3 ms·

Read the last sentence of the article. Bias warps perception. This shouldn't even be posted here.

happytoexplain 6y ago
>Asked if there is a clear leading candidate explanation for 'Oumuamua's acceleration, Loeb referred Live Science to a not-yet-released book he authored called "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth," due for publication in January. I don't understand - is it unexpected that the person forming an argument for the alien hypothesis has written a book about it? That's not usually what people mean when they say "bias", and it's even further from being a good reason that the entire article "shouldn't be posted here". Or are you just making the assumption that the book's dumb "clickbaity" title must mean the author is full of shit?
- datameta 6y ago
  It seems obvious to me that if one intends to make money from a theory it is in their best interest to champion said theory even in the face of conflicting research and alternate explanations.
  - weego 6y ago
    At least until the book is out
  - aetherson 6y ago
    The profession of research scientist is the profession of making money from theories.
teh_klev 6y ago
> This shouldn't even be posted here. From the HN Guidelines: "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Also don't judge a book by its title. Until you've read the book then you can't comment on whether there's a bias in play.
- gus_massa 6y ago
  The same guy has published the idea of the solar sail in a paper (or preprint?). Solar sails are his research topic. The calculations that a solar sail can survive an interstellar travel are probably ok. The evidence that the solar sail is the most likely explanation is very weak.
  - teh_klev 6y ago
    Oh sure, and I agree maybe and many theories are likely wrong, but the point of my response was that the post is perfectly valid here on HN because it introduces discussion points such as yours...i.e. it's gratifying our intellectual curiosity (and arguments for and against) despite Loeb's interests...i.e. (sorry) solar sailed interstellar spacecraft. And this is why we're here.
    - gus_massa 6y ago
      We probably agree. My guess is that he really knows how much radiation is received by a big block of Hydrogen ice in the middle of space, but I always feel that his opinion about other explanations are biased. I think it's a good submission, but I'd be cautious.

>Asked if there is a clear leading candidate explanation for 'Oumuamua's acceleration, Loeb referred Live Science to a not-yet-released book he authored called "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth," due for publication in January. I don't understand - is it unexpected that the person forming an argument for the alien hypothesis has written a book about it? That's not usually what people mean when they say "bias", and it's even further from being a good reason that the entire article "shouldn't be posted here". Or are you just making the assumption that the book's dumb "clickbaity" title must mean the author is full of shit?

datameta 6y ago
It seems obvious to me that if one intends to make money from a theory it is in their best interest to champion said theory even in the face of conflicting research and alternate explanations.
- weego 6y ago
  At least until the book is out
- aetherson 6y ago
  The profession of research scientist is the profession of making money from theories.

teh_klev 6y ago

> This shouldn't even be posted here. From the HN Guidelines: "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Also don't judge a book by its title. Until you've read the book then you can't comment on whether there's a bias in play.

gus_massa 6y ago
The same guy has published the idea of the solar sail in a paper (or preprint?). Solar sails are his research topic. The calculations that a solar sail can survive an interstellar travel are probably ok. The evidence that the solar sail is the most likely explanation is very weak.
- teh_klev 6y ago
  Oh sure, and I agree maybe and many theories are likely wrong, but the point of my response was that the post is perfectly valid here on HN because it introduces discussion points such as yours...i.e. it's gratifying our intellectual curiosity (and arguments for and against) despite Loeb's interests...i.e. (sorry) solar sailed interstellar spacecraft. And this is why we're here.
  - gus_massa 6y ago
    We probably agree. My guess is that he really knows how much radiation is received by a big block of Hydrogen ice in the middle of space, but I always feel that his opinion about other explanations are biased. I think it's a good submission, but I'd be cautious.