I'm a fan of the pragmatic mathematical approach. This was the first thing detected. The chances that the first result is also any sort of outlier are very slim. Detect and track some more of these objects. I'd bet good money that Oumuamua's motion is very explainable once we get some better data from other, similar, objects.
This HN comment was just the motivation I needed to get off my computer and rededicate myself to polishing eighteen 1.32m gold-plated beryllium hexagonal mirror segments.
The data is there. Have at it.
In fact, this idea seems so obvious that it must have been tried already…
Just looked at the reference you dropped. Thanks, that is an interesting little rabbit hole.
The effort spent arguing about Oumuamua is a tiny, microscopic fraction of grant money in astronomy.
(I work on software to detect interstellar objects)
THe fact that another interstellar object was discovered so quickly made me lose hope in the artifact or ship idea though. Part of the appeal was the idea that interstellar meteors were not really a thing, but apparently they are.
If we put half the energy we use building interstellar spacecraft on neural implants we'd not worry about flying somewhere else to satiate our desires.
If we put half the energy we use working on neural implants on creating affordable housing and food production we wouldn't have people chasing after dreams of perceptual bliss.
If we put half the energy we put into affordable housing and food production into figuring out what Oumuamua was, we'd discover aliens and they'd solve all our problems.