Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth by Avi Loeb
Hardcover, 240 pages
Expected publication:
January 26th 2021
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Why study the universe without a sense of wonder and humility at all? Why are those two things so important? Scientists and researchers that peer out into the cosmic vastness of space can’t do it without wonder. For me, I can’t look at the night sky without those two things. I know we might as well be a frog in well there is so little we can see in our tiny little window to the universe. How can you not wonder or feel humbled?
One of my passions besides Horror and Science Fiction is space and astronomy. I listen weekly to several astronomy podcasts and constantly searching for videos on various topics related to that passion. Over the last few years, one of the voices that cut through for me was Avi Loeb.
I know it seems silly to say about an astronomer but bravery comes to mind when I think of his sense of wonder. He is not afraid to speculate or think wild or outside the box ideas. He is still a scientist so through a slew of papers over the years he has backed up those ideas.
A few years ago he stepped out into the media spotlight with one of those ideas. This was after Oumuamua the interstellar object was discovered racing through our solar system. Loeb pointed out that it was most likely a piece of technology. So, you see that is a huge deal because that would be proof that intelligent extraterrestrial life was indeed out there. They may have lived and died millions of years ago, and this object may have traveled long after it was gone or maybe it is a scout it is hard to say but one of the points of this book is we should try and find out.
I know people were hoping that a flying saucer would land on the lawn of the White House but the truth is much more likely to be something less splashy. Look I am not the astronomer, I don’t have to choose my words as carefully when you look at what Oumuamua did it is pretty fucking rad. This object came on a path from above turned at an incredible speed through changed directions when the orbit of Mars and out past Saturn in a totally different direction.
“instructive to view things from ‘Oumuamua’s vantage point. From that object’s perspective, it was at rest and our solar system slammed into it. Or, in a way that works both metaphorically and, maybe, literally, perhaps ‘Oumuamua was like a buoy resting in the expanse of the universe, and our solar system was like a ship that ran into it at high speed.”
Almost no one besides Loeb in the academic community has even considered the idea of thinking like Oumuamua. It is a simple thing but it shows a willingness to think about this object in new ways. What kind of arrogance does it take to see something like this and assume that we know what it is already.
What Loeb points out several ways in this book is that scientists afraid to admit the unconventional conclusion are bending over backward to try and explain how this happened naturally. The cool thing about this book is it tells Loeb’s story in parallel with the story and science of Oumuamua. Going from the small farm he grew up on to doing astronomy at Harvard we get to understand the person at the center of this story. We can see why Loeb would be the one raising the flag for this discovery.
It is that, a discovery. No one debates that but the debate is this. Did the discovery of Oumuamua show us the answer to one of the questions humanity has struggled with since we have had written language?
Loeb makes a really great case yes Oumuamua is one of the greatest discoveries in human history, the funny part is most don’t see it that way. We only had a few months as a species to observe Oumuamua, but that doesn’t mean we might not get another chance, and more importantly, if we open our minds and bet on Oumuamua being alien technology we can look with fresh eyes at the data we have.
More importantly towards the end of the book, Loeb explains how and why this species hell-bent on self-destruction through nuclear weapons and human-directed climate change need to make this bet now.
“A more ambitious bet would be to learn from what we imagine a more mature civilization might have attempted. To take the small scientific leap and allow the possibility ‘Oumuamua was extraterrestrial technology is to give humanity the small nudge toward thinking like a civilization that could have left a lightsail buoy for our solar system to run into. It is to nudge us not just to imagine alien spacecraft but to contemplate the construction of our own such craft.”
Oumuamua can and should be the call to this species to think like earthlings and mature. Yeah, I loved this book and I am happy to say I will have Professor Loeb on my podcast soon. Pre-order this book and look out for the interview.
One of my passions besides Horror and Science Fiction is space and astronomy. I listen weekly to several astronomy podcasts and constantly searching for videos on various topics related to that passion. Over the last few years, one of the voices that cut through for me was Avi Loeb.
I know it seems silly to say about an astronomer but bravery comes to mind when I think of his sense of wonder. He is not afraid to speculate or think wild or outside the box ideas. He is still a scientist so through a slew of papers over the years he has backed up those ideas.
A few years ago he stepped out into the media spotlight with one of those ideas. This was after Oumuamua the interstellar object was discovered racing through our solar system. Loeb pointed out that it was most likely a piece of technology. So, you see that is a huge deal because that would be proof that intelligent extraterrestrial life was indeed out there. They may have lived and died millions of years ago, and this object may have traveled long after it was gone or maybe it is a scout it is hard to say but one of the points of this book is we should try and find out.
I know people were hoping that a flying saucer would land on the lawn of the White House but the truth is much more likely to be something less splashy. Look I am not the astronomer, I don’t have to choose my words as carefully when you look at what Oumuamua did it is pretty fucking rad. This object came on a path from above turned at an incredible speed through changed directions when the orbit of Mars and out past Saturn in a totally different direction.
“instructive to view things from ‘Oumuamua’s vantage point. From that object’s perspective, it was at rest and our solar system slammed into it. Or, in a way that works both metaphorically and, maybe, literally, perhaps ‘Oumuamua was like a buoy resting in the expanse of the universe, and our solar system was like a ship that ran into it at high speed.”
Almost no one besides Loeb in the academic community has even considered the idea of thinking like Oumuamua. It is a simple thing but it shows a willingness to think about this object in new ways. What kind of arrogance does it take to see something like this and assume that we know what it is already.
What Loeb points out several ways in this book is that scientists afraid to admit the unconventional conclusion are bending over backward to try and explain how this happened naturally. The cool thing about this book is it tells Loeb’s story in parallel with the story and science of Oumuamua. Going from the small farm he grew up on to doing astronomy at Harvard we get to understand the person at the center of this story. We can see why Loeb would be the one raising the flag for this discovery.
It is that, a discovery. No one debates that but the debate is this. Did the discovery of Oumuamua show us the answer to one of the questions humanity has struggled with since we have had written language?
Loeb makes a really great case yes Oumuamua is one of the greatest discoveries in human history, the funny part is most don’t see it that way. We only had a few months as a species to observe Oumuamua, but that doesn’t mean we might not get another chance, and more importantly, if we open our minds and bet on Oumuamua being alien technology we can look with fresh eyes at the data we have.
More importantly towards the end of the book, Loeb explains how and why this species hell-bent on self-destruction through nuclear weapons and human-directed climate change need to make this bet now.
“A more ambitious bet would be to learn from what we imagine a more mature civilization might have attempted. To take the small scientific leap and allow the possibility ‘Oumuamua was extraterrestrial technology is to give humanity the small nudge toward thinking like a civilization that could have left a lightsail buoy for our solar system to run into. It is to nudge us not just to imagine alien spacecraft but to contemplate the construction of our own such craft.”
Oumuamua can and should be the call to this species to think like earthlings and mature. Yeah, I loved this book and I am happy to say I will have Professor Loeb on my podcast soon. Pre-order this book and look out for the interview.
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