Discovery of spherules of likely extrasolar composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf] • Hacker News Board

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

#211

Post by pyinstallwoes » Mon, Sep 04, 2023, 5:01 PM UTC

maxbond wrote: post #82

pyinstallwoes wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's a detailed video essay that presents a cohesive argument, drawing on a wide variety of sources including Loeb's autobiography. Form your opinion however you please, but this is an excellent source. It's unfair to tarnish it as merely dogma, or to insult the other commenter as merely a mouthpiece for the scientific establishment for linking to a strong source. Furthermore, there is such a thing as expertise. Info…

There is only such a thing as expertise if it is demonstrable. Having an opinion about a colleague is not information worth considering.

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

#212

Post by pyinstallwoes » Mon, Sep 04, 2023, 5:01 PM UTC

ftxbro wrote: post #159

pyinstallwoes wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

you're right i'm going to go into the pacific ocean and look at those spherules myself and then go visit another star and see for myself that it's like the ones from outside our solar system

Now obviously you need not go there physically, only track the evidence and come to your own conclusion.

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

#213

Post by pyinstallwoes » Mon, Sep 04, 2023, 5:02 PM UTC

webnrrd2k wrote: post #170

pyinstallwoes wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Damn the people who form their own opinion and don't have opinions on things they can't know about!

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

#214

Post by pyinstallwoes » Mon, Sep 04, 2023, 5:04 PM UTC

madaxe_again wrote: post #84

tptacek wrote: 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 a hype-monger who is high on his own bullshit. That’s his reputation. He was a reasonable scientist but realised that being a mystic was more profitable.

How is he high on his own bullshit? It sounds like the reputation you know of is whatever the gossip is "in public." How was he previously reasonable but now realized being mystic is more profitable?

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

#215

Post by ceejayoz » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 1:46 PM UTC

baja_blast wrote: post #201

ltbarcly3 wrote: post #102

Even if they are extrasolar, it doesn't mean anything interesting. Everything in the solar system is extrasolar if you go back far enough, and of course material from outside the solar system arrives from time to time. The interesting thing the author wants so very badly to believe is that these little blobs of melted rock and metal were from some kind of technological contraption built by aliens.

> Everything in the solar system is extrasolar if you go back far enough That is not true the composition and material of our solar system are the result of a Supernova remnants. The element composition of each nebula is unique since no star is exactly the same(although it could be quite similar), but outside of the other stars that formed alongside our sun 4.5 billion years ago, other solar systems have different el…

> That is not true the composition and material of our solar system are the result of a Supernova remnants.

Which are... extrasolar.

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

#216

Post by maxbond » Tue, Sep 12, 2023, 4:27 AM UTC

pyinstallwoes wrote: post #211

maxbond wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a detailed video essay that presents a cohesive argument, drawing on a wide variety of sources including Loeb's autobiography. Form your opinion however you please, but this is an excellent source. It's unfair to tarnish it as merely dogma, or to insult the other commenter as merely a mouthpiece for the scientific establishment for linking to a strong source. Furthermore, there is such a thing as expertise. Info…

There is only such a thing as expertise if it is demonstrable. Having an opinion about a colleague is not information worth considering.

It's not an opinion about a colleague, it's an opinion about their body of work. And again, it isn't a shallow hot take, its a well researched piece. It doesn't get much more "demonstrable" than a video essay full of specifics drawn from a wide variety of sources.

Candidly, may I ask if you had seen the video at the time you made your comment implying we were all accepting it uncritically rather than forming our own opinion? Because I can't help but notice you haven't criticized anything specific about the video.