harvard & aliens & crackpots: a disambiguation of Avi Loeb on HackerTube: recommended by 5 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2023–2025.
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Physicist Angela Collier gives an hour-long critique of Avi Loeb's alien claims and reputation, placing them within the broader topic of physics crackpots. The Loeb discussion starts around the 24 minute mark.
Frequently linked as an in-depth, well-presented skeptical take whenever Loeb's alien claims come up.
“I was surprised about myself that I watched the entire thing and I guess it's because of the high quality of the presentation”
18 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
Yeah, that guy again. Required viewing: acollierastro harvard & aliens & crackpots: a disambiguation of Avi Loeb ▶ this video
in “Astrophysicist Avi Loeb: ‘UFOs should be the subject of mainstream inquiry'” · View on HN
posted here a few days ago: [ harvard & aliens & crackpots: a disambiguation of Avi Loeb ]( ▶ this video ) by Angela Collier. It's 1h6m long but I was surprised about myself that I watched the entire thing and I guess it's because of the high quality of the presentation and the occasional deadpan remark that keep you awake. Talk about Avi Loeb specifically start at 24 minutes. The most damning part of her takedown is probably when she shows zoom footage of a physicists' video conference and other snippets where Loeb is literally foaming with expletives directed mostly at fellow physicists, y'know, the Establishment who just wouldn't follow his by-now predictable but wholly unsupported jump from "I found mineral spherules on the bottom of the ocean" to "these must come from that deep space meteorite that I lately discovered" to "It's aliens!". Collier is such a sound antidote to all that flaky and faky science coverage we're getting. For all the clear words that she finds she still leaves viewers with an open question: "So is Loeb a grifter? I don't think so. Is he a crackpot? Future will tell."
in “Professor believes alien fragments found in 2014 Papua New Guinea meteor” · View on HN
Since it's on topic, I'd like to share a small youtuber who does science communication. She covered Loeb and the topics of crackpots in science [1]. Her other video on string theory and how it damaged science communication is really good too. [1] ▶ this video
in “A Harvard Professor Became the World’s Leading Alien Hunter” · View on HN
Thanks to hikingsimulator's link below, here is Loeb interacting with Tarter [0]. The entire video is worth listening to and the vlogger is refreshingly fair minded. 0. ▶ this video
in “A Harvard Professor Became the World’s Leading Alien Hunter” · View on HN
> He's written "over 800 scientific papers". Is that... a good thing in his field? No...it really isn't. If you want a very accurate and in depth breakdown of why, i suggest you watch this: ▶ this video If you don't want to do the whole thing, just jump to his lovely little interaction with Jill Tarter. Then look at all the comments trying to somehow give this snake oil salesman credibility. He's a publicity chaser who's past his prime and cashing in on his reputation and abusing his position. The fact harvard is profiting from it frankly is a disgrace.
in “Discovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]” · View on HN
OK so maybe I should've just linked e.g. to that very detailed (and sort of lengthy, but entertaining) video by acollierastro "harvard & aliens & crackpots: a disambiguation of Avi Loeb" ( ▶ this video ) which is definitely not flamewar-ish. Guess I've gotten somewhat thin-skinned given the volume of faux / overblown science news of late. For those reading this, there's yet another post here ( [link] ) that links to a harvard.edu article that gives more details on why the collectors of the spherules believe they have reason to assume that (1) they are really from the suspected meteorite, (2) the material's composition doesn't resemble materials known from other meteorites. Many questions remain though; for those interested in spherules from outer space, there's yet another earlier post ( [link] ) that links to a video that shows how excrutiating it is to collect and sort out teeny meteorites from the environment. Having seen that and a clip about the expedition's method of collecting (lowering a strong magnet to the seafloor) I wonder how often they lifted the thing up to collect material because otherwise they could not produce statistics about abundance in relation to the asteroid's flight path.
