Final Product (FOIA 23-F-0010)

But the data collected in a single Galileo Project > expedition is worth a million tweets. Four centuries ago, Galileo
Galilei > was put in house
arrest-the equivalent ofbeing cancelled on social media today. Galileo's experience suggests that
intelligence is not manifested by authority, nor by popularity contests that insist on knowing the
answer in advance and suppress alternative opinions. Instead, intelligence is exhibited by open
minded individuals seeking evidence for the nature ofthe unknown. In this spirit, the Galileo
Project > aims to
understand empirically the origin ofmeter-size objects tougher than iron that fill up interstellar
space.
The search is challenging but fun to carry out. Here's hoping that our childhood curiosity will be
guided by scientific papers like those mentioned above, and not suppressed by superficial comments
from spectators. Basketball coaches often tell their team players: "Keep your eyes on the ball, not the
audience." My paraphrased recommendation to the expedition team is: "Keep your eyes on the
fireball, not social media."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Avi Loeb is the head ofthe Galileo Project, founding director of Harvard University's-Black Hole
Initiative, director ofthe 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 chairs the advisory board for the Breakthrough Starshot project, and 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 ofthe National Academies. He is the bestselling author of
"Extraterrestrial: > The First Sign of
Intelligent Life Beyond Earth >"and a co-author
ofthe textbook "Life in the Cosmos< Caution-Caution-http://me.dm/r-nVUotn4yw6?source=email-
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