Cosmic Queries – ALIENS! with Jake Roper

0:00Hey, StarTalkians, Neil here. You're about to listen to an episode specially drawn from our archives to serve your cosmic curiosities. Check it out. Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. This is StarTalk, Cosmic Queries Edition. Chuck. Hey, Neil. People love them Cosmic Queries. They do. We have a lot of inquiring minds. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. That is a good thing. Plus, actually, in Cosmic Queries, we bring in other people who are the experts, and I just get to sit and listen. Ah. And I learn, too. So, there you have it.

0:46Who knew you were still capable of learning something? What kind of—what? The man who knows everything? No, I've never said I don't know everything. Okay. There's very—well, okay. Today's subject. Aliens in film and TV. Oh. Big subject. That is a big subject. Big subject. Huge subject. For something for which there's no data.

1:09Aliens. Now, I got my own thoughts about aliens, but there are people out there who are more alien fluent than I am. All right, before we get to our alien fluency, do you believe in aliens? It's not about a belief. No. Okay, do you believe that we are alone in the universe? Is that one of the questions? No. I just ask. I'm asking you personally. Okay. I, it would be inexcusably egocentric for anyone to suggest that we on Earth are alone in the universe. Given how old the universe is, the prevalence of the chemistry that manifests in life, we see that biochemistry, that organic chemistry all across the universe, and how long it took life to show up on Earth pretty quick.

1:57About 100 million years sounds like a long time. Short compared to the span of the universe. And of the universe. So it would be astonishing if we were alone. Okay. That's all I'm saying. All right. Very diplomatically placed without actually saying yes or no. But I know exactly what you mean, so it's great. That's all I'm giving you. That's a good answer. That's all I'm giving you. All right. Well, who we have here is the one and only Jake Robert. Jake. What? Jake! Hello! I got your resume here. host of Vsauce3 Science Channel on YouTube. Vsauce. Could you have guessed that? He's got a YouTube pillow over his left shoulder.

2:33Good for him. Okay. And you host the YouTube series, Could You Survive the Movies? That is a brilliant concept, putting people through what goes on in the movies. Right. Right? That's a brilliant concept. And so do you just never leave home and you watch movies all the time? Or do you, like, study this in school? I mean, it worked out well, because yes, my job is to watch movies and then explore them scientifically. That's his job. What a great job. Somebody pays you to do that? Somebody pays you to watch movies. I know. I don't know why. Don't tell them. How do you get my son that job? He's actually doing it for free.

3:14So in Cosmic Queries, we solicit questions from our audience and they've been primed on this subject. That's right. So they're coming in and they know you, but many of them, if not most, are fans of yours. So we can do this in a StarTalk way. Absolutely. So let's do it, Chuck. What do you have? All right. Well, can I start with my own personal question for you? Is that okay? All right. Why are you asking him if it's okay? It's my show. Damn. Oh, you caught me off guard, man. All right. Yes, you have my permission to ask him the first question. Thank you. Instead of the people who actually... All right.

3:51So I just want to know, in your estimation, what is the easiest movie to survive? The easiest movie to survive? If we're talking physically. Yes. I would say. Of what genre? Of alien movies. Yeah. Like any? Oh, an alien film. An alien film. Hmm. The easiest one to survive. It'd be E.T. Well, so here's the thing. I would say E.T. That's a really immediately popped in my head. But then you do have that whole segment where like, oh, we need to quarantine him because who knows what bacteria or viruses? That's right. And that is kind of the interesting thing. You have this foreign creature here on Earth.

4:31Right. We don't know. We have no idea. We don't know what it is susceptible to or what we're susceptible to from it. So, yes. So at the end of the movie. But in reality, when the kids get them back to the ship, what they don't show you is five weeks later when they all have these horrible growths. coming out the sides of their faces. Yeah. But he's already gone. Yeah, and the movie ended. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And they were like, we can't make a sequel because all the kids have horrible tumors. Ooh. Awesome, awesome. So I have two reflections on this. Okay. One, I've had Steven Spielberg in that chair over there in my office tell me, upon being asked something related, that E.T., He imagined E.T.

