The rise of conspiracy theories may represent a deep fragmentation of trust in science and government. While exploring new ideas and discoveries is exciting, it's important to remain skeptical of popular conspiracy theories that can quickly form large movements.
The desire to be the first to discover something and the professional rewards that come with it can lead to biases in scientific research and influence the kind of science that gets done. Financial and other motivations should always be taken into account when evaluating scientific studies.
The speaker reflects on the excitement of discovering together and going back to first principles to understand the world, citing ball lightning as an example that challenges accepted scientific explanations. He also hints at the possible deeper causes behind the rejection of certain phenomena by the scientific and government communities.
Dr. Avi Loeb discusses the theories surrounding Oumuamua, the first interstellar object observed passing through our solar system, and why it may not be an alien spaceship.