"If Phoenix Finds Life on Mars, Do You Cheer or Cry?"
Tech Observer (May 30 2008)
"As NASA's Phoenix Mars-craft begins to do its job in earnest, the global conversation is heating up about whether it's good news or bad news to discover life on other planets. The Economist starts with the premise that we'll be disappointed if Phoenix can't find signs of life -- and that it's unfortunate that a concurrent Harvard paper concludes that Mars probably never had the kind of water that could support life.
"On the other hand, Nick Bostrom, who heads the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, writes that finding life on Mars would be the worst news ever. No headline would ever spell more disaster, he insists in an argument that, actually, I don't quite buy. Has to do with what he calls The Great Filter making sure civilizations never advance far enough to colonize space.
"To understand the strange push-pull humans feel about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, just look at the movies. You've got your Independence Day type of movies, where the aliens are the Conquistadors and humans are the Mayans. And you've got your Close Encounters of the Third Kind type of flicks, where the aliens are enlightened beings stopping by to say hello...."
"...finding life on Mars would be the worst news ever..." - Yep. I've heard that sort of thing. There are people who aren't satisfied until they find the dark lining of a silver cloud, and (I think) don't feel 'sophisticated' or 'intelligent' unless they're opposing an idea that people who aren't quite up to their standards find interesting.
One of the comments to this post has an idea that I've run into often enough: "If there is life elsewhere, the chances of it being intelligent are slim to none. My wish would be that it IS intelligent, has been around for millions of years, and can shoot down religion like a rat in a trap. Good times!"
In my experience, it's more often been a more terse 'finding extraterrestrial life will end religion/Christianity,' or thousands of words that say the same thing.
I've no doubt that there are people who will abandon their faith (whatever it is) as a result of finding extraterrestrial life.
I also am quite sure that there are people who will abandon their faith as a result of the next presidential election, the outcome of the World Series, and what next year's fashions look like.
Me, I'm a Catholic, so if I live out my remaining years without word of life on Mars, the lack of news won't affect my faith.
If, on the other hand, the Phoenix lander's cameras start picking up a picket line of Martians around the lander - or even microbes in a soil sample - that news won't affect my faith.
I'm not going to tell God what He can and can't do.
Meanwhile I'm having a blast, learning about this marvel-filled creation.
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