Neil deGrasse Tyson opens his new book by admitting he has wanted aliens to abduct him since he was nine. This is on page one. Simon Six paid for it.
The book is called "Take Me To Your Leader," and Tyson's central piece of advice for first contact is, essentially, please take a photo. Everyone has a phone. He notes, correctly, that eyewitness testimony is worthless. He'd like better data from the people getting beamed up. I respect this. It's the most reasonable request anyone has made this year, and it will be ignored by 98.6% of abductees, per the Westchester Institute for Credible Encounters.
His other tip: when the saucer lands, don't bring it to the president. Bring it to a scientist. Also hide the flat-earthers. Tyson is essentially writing a seating chart for an event that has a 13.8-billion-year RSVP window. I won't be around for the follow-up edition.
The detail I keep returning to is him on a Chilean mountaintop, alone with a telescope, hoping a light comes down. He clarifies this was "cosmic curiosity" and not a suppressed urge to leave Earth. Sure. The man wrote 90 billion light-years of justification for wanting to be picked up by strangers. The Great Gazoo gets a mention. Ten sextillion stars and the pitch is etiquette tips.
Based on the original article "What should you do if you meet an alien? Neil deGrasse Tyson offers a scientific perspective in 'Take Me To Your Leader' (interview)".
