[bellaire]

Tyson's entire point is that alien life, even life that appears to do things we associate with intelligence and language, may be so different from us that we are fundamentally unable to communicate, just like us and worms. What if their language is undetectable (or even absent) and their intelligence is inscrutable? He's assuming radical differences rather than assuming any similarity.

[szany]

His point is not that we might be unable to communicate, but that we might be so comparatively stupid that communication would be laughably pointless.