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I mean, you're probably right. If there was life found on Mars, there would be precedence to protect it - I could see this even stopping ANY manned missions (fe

I mean, you're probably right. If there was life found on Mars, there would be precedence to protect it - I could see this even stopping ANY manned missions (fear of contamination). If the planet is dead, we as a civilization get the privilege to do whatever we want with it. Also a dead planet means the idea of the Monotheistic God kind of remains. Ignorance is bliss.

sosborn 7y ago
> Also a dead planet means the idea of the Monotheistic God kind of remains. I don't follow why life on another planet would have any bearing on the idea of a Monotheistic God.
- gen220 7y ago
  This is why I kind of admire the biblical myths; their selective details and smoky metaphors have proven incredibly resilient to new truths, and invite so much speculation. The garden of eden could be in some far flung galaxy, from which we “life”, were expelled as microbes, thanks to the sins of relatives we wouldn’t recognize. The rib of Adam could symbolize the arbitrary evolution of sexual reproduction from asexual origins. The forbidden fruit could represent some inevitable nuclear holocaust spurred on by some intra-species conflict, which prompted life to be cast out and begin on another planet. Something unique about our shape of life means that we’re stuck in a cycle of destructive evolution that cannot be saved from itself, excepting for the divine intervention of some less imperfect shape of life. Anyways, I’m rambling! I hope this sparks somebody’s theological-scifi bug and produces a mildly entertaining narrative in somebody else’s head. :)
- justinator 7y ago
  It makes God's ultimate and unquestioning perfection in creating the Universe called essentially into question. If there is life on Mars, then it's no small leap to think there's life outside of the Solar System. What place then do we, as God's children have in the Universe, and in God's grand plan? Stuff like that.
zipwitch 7y ago
Mars is getting contaminated in the near future, whether we find life on it or not. Whether we collectively want it to be or not. Given the ever-decreasing cost of launches into space, the increasing access to small satellites, I think suspect it's inevitable that some collection of Earth microbes will get a ride to Mars within the next century. Whether it's a motivated team of grad students, an obsessed billionaire, or a small nation that doesn't decontaminate its lander before launch, it's going to happen.

sosborn 7y ago

> Also a dead planet means the idea of the Monotheistic God kind of remains. I don't follow why life on another planet would have any bearing on the idea of a Monotheistic God.

gen220 7y ago
This is why I kind of admire the biblical myths; their selective details and smoky metaphors have proven incredibly resilient to new truths, and invite so much speculation. The garden of eden could be in some far flung galaxy, from which we “life”, were expelled as microbes, thanks to the sins of relatives we wouldn’t recognize. The rib of Adam could symbolize the arbitrary evolution of sexual reproduction from asexual origins. The forbidden fruit could represent some inevitable nuclear holocaust spurred on by some intra-species conflict, which prompted life to be cast out and begin on another planet. Something unique about our shape of life means that we’re stuck in a cycle of destructive evolution that cannot be saved from itself, excepting for the divine intervention of some less imperfect shape of life. Anyways, I’m rambling! I hope this sparks somebody’s theological-scifi bug and produces a mildly entertaining narrative in somebody else’s head. :)
justinator 7y ago
It makes God's ultimate and unquestioning perfection in creating the Universe called essentially into question. If there is life on Mars, then it's no small leap to think there's life outside of the Solar System. What place then do we, as God's children have in the Universe, and in God's grand plan? Stuff like that.

zipwitch 7y ago

Mars is getting contaminated in the near future, whether we find life on it or not. Whether we collectively want it to be or not. Given the ever-decreasing cost of launches into space, the increasing access to small satellites, I think suspect it's inevitable that some collection of Earth microbes will get a ride to Mars within the next century. Whether it's a motivated team of grad students, an obsessed billionaire, or a small nation that doesn't decontaminate its lander before launch, it's going to happen.