A critique on Avi Loeb

I like that Avi Loeb started unconventional ways of seeking evidence for UFOs, such as the Galileo Project, using other means than just radio signals. From what I’ve heard it’s an innovative approach that’s helped bridge some of the gap between academia and UFO research and a more general search for ET intelligence.

However I think Avi Loeb is very present in the media, and I think sometimes his need to find evidence is trumped by his need to create a spectacle. In the articles and interviews I have seen, I can respect how passionate he appears, but he also claims to find evidence for aliens in places where there might not be, and he gets so caught up in to how persecuted he is, and the drama of the exchange and the politics of it all rather than just providing people with the evidence.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think he’s a bad actor or a crackpot scientist, but I certainly think he lets his need for attention and ego get in the way of finding evidence for ET life. While I do think it is necessary to have a passionate advocate and someone who will pave the way aggressively like he does and call out bullshit that prevents scientific integrity and research from taking place, he seems to get so caught up in his persecution that we may overlook when the scientific consensus and his colleagues are actually right. It isn’t just because of it’s conservatism that they are wrong about the evidence each time. We just don’t know if pebbles at the bottom of the ocean are aliens, or if a rock in the atmosphere are aliens, or whatever it is… and he seems to talk big game about it in the media, and this worries me that he cares more about attention sometimes.

Look he’s a mixed tea bag for me. I would like nothing more than someone to discover alien life, but I just hope the research is the priority and not getting too boggled down on the excitement, press and attention of it all. I love that a Harvard Astronomer, someone at the head of academia is making serious efforts in ET research when it comes to UFOs, but I hope it remains serious and not boggled down in associating any and all mysteries as alien life.

I just think it’s too tempting and it can be misleading. I want nothing more than for the Galileo project to succeed and I hope it does. But I don’t think it’s healthy for someone paving the way to have a cult following. Fans should be the biggest critiques of his work, and hold his feet to the fire. If UFO’s are to be a science, we must treat it like one, and not a religion.