[coderaptor]

The amount of press and public interest he’s drummed up likely encourages young folks to get into the field, raises the profile of the work, and encourages public support of more funding and exploration.

And, since he’s not wrong or right - just exploring possibilities and being imaginative, I think it’s pretty cool.

[sailingparrot]

> just exploring possibilities and being imaginative, I think it’s pretty cool.

I completly agree with that, but I believe you can do that without being disingenuous, as Carl Sagan did.

> since he’s not wrong or right

This is what is written on the back of his book: "Harvard’s top astronomer, showed it was not an asteroid; it was moving too fast along a strange orbit, and left no trail of gas or debris in its wake. There was only one conceivable explanation: the object was a piece of advanced technology created by a distant alien civilization."

How is that not wrong? It is even worse than wrong since he is very aware of the other potential explanations, it's straigh up lying.