Rama by Arthur C Clarke is a work of fiction, there's no blurry line there.

> We show that 3I/ATLAS approaches surprisingly close to Venus, Mars and Jupiter, with a probability of ≲ 0.005%

a) What does this even mean? If you throw a dart on a dartboard, anywhere it lands will have some probability. 1/200 doesn't seem that low.

b) It's the height of intellectual laziness and chicanery to go from not-that-low-of-probability to 'aliens'

They're free to make these claims. I'm also free to laugh at how ridiculous it is.

Now, if this thing had some précise shape, or rotational speed, or we saw it adding or subtracting delta V, or if it did gravity assists from multiple planets (not just 'flew kinda close to a couple of them'), now that would be interesting.

If you read the paper, you'll find there are many improbable occurrences, rather than just this one.

> > We show that 3I/ATLAS approaches surprisingly close to Venus, Mars and Jupiter, with a probability of ≲ 0.005% > > a) What does this even mean? If you throw a dart on a dartboard, anywhere it lands will have some probability. 1/200 doesn't seem that low.

Not 1 in 200 here. 1 in 20,000.