Premier Canadian blogger asks us to defend Mars exploration

sergio - I hope you find this - astronomical ID is present in the video "The Privileged Planet". I'm don't consider astronomical ID to be on the same level as biological ID, because it is much less testable, but nonetheless it raises interesting points. johnnyb

Joe, why this rock "expire"? sergio sergiomendes

Well this rock has an expiration date so we have to be able to find another. This is a step in that direction. Joe

johnnyb, "From an ID perspective, isn’t it neat that our nearest neighbor is the one most likely to offer a colonizable environment?" pardon for small correction. planet Venus close, planet Mars follow next. also, statement of I D astronomica or I D biologia? see much statement for I D biologia, no find of I D astronomica. maybe I not look for enough time or place, yes? thank you for response. sergio sergiomendes

Robert sheldon, "The point is not that there is something there that we can presently exploit, the point is that there is something there. In the immortal words of Mr Faraday when asked the value of electricity–”One day sir, you may tax it.”" ha ha ha. also perhaps "A mas honor, mas dolor." mean like "more danger, more honor". favored of me is "Perdiendo aprendi: mas vale lo que aprendi que lo que perdi. mean like "Learning is better than house and land" sergio sergiomendes

I have mixed feelings about it. Exploring God's creation is fine. Using our God-given talents to travel to other planets is not wrong. Whether or not humans will ever live on Mars is an unknown at this time. I personally highly doubt that will ever happen between now and when Jesus returns. Plus, the conditions for life on Mars just make it extremely improbable. We can gain some interesting knowledge from exploring Mars. For one, it should give insight into the history of the universe. perhaps there is knowledge we can gain that will either affirm or challenge the current tenets of our cosmological beliefs. I highly doubt any remnant of life will be found. And if it is, I would think it would have been seeded from earth as opposed to the other way around given the difference in climate of the two planets. Financially, is it worth it? That is the big question. I really don't know. We are so far in debt that it does seem a bit irresponsible, but we can rejoice with NASA in their success and look forward to what we can learn! tjguy

BTW, none other than Sulu has posted on his Facebook page the first picture that "Curiousity" has just beamed back to earth! jstanley01

"Given the potential for vast deposits of dilithium crystals so close to our home planet, I don’t understand how there could be any debate."

I'm hoping for the discovery of a beryllium sphere. Chance Ratcliff

Unless someone can prove that life could not possibly have formed on Mars and then been transported to the earth through small increments, my Marwinian theory of OOL remains intact. The purpose of the Mars expedition is to fish for data that supports my theory, while disregarding the rest. RkBall

"I think that we should be breeding micro-organisms and possibly small plants specifically for the martian environment, and sending them to mars in a permeable terrarium of sorts." That would kind of defeat one of the main objects, which is to see if there may be any trace of life on the planet. "Well, there are no bacteria, but there are broccoli". Jon Garvey

Given the potential for vast deposits of dilithium crystals so close to our home planet, I don't understand how there could be any debate. jstanley01

Well, I, for one, defend the statement, "Wow, man! Have you ever looked at your hand? I mean, REALLY looked at it??" Most people haven't, and yet, there is a lot about biology you can learn just from this. I'm reminded of Louis Agassiz's command to "Look at your fish!" This is the first step to knowing. Personally, I think that we will in fact colonize Mars one day, and this is the first step. From an ID perspective, isn't it neat that our nearest neighbor is the one most likely to offer a colonizable environment? In other words, not only is the universe set up for exploration, but it seems to be setup in a step-wise manner, so that we can incrementally build up our technology to achieve things. I think that we should be breeding micro-organisms and possibly small plants specifically for the martian environment, and sending them to mars in a permeable terrarium of sorts. johnnyb

Look, One could make the same argument for, say, exploring North America. "A whole lot of trees, like we need to import those back to England. Dangerous natives--have enough of them already. Beaver skins, I mean, what are you going to do with them, wear them on your head?" Or take railroads across the American West in say, 1830, after the canal bust and the railroad boom. "What are you going to carry on those expensive rails--rocks?" The point is not that there is something there that we can presently exploit, the point is that there is something there. In the immortal words of Mr Faraday when asked the value of electricity--"One day sir, you may tax it." Robert Sheldon

From a Geological point of view, there is some point in getting comparative data from another planet to help answer why Earth has moving continental plates and Mars does not. But I think we need to consider the Return on Investment (ROI). It might be worth, in the grand scheme of things, $100 million USD to get the data. It isn't worth $10 billion for what amounts to a hobby: a personal interest to a small group of people with no practical value to Earthlings, excepting the guys who get paid the $10 billion USD to make one-of-a-kind gadgets that also have no practical value. Manned space flight is the same thing. It's a hobby. Space is known to be incredibly dangerous to humans, that's why we live deep down in the troposphere and enjoy nice 1-g gravity. mahuna