is anybody going to talk about the numerous and very obvious artificial structures on Mars and Moon? Just shut up and chalk it up to conspiracy right like a good American.
What structures?
Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
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Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#22Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#23What happens when we'd put some microbes there now?
I've been curious about this recently actually. What are the downsides of "seeding" a plant with life to study how it evolves?
It becomes much more difficult to determine whether the planet contains indigenous life once you've introduced life from Earth.
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#24What happens when we'd put some microbes there now?
I've been curious about this recently actually. What are the downsides of "seeding" a plant with life to study how it evolves?
I'm also a fan of this idea. It seems far easier than trying to plant humans in giant bubbles with an Earthly ecosystem that just happen to be on the surface of Mars.
As other commenters have noted, it's probably not very wise, but I imagine it would be the cheapest way to increase the chances of the continuation of life (as we know it).
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#25For almost half a century, scientists have been speculating about sub-surface life on mars. Why with existing technological progress can we not just get a yes or no answer about this.
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#26Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#27I don't understand the excitement for finding life on Mars. I personally really, really hope we do not find life on Mars. If we find even the most basic microbial life, NASA is going to shut down all future exploration in the interest of Martian planetary protection. China and Russia probably won't, but the US will cripple itself (again) out of caution. On a more existential level, finding life elsewhere in the solar…
did you read Bostrom's article with the same opinion? https://www.nickbostrom.com/extraterrestrial.pdf
first I've seen it but my initial thought is that he does not think probable as much as I do that a great filter may exist in the practicality of interstellar travel. if so, it's not a buzzkill to find pangolin skeletons on mars. we're all in this cul de sac together.
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#28I don't understand the excitement for finding life on Mars. I personally really, really hope we do not find life on Mars. If we find even the most basic microbial life, NASA is going to shut down all future exploration in the interest of Martian planetary protection. China and Russia probably won't, but the US will cripple itself (again) out of caution. On a more existential level, finding life elsewhere in the solar…
Pretty confident we'd still explore, just with some (appropriate) care. Too many fascinating scientific questions to answer once we discover extraterrestrial life. And if Russia and China did, the US definitely would too --- what would be the point of standing on principal in that hypothetical?
Meanwhile if you're hoping, why not just hope directly that the Great Filter is behind us? It's totally plausible that the window for multicellular life to survive on a planet is generally short, like on Mars, and not long, like on Earth. Or a million other possible explanations that we also have no data for or against right now. I like to keep my science-related hopes on the side of the coolest possible result .
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m more concerned what happens when we bring some microbes from Mars.
things that go to mars tend to stay there
That's changing very soon.
Perseverance's mission includes collecting and storing samples for a return mission. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_sample-return_mission
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#30I don't understand the excitement for finding life on Mars. I personally really, really hope we do not find life on Mars. If we find even the most basic microbial life, NASA is going to shut down all future exploration in the interest of Martian planetary protection. China and Russia probably won't, but the US will cripple itself (again) out of caution. On a more existential level, finding life elsewhere in the solar…
Alternatively both instances of life could be linked. https://www.space.com/22577-earth-life-from-mars-theory.html That said my gut says hypothetically talking about the danger of a universal great filter is silly when we clearly face near term filters of our own design right now (climate change, environmental collapse, a nuclear arms race)
Massive loss of life or economic disruption, while hugely bad, is not what a great filter means in this context. If earth's climate returns to pre-holocene greenhouse gas levels, temperature and sea levels the human race would not be cut off from the stars in a fundamental way.