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. conception · 1790477212 · focus · HN ↗

      A majority of the planet thinks life started here. Finding it elsewhere would culturally be a cosmic (puns) shift of before alien life existed verifiably and after.

      1. thrance · 1790516304 · focus · HN ↗

         Sadly, not really. That's really underestimating the capacity of religions and their followers to weather and rationalize away new facts that directly contradict their myths and cosmology. If Christianity was able to survive Evolution and the Big Bang, discovering a few cells on Europa won't even make a dent.

         1. conception · 1790537022 · focus · HN ↗

            Certainly for some but unlike evolution and the big bang, nebulous concepts, proven life on another planet will be a cultural change. We won’t be the only life in the universe and that will have a profound impact on how we look at the stars moving forward.

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