[salamandars]

I find the idea plausible that theories regarding extraterrestrial life are unfairly dismissed within the profession. And it would be such a tragedy to miss out on real evidence of alien life just because, institutionally, scientists are not allowed to consider it.

But can we put any stock into Avi's opinion on it, given that committing to the 'Oumuamua solar sail idea has been very lucrative for him, in the way of media attention, book deals, podcast appearances etc.? It is a little ironic to talk about other scientist's egos while promoting your own book.

[lowdose]

Avi Loeb does what ever it takes to keep doing what he loves. I hope to see more scientist like Avi because we need to consider more wild radical ideas. When aliens have no place in proper science, wtf are we studying?

[rtpg]

Not to go too Gil Scott Heron on you, but there are _many_ underfunded/underworked scientific initiaitives that are more important than trying to send a probe to contact aliens.

At least GPS satelites actually serve some purpose.

[avaldeso]

Discovering alien tech in an interstellar vessel would be an unprecedented technological breakthrough bigger than anything we could be making now. Bigger than GPS for sure. It doesn't even has to be more advanced than ours.