More examples of stupidity on the part of the public
Hello, Public.
How many of you actually read this paper? The WHOLE thing? Do you realize that the media jumped on what amounted to a few paragraphs of 28 page paper on beneficial, harmful, and neutral scenarios of encounters with other life in the universe? This isn't fringey ******** science. This is something people think about and do research on, in a field called Astrobiology (or Exobiology.) These people ARE educated in Earth's natural history (as someone below assumed they were not.) Exploring the possibilities of things like microbes on mars does eventually lead to questions and pondering about other types of life elsewhere in the universe. Just because something does not have an immediate concrete use, does not mean it isn't valuable. Also, it's quite easy to complain about forgotten details after the fact, when someone else has done all of the footwork. Don't agree with this paper? Great! The scientific process suggests that you write up your own paper with your own expertise and submit it to a journal as a rebuttal.
I should not "Google" the coverage of this article anymore because it makes me far too angry. My advice to you: read the paper first. It is YOU, the public, who are not thinking, rather than the scientists. The purpose of this paper was apparently lost on most of you. You, who live in a highly literal world and live a reactionary sheeplike existence.
Of course, an alien encounter may be very unlikely. It may not be. Regardless, this is a philosophical exploration of what it might mean for humanity and our place in the universe if other life was discovered. This paper is an independent, unfunded project of three friends that they did in their very limited free time who wanted to propose an interesting idea to what now appears to me to be a humanist, self absorbed, simple minded society. So much for curious thought experiments that might help usher in a perspective shift.
The anti-intellectual sentiment in the world today greatly disturbs me. I find it even in circles where I would least expect it.
