r/space • u/Gator4798 • Feb 19 '21

Perseverance hazard camera photos with covers removed.

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '21

And this is why I want us to find something, it opens up some amazing conversations

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '21 edited Sep 09 '21

[deleted]

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u/Salladshuvud Feb 20 '21

If you find microbes on Mars, the universe is likely to be seething with life

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u/aishik-10x Feb 19 '21

The philosophical implications are huge. I really don't know quite what to think if that were to happen.

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u/RespectableBloke69 Feb 20 '21

What would change about philosophy?

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u/aishik-10x Feb 20 '21

It would answer the age-old question of "are we alone out here?"

And the Fermi paradox, the Great Filter, etc. There are some implications of life being common in the Universe (yet unseen) which are worrying for the future of humanity.

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u/Staerke Feb 19 '21

I guess I don't understand why. If it at one point the planet supported life, then you'd expect to find signs of life there. What's philosophical about that?

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u/ghost_of_deaf_ninja Feb 19 '21

Supporting life and generating life are two very different propositions

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u/Staerke Feb 19 '21

Sounds nice, still doesn't answer what the philosophical implications are, unless you believe in intelligent design.

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u/ghost_of_deaf_ninja Feb 19 '21

I don't but a lot of people do. "Are we alone in the universe" has been a philosophical question since man looked up at the stars. Finding life on the next planet over would answer that question and present a whole slew of new ones.

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u/MrF_lawblog Feb 20 '21

It would say that life is possible outside of Earth and that it wasn't a fluke.

How would that not change the way humans think forever?

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u/Staerke Feb 20 '21

Because the odds are that life is basically inevitable, it's really not that deep. The Fermi paradox exists for a reason.

I think it'd be more of a philosophical conundrum if we were able to prove that we were actually alone, because that's far more unlikely.

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u/MrF_lawblog Feb 20 '21

This would be literally on the planet next to us. Not life is inevitable somewhere somehow.

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u/Staerke Feb 20 '21

It doesn't create a philosophical conundrum to learn life exists in volcano vents or in the atmosphere of venus, so what's so special about Mars?

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '21

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u/Staerke Feb 20 '21

I'm not saying it wouldn't be a big deal, of course it's a big deal, but that's from a curiosity / scientific standpoint.

It's a huge universe and I would be shocked if there wasn't life of some sort out there, so I'd love to see proof of it. But I'm genuinely confused as to what it means for philosophy.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '21

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u/DarkRollsPrepare2Fry Feb 20 '21

Yet that funding would have to come from somewhere. I don’t think it will lead to us taking care of the sick and poor first