Thread

1. I_dream_of_Geni · 1790469671 · focus · HN ↗

   OK... Serious question here: we find "life" (algae?) on one of Saturn's moons or one of Jupiter's moons. So, we spend ~$50 Billion (arguably much more) and find "life". So? Why is this important to people? There isn't one chance in (place your own word here) that we can do anything about it or even send humans there. Seriously want to know what people really think...

   1. troyvit · 1790524478 · focus · HN ↗

      I think there's plenty we can do about it.

      * If we find life on another planet it provides a realignment for most of our world religions. That's important to several billion people. It might even create a new religion. We haven't had one of those in awhile, how exciting is that?

      * If we spent $50 Billion to find algae on Enceladus we'd definitely spend 200x that to put said algae on a billionaire's plate for them to eat. That would fuel hard sciences and the economy in numerous ways, similar to how the space race gave us Nike Air shoes and the Dustbuster [1]. Like you say a human would probably never dip their toe in the water of Enceladus but we would get a lot better at drilling holes and extracting.

      * We need more enemies and aliens would be great, even if they are single-celled. It would probably result in a global defense system within 50 years which would once again have several ancillary benefits for technology and warfare.

      [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jpl.nasa.gov&#x2F;infographics&#x2F;20-inventions-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jpl.nasa.gov&#x2F;infographics&#x2F;20-inventions-we-would...

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