5:17as a vegetable and not as an animal. So he's a plant-based life form. Plant-based life, that's correct. Okay. Which is how he would have that relationship with the plants, remember? Oh, yes, because he made them flowers. And it would re-bloom. Right. And so it was imagined. But since he's walking and talking and his eyeballs and shoulders, the natural way to think of him is as living. Right. As animal life rather than plant life. So that's my first one. Oh, interesting. Yeah. second point wow that is a really cool little fact toy yeah yeah second point that is really cool go ahead and you would say what are your sources Steven Spielberg I know that's like that is the ultimate cocktail party smackdown just like yeah well I don't know if you know this but ET is actually a plant based life it's like yeah where do you get that from Steven Spielberg I'm just saying it's I've had people come up to me and say what wiki page did you get that information from and I for other calculations I said, I calculated it.

6:16Somebody actually creates information that goes on the Wikipedia. I'm one of those people. I'm one of those people. Right, okay. That's what it is. It's called math. It's called math. It's called math, dude. What Wikipedia did you get that from? A math. What app? The brain app. Yeah, what app? Yeah, right here. Go ahead. All right. Also, you can ask, what are the chances we would catch an ET disease if he comes to Earth? Right. What's the chance of that? Contamination. And here's the problem. The kinds of diseases we think about and know about tend to be very specific to the life forms. Think about it.

6:49So an oak tree is not going to get whooping cough. Correct. Right. And just like there are certain viruses that will not be, what's it, transmitted trans species. Across species. They have to mutate in order for that to happen. So the idea that an alien from another planet has something that's contagious to us is kind of low. Right. Because a lot of things that are contagious to other life forms on Earth with whom we have DNA in common are not contagious to us. Right. That's all I'm saying. Okay. But still, we got to be cautious just as you said. Excellent. All right. Well, let's get to the queries now.

7:26And, of course, we always start with a Patreon patron because they support us. Yes. And we love them for it. This is JB from Patreon. He says, hi, Neil and Jake. This is Jessica from Arizona. In 2005, the movie War of the Worlds, starring Tom Cruise. These machines driven by aliens start eviscerating people with white laser beams, effectively turning them into ash. Would it be possible to harness light this way into a kind of super laser? If so, where would you go to stay safe? Which would be in defense against - In defense against - Okay, yeah. So Jake, yeah. Jake. All right. So just to clarify, they're asking if the weapon that the War of the Worlds aliens use could be possible.

8:19Well, she's saying, yes. Is it possible to use light in this manner? So that is a different way of saying, is that weapon possible? And in that way, you could fight with a weapon equivalent to what they're using, perhaps. Or you could defend against it. Well, actually, this is funny because if we just... Spoilers for everyone that hasn't seen the movie yet. I'm going to give you a second. Okay. The movie's 14 years old. Forget him. They haven't seen a movie yet. I don't care. Go. Well, hopefully they just heard the original War of the Worlds from back in the day when you were a kid, Neil. Anyway.

8:51Exactly. So the way that they destroy the aliens or defeat them is by like a virus, A human virus gets them ill and they all just die. So this kind of goes back to the ET conversation where we actually are this contaminant that kills them. We're the weapon. Anywho. Yeah, we are the weapon. Just us existing. And that's kind of the part of the course for humans anyway. So, I mean, I would say it is possible. You can't, I mean, harness light. Is that what they're harnessing? We don't really know. You could generate enough energy where you could just completely eviscerate a person. I mean, that's possible.

9:30True. Well, I mean, if it's just a matter of energy, right? Light is a form of energy. Right. Now, laser beams are kind of cooler than other forms of energy. But it's just energy. Right. So, you know, a bow and arrow is putting energy here and taking energy over here and putting it over there. Right. A laser's got energy over here and put it over there. Right. A bullet. A bullet. I got energy over here. It's in the gunpowder. And now the energy's over there. So if you can abstract this question to just say, what are the ways you can have energy over here and put it over there? And do you have more energy than they have?

10:00That's kind of what that comes down to. Right. But I wonder maybe the question, do you think the question was, what does it take to turn them into a pile of ash? Do you think maybe that was the question? So that's what I'm thinking right now. In that regard, I mean, it would have to be whatever this beam is, let's say this energy beam, it would have to encompass the entirety of the person's body for all of them to instantaneously turn to ash right just focus here well then it would just pop a hole right through the same way that a bullet when it impacts it doesn't blow apart your whole entire external body internal just so i guess would be so if we just go by heat so hot that it would immediately vaporize all of the moisture in your body.

