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Here's one: when you get there and are looking for extra-terrestrial life, you won't know if the things you find are native, or if they got there on their own s
by fwdpropaganda 9y ago
Here's one: when you get there and are looking for extra-terrestrial life, you won't know if the things you find are native, or if they got there on their own somehow, or if you brought them with you. Maybe you don't care, but I think that knowing the answer to that question would be super interesting.
- Chris2048 9y agoYou still wouldn't know, would you?
- garmaine 9y agoHaving a self sufficient human settlement on Mars would also be super interesting, and vital to reducing existential risk. You have to pick one.
- dpkonofa 9y ago>You have to pick one. Why? Why can't you have both? Once we verify that there isn't measurable life on Mars, we can start a human settlement.
- emiliobumachar 9y agoEven if there is life on Mars, we can consciously decide to build a colony that may wipe out that life, after we studied it.
- anigbrowl 9y agoIt would, but there's a bunch of other celestial bodies that offer at least as much potential, eg Europa. I share your interest, but not to degree of stopping all other activity while you indulge your curiosity, because other people would like to go and explore directly. I'm not saying just ignore the issue and barrel ahead, but would-be exobiologists should make ambitious and timely proposals of what they intend to sample, what they expect to find, and how long they need to check, in order to give other people a chance to pursue their interests.