When I Was A Student Almost Nobody

An Argument Often Given For Why Earth Couldn't Host Another Form Of Life Is That Once The Life We Know Became Established, It Would Have Eliminated Any Competition Through Natural Selection. But If Another Form Of Life Were Confined To Its Own Niche, There Would Be Little Direct Competition With Regular Life.

For Me, Science Is Already Fantastical Enough. Unlocking The Secrets Of Nature With Fundamental Physics Or Cosmology Or Astrobiology Leads You Into A Wonderland Compared With Which Beliefs In Things Like Alien Abductions Pale Into Insignificance.

Should We Find A Second Form Of Life Right Here On Our Doorstep, We Could Be Confident That Life Is A Truly Cosmic Phenomenon. If So, There May Well Be Sentient Beings Somewhere In The Galaxy Wondering, As Do We, If They Are Not Alone In The Universe.

Perhaps The Best Motivation For Going To Mars Is Political. It Is Obvious That No Single Nation Currently Has Either The Will Or The Resources To Do It Alone, But A Consortium Of Nations And Space Agencies Could Achieve It Within 20 Years.

When I Was A Student, The Laws Of Physics Were Regarded As Completely Off Limits. The Job Of The Scientist, We Were Told, Is To Discover The Laws And Apply Them, Not Inquire Into Their Provenance.