Birthday Greetings on Earth and Beyond
Today is my 64th birthday. My way of celebrating it is through a public colloquium on my latest research.
The lecture was streamed live at 11AM New-York time on YouTube at the following link:
Yesterday, I had a fascinating 90-minutes interview with the brilliant NewsNation journalist, Natasha Zouves, which will be broadcasted within a few days. In it, Natasha confessed that she is worried about the consequences of an encounter with aliens and asked whether I would still welcome the encounter if I knew that I will die soon afterwards.
I said that I would much rather have a short life during which I learn about our cosmic neighbors than a dull long life in which I watch NewsNation cover frustrating terrestrial politics.
Earlier that day, I was asked by the Associated Press reporter, Corey Williams: “If extraterrestrials exist and are visiting Earth, how would they view humans and the planet itself? This only can be answered with a human perspective, but would extraterrestrials see our species as kind and intelligent, or as warlike and hateful? Would they see the planet as green or prone to extremes?”
In response, I said: “`Are we alone?’ is the most romantic question in science. It would be arrogant to assume that only Earth has intelligent life, given the vastness of the universe and countless numbers of stars and planets within it. I do believe that extraterrestrials likely exist.
Did they make it to our backyard? You can have neighbors that never made it to your backyard and never called you. Whether we are visited, whether we have been visited, the answer is unknown. We’re just at the beginning of going through data sets. It takes less than a billion years for the Voyager spacecraft to go across the Milky Way galaxy. There was plenty of time for Voyager-like probes to make it to our backyard.
If I were looking at Earth from a distance, I would be pretty disappointed. Most of our geopolitics is dealing with conflicts to prevent other people from killing us or us killing others. Look at the Ukraine war over a little bit of territory. Hundreds of thousands of people died over a small piece of land on Earth. That is not a sign of intelligence.
If there is intelligent life out there that is able to observe Earth from afar or even drop in from time to time, that means humans are not at the top of the cosmic food chain.
We think we are superior to other animals but we’ve never tested this hypothesis beyond Earth. The aliens might be laughing at us. They might be watching us just to see us, to make sure we will not become predators, that we will not become dangerous to them.
View it as a blind date. Two entities meeting. If they arrived at our backyard before we arrived at theirs’, they probably are more advanced than we are. When they look at us, it would seem to me like how we look at chimpanzees or ants in the cracks of the pavements. Unless they see this as an experiment. Maybe they introduced life to Earth or intelligence to chimpanzees and want to see what comes of it. The universe operates on time scales far longer than we can comprehend. We are pretty ignorant. I would expect them not to be very impressed.
Given Obama’s admission, it’s quite likely there are objects that the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies cannot really identify. There are things they really can’t figure out, that were brought to the attention of the president and are highly classified. Are we dealing with human-made objects they are failing to identify? In that case, we are dealing with national security which is very serious. I hope as a result of this directive from President Trump that we get access to some data that scientists like myself can help figure out. These should not be held in secrecy.
In politics, what matters is how able you are to convince everyone around you of something. In science, the measure is whether there is evidence to support your argument. Science is supposed to bring people together because the knowledge is shared, irrespective of where you reside or the color of your skin. Everyone is supposed to be benefiting from it. Instead of the politics of zero-sum games, science is an infinite-sum game.”
Speaking about that, this morning I received the following uplifting message from the Republic of Uzbekistan on the other side of Earth. The message read:
“Attn.: Professor Dr Avi Loeb − Invitation and felicitations from
3000-year-old Samarkand, UNESCO World Heritage town
Dear Professor Loeb,
Greetings from sunny Uzbekistan in the very heart of Central Asia!
Even as far away as we are, we would be happy to have your signed photograph
in our international collection “Personality. Culture. Peace”.
You might also wish to include any autographed work of your choice
and answer the three questions about the sense and significance of culture
for the survival of humanity, if at all possible:
1. What, in your opinion, does the main sense of culture consist in?
2. What can save the culture in the XXI century?
3. What is the Culture of Peace for you?
If you wish, you can answer the questions briefly, even in one sentence.
Thanks for your consideration, time and cooperation.
On your special day, I wish to take this opportunity
to send your way from afar warm congratulations
for your birthday celebration.
May you enjoy the best of health and family happiness,
peace and harmony, inspiration and every success
in your creative endeavors now and in the years ahead.
Happy Birthday & Many More Happy Returns of the Day!
This comes to you from ancient Samarkand, designated
by the UNWTO as World Cultural Tourism Capital.
Kind regards,
Anatoly Ionesov
Anatoly Ionesov, founder and curator
Samarkandiana Encyclopedia Project
A. Jomiy Street, 53
UZ-140100 Samarkand
Republic of Uzbekistan”
My answer was as follows:
“Dear Anatoly,
Thank you for your kind email. Below are my answers to your questions:
1. What, in your opinion, does the main sense of culture consist in?
Culture is based on historical knowledge and traditions acquired over time.
2. What can save the culture in the XXI century?
Encountering an alien civilization from another star. Knowing that we have a more accomplished sibling in our family of intelligent civilizations will inspire us to construct habitable space platforms that would save humanity from catastrophes on Earth.
3. What is the Culture of Peace for you?
A Culture of Peace fosters cooperation, guided by hope for a better future. It is focused on an infinite-sum vision where everyone benefits from abundant resources, instead of the zero-sum games that are commonplace in our current political landscape.
With kind regards,
Avi”
This exchange was followed by an inspiring message from Croatia, which resembled a fresh bouquet of flowers for my birthday:
“Dear Professor Loeb,
I am fascinated by your way of communicating — every piece of advice and explanation you give is a true lesson. We can only learn and be inspired by you.
There is one verse that I particularly love, and it goes as follows:
The earth is crammed with heaven,
and every ordinary bush is afire with God;
but only he who sees takes off his shoes;
the rest sit around it and pick blackberries.
The author is Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and the verse comes from her work:
Aurora Leigh (published in 1856 in England).
This verse particularly inspires me because it reminds us that beauty and spiritual richness are all around us — but only those who truly see it will notice. It is inspired by the biblical scene from the Old Testament (Moses and the burning bush — “Take off your sandals from your feet.”).
It resonates with your perfect thought:
“The foundation of science rests on humility in learning, not on the arrogance of expertise.”
People like you are rare and deeply precious. If you and kindred spirits were entrusted with guiding this world, I believe we might already be witnessing the unfolding of a small earthly paradise.
Though reality can appear harsh, it is not fixed — it can be reshaped by clarity, courage, and vision.
May your ideas remain a light for young generations and for all who are willing to look beyond the walls of their own certainty.
With great respect,
Ivan Remeta
Split, Croatia”
Following that, the only thing I can say is: “Let many flowers bloom!” In that vein, I told Natasha that I am particularly thankful to parents who report that their children decided to become scientists after watching me speak on television. I gave up on convincing my senior colleagues to deviate from the beaten path. My remaining hope is that the next generation of scientists will do better.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Avi Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project, founding director of Harvard University’s — Black Hole Initiative, director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the former chair of the astronomy department at Harvard University (2011–2020). He is a former member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. He is the bestselling author of “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” and a co-author of the textbook “Life in the Cosmos”, both published in 2021. The paperback edition of his new book, titled “Interstellar”, was published in August 2024.
Professional website:
https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/
Social media:
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorAviLoeb
https://open.spotify.com/show/1zhndXkvSY2b8FdjspFpCd
https://x.com/ProfAviLoeb
