Another Alien Asteroid - Avi Loeb - #502

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Physics, Natural Sciences, Science

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, I sit down with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb to explore his provocative new article analyzing the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS — a visitor from beyond our solar system that might not be natural. 🛰️ We dive into his recent article on Medium https://avi-loeb.medium.com/is-the-interstellar-object-3i-atlas-alien-technology-b59ccc17b2e3 and get into: • The strange anomalies in 3I/ATLAS’s orbit, size, and speed 🌌 • How the Dark Forest Hypothesis could change the search for intelligent life 🕵️‍♂️ • Why even unlikely cosmic risks deserve serious scientific attention 🧠 • What Pascal’s Wager teaches us about ignoring possible extraterrestrial probes 🪐 💥 Plus, Avi answers 5 gripping questions designed to maximize your curiosity — from the first signs of alien tech to the biggest risks humanity faces if we stay silent. 🎧 Don’t miss this mind-expanding conversation with one of the boldest thinkers in astrophysics. 1️⃣ “Is This Alien Tech Hiding in Plain Sight?” 2️⃣ “The Dark Forest Theory Just Got Real” 3️⃣ “Avi Loeb: The Alien Probe We Can’t Ignore” 4️⃣ “3I/ATLAS: Interstellar Visitor… or Something Else?” 5️⃣ “What If They’re Watching Us? (The 3I/ATLAS Mystery)” For those of you who don't know him, Avi is a professor of science at Harvard University, theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, and cosmologist. He is also a bestselling author and a dear friend of mine. By the time you see this, Avi will have published his new book, Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars. In it, he explains why we need to become an interstellar species to ensure our survival and lays out a plan for how we can settle among the stars. As usual, we take some time to judge a book by its cover and discuss what went into the making of this book. We also dig into the recent Galileo Project expedition to the Pacific Ocean to retrieve spherules of the first recognized interstellar meteor, IM1, which was led by Avi, and discuss whether they found evidence of alien life. - Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join Intro (00:00) Asteroids that are Interstellar (00:44) On extraordinary evidence (08:13) Does Avi have proof of alien technology (13:55) On David Grusch and government obligations (78:01) More on Interstellar and what it means to become an interstellar species (1:16:56) Rapid fire audience questions (1:19:20) Outro (1:50:57) — Additional resources: 📚 Interstellar by Avi Loeb: https://a.co/d/gN18ylO 📺 Watch my most popular videos: Neil Turok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5cFLN65fI Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose: https://youtu.be/AMuqyAvX7Wo Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/g00ilS6tBvs Avi Loeb: https://youtu.be/N9lUceHsLRw ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I see science as a privilege to maintain our childhood curiosity.
0:04.0	And I was particularly happy a couple of months ago when I attended a gathering of about 100 CEOs
0:15.0	and some of the most accomplished in the world and some of the most accomplished celebrities. And at the coffee break, I saw Margot Roby.
0:24.0	And I had no way of starting a conversation with her because I don't have much in common.
0:30.8	She's a very successful actress.
0:33.2	But then someone came with my book to sign it and she noticed it.
0:37.1	And she said,
0:37.7	oh, are you Avi Lobb?
0:39.2	I really wanted to hear your talk, but I have to go to a wedding and would you mind telling me about your work?
0:47.1	And for 20 minutes, we discussed my work, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
0:54.0	In the middle of it, Jensen Huang, the
0:57.8	CEO of Nvidia, showed up and he wanted to shake her hand. He ignored me all together. And
1:04.7	she wasn't really into money. She wasn't interested in learning more about Nvidia. She really
1:10.2	wanted to know whether
1:11.1	there is extraterrestrial intelligence. And to me, that is the greatest satisfaction because
1:16.2	I address a question that the public and everyone cares about. I'm not afraid of being
1:24.4	ridiculed or, in fact, just a few days ago I wrote an essay with two psychologists
1:33.0	trying to analyze why astronomers in the mainstream have a problem dealing with extraterrestrial
1:38.9	intelligence you know the mainstream of the astronomy community decided in the
1:42.7	Decadal Survey of 2020 to dedicate
1:45.3	of the order of $10 billion over the next two decades to build the Habitable World Observatory
1:53.4	to search for microbes in the atmospheres of exoplanets, the chemical fingerprints of microbes.
	...

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