In the Dark

I couldn’t resist sharing the first abstract on today’s astro-ph announcement, one of the authors of which is Avi Loeb (the pseudonym of “Harvard Astronomer”). Here it is:

We examine the funding disparity in astronomical research priorities: the Habitable Worlds Observatory is planned to receive over $10 billion over the next two decades whereas extraterrestrial intelligence research receives nearly zero federal funding. This imbalance is in contrast to both scientific value and public interest, as 65% of Americans and 58.2% of surveyed astrobiologists believe extraterrestrial intelligence exists. Empirical psychological research demonstrates that humanity possesses greater resilience toward extraterrestrial contact than historically recognized. Contemporary studies reveal adaptive responses rather than mass panic, conflicting with the rationale for excluding extraterrestrial intelligence research from federal funding since 1993. The response to the recent interstellar object 3I/ATLAS exemplifies consequences of this underinvestment: despite discovery forecasts of a new interstellar object every few months for the coming decade, no funded missions exist to intercept or closely study these visitors from outside the Solar System. We propose establishing a comprehensive research program to explore both biosignatures and technosignatures on interstellar objects. This program would address profound public interest while advancing detection capabilities and enabling potentially transformative discoveries in the search for extraterrestrial life. The systematic exclusion of extraterrestrial intelligence research represents institutional bias rather than scientific limitation, requiring immediate reconsideration of funding priorities.

arXiv:2507.17790

You probably don’t need an AI summary (whether the A stands for “Artificial” or “Alien”), but it the gist of this new article is “Shut everything down and give me the money!”…

This entry was posted on July 25, 2025 at 1:26 pm and is filed under The Universe and Stuff with tags Aliens, arXiv:2507.17790, Avi Loeb, Extraterrestrial Life, Harvard Astronomer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.