Welcome to Within Reason. My name is Alex O'Connor. My guest today is Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Dr. Tyson is an astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City,

as well as being one of the most recognizable communicators of science in the world.

His most recent book, Starry Messenger, is subtitled Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization,

and so we spoke about what it means to take a Cosmic Perspective, viewing ourselves in our

universal context and the nihilism that this can inspire in some people when they realise just how

small we are in relation to the rest of the universe. We spend the bulk of the conversation,

however, talking about threats to civilization. We talk about the internal threat of artificial

intelligence and Dr. Tyson's rather optimistic views about its development, as well as external

threats. What does he think is the greatest threat to planet Earth from outer space?

There are many more things that I would like to talk to Dr. Tyson about. There are entire

chapters of this most recent book that I really wanted to press him on, but as things progressed,

I realised that there simply wasn't going to be time. Perhaps this leaves room for a future

potential episode, only time will tell. Nonetheless, this was an incredibly enjoyable conversation.

It was a privilege to sit down with Neil deGrasse Tyson. I hope you get some enjoyment

out of the following podcast, as I know that I certainly did.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

Sure, thanks for having me. I love the overarching themes that drive your conversation

some delighted to participate in. Well, I thought it would be good to sit down with you.

I noticed that your latest book, Starry Messenger, Cosmic Perspectives on Civilisation,

given that it's got the word Cosmic in it, which is also in my YouTube channel name.

I think there'll be some overlap at the very least. I wanted to begin by asking, actually,

...