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Don't worry, Avi Loeb is on it. https://avi-loeb.medium.com/3i-atlas-rapidly-brightens-and-gets-bluer-than-the-sun-near-perihelion-3bf100df8390 https://avi-loeb
by ceejayoz 1y ago
Don't worry, Avi Loeb is on it. https://avi-loeb.medium.com/3i-atlas-rapidly-brightens-and-gets-bluer-than-the-sun-near-perihelion-3bf100df8390 https://avi-loeb.medium.com/3i-atlas-rapidly-brightens-and-g...
"Does it employ a power source that is hotter than the Sun?"
Sigh.
- A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 1y agoI don't like to discourage questions like that, because they kill curiosity. We know what the likely answer is, but reasonable assumptions are just that. Assumptions. Why not let mind wander about the exciting ( if somewhat hard to consider as possible ) lines of thinking.
- dylan604 1y agoThere's a difference in asking questions and pushing as fact with no evidence. It swings both ways
- ares623 1y agoPlus he is an authority figure with a captive audience. He has a much higher responsibility than the average person speculating.
- dylan604 1y agoYeah it doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the quality of ivy league credentials when guys like this are running around spouting nonsense. I'm surprised there's not a clause in his employee handbook that says to not be an obvious troll. Kooky science is one thing but this is just the type of person the men with butterfly nets and white coats should be interested
- gojomo 1y agoHuh? What is Loeb's 'captive audience'?
- ceejayoz 1y agoUFO nuts desperate for anyone with a shred of academic credibility.
- gojomo 1y agoWhat is Loeb pushing as fact with no evidence? Can you provide a representative quote?
- dekhn 1y agoYou can easily answer this with a Google search.
- gojomo 1y agoNo, I can't, because all I've seen from Loeb is pretty clear about what is fact, and what is speculation. I don't know, and there's no way to find via "Google search", what HN user ~dylan604 is specifically alleging has been improperly "pushed as fact". If it's clear to you, can you share a representative quote from Loeb? He's got a lot of writing to choose from!
- ceejayoz 1y ago[flagged]
- dekhn 1y agoHe moved from merely asking questions to promoting an unsupported claim without any real evidence (repeatedly). he's not curious.
- TheBlight 1y agoPlanetary scientist academics are angry because he's getting all of the attention and it isn't even in the field he's most known for previously. Even smart humans are still humans.
- dylan604 1y agoMaybe it's being driven by Bat Boy? I miss the days when tabloid fodder stayed in the tabloids.
- gaoshan 1y agoThat's a pretty wild, and public, hypothetical for someone with his standing at Harvard.
- ceejayoz 1y agoThat's his grift these days. He'll have the same to say about the next one.
- conradev 1y agoWhen we observe a fourth interstellar object, I'll gladly read Avi Loeb's wildest speculations alongside more measured perspectives. This is the third time we're observing an interstellar object?
- ceejayoz 1y agoYes, this is the third to be spotted. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1I/%CA%BBOumuamua https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1I/%CA%BBOumuamua 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2I/Borisov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2I/Borisov 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3I/ATLAS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3I/ATLAS 2/3 of them Loeb has made wild claims about.
- gojomo 1y agoWhy would someone "with his standing at Harvard" be expected to avoid "wild, and public, hypothetical[s]"? Does everyone at any prestigious institution have some duty to remain conventionally mundane in all their musings? Is there any reason to think such hypotheticals are, on net, more harmful than helpful? Isn't tenure (like Loeb's) designed to encourage a fearlessness around topics & speech?
- darig 1y ago[dead]
- CamperBob2 1y agoWouldn't be especially interesting if it did. Even a mantis shrimp can do that: https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/og0n3b/the_mantis_shrimp_can_punch_as_fast_as_a_bullet/ https://old.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/og0n3b/t...
- ceejayoz 1y agoIt would be deeply interesting for a comet to have a power source of any kind.
- all2 1y agoA volcanic comet?
- ceejayoz 1y agoA (hot) volcano on a comet would be very interesting, especially if said volcano was hotter than the sun. Even with cryovolcanoes, the power source is not on the comet; it's the sun.
- CamperBob2 1y agoMaybe it's a chunk of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przybylski%27s_Star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przybylski%27s_Star -- which admittedly is pretty darned strange in itself.
- kulahan 1y agoThis doesn't mean everyone is overhyping the comet, it means you're underhyping the mantis shrimp. There are a number of absolutely unimaginable miracles of nature on Earth.
- walleeee 1y agoFewer every year. If 3I/A is ET flyby, perhaps our progress trading primitive simulacra for biological miracles will satisfy it that we pose no great risk, annihilation being costly and reserved for planets with better long term odds
- m4r1k 1y agoDr. Avi has a pretty clear point and he goes into details on the JRE released just yesterday. https://youtu.be/EaAun27gftk https://youtu.be/EaAun27gftk What most stand out is the sheer amount of closed mind people in the accademia, Avi is not afraid of making suggestions of what it might be and even saying “if it turns out of being a rock, so be it”.
- ceejayoz 1y agoJust to be clear, "here he is shilling it to Joe Rogan" was intended to support his theory? > even saying “if it turns out of being a rock, so be it” I don't doubt it! He'll get another chance the next time we spot another one.