WHEN MAN GETS TO MARS, as part of the expedition our astronauts are going to be looking for some sort of extraterrestrial life. If there is life on Mars, what would happen if those life forms were completely foreign to the life forms our astronauts are familiar with on earth? How will they recognize them?
As inferred in my post: Voices from the Cosmos, they may well not. As an example, when the British settlers famously sailed into Jamestown, Virginia, in the New World of America in the seventeenth century, the Native Indians had never seen a sailing ship before.
When they heard the sounds of the approaching armada, they did not even see the ships in the bay because they had never seen a ship before. It was only after the natives had numerous encounters with the ship’s crew, did they finally see and recognize those large canoes with flapping white wings for what they were.
There is speculation about what type of life forms might be found on Mars. Scientists expect to find only microbial life if any, but even microbial life will have to resemble in some way, the microbes we already know about. If it doesn’t, it will not be recognized as such.
If there is life on Mars, it may very well be unimaginable, not resembling anything we have ever encountered before. If it is completely alien to our sense of perception, would we recognize it as a living creature or would we not recognize it at all, deciding in our earthly wisdom that Mars is barren and lifeless?
If any life forms found on Mars (or anywhere else in the universe for that matter) cannot be correlated directly against the basic structure of life forms we are familiar with on earth, Martians could be right there beside our astronauts and they wouldn’t recognize them for what they were.
And as an added note; if intelligent Martians did exist that were completely alien in form to us, they would probably be completely unaware that our astronauts were right there beside them either... for our astronauts would be just as alien in shape and form to the Martians as the Martians would be to us...
Dan’s Quote: “We can only comprehend something that we already know.
_______Anything new must become part of our past before it can be recognized.”
_______Anything new must become part of our past before it can be recognized.”
In Australia, the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex supports the vital two-way radio contact with the Curiosity rover as it continues its journey across the surface of Mars.
Curiosity enters the Dunes | NASA's Journey to Mars website
Header Picture: A lone explorer on Mars by Alberto Vangelista.
Header Picture: A lone explorer on Mars by Alberto Vangelista.
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