> This has even been true with aliens. The science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson reminded me that in the early 1900s it was widely but mistakenly believed

> This has even been true with aliens. The science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson reminded me that in the early 1900s it was widely but mistakenly believed that we had visual evidence of canals on Mars. I wonder how true this is. Whenever I read old science fiction it does seem like aliens on Venus/Mars was believed to be a real possibility. So while we now think that aliens existing would be this huge existential crisis for humanity… maybe we would just accept it without issue as speculated by the author.