There are even mysterious (with hypothetical biological origin) geysers on Mars: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geysers_on_Mars
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
#12I 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…
I think the excitement is that it would give us another data point for what life can possibly be like. So far (AFAIK) the best evidence is that life evolved once on earth, and so everything we see comes from that basic blue print. But does it have to be that way? Would alien life also be carbon based, or something else? Is DNA/RNA (or a close equivalent) a universal feature of life? If not what do they use instead? If so, that's also very interesting. There's just so many questions we can't answer when the sample size is one. I guess my belief (hope?) is that that curiosity would spur further exploration, not kill it.
As for the great filter, yeah, it's a bit scary if we rule out bio-genesis as an option, but that still leaves the single to multi cell jump behind us (and arguably development of human level cooperation/problem solving, but I'm less sold on that one).
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#13Curious, will the samples collected via mars return mission provide proof beyond doubt on this assertion?
As I understand, the samples collected by Perseverance and returned by Mars Sample Return will be taken at surface level. So they will not be able to tell that much about the sub-surface. Also of course that is just one small region that Percy is taking samples from, it can not provide proof about conditions of other regions of the planet.
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#14What happens when we'd put some microbes there now?
I’m more concerned what happens when we bring some microbes from Mars.
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#15I 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…
Perhaps that would be a benefit, it could spur action to focus more and create L5 colonies faster.
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#16I 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…
The great filter is that tech is to easy, but self-awareness and self-discipline is hard. So life presses onwards, demanding exponential energy density from tech, to not be forced to limit itself and self-discipline itself.
Thus ever more potent tools are handed out to avoid confrontation with the "overcome" animal nature - and once that equation reaches the end of the line (easy energy and resources exhausted), a nearly unchanged animal with exponential power tools in hand, reverts to tribalistic warfare. Nothing recovers from this.
The greatest damage done, is the lie that life can learn and change, which never holds up under stress. The most valuable achievement to escape the filter, is investigate our nature realistically and apply controlled technological crippling, while testing the tools to calm the evil spirits of our nature, even under stress.
So technology is the problem and the solution, if applied with a real effort to understand humanity, beyond the "I wish for X and by the magic of wishful thinking it becomes reality instantly". Its hard work - similar to somebody diagnosing ones own mental limitations, and building a limited operating system for that crippled system. In a way- its the ultimate hack.
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#17What 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?
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#18What 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?
The fear I read is that we might be accidentally eradicating any life we don't yet know about, if we introduce life from earth.
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#19is 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.
Re: Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life: study
#20is 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.
The only obvious examples of either are the ones humans put there — the probes, the rovers, the Apollo Lunar Modules and associated material.