Avi Loeb

And the one thread through this landscape is that common sense is not common.

You know, I told my students in the class, I said on the first class, I said, what is the strongest force in academia?

It's not gravity.

It's not electromagnetism, it's jealousy.

That's what sucks.

That's what brought me into science.

Well, that's what you display.

And I'm naive.

I don't change my reason for doing something just because other people misbehave.

I feel like I'm attending a party where the attendees are misbehaving

And all I can hope for is for a guest to show up and change the situation.

You know, one reason I'm seeking intelligence in interstellar space is I don't often find it in academia.

You know, I served in the Israeli military, and we parachuted, we drove tanks.

I was in a special unit that allowed me to finish my PhD at age 24, and then the SDI, the Star Wars initiative of President Reagan, brought me to the U.S.,

And I remember while serving in the paratroopers that there was a saying that sometimes you have to put your body on the barbed wire so that your friends, colleagues, soldiers can cross.

Climb over your back.

Yes.

And as long as I allow young people to innovate.

As long as I attract kids to science, I did my job.

It's not about me, you see.