10:44It will just completely dry you out to such a degree that you are just dust afterwards. Absolutely. Jake has mentioned an important point because it's hard to burn something that has a lot of liquid in it. You've got to first get rid of the liquid, then you can burn what's left. So you're talking about ash. If you're going to be a pile of ash, your blood had to evaporate in some way before you even get to the ash. So the instantaneity. Is that a word? Nice. It is now. It is now. The instantaneity. Sounds like a great Quaker oats commercial.

11:23Instantaneity. Instantaneity. It's delicious. All right, go ahead. So it would require enough energy to instantly take your blood to a rolling boil and then evaporate it. Get rid of all the liquid and then— And then consume the rest of the material. And that seems to me, it had to take a little longer than how long that took in the movie. Yeah. Right. Because the other thing, too, is if you're talking about that kind of energy, it only did that to the person. The beam didn't, as it continued, it didn't, like, shoot holes into the ground. It didn't take out buildings. Right. Or the plant life behind it.

11:59Or the plant life behind it. Okay. Only the people. All right. So maybe it was attuned to human chemistry, then. Well, that's a good—I see you think about this stuff often. It is very evident that you think about this crap all day long, okay? Because— Well, no, okay, I got one for you. So the military and large municipalities have what's called non-lethal weaponry. Okay, yes, yeah. And the taser is an example of one. Right. But another one is this truck that rolls around with this huge beam, and it sends microwaves into a crowd. and the microwave You feel like you're burning. You feel like your skin is burning so you want to get out of that beam and basically they aim it for the focus points wherever people are gathering and getting the most ornery.

12:48So they can disperse the crowd. Disperse the crowd. So the cool thing about microwaves is water responds to microwaves which is why your plate doesn't get hot but your food does in the microwave oven. So if you have one of these weapons that targets human molecules then you could have a beam that's sort of wide enough to just enclose you that could vaporize you, but not the stuff behind you. Ooh, excellent. Right? What do you think of that? I mean, I think that sounds fair because they do have those specific things. They have the microwave weapons that you're talking about. I mean, I remember reading an article years ago about how in the UK to stop teens from loitering in stores, stores could play this frequency that only teenagers could hear because they still had those hairs in their ear, right?

13:34That's right. You can still hear the frequency. I forgot about that. It'll be annoying to them. Yeah. So old folks just don't even hear it. And so we can chill. Yeah, they're like, what? Wow, exactly. Keep it traveling. That's the same way we are with teens. That's why they don't listen. That's why they don't hear. They don't hear. All right. Wow, that's great. All right, well, that's a great question, Jessica. That was really cool. Are you ready for another one? Here we go. Yes, sir. This is Shivang Srivastava. Yes, Shivang Srivastava. Shivang Srivastava. Srivastava. Oh, so you're going to… Yes.

14:16I put the wrong emphasis on the syllable. All right, here we go. She says, hi, Dr. Tyson. do you think an organization such as MIB, or Men in Black, can be established secretly if the government finds aliens? I'm also really eager to know what changes will you and Jake, would you and Jake like to make in the movies so they are more bound to reality? Ooh, thank you both for your encouraging science education. So Jake, can MIB be real? Would it be real? First, is it real? Second, would the government do it if, in fact, we were sort of shielding aliens? What's your... I would say yes. Really? I mean, I don't really have...

15:07I mean, everything right now is just hypothetical, but I would assume that, yes, they would create an organization. Would it be as cool and sexy as Men in Black? Probably not. So here's what I want to know from both of you. do you think the government, the scientific community especially, would shield the public from the knowledge that we are not alone? I'm going to ask Jake about this. Okay.

15:32I mean, I think this is a tough one because we are hunting for life out there in the universe, right? That's what we're actively doing when we go to Mars, when we just are trying to go to Europa, all these different missions. That is kind of the point. but that is a different kind of life than I think what most people assume life to be. We think of life as sentient human beings that can walk around, move around, have conversations, think for themselves, not microorganisms. So when it comes to that level of, I assume an alien is this living, breathing thing that can move around and shake my hand, that I would kind of assume that the government, if it did, if it were happening now, they would hide from us.

