My identity has three facets. First, I was born on a farm in Israel 63 years ago. Second, I had been an active scientist for forty years, who published more than a thousand scientific papers and eight books. Third, I had been a faculty at Harvard University for 32 years. I am proud of all three facets of my identity and have no intention to apologize for any of them.
Of course, I had been critical over the years of various manifestations of these facets with which I disagree. At times, I criticized aspects of Israeli politics as I believe in seeking peace through geopolitical agreements. This is acceptable criticism within the free speech that characterizes a democracy. I also criticized the sterile study of extra dimensions and the multiverse adopted by string theorists, who divorced theoretical physics from feedback by experimental data over the past forty year. This is acceptable criticism regarding the nature of the scientific method. And in a personal meeting a year ago with Harvard’s current president, Alan Garber, I presented seven strategic points on which Harvard went wrong and needs to correct course. This is acceptable as constructive advice in academia.
But recent events triggered unreasonable attacks on all three fronts of my identity.
First, anti-Israel harassment followed immediately after October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists killed, raped and burned about 1,200 Israeli citizens, including women and children, and took 250 hostages with them. The joy expressed by some Harvard faculty and students in response to this act of barbarism received a delayed response from university leaders who explained that a proper response “depends on context.” The rape and torture of Israeli women was also not promptly denounced by advocacy organizations for women. When studies in Harvard libraries and classes were disrupted, it became clear that the pendulum had swung too far to the left and the invisible hand that was supposed to keep it at balance near the center was dysfunctional. Rules to protect scholarship were not enforced and Harvard’s leadership waited too long to make changes. The Harvard scientists I spoke with were troubled by the turbulence that disrupted their classes and research activities. When I spoke publicly, I argued that all Harvard members are in the same boat, vulnerable to the possibility that it may sink if some members rock it too violently. Given that American society is split politically, it was inappropriate for some faculty members to introduce a political agenda on the Harvard campus, because it was guaranteed to alienate a significant portion of our students and their families.
As a direct consequence from these events, Harvard University is currently under attack as the political pendulum swung to the right in Washington D.C. In an interview yesterday, I was asked about my forecast for the immediate future, and I was pessimistic because those faculty members who rocked Harvard’s boat out of equilibrium, are currently arguing against course corrections as Harvard’s leadership does its best to navigate in the tumultuous political landscape that surrounds it.
And to top it all, scientific research is also losing a major portion of its funding. The Tech Support in the White House does not prioritize fundamental science. This is paradoxical since the silicon chips for our most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems are manufactured on atomic scales based on the principles of quantum mechanics. The underlying quantum physics was discovered through curiosity-driven research exactly a century ago. Denying funding for fundamental research in science will deprive the U.S. of frontier technologies in the upcoming century. After Russia lost many of its top scientists during glasnost, it never regained its prominent scientific status.
Unlike climate change alarmists, I am more concerned about the future of humanity than the physical future of planet Earth. The Earth went through major catastrophes in the past and survived, but humanity is facing existential threats from which it may not recover. I feel like the “canary in the coal mine,” whose livelihood is threatened by imminent threats. Here’s hoping that someone is listening to my tweets.
Can we all take a moment to figure out a better path forward? It is a matter of common sense to focus on what unifies us and work together to resolve the challenges ahead.
The Trojan Horse of social media that polarized our culture over the past decade might provide a deus ex machina answer to Enrico Ferm’s question: “But where is everybody?” Most extraterrestrial technological civilizations might have died from self-inflicted wounds, triggered by polarization inflicted by their social media. Our long-term survival depends on our ability to mitigate this toxic polarization and come together. There must be many lessons we can learn from the 13.8-billion-year history of the Universe.
Innovation through evidence-based science is key for our future prosperity and peace. The middle ground is a better foundation for our politics than the extremes. We must avoid hate speech or virtue signaling and do the right thing rather than just talk about it.
Our flaws imply that we are not the pinnacle of creation. There is a lot of room for improvement. We are probably also not at the top of the cosmological food chain, and we might learn from the success of other intelligent civilizations in the Milky-Way galaxy. Through my scientific research in the Galileo Project, I seek a higher intelligence in interstellar space because I do not find it here on Earth. We desperately need better role models than some of our leaders in academia and politics. For these reasons, I sometimes dream of escaping Earth and reaching the stars.
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.
