It is extremely egotistical to even entertain the idea that planet Earth holds the only life in the universe.
I recently had a discussion with someone about the search for life on Mars. What really bugs me, and I don't know if they have thought about this or it just never gets said, but it seems common sense to me that if you are looking for life on a planet that does not have an atmosphere like ours and lacks oxygen completely, that the search for oxygen-based life-forms would prove non-existent and is a complete waste of time. There is no oxygen therefore there will be no oxygen-based life-forms. If the atmosphere is carbon-based, then you should be looking for carbon-based life-forms. It seems that "we" are just looking for proof that "we" existed on other planets. Which may be true, however, shouldn't we be looking for life that is not human? They would be aliens so shouldn't we be looking for them and not remnants of mankind? Am I the only one who thinks this way? Has this already been explained at some point and I just wasn't paying attention?
Also, as much as I would LOVE, and I do mean L-O-V-E, to have Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century become a reality, we haven't even fully explored our oceans. Don't you think we should do that first? Not to mention, once we've established a working colony on the moon or mars or wherever, it's obvious that we'll just say "to hell with this planet, we can start over somewhere else."
Now, this might actually be a good thing for Mother Nature because then she can just take over and correct what we've screwed up, however, with the reactors going the way they are in Japan, I'm thinking not so much.
could the human race handle carbon based life forms...or ones that are not oxygen based? hmmm...i am not so sure. could we get over that they are different? hmmm....i am not so sure. i believe other life forms are out there, but because our society is so violent they are staying hidden....unless of course they want to come here and kick everyones ass. hmmm... i am pretty sure a life form intelligent enough to come from a galaxy far far away would not have to prove that. i sure would like to meet one though
ReplyDelete"we haven't even fully explored our oceans. Don't you think we should do that first?"
ReplyDeletethe only problem with this is manpower - the oceans are so freaking huge and time-consuming to research. and im sure the people controlling the budgets do not see any financial benefit in scouring the seas.
and the one thing we really need to find on another planet is water - therefore, that may be why we are searching for oxygen and oxygen-based life forms
You do know that humans are carbon-based life forms right?
ReplyDelete..i do now.
ReplyDeletebut i still think my point about finding oxygen is important
All life on Earth is carbon-based. That's why we assume any life we find in the universe will be carbon-based as well
ReplyDelete@350lex-I agree, I'm only going to use these last 2000 years and we still haven't overcome slavery, racism, sexism, the ability to have freedom of religion...the list could go on and on. And we're all human. Doesn't take a genius to figure out what would happen if another species made itself known to the public. They'd be attacked. So, yeah, any intelligent life out there is most likely just observing and waiting for us to kill each other off so they can take over. If there's anything left.
ReplyDelete@Bane- I understand there may not be enough manpower for both the space program and the deep sea program, but don't you think that the sea should be first regardless? We're spending so much time and money looking for evidence of water on other planets that no one has ever thought, "Hey! We're the only planet right now that has water. Wouldn't they have moved here?" If we truly wanted to find "alien" life, we'd look at the bottom of the sea. Giant squids can live there no problem. Never be seen or heard from until they die and float up to the surface. What else do they think is down there?
@Nick. Yes, I know that this planet's life is carbon-based. What I mean is, if you're looking for something that's composition is made up of components that aren't found in the area you are looking for, why keep looking? Why not look for something that's composed of the stuff that's around?
And FYI, they are looking for oxygen-based life-forms. Not carbon. Don't ask me why but I think Bane has a good theory.
ReplyDelete