03-30-2004, 04:34 PM
Hi,
The Romans built a lot of neat stuff, the Greeks didn't. But the Greeks were concerned with knowledge while the Romans were just hairy eared engineers. Thus our modern culture is based a lot more on Greek than Roman (and what is Roman is mostly what *they* took from the Greek).
As for the microbe stuff: does it really matter if Earth microbes infest Mars?
If you're trying to answer the question "was there ever any life on Mars" then a contamination from Earth sure does matter. It can mask the traces that might have been there and it can give you false positive. It's a damned sight better not to have that to worry about.
The goal is to colonize
Only if all you care about is real estate -- then ignorance is just fine. But, you know, the people going after knowledge have historically contributed a hell of a lot more than the people going after land. Besides, the terraforming of Mars is by no means a given. By the time (if ever) that we have the technology to do so, we might have the ability to do much more. Some of the possibilities that we will have then might not even be imaginable now, but will arise because people seeking *knowledge* will open new technologies and the possibility of better alternatives.
Oh, and as to NASA's budget: "If you want prime oats, you have to pay the price. If you don't mind if they've been through the horse, you can get them a lot cheaper."
--Pete
The Romans built a lot of neat stuff, the Greeks didn't. But the Greeks were concerned with knowledge while the Romans were just hairy eared engineers. Thus our modern culture is based a lot more on Greek than Roman (and what is Roman is mostly what *they* took from the Greek).
As for the microbe stuff: does it really matter if Earth microbes infest Mars?
If you're trying to answer the question "was there ever any life on Mars" then a contamination from Earth sure does matter. It can mask the traces that might have been there and it can give you false positive. It's a damned sight better not to have that to worry about.
The goal is to colonize
Only if all you care about is real estate -- then ignorance is just fine. But, you know, the people going after knowledge have historically contributed a hell of a lot more than the people going after land. Besides, the terraforming of Mars is by no means a given. By the time (if ever) that we have the technology to do so, we might have the ability to do much more. Some of the possibilities that we will have then might not even be imaginable now, but will arise because people seeking *knowledge* will open new technologies and the possibility of better alternatives.
Oh, and as to NASA's budget: "If you want prime oats, you have to pay the price. If you don't mind if they've been through the horse, you can get them a lot cheaper."
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?