Somebody finally found that hermit Neil deGrasse Tyson in the cave where he hides from public attention and convinced him to conduct an Ask Me Anything at Reddit. 

Tyson, who’s written the forward to several books that study the intersection of art and science, answered questions on both topics. An exchange on each follows.

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Question:

Which three works of art would you choose to give to an alien species that you feel best expresses the human experience?

Neil deGrasse Tyson:

Mmmmm.

I think I would have them visit the Rothko Chapel, in Houston. Obviously, there’s more than one work of art there, but it emanates from the same soul of creativity. That would be one of them, if I would be allowed to group that as one work of art.

Another group of art, I would say the Sistine Chapel, the ceiling. That captures the height of our artistic expression, triggered by religious emotion. And religion is a big part of what civilization has been. The Rothko Chapel is a path to your inner solitude.

And the fact that art can get you there – in a space, I think – matters.

And I would say third, again it’s a space – the Waterlily Room, in Paris, where you have the Waterlilies, where as Impressionist Art, you don’t think Waterlilies by seeing the artwork, you feel them. And it’s a way to have art convey a feeling more than a visual.

And this would tell the aliens that we, as a species, do much more than think.

We feel.

And then they’d have to contend with that.

Maybe they’d vaporize us, haha! I don’t know any force operating in our culture but art to capture that fact.

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Question:

Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have expressed their worries about the creation of an artificial intelligence. What do you think about it?

Neil deGrasse Tyson:

The people who worry about artificial intelligence – I’m not. I’m cool with it.

We already have artificial intelligence. It’s just where you draw the line. Where you say “This is something beyond the limit.” We have computers that beat us in chess, they even beat us in Jeopardy! We have a car that can drive itself. A car that can brake faster than you can. Airplanes that REQUIRE computers to fly because the pilot cannot control all the surfaces that are necessary for it to fly stably.

We have artificial intelligence around us at all times.

If they’re worried that there will be a robot invented that will come out of the box that will start stabbing us? If that happened, I’ll just unplug the robot. Or if it’s Texas, I’ll start shooting it.

I’m not worried, okay?

Nobody will put you on trial for shooting your own robot.

So I’m not worried. Really.

Plus if I programmed the damn thing – I can re-program you! So I’m good with putting as much intelligence as possible. Robots build our cars – not people! We can argue it, but it’s a fact.

And I’m old enough to remember – in the morning, there was a good reason that your car might not start for a dozen reason. And now cars start. Robots built that car. Gimme more robots.

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