Professor Avi Loeb: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth

In October, 2017, an object that came from outside the solar system was discovered near the sun. Harvard Professor Avi Loeb says that it is an artifact – many colleagues say it is just another comet or asteroid.

Here is part of the ongoing and escalating controversy laid out in the Big Brains podcast from the University of Chicago from May 6, 2021. The full 34 minute conversation between Paul Rand and Professor Avi Loeb is on the University of Chicago website.

Avi Loeb is a theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology. He is former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University and directs the Black Hole Initiative. He chairs the Advisory Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative and the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies.

His recently published book is: Extraterrestrial, The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth – and the publisher says: Harvard’s top astronomer lays out his controversial theory that our solar system was recently visited by advanced alien technology from a distant star. It was discovered by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Maui, Hawaii, and given the name, ‘Oumuamua.

The publication of the book: Extraterrestrial, sharpened the controversy – which, by the way, is welcomed by Avi Loeb. The public is fascinated and the book is already a best-seller. Academic support is rare and critics are becoming organized. Some of it plays out in scientific papers – but much more is now on the internet. The Big Brains podcast from the University of Chicago is so interesting because the host, Paul M. Rand is well informed in the science of it and engages in a conversation.

CREDIT
Credit to Big Brains podcast, University of Chicago from May 6, 2021. The full 34 minute conversation between Paul Rand and Professor Avi Loeb is on the University of Chicago website.

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