The thing that really rankles me about the “finding Life on other planets” meme is the underlying hope that Life is possible on other worlds, making life on this one less unique. While if this planet, in its unique position and unique properties truly is the only one with Life, then we would be so ashamed of what we’ve done, using it essentially as a near-by resource planet to strip of materials to support our extraction-based economy, literally pushing Life out of our way at every turn.
That's a great perspective. Thanks for sharing, Kathleen! Indeed, what does it say about us if we're destroying what may be (as far as we know) the only life in the universe?
How would this calculation change if we found microscopic organisms on a moon of Saturn, and we could demonstrate that they evolved separately from life on Earth?
That's a great question, Mike! If you see the chart, finding one, just one other example of life, increases the probabilities exponentially (the chart is in a log scale).
So, from a philosophical point of view, knowing that life exists elsewhere, makes it more possible that it's not just two data points
The thing that really rankles me about the “finding Life on other planets” meme is the underlying hope that Life is possible on other worlds, making life on this one less unique. While if this planet, in its unique position and unique properties truly is the only one with Life, then we would be so ashamed of what we’ve done, using it essentially as a near-by resource planet to strip of materials to support our extraction-based economy, literally pushing Life out of our way at every turn.
That's a great perspective. Thanks for sharing, Kathleen! Indeed, what does it say about us if we're destroying what may be (as far as we know) the only life in the universe?
How would this calculation change if we found microscopic organisms on a moon of Saturn, and we could demonstrate that they evolved separately from life on Earth?
That's a great question, Mike! If you see the chart, finding one, just one other example of life, increases the probabilities exponentially (the chart is in a log scale).
So, from a philosophical point of view, knowing that life exists elsewhere, makes it more possible that it's not just two data points
key phrasing "for now"