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Astronomer: Seeing dead space aliens would teach us a lesson

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Could 'Oumuamua be an extra-terrestrial solar sail?
Artist’s impression of interstellar asteroid/comet, Oumuamua /ESO, M. Kornmesser

Remember the astronomer who thought that space detritus Oumuamua might be an extraterrestrial lightsail? He’s back:

Harvard professor Avi Loeb thinks humans should be on the hunt for signs of alien life and alien death.

During a recent presentation at the The Humans to Mars Summit, Loeb argued that the discovery of a dead alien civilization could serve as a sort of cautionary tale for humanity, letting us know what not to do if we want to survive.

“The idea is we may learn something in the process,” he said. “We may learn to better behave with each other, not to initiate a nuclear war, or to monitor our planet and make sure that it’s habitable for as long as we can make it habitable.”

Loeb calls this process of looking for evidence of dead alien civilizations “space archaeology.” Kristin Hauser, “Harvard Prof: Finding Dead Alien Civilizations Could Save Humans” at Futurism

Okay, prof. Now that you mention it, dead aliens sound scarier than live ones, though just why is unclear.

See also: What? Oumuamua Was Just A Comet? After All The ET Hype?

Astronomer: We’re too dumb to think space object Oumuamua was an extraterrestrial lightsail.

Astronomers: Solar System Object In Transit, Oumuamua, Might Be A “Light Sail Of Extra-Terrestrial Origin”

Why Some Scientists Saw Asteroid Oumuamua As ET

Why can top scientists get away with extraordinary claims?

and

“Tales of an Invented God. Why They must be Out There.

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Comments
What can he possibly mean by "finding a dead alien"? Or is he thinking the warehouses at Wright-Patt? For the next thousand years or so, "finding" a dead alien would mean getting data feed from a lander someplace out beyond Jupiter. And of course the lander most likely does NOT have any investigatey accessories beyond the 1-picture-at-a-time-camera and an arm that can drag stuff into vial to test for Carbon or something. And of course the delay between the "pan LEFT" command from Earth and receiving a new picture in, um, carry the 3... a week and a half? This would NOT be Commander Spock calmly talking (instantaneously) with some space crab. But I'm all for strapping anyone who wants to go into a Gemini capsule with 2 weeks worth of food and water and launching them... Out THERE. The guy getting strapped in would of course have to buy a TICKET, which we'd try to keep under 1 trillion USDs. A return flight would of course cost extra...vmahuna
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