[apatil]

I heard about this video from an astronomer friend a few months ago. It was mostly about how Loeb's social and professional behavior matches with that of past crackpots. He does seem to leave himself open to that.

There wasn't really a material argument against his controversial hypotheses about interstellar objects. I counted an ad hominem (45 minutes of analysis of his awkward public persona), an argument from ignorance ('Omuamua is out of view so it's not possible to collect evidence for the lightsail hypothesis) and an appeal to the authority of the broader astronomical community.

He is going out and looking for evidence about IM1, and is seeking cross-validation from other labs, in a very transparent way. He's making lots of possibly inappropriately optimistic public speculations in the meantime, but I haven't seen him make any actual claims that aren't justified, which seems like the defining feature of a crackpot.

[DrDroop]

Today in the news, people still looking for the Loch Ness Monster using underwater microphones. They made all the recordings and are now looking to process the data, all in good faith and with an open mind. At some point you have to call a spade a spade for your own and everyone else's sanity.

[1] https://www.facebook.com/groups/470765477828717/