Avi Loeb

Like we know that there should be dark matter, we just don't know what it is.

This is a known unknown.

However, the most fascinating breakthroughs will come from the unknown unknowns.

These are things that even Hollywood scriptwriters cannot imagine.

We don't know that we don't know these things.

How would we find them if we don't open up the conversation and attend to anomalies, fund risky scenarios?

Even though I think that having another resident in our cosmic street, which has billions of Earth-Sun analogs, is not a very risky proposition.

It's common sense to do that.

But even if you call it risky, let's put some of our resources in that direction because every company knows.

that the next breakthrough, the biggest revenue will come from identifying an opportunity that nobody else identified.

It's not part of the traditional thinking.

It's something completely new.

And they invest in brainstorming sessions.

However, in academia, where people are getting tenured to think broadly,

Everyone is going along the beaten path.

And you ask yourself, why is that?

It makes no sense.

The tenure system was invented to encourage people to think differently.

And even Richard Feynman said that thinking outside the box is something that should be encouraged, you know, because he was thinking differently than others.

Any innovator, any creator recognizes that we should allow people to go in uncharted territories.