in “Discovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]” · View on HN
This isn't the first time Loeb has shouted "aliens!" Previously he said Ouamuamua was aliens based on a hunch, and after the news got their hands on it and declared aliens to the public, astronomers were understandably peeved with him and asked him not to shout "aliens!" unilaterally based on a hunch. Loeb didn't take it well. There's an amazing clip where he rants about how he is the only one serious about finding extraterrestrial intelligence... To a room full of career SETI astronomers. Here's a video essay about him. (People who have a strong preference for direct/to the point videos would probably be better served seeking out another source, I feel like this video adds interesting context but I know a lot of you would feel it's fluff.) ▶ this video
in “Physicist who found spherical meteor fragments claims they are alien” · View on HN
Fun link dump: * harvard & aliens & crackpots: a disambiguation of Avi Loeb by acollierastro (2022) ▶ this video * Critique of arXiv submission 2308.15623, "Discovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean Site of the CNEOS 2014-01-08 (IM1) Bolide", by A. Loeb et al by Steve Desch, Alan Jackson [link] * The IM1 Spherules from the Pacific Ocean Have Extrasolar Composition by Avi Loeb (August 2023) [link] * Reconstructing the First Interstellar Meteor, IM1 by Avi Loeb (September 2023) [link]
in “Harvard astronomer's "alien spherules" are industrial pollutants” · View on HN
Oh it's Avi Loeb, head of the astronomy department at Harvard. Here's a youtube about what his deal is, by an astronomer who studied astronomy through postdoc level and then left for industry and doing some youtubes ▶ this video
in “Metallic spheres on Pacific floor are interstellar, Harvard professor finds” · View on HN
Oh it's Avi Loeb, head of the astronomy department at Harvard. Here's a youtube about what his deal is, by an astronomer who studied astronomy through postdoc level and then left for industry and doing some youtubes ▶ this video
in “Discovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]” · View on HN
Here's a video essay from an astrophysicist about Avi Loeb (though she's transitioned to the private sector, I believe software engineering but I may be mistaken): ▶ this video [1 hour] The video predates the spherecule stuff and focuses on his assertion 'Oumuamua was "most likely" debris from an extraterrestrial spacecraft. Tl;Dw: he doesn't seem to have a good reputation within the SETI community, and Dr. Collie's personal opinion is that many of these papers are insubstantial; he often publishes a couple paragraphs proposing a thought experiment or cool idea, more blog posts than research.
in “Discovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]” · View on HN
Reminds me of this youtube vid I saw about him recently, titled "harvard & aliens & crackpots: a disambiguation of Avi Loeb." ▶ this video
in “Harvard professor Avi Loeb believes he's found fragments of alien technology” · View on HN
I watched his chat with SETI in full and it was unprofessional to say the least. I stand by that. Here's an article talking about it: [link] As to the part on the papers, I was open that it was just hearsay and asked for someone with better background to weigh in. Here's a physicist going into some depth on what I referred to: ▶ this video
in “Could UFOs be alien probes? A new 2023 Harvard study explores it [pdf]” · View on HN
It really isn't. One of the authors (Abraham Loeb) is well known for writing salami-sliced papers that have tenuous and non-testable premises. You should be skeptical of anything he writes after watching this: ▶ this video
in “Is the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS alien technology? [pdf]” · View on HN
I liked the time when Avi yelled at the director of SETI, Jill Tarter (inspiration for the fictional Ellie Arroway from the movie Contact), whose life's work has been searching for ETs for not searching for ETs in the right way. ▶ this video
in “The humiliating truth behind Harvard astronomer's alien spherules” · View on HN
Important context: this is Avi Loeb, the guy who insisted that Oumuamua might be aliens. Here's a nice exposé on him and his shoddy work ▶ this video
in “Superficial Toxicity Is the Enemy of Curiosity-Driven Innovation in Science” · View on HN
The man produces garbage papers. He characterizes the work as useful stepping stones for other scientists to do the rest of the obvious followup work, which he can't be bothered with. He's too busy churning out thought experiments. ▶ this video His skype rant to SETI leadership about how nobody is taking the idea of contact or evidence of alien civilizations seriously, is really sad.
in “What if Planet 9 is a Primordial Black Hole? (2019)” · View on HN
For context, Avi Loeb loudly publicly berated a leader of SETI for not being willing to consider the existence of aliens, evidently unaware of who she even was and what sort of work she was involved with: ▶ this video Avi Loeb is the malicious crank who uses theatrical grandstanding to make himself seem like a victim, alienating people who should be his natural allies if he were calm and sincere.
in “Discovery of Spherules of Likely Extrasolar Composition in the Pacific Ocean [pdf]” · View on HN