Avi Loeb

themes we should advocate for during our life, then what's the point of living?

Just think about the fact that we will all not be here in a hundred and something years at most.

And that's what fascinated me.

I was really interested in the big picture.

But at the same time, I collected eggs every afternoon.

I had a very strong connection to nature and I really love nature because it's not always kind to us.

Earth itself went through catastrophes, but

uh there is nothing uh you know bad in in the way that nature operates there is no intention the way you find with people and so i really used to go to the hills of the village and read philosophy books there embedded within nature and um and then circumstances brought me to physics and

When I received tenure at Harvard, I finished my PhD at age 24 because I was in a special program in the Israeli military that was forced on me.

And I was connected to physics, even though it wasn't my preference, but it at least allowed me to think rather than use my body just to carry weapons.

So I always preferred thinking.

And then...

One thing led to another.

I was tenured at Harvard and I asked myself, okay, I'm a professor in astrophysics.

This is an arranged marriage, but I'm actually married to my true love because I can pursue the same questions using the tools of science.

Now, it clearly makes me very different than my colleagues.

Because, you know, I don't care what they say.

I know what the important questions are.

And actually, frankly, the public knows what they are.

It's just some aberration within academia that these questions are not being pursued.