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There are lots of decent articles about this, examples:
https://www.space.com/40435-finding-aliens-humanity-reaction.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_cultural_impact_of_extraterrestrial_contact - in part, discusses how speculative this subject can be
Well, since Jenner first vaccinated people against smallpox there has been pushback against vaccinations from the public.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/
Fast forward 200 years and we still have pushback - anti-vaxxers using the internet pulpit. So, can we conclude that finding life "out there"will fare any better?
Maybe I'm a curmudgeon but I say 'Probably No'.
Why?
An analogy is best given by an example from science - Gradualism, The Scablands in Washington State and Catastrophic Geology ##^1##. The critics of the concept of a major flood gouging out incredible amounts of land in a few weeks had a lot to lose. :like a lifetime of their field work interpreted as Gradualism. Including the Scablands. Bottom line it would prove some their life's work wrong, so they were disinclined to agree with something new and looked for every which way to deny it. You can see the parallel I am trying to make. This is how Science works. Skepticism overcome by easily verified facts. So. It eventually got sorted. After a very long time. Unlike the vaccination example above.
Counterpoint. i.e., non-science folks:
It is the public who funds extraterrestrial life research through taxes. Frank the Facebook Fan, FFF, is not a scientist. FFF pays taxes, votes.
In my PF mentor role, a lot of 'personal theory' (buzz word for 'I made this Science up') kinds posts come into PF. The posts usually do not make it into the forums. .. we hope. FFF and his cohorts contribute most of them. So weird ideas abound out there in the wild. You have no idea.
PF's niche is unusual because it deals with currently accepted Science, not new theory development or debunking nonsense. New posters sometimes bump heads with that concept.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...eact-alien-life-discovery-aaas-space-science/ --This article says an announcement of living exobiology will be well received.
## ^1##Scablands formation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missoula_Floods and Harlan Bretz.
https://www.space.com/40435-finding-aliens-humanity-reaction.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_cultural_impact_of_extraterrestrial_contact - in part, discusses how speculative this subject can be
Well, since Jenner first vaccinated people against smallpox there has been pushback against vaccinations from the public.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/
Fast forward 200 years and we still have pushback - anti-vaxxers using the internet pulpit. So, can we conclude that finding life "out there"will fare any better?
Maybe I'm a curmudgeon but I say 'Probably No'.
Why?
An analogy is best given by an example from science - Gradualism, The Scablands in Washington State and Catastrophic Geology ##^1##. The critics of the concept of a major flood gouging out incredible amounts of land in a few weeks had a lot to lose. :like a lifetime of their field work interpreted as Gradualism. Including the Scablands. Bottom line it would prove some their life's work wrong, so they were disinclined to agree with something new and looked for every which way to deny it. You can see the parallel I am trying to make. This is how Science works. Skepticism overcome by easily verified facts. So. It eventually got sorted. After a very long time. Unlike the vaccination example above.
Counterpoint. i.e., non-science folks:
It is the public who funds extraterrestrial life research through taxes. Frank the Facebook Fan, FFF, is not a scientist. FFF pays taxes, votes.
In my PF mentor role, a lot of 'personal theory' (buzz word for 'I made this Science up') kinds posts come into PF. The posts usually do not make it into the forums. .. we hope. FFF and his cohorts contribute most of them. So weird ideas abound out there in the wild. You have no idea.
PF's niche is unusual because it deals with currently accepted Science, not new theory development or debunking nonsense. New posters sometimes bump heads with that concept.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...eact-alien-life-discovery-aaas-space-science/ --This article says an announcement of living exobiology will be well received.
## ^1##Scablands formation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missoula_Floods and Harlan Bretz.
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