% purely positive thing and nothing ever going wrong, I think. I haven't gone back and read the... Not. I'll tell you what it says. I think it was, religion provided great comfort to a world torn apart by religion. I believe that was the ending.

Period. That's all. That's what you got. Now here's the thing. Here's a good question. Where are we going with science? What if science is just leading us to a religious epiphany? Do you ever wonder about that? Well, some people have speculated about it.

Like we find the God particle or the theory of everything or the Big Bang. And science has its sort of godlike figures in your book you list science gods a newton and einstein you have edison in there marie curie yeah yeah so science has its idols and it also has its martyrs and it has its idols its martyrs and its faith to some extent isn't a hypothesis to some extent faith yeah the difference is when you find out when you find a hypothesis is wrong you stop believing in it see that's the difference the difference is you will

but no one knows yet if religion is wrong no one has yet to figure out they may figure out that the books that man created for it are wrong but they have yet to prove religion itself as well because it's hard to prove a negative. Yeah, yeah. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Okay. Do you think scientists have just pure faith in methodology? Well, it's worked before, so we keep at it. I mean, you need the faith.

If you tried it before and it never worked, but you keep trying it, that would require faith. But if it's worked before, do you want to call that faith? I call it, hey, it worked before. You're talking about its experience. Yeah. Scientific method. Yeah, it's experience. Can I call that faith? I call it, hey, it worked before. You're talking about its experience. The scientific method. Can I tell you something? I love the scientific method. It's awesome. And people over-define it. People over-define the scientific method. You know what it is? It's do whatever

it takes to not fool yourself. Period. That's the scientific method. I always thought it was to create something recreatable. Yeah, but to know that you've done it successfully, you have to make sure your bias didn't affect your measurements so so you write it down instead of just trying to remember because your brain that brains don't are there things in theoretical physics are there theoretical physicists that you

are uncomfortable with they're relying on scientific method and do they ever in any way veer into the lane of faith dark matter that, that kind of thing. No, we measure... Not dark matter. What was it called? There's dark energy, there's dark matter. There's string theory. Yeah, well, there's some branches of science that are not really susceptible to experiment. And so these folks are out there

on the dangling, bleeding edge of inquiry. But it's a pencil, a paper, maybe a laptop. They're not expensive to keep in business. So I don't lose sleep over that. What about the climate stuff? The climate stuff. Here's the problem. People think that the criterion for believing something

is whether or not it feels good. That that's the measure of truth, if it made you feel good. And there's something wrong about that. That's a recipe for disaster. It's the ostrich with the head in the sand. I don't want to know about it because it would make me feel bad. I will only believe and listen to the stuff that makes me feel good. And if I have this investment in the oil industry, I'll believe what makes me feel good about that.

Let me go the other way, though. Is it also, though, people have become calloused to the dire warnings that are no longer valid is it ostrich head in the sand or boy who cried wolf because there is also sky falling yeah yeah we got all of them yeah we got all of them yeah and trying to discern between those can be very difficult yeah like so i guess when the science has a fuzzy edge where we can say this might happen in the next 50 years people don't know how to deal with that that uncertainty

it's difficult now because there is no organization that has earned a certain credibility anymore there is no Walter Cronkite of science does that make sense? someone where everyone turns to and says this is the man who tells it like it is and we'll all believe it

even if it's uncomfortable. That's right. And who will also tell us the things that are uncomfortable that are not true. So we need a Walter Cronkite of science. Done. I have a nomination. You want to hear my nomination? Who's your nomination? You! No heavy sigh? What kind of heavy sigh

is that? And that's the way it will be. Alright, that's not it. You are the Walter Cronkite of science. That's the way it once was. A big part of the appendix of Jon Stewart's book explores ways that we might have gone extinct. And I wanted to find out what inventive ways he came up, he and his staff of writers came up with to explore just that. Oh, you guys talk about that now? Just that possibility.

Let's check it out. Tell me about the appendix of your book. Does it actually say how humans die out? You know what? You hate to be a spoiler. Now, do we know? Look, the aliens are coming to Earth with no people. So something happened.

You want them to get to the end of the book. They don't know why we're gone. So you want to give them eight different possible ways. What's the top scenario? Shark-B hybrid. Genetic Shark-B. Killer Shark. What is that?

What is that? It's a flying Killer Shark. These are the geneticists gone wild. Geneticists gone wild. What nobody did, you know, in the meetings, they said, hey, what if we combine a killer bee with a killer shark? Nobody raised their hand and said, you know, I'm not so sure that's a great idea. So they went ahead and did it. No one said, let's not do that.

And wouldn't you know it, imagine killer sharks that live in giant hives and just come out. And they can fly and swim. That's right. They get you no matter what you're doing. There's no way of getting around it. Wow. Okay. Is that the number one?

That's the number one likelihood? I don't like to rank them, but yeah. Okay, well that's scary. I think that's pretty likely. That's a scary thing. I think that's pretty likely. Sharks that hang out in hives. That's right.

Well, they're not sharks necessarily. They're shark bees. Shark bees, of course. Of course. Sharks be hybrid. And they've been bred. Bred to render us extinct. That's right.

Yes. Okay. So, what else is on the list? Obviously, technology overtaking us. Except it never has in the past. Well, no. That's why it's a future. Okay.

It's not a history book. It's a future book. Stupid comment on my part. Yes. Exactly. Now, I'm not suggesting that in the future you won't be able to send yourself back to the past to stop the robots. To kill the grandmother of the robot. Right.

I'll come back naked. That's right. Thank God this is radio. So there's that. Obviously super bug. I'm not going to lie to you. Like a virus kind of bug. Like an Andromeda strain.

Yeah, okay, that's cool. Turns us all to dust. For those who are not old enough, in the Andromeda strain, the virus renders blood into powder. Into powder. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And instantaneously, you'd walk out in the street, and your cars would still be there. Everything else. Everything, yeah.

And people were just frozen. In situ death. What a great movie that was. Yeah, yeah. Oh, Death by Black Hole. Hadron Collider. The guys are like, oh, there's nothing going to go wrong here. Bonk.

Wrong. Oh, we're not going to go wrong here. Bonk. Wrong. Oh, we're not going to create a molecule that eats all other molecules. Wrong. If the world ends in that scenario, the last words uttered on Earth by man will be, hey, it worked. Jon Stewart, thank you for being our inaugural guest. Stop.

I enjoyed it very much. For StarTalk Radio. A big shout out to all the guests and I hope you enjoyed our first time capsule show. I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson and until next time, keep looking up.