Is the Interstellar Object 3I/Atlas Alien Technology?

(arxiv.org)

34 points | by monkburger 12 hours ago ago

20 comments

  • jl6 11 hours ago ago

    It’s probably an alien escape pod that ejected from their civilization when their clickbait plague reached even their scientific journal articles.

    • jsbisviewtiful 10 hours ago ago

      The Cold War, conspiracy theories, tabloids and the dismantling of public education really did a number on a lot of people.

      Statistically speaking, intelligent life is out there. Mathematically speaking, the odds of us or them ever making contact is near 0.

  • compiler_queen 11 hours ago ago

    Of course it is, why wouldn't it be something mundane like always. I'll bet they've got some ulterior motives and that Elvis is with them.

  • theearling 11 hours ago ago

    Let's hope so, the U.S. and the world as a whole could either use a savior or factory reset

    • momento 10 hours ago ago

      What an exhausting defeatist mindset.

      • halfmatthalfcat 3 hours ago ago

        I enjoy some levity in these trying times

      • theearling 10 hours ago ago

        lol, just having fun man, I hope it's not just some rock

  • bob1029 11 hours ago ago

    > The relevance of this is that had the object indeed been discovered earlier, then there would have been some possibility that humanity could have mounted an intercept mission, a recourse that was out-of-the-question by the time 3I/ATLAS was actually detected

    The only kind of intercept mission that would make sense to me from a game theory perspective is a totally blind, large scale thermonuclear weapon strike. The first thing that it wakes up to shouldn't be a harmless probe that can only phone home the bad news.

    • tzs 11 hours ago ago

      Here's an interesting PBS Space Time video [1], "Dark Forest: Should We NOT Contact Aliens?", that goes over some of the game theory that a civilization might want to consider when deciding how visible to allow themselves to be to others.

      [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXYf47euE3U

    • nine_k 11 hours ago ago

      It's not all the dark forest; sometimes it's the shine of a a warm welcome!

  • Teever 10 hours ago ago

    I've been skeptical of anything Avi Loeb writes after watching this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY985qzn7oI&t=1440s

  • preisschild 11 hours ago ago

    > November/early December of 2025

    I guess I'll try to keep my calendar free for interstellar contact

  • darqis 11 hours ago ago

    is that humor?

    • gus_massa 2 hours ago ago

      No, it's a well known astronomer with a solid trajectory that since a few years for some reasons is seen "evidence" of aliens everywhere.

  • fouronnes3 11 hours ago ago

    > clandestine reverse Solar Oberth Manoeuvre

    is now my favourite xkcd 2326 example.

    • zdw 11 hours ago ago

      In many asian languages idioms of 4 characters (Chinese: Chengyu, Japanese: Yojijukugo) are used for concepts, and when many of these are packed tightly together the intent is frequently to either flaunt language ability or sound very smart.

      They can also be moderately impenetrable to early language learners.

    • staplung 11 hours ago ago

      > clandestine reverse Solar Oberth Manoeuvre

      Nah, I'm not really into Pokemon.

      https://xkcd.com/178/

    • unwind 11 hours ago ago

      Linky linky for the lazy: https://xkcd.com/2326/.

  • an0malous 11 hours ago ago

    Is Avi Loeb preparing to sell you another book?

  • JackAcid 11 hours ago ago

    [dead]