[Cog]

I've read all the Clark books and they are science fiction. Just like the thinking that this rock was under intelligent control.

[jedrider]

They can have the Earth. We're just about finished with it anyway.

[Outcast_Searcher]

Every time we notice something unusual or that we don't fully understand, doesn't mean it's evidence for extraterrestrial intelligent life.

That it COULD have potentially been a sign of intelligent life is FAR from anything remotely like solid evidence for it.

...

When I was a young teen in the early 70's, I was convinced that Jupiter's red spot was evidence for such life. I was sure that when we investigated it closely (say, with a probe), that we'd get some kind of "hi there -- we see you've got crude space travel now" message, and then we'd be visited. Of course, later we learn that, amazingly, the spot is a huge storm and lasts for hundreds of years, and such storms (varying in details and lifespan) come and go on Jupiter and other gas giants (see "Great Dark Spot" on Neptune), in the long term.

It's fun to imagine things, but science fiction isn't remotely close to science fact.

...

Oh, and I see the "source" for the gravitational slingshot claim is a Youtube video and random speculation. I didn't see anything about that in the NASA piece.

[onlooker]

Wow!
Can we send them an SOS?

[Outcast_Searcher]

The next Youtube video that came up after the one in Baha's link was a nice 13ish minute Ted talk by an astrobiologist.

Scientists think it is a natural object from another solar system. They disagree on its origin (i.e. from early in the life of a solar system to created by a Supernova shredding a planet). They're not sure of its exact nature, since it was relatively far away by the time it was spotted. Likely rocky or metallic.

They can't prove it's not alien technology, but there is no reason to think it is, either. They did look for radio signals, and it's been completely silent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfi3w9Bzwik

[evilgenius]

I think it's funny how we assume intelligent life would be just like we are now. Our understanding of detecting it is that we will pick up radio signals. We've only known about radio signals for about a hundred years. Chances are that something that can travel all the way here wouldn't use them, unless it figured that was all that we could see and it wanted us to know about it. Otherwise, it would use what it knows works best for it, like how we use the internet now far more often than plain old telephones to keep in touch. Of course, that doesn't mean I read anything into this object. It gives an old Sci Fi fan a chance to vent. Our way of looking at the possibility of other life is not far from Star Trek, when they assume most intelligent beings will have two arms and two legs, one head, and speak English.

[Plantagenet]

"There are more things on heaven and earth .... then are dreamt of in your philosphy."

------William Shakespeare

[onlooker]

They're is more we do not know, then we know.

[onlooker]

Baha, if you have the time check out episodes of the series "Ancient Aliens"

[Cog]

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

robot guy from Blade Runner 1982

The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very very brightly, Roy. Look at you. You're the prodigal son. You're quite a prize!

Perhaps you are about burnt out pstarr

[KaiserJeep]

He needs to weed to maintain his interest in rocking:

[asg70]

They're is more we do not know, then we know.

Yep. Like basic grammar.

https://writingexplained.org/then-vs-than-difference

https://www.dictionary.com/e/their-there-theyre/

[onlooker]

They're is more we do not know, then we know.

Yep. Like basic grammar.

https://writingexplained.org/then-vs-than-difference

https://www.dictionary.com/e/their-there-theyre/

Okay, so I flunked basic grammar, sue me

[Newfie]

A good trick to keep track of these words is that then is usually used to indicate time. Both then and time have a letter “E” in them. Than is used to make comparisons. Both than and comparison have a letter “A” in them.

I seen the wrong word used more often than not.

[careinke]

A good trick to keep track of these words is that then is usually used to indicate time. Both then and time have a letter “E” in them. Than is used to make comparisons. Both than and comparison have a letter “A” in them.

I seen the wrong word used more often than not.

Still, not as annoying as the misuse of effect and affect.

[Outcast_Searcher]

Like it or not, the most likely explanation is 'this is a spaceship'.

Like it or not, like almost everyone else, if you're wrong, you won't admit it, even if the best scientists (who have expertise instead of merely intuition) say it's almost certainly an inanimate object.

Just like with AGW, evolution, etc. -- I'll go with science.

By the way, almost any rapid cometlike path that goes relatively near the sun (like, for example, inside the orbit of mercury), will result in a change of course. If ANY change in course is your goal, that's FAR from proof it must be a path designed by intelligence.

Comets have shown similar behavior for billions of years -- no aliens required. Those, and LOTS and LOTS of various rocks and icy objects we keep finding in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud.

Now, if most astronomers, cosmologists, astrophysicists etc. decide this is evidence for alien intelligence, i.e. a "spaceship" be SURE and get back to us, as that will certainly warrant further investigation.