Re: Mineral analysis may reveal life on Mars

jonathan wrote:

"Jo Schaper" <joschapern4ospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:11ruegcjapeaq18@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Chris" <nimbo@(no-spam)ukonline.co.uk> wrote in message
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I have heard that those probes that were lost did, in fact land
succesfully and that they were primarily designed to look for life.
These were said to be lost because of what was found.

The west will no survive the discovery of exobiology and the only way 

for

easy transision is to teach it in schools.  At present people are being
murderd over this concept as it means to christians the total collapse


of

their faith. 


My best wishes for your continued existence, Chris, however, the
discovery of exobiology will not end western civilization. Perhaps 100
years ago this might have been true. However, in the 20th Century,
western civilization has been innoculated with enough science fiction in
all forms of media featuring exobiology that if real non-terrestrial
life blew in from Mars, Alpha Centauri, or real estate beyond, a
sufficient number of Westerners are familiar with the concept that a
1938 War of the Worlds scenario is unlikely, and even the religionists
will adapt, just as they have to many other things, such as automobiles,
  computers, and Hollywood.



Yes, the civilized and educated west.

Westerners were specified in the original post, jonathan. 


FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. August 25-26,1999. N=902
registered voters nationwide. MoE ± 3.
      .

"Which do you think is more likely to actually be the explanation for
the origin of human life on Earth: the theory of evolution as outlined
by Darwin and other scientists, the biblical account of creation as
told in the Bible, or are both true?"

 Theory of evolution 15 %
 Biblical account 50 %
 Both 26 %
 Not sure 9 %

http://www.pollingreport.com/science.htm

Close-ended polls are stupid and wildly inaccurate, since the respondent is limited to only two responses. There are many other possibilities not represented here: seeding from space, non-Biblical creation accounts, non-evolution naturalistic explanation,statistical chance/fluke etc. If life is discovered elswhere new theories of origin of life are sure to spring up. Burst some people out of their tiny bubbles. Probably a good thing.





Half of this country thinks the earth is only ten thousand
years old, and we were created in our present form in
....six days or less.

Again, what are the polling parameters? And the location of the sample? Take this poll in Springfield Mo, as the world headquarters of the Assembly of God services let out, and you'll get a far different answer from a few miles away at a state university bull session. I never believe polls as being inerrant, because polling methods/locations are rarely revealed. 

And much of the other half of the world still has great difficulty
with the notion of girls being allowed to go to school. Or even
showing their faces.

This is irrelevant to whether or not exobiology would be accepted,and the Islamic population defined above is non-Western. You just show your ignorance of the economic reality of Third World countries in saying 'girls are not allowed to go to school.' 

The discovery of life elsewhere is more likely to set off an
increase in religious beliefs and activity. Which to many can
be a rather scary thing ....all things considered.

I dunno. There are plenty of Biblical references to angels, Eziekiel's 'wheel in a wheel in the sky' and other life forms which may be interpreted as 'extraterrestrial'. Maybe the religionists will be more able to deal with such a reality than materialistic skeptics, albeit as colored by their unique sort of view. (Also, see the difference between the two preachers in the movie Contact, for further possibilities.)

There are two factors which will operate on a population in case exobiology is indeed confirmed: its intent/effects on humans, and the similarity or difference from familiar earth life forms. Invisible spores which bring instant death are much different than intelligent purposeful aliens with the aim to rescue us from our own stupidity. Speculation on how people will react is useless until when/if it happens. To see how people would react to macro-beings one merely need trace the history of the UFO movement, from Air Force investigations, to Roswell, to the alien abduction crowd.

Unless there is some basic chemical or biological incompatibility which would cause immediate human disease/death (this was a great fear when people went to the Moon, remember?) People are going to be people, and react in all sorts of ways, and eventually either kill/learn to live with/become allies of exobiology.

I wish I had that flowchart I saw back in the late 70s in F&SF by Gahan Wilson-- it was allegedly a science-fiction story generator, but it covered most of the outcomes and possibilities of human/alien contact.



.

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