16:13Because it kind of is a disruptive thought or disruptive information to know. So with an MIB kind of secret keepers? To a degree, not as cool as MIB. I don't think they have like fancy alien weapons and like cool cars and, you know, they're doing all these action, giving birth to aliens on the like side of the road or whatever. But, like, I do think if aliens, well, okay, aliens exist, I think. Well, wait, just a quick thing. In Men in Black, one of the aliens was, he was like bug life, right? I mean, he was like roaches. So it's not all of them were fully manifested as humanoid forms. I mean, he was humanoid, but he was still made of bugs.

17:04Yeah, he was made of bugs. He was made of bugs. if we're just throwing it through, it's like, I have a strong theory that if we go to the deep ocean, that all to me is alien. It looks so foreign from what we experience here in our world of on land that it is so different. Like, that could be aliens for all we know. Actually. It's a totally different environment. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to say no, but I'm just going to go out on a limb and say, no, they're not aliens. Well, it's very testable. You look at, you check the DNA. With overlapping DNA. But otherwise, it's fun to think about it. Exactly.

17:40We got to take a quick break. When we come back, more with Jake on Aliens in the Universe. Yes. On StarTalk.

17:53This is Ken, the nerd neck Zabera from Michigan, and I support StarTalk on Patreon. This is StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

18:08We're back. Star Talk. Cosmic Queries. Aliens in the movies and TV. Yes! A subject as big as the universe itself. You know what? It probably is. And I got Jake Roper on. Thank God we got Jake Roper on. I know, right? Because he thinks about this stuff. All the time. Professionally. Professionally. Somebody pays him. Let me tell you, your parents should be so proud of you. I'll tell you right now, I'm proud of you. I am proud of you, Jake. You are what America is about. I want to be able to save somebody at a cocktail party. So what's your son do? My son talks about aliens on YouTube and they pay him.

18:45And he bought my house. My son, who does not play basketball, bought my house on YouTube. Love it, bro. I love it. All right. So what's the question? You got the next question. We got the next question. All right. Let's keep going. This is Jason Mogridge. Jason says, hey, what's up, guys? What's yours, Neil's, and Jake's favorite fictional alien movie or game and why? Oh, nice question. That's a good one. All right, go on, go on, Jake. Jake, this is going to pressure on you. No, Chuck, you go first on this one. So I can think. So you can think. You got me. Okay, so I'm going to give you my favorite movie, Alien.

19:35Let me hear it. And it's going to be very pedestrian because you're going to say it's the oldest trope ever. Don't tell me what I'm going to say about your alien. Okay, you're right. You're right about that. All right. All right. The Alien. The Alien. In the movie, The Alien. In the movie, The Alien. That thing is amazing. First of all, it's super cunning and intelligent, okay? Secondly, we don't know what motivates this thing. It kills everything, but why? Why is it doing it? Third, it loves to fight. Why are you so angry, bro? Calm down. Third, it's got a mouth in a mouth in a mouth. That is amazing.

20:16What is that tiny little mouth for? Why? Why do you have a tiny little mouth? I didn't know you felt this way. Wait a minute. He ain't done. That's not it. I'm not done. Wait a minute. Here's the end. You cut it. And it bleeds acid. Come on. This thing is awesome. Whoever thought of this alien, I'm telling you, they put a little bit of time in. That's all I'm saying. And it scurries when it escapes down the hallway. No, forget it. That was scary. Look how fast it is. I know. Right. And by the way, look at its transformation. It goes in you as who knows what. You're just host. A little crab monster actually grabs you by the face and puts the baby alien in you.

20:55And then it comes out as a little snake man. It's crazy. It's crazy. Jake, have you had enough time to think now? Are you so distracted by Chuck's panic attack? I'm really amazed. Like, that was great. That was a good monologue. I mean, okay, so Alien is fantastic. I'm wearing an Alien hat, Nostromo the ship from the first one. I do love Alien. But actually, in a similar vein to Alien, because I think of Alien as a parasite, right? The whole entire way that it gestates and bursts out of it. It is this parasitic relationship. So with that in mind, The Thing is my favorite alien. The Thing? From the movie The Thing.

