Overview

• Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb proposed on July 17 that 3I/ATLAS may be an artificial probe with potentially hostile intentions, warning that defensive measures might be required.
• The interstellar object is expected to pass within 223 million miles of Earth on December 17 at over 41 miles per second, raising urgency for threat assessment.
• Loeb’s theory has revived Stephen Hawking’s earlier admonitions that active contact with alien civilizations could expose humanity to catastrophic risks.
• Experts remain split over Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence projects and passive listening, with some noting over a century of Earth’s radio leakage may have already revealed our presence.
• Researchers invoke the ‘intelligence trap’ concept and Columbus analogy to argue that overconfidence in outreach could lead to strategic missteps in first contact.