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Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

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161–170 of 216 posts

Re: Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

#161

The first author is Avi Loeb, who thinks this: > In 2018, he suggested that alien space craft may be in the Solar System, using ʻOumuamua as an example. In 2023, he claimed to have recovered material from an interstellar meteor that could be evidence of an alien starship, claims some experts criticized as hasty and sensational. > On August 24, 2023, The New York Times published an article about Loeb and his search fo…

The Chief Scientist of US Space Operations Command "confirmed that the velocity estimate reported to NASA is sufficiently accurate to indicate an interstellar trajectory" [1] using "additional data available to the Department of Defense" which I assume is classified. As far as I can tell this paper isn't making any extraordinary claims about extraterrestrial intelligence [2] (which Loeb is infamous for), it's just co…

Next we'll be hearing that this unfamiliar abundance pattern may be the signature of a room-temperature superconductor.

Re: Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

#162
post #131
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment is trying to discredit David Grusch. He merely said that those potential beings might not be aliens but might be resident of earth and maybe on other dimensions. He also mentions the Vatican role on one occasion in the 40’s for a case happening in Italy. It’s quite disheartening to see this person putting himself and his career in jeopardy being discredited on the internet by anonymous people using bad f…

"He merely said that those potential beings might not be aliens but might be resident of earth and maybe on other dimensions." All of which are as credible options as angles, faeries and gods. Just calling your hypothetical entity "coming from other dimension" is not any more credible than calling them "magical". The claims are completely similar as notions of mythological creatures of the past. But now a cultural di…

If you take that all the sightings and videos of UAPs have a grain of truth to them, I would say that calling an entity coming from "another dimension" is no weirder than saying an entity came from outside our solar system given how difficult it is to get to our solar system from anywhere else. So either

* they are all hoaxes that many otherwise sensible people are staking their reputations on (your baseless insinuations of a pathological search for attention notwithstanding)

* they all came from somewhere close enough to make it here and still have enough give-a-shit to joy ride in front of fighter planes and naval ships,

* they can do FTL and decided that this stupid blue marble is worth investigating, or

* "something else"

which at this point might as well be angels, faeries, gods, or interdimensional travel because as at least one guy says, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”[1]

[1] Arthur C. Clarke

Re: Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched the hearing and had a different takeaway: There are UAP interfering with military training exercises and in American airspace, and there doesn't exist a reliable mechanism to report these or to address them given the stigma around UAP, and there should be one for safety reasons. At the very least, I felt the pilots made a compelling case here. Now, if somehow there were indeed crashed alien crafts, I wouldn…

I mean if these hearings mean that the first-person accounts can come forward and testify themselves or more solid physical evidence, then great, job done. But given the Snowden leaks and the ones where someone posted Ukranian intelligence on their Discord server or the ones where complete service manuals for military hardware are posted on the War Thunder forums... if there was more truth to it, people would've done…

>Are there any secrets from, say, 50 years ago still hidden?

Who killed JFK? Just because it's a secret in that we don't know the exact answer doesn't mean that the question is secret and not known

Re: Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

#164

The first author is Avi Loeb, who thinks this: > In 2018, he suggested that alien space craft may be in the Solar System, using ʻOumuamua as an example. In 2023, he claimed to have recovered material from an interstellar meteor that could be evidence of an alien starship, claims some experts criticized as hasty and sensational. > On August 24, 2023, The New York Times published an article about Loeb and his search fo…

Excuse me? Take a scientific report with measurements with a grain of salt? Why must an opinion cloud a scientific observation of collected measurements? Put the salt away.

So if Michael Yeadon were to push out a paper filled with observations on the correlation between vaccines and autism, you wouldn't instantly disregard it? Some people don't deserve the time of day.

Re: Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

#165
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are interesting stories about a device allowing the user - the Vatican - to peer back through time. Called the Chronovisor. Curious times.

> a device allowing the user - the Vatican - to peer back through time There should be a Godwin’s law like principle where anytime a conspiracy theory mentions the Vatican the conversation ends. The sheer number of paranoid/delusional/motivated conspiracy theories involving the Vatican makes my eyes roll. There are a few well documented conspiracies involving the Vatican, but they weren’t kept secret for very long be…

Thank you nyokodo, payment for your services has been credited to your wallet. Love, Pope

Re: Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

#166
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is Loeb's reputation among astrophysicists? He's written "over 800 scientific papers". Is that... a good thing in his field?

> He's written "over 800 scientific papers". Is that... a good thing in his field? No...it really isn't. If you want a very accurate and in depth breakdown of why, i suggest you watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY985qzn7oI If you don't want to do the whole thing, just jump to his lovely little interaction with Jill Tarter. Then look at all the comments trying to somehow give this snake oil salesman credibi…

That little "interaction" with Jill Tarter is pretty hard to believe. This video is worth watching as, in summary, she discusses science crackpottery in general and explains this case in particular as age-related cognitive decline.

Re: Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

#168
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is Loeb's reputation among astrophysicists? He's written "over 800 scientific papers". Is that... a good thing in his field?

> What is Loeb's reputation among astrophysicists? Not an astrophysicist but several friends are. The consensus seems to be that he was a good scientist at one point but has turned into a sensationalist attention monger. > He's written "over 800 scientific papers". Is that... a good thing in his field? He's been an author on over 800 scientific papers: that includes his work, work he's been a significant collaborator…

In France we have Didier Raoult : he was a very good scientist until he became mad. And he has also published a gigantic amount of papers (with a lot of crap...). Theses two people look very similar according to me...

Re: Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

#169
post #27
post #24

Avi Loeb is an interesting scientist. I read a longer article about him that gave some more background about his work [1]. While he is famous for going on podcasts and making wild claims about objects being signs of alien intelligence, the actual hard science that he's doing is interesting. E.g, this expedition he managed to get funding to recover these extrasolar particles. The clickbaity pop media says that this is…

What is Loeb's reputation among astrophysicists? He's written "over 800 scientific papers". Is that... a good thing in his field?

> He's written "over 800 scientific papers". Is that... a good thing in his field?

as some others have said, that's not the flex he thinks it is

Re: Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]

#170
post #26

Oh it's Avi Loeb, head of the astronomy department at Harvard. Here's a youtube about what his deal is, by an astronomer who studied astronomy through postdoc level and then left for industry and doing some youtubes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY985qzn7oI

Yea let’s delegate all responsibility to an expert who can think for us instead of forming our own opinion from observation.

It sounds like you don't want them to...

Going by your overly cynical tone, it sounds like you're claiming to be the expert who can, and should, think for us. No, thank you. People can read the original post and watch the video and form their own opinion.

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