When you’re a man of science, there’s a great deal of arguing and disagreement amongst your peers. That’s part of the scientific process. But Avi Loeb, a professor for Harvard, grows frustrated at the lack of confidence his associates have that mankind has already seen extraterrestrial life and technology.
Loeb, the longest serving chair for Harvard’s Department of Astronomy, recently spoke with The Independent. In their discussions, he explains that he believes we’ve encountered alien technology. Unfortunately, he also believes that this idea has been discarded by others for answers more within their grasp.
While Loeb has been advocating for such ideas for much of his professional life, one instance in 2017 was brought to special attention. This instance has given Loeb quite the level of controversy in the scientific community, as a result.
In 2017, an observatory in Hawaii discovered a large, pancake-shaped rock in space, about the size of a football field. They would name it “Oumuamua,” meaning “scout.” The disc was only visible for about 11 days before scientists lost it. What the rock actually was, or where it came from, is much contested, with claims ranging from solid hydrogen to a cloud of dust particles clumped together.
As you can likely guess, Loeb believes it was an extraterrestrial device of some kind. He cites strange movement patterns, odd color and form, and the sudden acceleration upon leaving as the primary reasons.
The physical characteristics of the object didn’t match a traditional asteroid or comet. Which, while odd, isn’t damning. The movement, however, is what has him convinced. It was described as having “sail like movements” that suddenly boosted to a speed of 196,000 mph as it left our solar system.
Loeb continues, comparing the experience to something like cavemen finding a smartphone. That by experiencing technology so far beyond their understanding, they assume that the object is nothing more than a weird rock.
A Healthy Distrust
This brings up an interesting conflict when it comes to things like aliens. If you don’t know the answer to something, and you cannot prove it one way or another, is it better to assume the more or less likely scenario?
If you believe in Occam’s Razor, then you’d say the more likely scenario. When it comes to prepping, this is the mindset we should all have, too. Prepping is all about being ready for what we aren’t expecting. When to entertain the less likely or unrealistic possibilities, things can very quickly become overwhelming.
While this doesn’t discredit the possibility of the strange and uncommon, the wiser choice is to assume the more boring possibility.
We also know that sometimes people can become fanatic about certain topics. For some, it’s the minutia of the Lord of the Rings books, for others, it’s celebrity gossip and reality shows. There reaches a point that this obsession can skew how we think about the world. While we by no means claim that Loeb is obsessed with aliens to the point or disregarding more logical possibilities, it’s an important possibility to consider when weighing the facts.
Do we think it was aliens? Maybe. Things suddenly bursting into impossible speeds has happened a fair number of times, many of which went unexplained. While the idea is interesting, we remain skeptical until something more reliable can confirm things.