Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about his book, 'Take Me to Your Leader'

A book begins with a childhood desire to be abducted by aliens. Practical guidance is offered for first contact, including not shaking hands because the extended part of an alien’s body could be unknown anatomy with unpredictable consequences. The advice also challenges the assumption that human social customs are universal, noting that handshakes are not practiced worldwide. The guidance extends to how humans imagine aliens, often defaulting to humanoid forms with familiar features, which reflects human ego and emotional centricity. The work frames alien encounters through physics and science while critiquing anthropocentric expectations.

"Well, no, it's just - don't grab the thing that might be extended forward of the alien body, 'cause you don't know what part of the alien anatomy that is. To grab it and shake it - it could have consequences beyond your expectations. Not only that, shaking hands is not even a custom that's worldwide, right? In China, they don't shake hands when - unless they're meeting someone from the West. So to presume that an alien from another planet has a similar custom as you is just hubristic."

"I mean, you write - I'm going to quote you, "the level of ego and emotional centricity in the human species knows no bounds." TYSON: Knows no bounds, that is for sure. I mean, and it manifests in ways you might not even think. I mean, even on the level of how we've imagined aliens in our greatest tapestry of imagination - Hollywood - only occasionally is the alien form highly inventive. Most of the time, it's humanoid."

"Most of the time, it's humanoid. It's got a head, two eyes, nose, mouth, ears, neck, shoulders, arms, legs, torso. That is ego, because we're presuming that we'r"

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