“Waiting for news about life on Mars? You’re 120 years late. [That story broke on Dec. 9, 1906](https://www.nytimes.com/1906/12/09/archives/there-is-life-on-the-planet-mars-prof-percival-lowell-recognized-as.html), when *The New York Times* ran a major piece under the brooking-no-argument headline, “There Is Life on the Planet Mars.” The proof? “The legions of canals on Mars” which are “an unanswerable argument for the existence of conscious, intelligent life.”
So…not so much. But the *Times*—and the world—got another crack at things 90 years later, [on Aug. 6, 1996](https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/07/us/clues-in-meteorite-seem-to-show-signs-of-life-on-mars-long-ago.html). That’s when NASA announced that chemicals and formations in a Martian meteorite that crash-landed on Earth 13,000 years ago were the fossilized remains of ancient bacterial life. It was a discovery that the newspaper said “is being hailed as startling and compelling evidence.”
ArgonWilde on
I imagine religion is pretty much the only limiting factor in disclosure of extra planetary life 🤷
starman-jack-43 on
Watch the news. We can’t even handle that there are other human beings who look/act/think different to each other. Non-disclosure is often framed in terms of protecting religion but that’s something that’s weathered and adapted to every major shock that’s been thrown at it throughout human history. Meanwhile, if Trump appeared on TV and introduced the ambassador from Zeta Reticulli, human tribalism who kick into overdrive – are the aliens allying with the US? What about China? Are the aliens coming here? Will they e probing us? We need to preserve jobs for human workers! Why’s Elon Musk the only one being allowed to access alien tech? The stock markets are going crazy!
The big shocks would come – rethinking theology, handling the sociological impact, figuring out politics in a world where we’d be forced to think of ourselves in species terms rather than just nation states – but the first freak outs would emerge from our ingrained tribalism, xenophobia and fidelity to the status quo. We can’t handle being told that we need to change in order to mitigate climate change or survive a pandemic, aliens coming to visit is a whole level beyond that.
DecryptedSkull on
Always knew that they would hide the truth if they ever found life outside of earth. But so did everyone else.
H0vis on
How would you *not* be worried about breaking the news?
I would be infinitely more worried by any scientist who thought it would be a casual thing to tell the world that we are not alone in our neighbourhood of space.
Because to be clear that’s what this would have to be right? You’re not seeing anything definitive unless it’s close. So either in the solar system or at a (relatively) nearby star. That would be kind of a big deal because if we found life elsewhere and it was nearby, given the scale of the galaxy, suddenly the implication is that this place seems a lot more lively. I mean imagine how perceptions of life change if we’re looking at the vastness of space, all those billions of stars, and expecting to find life around most of them.
Also I think there’s a huge difference between finding proof of life out there and being able to point a telescope at something and say, “Look everybody! *We’ve found some aliens!*”
5 Comments
“Waiting for news about life on Mars? You’re 120 years late. [That story broke on Dec. 9, 1906](https://www.nytimes.com/1906/12/09/archives/there-is-life-on-the-planet-mars-prof-percival-lowell-recognized-as.html), when *The New York Times* ran a major piece under the brooking-no-argument headline, “There Is Life on the Planet Mars.” The proof? “The legions of canals on Mars” which are “an unanswerable argument for the existence of conscious, intelligent life.”
So…not so much. But the *Times*—and the world—got another crack at things 90 years later, [on Aug. 6, 1996](https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/07/us/clues-in-meteorite-seem-to-show-signs-of-life-on-mars-long-ago.html). That’s when NASA announced that chemicals and formations in a Martian meteorite that crash-landed on Earth 13,000 years ago were the fossilized remains of ancient bacterial life. It was a discovery that the newspaper said “is being hailed as startling and compelling evidence.”
I imagine religion is pretty much the only limiting factor in disclosure of extra planetary life 🤷
Watch the news. We can’t even handle that there are other human beings who look/act/think different to each other. Non-disclosure is often framed in terms of protecting religion but that’s something that’s weathered and adapted to every major shock that’s been thrown at it throughout human history. Meanwhile, if Trump appeared on TV and introduced the ambassador from Zeta Reticulli, human tribalism who kick into overdrive – are the aliens allying with the US? What about China? Are the aliens coming here? Will they e probing us? We need to preserve jobs for human workers! Why’s Elon Musk the only one being allowed to access alien tech? The stock markets are going crazy!
The big shocks would come – rethinking theology, handling the sociological impact, figuring out politics in a world where we’d be forced to think of ourselves in species terms rather than just nation states – but the first freak outs would emerge from our ingrained tribalism, xenophobia and fidelity to the status quo. We can’t handle being told that we need to change in order to mitigate climate change or survive a pandemic, aliens coming to visit is a whole level beyond that.
Always knew that they would hide the truth if they ever found life outside of earth. But so did everyone else.
How would you *not* be worried about breaking the news?
I would be infinitely more worried by any scientist who thought it would be a casual thing to tell the world that we are not alone in our neighbourhood of space.
Because to be clear that’s what this would have to be right? You’re not seeing anything definitive unless it’s close. So either in the solar system or at a (relatively) nearby star. That would be kind of a big deal because if we found life elsewhere and it was nearby, given the scale of the galaxy, suddenly the implication is that this place seems a lot more lively. I mean imagine how perceptions of life change if we’re looking at the vastness of space, all those billions of stars, and expecting to find life around most of them.
Also I think there’s a huge difference between finding proof of life out there and being able to point a telescope at something and say, “Look everybody! *We’ve found some aliens!*”