What do you think would happen if...

[EightySix Four]

...scientists discovered non-intelligent life elsewhere in the solar system? Would the general populace even care that much?

 

[guyver01]

they don't look that far to discover non-intelligent life.

there's plenty on this planet.

in fact.. there's plenty on this forum.

 

[EightySix Four]

they don't look that far to discover non-intelligent life.

there's plenty on this planet.

in fact.. there's plenty on this forum.

Yes, that is true, but that wasn't the question was it?

 

[guyver01]

Yes, that is true, but that wasn't the question was it?

i didn't care much for your question... so i answered a different one.

 

[Matthiasa]

Either wouldn't care, or wouldn't get told/covered up... in the US anyways.

 

[HannibalX]

...scientists discovered non-intelligent life elsewhere in the solar system? Would the general populace even care that much?

If we suddenly discovered life in places like Venus or Mercury it would change a lot of what we believe is required for life to form and flourish since right now conventional thinking is that those places are unsuitable for complex life.

 

[EightySix Four]

Either wouldn't care, or wouldn't get told/covered up... in the US anyways.

You think they'd feel a need to cover up the discovery of simple life forms? The reason I ask was an article today mentioning they found shrimp 600 feet below the artic ice pack where they previously believed that nothing other than simple single celled organisms would be able to survive.

I thought about it for a short time and realized most people would be so thoroughly dissapointed that we didn't meet some species flying around in faster than light spaceships that they would very nearly not even care, despite the fact it implies our understanding as to what is required for evolution to bring about complex organisms is wrong and there is a high probability of more life.

 

[TridenT]

Either wouldn't care, or wouldn't get told/covered up... in the US anyways.

Oooo Conspiracy.... That's the hot shit these days!

 

[God Mode]

No feasible way to send some freedom within a certain timeframe = no care.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

you dont have to worry about this. there is life out there somewhere but well never come across it

 

[pyonir]

they don't look that far to discover non-intelligent life.

there's plenty on this planet.

in fact.. there's plenty on this forum.

This is true. I've already found non-intelligent life in this solar system. It's called the Politics and News forum.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

It would be a huge, huge deal. Right now we have a single, incomplete data point in our description of how life arises and thrives. Doubling that data would be a boon to biology and related sciences. I don't think anyone alive right now could comprehend the profound impact it would have on society in ways that we simply would not expect.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

you dont have to worry about this. there is life out there somewhere but well never come across it

It's not implausible that there was life on Mars at some time. It's also entirely possible that life exists in some form on moons in our own solar system. Europa (a moon of Jupiter) appears to have liquid water beneath its surface. Same with Ganymede. Titan has a thick atmosphere and liquid lakes. Hell, Carl Sagan even speculated about life in the gas giant Jupiter.

Edit - forgot to mention Enceladus, probably the most promising candidate for life in the solar system right now.

 

[EightySix Four]

It would be a huge, huge deal. Right now we have a single, incomplete data point in our description of how life arises and thrives. Doubling that data would be a boon to biology and related sciences. I don't think anyone alive right now could comprehend the profound impact it would have on society in ways that we simply would not expect.

Yes, to scientists, but I think our culture has built up an unrealistic expectation of what finding an alien will mean. When they realize little will change for them here on Earth, I don't think people will actually give a shit.

Edit: Unless of course said life form shits oil or is particularly tasty.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Yes, to scientists, but I think our culture has built up an unrealistic expectation of what finding an alien will mean. When they realize little will change for them here on Earth, I don't think people will actually give a shit.

Edit: Unless of course said life form shits oil or is particularly tasty.

Science influences culture. Scientists first build electron guns and directed their beams at phosphor screens with magnets according to an analog input signal, and nothing has shaped modern culture more than TV. The effects would ripple through the social fabric in profound and unexpected ways.

 

[EightySix Four]

Science influences culture. Scientists first build electron guns and directed their beams at phosphor screens with magnets according to an analog input signal, and nothing has shaped modern culture more than TV. The effects would ripple through the social fabric in profound and unexpected ways.

As long as they don't allow us to create your avatar in real life.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

 

[dennilfloss]

This is a nice site for news and articles dealing with such stuff.

http://www.astrobio.net/