By Jarvis Wade
Hey, for those who haven't been following the whole Mars thing, here's a quick recap.
So yes, they did technically find life on Mars. But before you start shooting at the sky, realize that these aren't little green men we're dealing with.
They're actually very tiny micro-bacterial organisms buried in the sub-stratum ice around Mars' frozen polar ice caps.
These creatures are VERY simple in structure, hardly even of the order of bacteria. Furthermore, there's still heated debate between scientists on whether or not these organisms can even be considered lifeforms.
And of course that's part of the debate nobody really ever anticipated about the discovery of alien life: since it's alien, how can we use our current standards to define it?
Let's think about this for a second people:
What if we come across digital life forms? Sentient robots? Mindless collectives or, as the current situation holds, proto-bacteria that subsist on ammonia gasses and seem unable to reproduce on their own (apparently one of the big sticking points for these "anti-life" scientists).
If racism has torn our world apart, imagine what a terrible social disease "life-ism" will be when finally begin routinely dealing with other life forms. What standards will we ultimately use to qualify if something is alive or it isn't?
Personally, from what I understand of these "new" life forms they fit the bill close enough that I have no problem extending a hearty welcome to our tiny little pantheon of existence. There's little enough life out there already, no point arguing semantics.
Besides, it's exciting as hell. Evidence that life has arisen not once, but TWICE independently within our own, tiny solar system bodes well for the existence of life on a far grander scale elsewhere in the universe.
So to you tiny, mindless little microbes swirling around the southern pole of Mars: welcome to a very exclusive club. So far there are only two members. May that number expand greatly.
In the meantime, keep watching the skies.
JW
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