21:37I forgot what The Thing was. Is The Thing like the blob? What is The Thing? No, so The Thing is - But don't confuse The Thing with them. Because them were the ants. Them were the ants? They were ants. Them is ants. Them is ants. They is something entirely different. Okay. All right, so back on track, Chuck. Come on. Okay, sorry. So The Thing. is a, well, the remake was, which is the one that's most popular, is this 1980s movie with Kurt Russell, directed by John Carpenter. And the thing is this organism that takes the shape of whatever the host is. I didn't realize that that was what I was watching, but it's a shapeshifter and you don't know who it is because it can be anything.

22:18And then at one point it became the dog or something like that, right? Yep. Yeah, okay. I forgot I saw that movie. It can take any form. And it's, the thing that's scary to me about is one is it really is a parasite, but an intergalactic parasite. And it just takes upon, like you have things like the jewel wasp here on earth, right? Which is more similar to the xenomorph and alien where it impregnates the cockroach basically. And then the larvae bursts out and becomes a full on wasp flies away. But the thing I love, because it brings up this conundrum where does the person who it took the body of the form of, is it aware that it's not human or does it think that it's human but it has something else controlling its mind and i think that's a really nice conundrum right look in the mirror the mirror tells you you're human right right yeah yeah so so you like the fact that you could be infested with this parasite or occupied by this parasite and still think you are you but just going about your life but really you're just a puppet of a galactic parasite.

23:24And you have no idea, potentially. The people around you have no idea that you are no longer you. Right, right. That's pretty cool. And I think that's pretty spooky. Whereas with like traditional aliens or an alien, you know it's an alien. Like, okay, you're terrifying. You're not friendly. But if it was just Neil, we're like, oh, Neil, how you doing? And for all this time, he's been this parasitic alien. I am fine. You never know. So what's the difference between them and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, fundamentally? So that's a great question. There isn't much. Okay. But it is similar. Okay.

23:58I think it's just in the style. Yes, they're both these alien creatures that take over humans. I think in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, its motivation is much more clear. It's there to take over the planet. Right. And the thing, they just find this crass spaceship from, like, thousands of years ago. and there's no reason as to why it's there or what the purpose of this alien is. The alien never expresses its intent. It's just this vicious force. Okay, that's a good one. All right, Neil. I have a good answer and then a cop-out answer. Uh-oh. My good answer is I think the blob is the best alien ever.

24:35The blob. Because it didn't walk, it didn't talk, it didn't have two eyes, shoulders, mouth, nose, feet. You know, as much as we like alien versus predator, The Predator was great, right? But it's still very humanoid. It's even the approximate height of a human. You could look, you know, Arnold, stare him straight in his eyes. Human now. Right here. Right. Kill me. If it bleeds, we can kill it. Right. Okay. So I'm thinking this was the most creative alien Hollywood has ever come up with. Because it was not an actor in a costume. Okay. And people forget. What color is the blob? Do you remember?

25:14Red. Red. except when it first landed. It was completely transparent. Oh. After it ate its first person, then it was red. Oh, I gotta go back and check that out. Yes, yes. Jake, did you know that? I didn't know that. Oh, okay. Can't stump. Unstumpable, Jake. I'm sorry. Well, I just showed my girlfriend the blog because she'd never seen it, so we just watched it the other week. Okay, so it's fresh and fresh. It might have been Steve McQueen's first movie or very early in his repertoire. Anyways, that's my - Early Steve McQueen. I think that's the most imaginative. Plus, it comes through the grill.

25:46Right, it comes through everything. Of the air conditioning duct. Any opening. Any opening. Any opening. It oozes its way through. Under the door? Yeah. Yeah. Ew. So that and favorite alien, I think, is from Contact. Contact with Jodie Foss? Yes. Wait a minute. So you mean when she was inside of that portal? You never see the alien. That's why it's my favorite alien. Right, because he says, I've taken on this for him to make you comfortable. No, no. Well, that's... Yes, yes. But the alien, you do not know what the alien looks like. The alien exists in some way that is not material, that does not lend itself to material presence for your eyes.