The search for another Earth (CNN/Reuters)

[eppur_se_muova]

The search for another Earth
Canadian satellite detects massive extrasolar planet

Thursday, January 12, 2006; Posted: 10:31 a.m. EST (15:31 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A telescope turbo-charger called ET has found its first planet outside the solar system, and something that looks like a suitcase in space is tracking possible faraway Earths, astronomers reported on Wednesday.
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Scientists have detected more than 160 so-called extrasolar planets over the last decade. Most have been found by watching for a tell-tale wobble in the stars they orbit. None so far has been a perfect match for Earth in terms of the planet's size and its distance from its star.
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"We hope to search hundreds of thousands of stars in the next decade, for about 10,000 planets," Ge said.
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Just think...What effect would the discovery of life on another planet, around another star, have on human philosophy, religion, culture? Talk about re-framing the debate!

[Sperk]

1. BEAM ME UP!!!! I gotta get out of this place!

What if we could all go to another planet and leave all the Repugs behind? That would be sooooooo sweet. :-)

What would an all REPUG world look like? Who would they whine to and blame all of their misery on?

They would have to start stealing from EACHOTHER! Cause you know, they just cannot get enough money.

[4morewars]

2. They'd prolly declare war on us.

That's how they are.

[Poll_Blind]

5. No, all they have to do is by our debt from the Chinese and then they'd...

...OWN us much more cheaply.

PB

[PDJane]

3. Nah.........

but slavery would be back in fashion.

[Poll_Blind]

4. Oooh, oooh! Another one to suck dry and spit out! Seriously, to...

...address your question: I used to think that if intelligent life descended on and properly introduced itself to the people of Earth a revolution of thought would take place. I'm not so sure now. My girlfriend is fond of uttering the maxim: You can trust people to do what they do. In this context, which I believe to be true, I don't think it would ultimately change much. It would introduce lots of different things but I don't it would change the heart of man. Men do the same things they have always done- this would only provide us a chance to do the same things with presumably newer and more powerful tools.

Men would still cheat on women. Women, still cheat on their men. Violence would be used to settle disputes that could have been peacefully addressed. And so on.

Philosophy and Religion may or may not benefit. Assuming the aliens are "thoughtful" in a way we understand and appreciate, our philosophy could advance. I do not see it advancing much as philosophers would likely have a field-day saying "Well, yes these creatures are intelligent, et al., but they do not have the hearts of men." How right they would be- while likely missing the irony. I believe the major religions would do what major religions generally do when they are exposed to new ideas: start xenophobic wars to quash them.

But the revoltion in thought that I imagined which would occur over all of humanity when exposed to an alien culture would be negligible. People would still continue being people, most of them finding solace in ignorance.

Just as today, a minority who are not afraid to evaluate and consume new thoughts and points-of-view would help the rest of idiot mankind shamble along to some higher thought process(which they would reject until it was nolonger possible then grudgingly accept).

If the industrial and information ages have failed to change man's ultimate bottom line which is generally concerned with more animalistic desires than we care to admit, I don't see an "alien revoltion" doing much more.

As with most instances where I apply my experience with mankind to an issue, I sorely hope the conclusion I come to is incorrect.

PB

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Very thoughtful post, PB. Probably wouldn't affect day-to-day life...

and for the overwhelming majority that's all there is. I'm not assuming we would be able to have any significant large-scale interaction with an alien civilization -- sheer physical distance and cultural distance would take decades if not centuries to overcome. But just *knowing* that there were "others" out there, that we were not unique, would put a serious hitch in the notion that we were created in God's own image and occupy a unique place in the Universe. Copernicus and Galileo only showed that, physically, Earth is not the center of the Solar System; Hubble showed it is not the center of the Universe. But if we are alone, we can justify a certain pride, even arrogance, that would poorly survive certain knowledge that we have "neighbors".

I doubt this would cause a "revolution". More like water wearing away stone, it would mean subsequent generations could not share the outlook of their predecessors.