Spielberg on the “UFO” term, Loeb on humans as probes, and SpaceX shares wobble

This week, The Cosmic Report rounds up Steven Spielberg's insistence on using the “UFO” lexicon, an Avi Loeb talk on humans as probes for aliens, and pivots to SpaceX’s first week on the stock exchange.

Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day remains the talk of the town, as the majority of people I’ve spoken to have major gripes with glaring plot holes – no spoilers.

I still believe it’s a movie to suspend all disbelief for, and it’s not a film requiring direct answers, as it remains shrouded in fantasy.

One thing that is for sure, however, is that Spielberg is not a fan of the term “UAP,” and prefers the name “UFO.” And that’s not to mention “Tic Tacs.”

Spielberg is one of the old-school

Spielberg, speaking to Neil DeGrasse Tyson, spoke of his inspiration for his new movie, namely an influential NY Times article from 2017, around the same time he first heard the term “Tic Tac.”

This term was first coined in 2004, when US aviators saw an unidentified craft with a long, white, oblong shape, resembling the popular mint brand Tic Tac.

Nowadays, it remains a possible shape of craft, not really a replacement for “UFO" and “UAP.”

“It’s all confusing,” explained Spielberg,"I like ‘UFO’ can’t we go back to that?”

“UAP” first stood for "Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon" when it first appeared in print in 1987. However, in December 2022, the Pentagon expanded it to “Unidentified anomalous phenomena,” as if to encompass phenomena in the water as well.

Steven Spielberg explains to Neil Degrasse Tyson why the public has "a right to know" about UFOs, how deep state contractors can keep secrets that the gov't can't, how he was inspired by the 2017 NYT article, whistleblowers Grusch, Fravor and Graves in 2023, and thinks the term "UAP" is redundant.
by u/TommyShelbyPFB in UFOs

“Who are they fooling?” asked Tyson during the conversation, aimed at the bureaucratic rebranding term “UAP” as if to strip away decades of pop culture with the stigma-laden “UFO.”

Whether it’s a bird, a plane, or aliens – whatever we dub it might not matter one day, especially when we spend half of the time calling each other out for words once uttered.

Loeb floats a probing notion

This week, a French student asked Avi Loeb in an online talk why we don’t see self-cloning alien probes, especially if the technology is supposed to exist.

Unless it's been kept under the strictest wraps (hence the whole UFO disclosure movement), there are not so many signs of galactic engineering.

For many scientists, it’s a case of surely we would have seen the evidence by now.

Loeb surprisingly responded that he already interacts daily with self-replicating probes: humans. He argued that biological intelligence remains dramatically more energy efficient than today's AI.

And, as he exclusively revealed to Cybernews this week, it’s really best to let the science do the talking in these situations.

However, he stopped short of claiming humans were engineered by aliens. Instead, he framed it as a legitimate scientific possibility worth considering.

"I interact every day with intelligent self-replicating and self-repairing autonomous probes,” explained Loeb, “they are called humans."

SpaceX stock euphoria cools

I was wondering earlier this week whether I was the only one with FOMO (fear of missing out) about the SpaceX launch on the stock exchange.

After blasting off at a cool $160 on Friday, June 12th, it rocketed up to just under $202 on Tuesday, 16th, seemingly gathering exponential growth.

However, as the stock began to close out its first full week on the stock exchange, it took a descent back down to $185, and could continue to trail.

Attention has shifted toward the costs of its AI ambitions. The company recently announced plans to acquire Cursor-maker Anysphere, with the deal valued at approximately $60 billion in stock. Investors are now evaluating integration risks.