Would life on Mars be a problem for your religious beliefs?

[dbcsf]

Hello everyone,

So the Mars Curiosity Rover successfully landed on the Red Planet. Some of its objectives are to find evidence for past or present life on Mars and/or evidence of past, life-friendly conditions on the planet.

The point of this thread is not to say your religion is false IF life is found; rather, I am interested if life on other planets would be a problem for your religion. Would God (Judeo-Christian god) also be credited with making this life even if it not mentioned in the bible?

Feel free to discuss any questions which may arise from this topic.

No. And, hope they do.

 

[juvenissun]

Bacteria have no nervous system. They can't be happy and contend, nor can they be sad and frustrated.

Whether we are happy and content has nothing to do with evolution. Evolution makes us more capable of surviving; considering we have bacteria that survive in rocks and eat radiation, I'd say they are pretty successfull in that regard.

Your argument is invalid, and you lack even a basic understanding of biology.

Do you see conflict in that sentence?

 

[juvenissun]

Why would you expect animals to evolve separately on another world? They may have something like animals, or they may not. Animals evolved on earth because (in part) of the environmental conditions that existed on earth. It may be quite different on another planet.

So, what should we call them, if not animals? Do you want to call them human?

 

[The Engineer]

Do you see conflict in that sentence?

No. Being happy, and being capable of survival, are two entirely different things.

Stimulating the reward center of a rat's brain will result in the rat starving to death, but there's no doubt it will die happily.

 

[Elendur]

Stimulating the reward center of a rat's brain will result in the rat starving to death, but there's no doubt it will die happily.

Wait, will it stop trying to eat at all?

 

[Blackwater Babe]

So, what should we call them, if not animals? Do you want to call them human?

Doesn't it rather depend what they are? What if they are more plant like than animal like? Or more bacteria-like?

 

[The Engineer]

Wait, will it stop trying to eat at all?

Yes.

Pleasure center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rats in Skinner boxes with metal electrodes implanted into their nucleus accumbens will repeatedly press a lever which activates this region, and will do so in preference over food and water, eventually dying from exhaustion. In rodent physiology, scientists reason that the medial forebrain bundle is the pleasure center of rats. If a rat is given the choice between stimulating the forebrain or eating, it will choose stimulation to the point of exhaustion.[6]

 

[pgp_protector]

Landing Site & Surrounding Area

First Color Image From Curiosity

 

[GodActsOnMe]

So, what should we call them, if not animals? Do you want to call them human?

How about "organism", "cell", or "microbe"?

 

[Blackwater Babe]

Landing Site & Surrounding Area


First Color Image From Curiosity

I see the aliens that NASA has tried to airbrush out of this photo of a sound stage in Burbank, because interplanetary flight is impossible [/conspiracy]

 

[Elendur]

I see the aliens that NASA has tried to airbrush out of this photo of a sound stage in Burbank, because interplanetary flight is impossible [/conspiracy]

I think I can see my house in the background.

 

[Illuminaughty]

Rats in Skinner boxes with metal electrodes implanted into their nucleus accumbens will repeatedly press a lever which activates this region, and will do so in preference over food and water, eventually dying from exhaustion. In rodent physiology, scientists reason that the medial forebrain bundle is the pleasure center of rats. If a rat is given the choice between stimulating the forebrain or eating, it will choose stimulation to the point of exhaustion.[6]

They need to find where the human pleasure centers are located and hook me up.

http://hedweb.com/hedethic/hedonist.htm

 

[GodActsOnMe]

They need to find where the human pleasure centers are located and hook me up.

Introduction to The Hedonistic Imperative

It is not directly exclusive to the area of the brain, but also to certain chemical balances within your neurons.

 

[Elendur]

Yes.

Pleasure center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That is both cool and disturbing at the same time thanks for the info.

 

[Illuminaughty]

Sounds nice;

[FONT=verdana,][SIZE=-1][SIZE=-1][FONT=verdana,][SIZE=-1][SIZE=-1]"In any case, wouldn't we get bored of life-long bliss?

[/SIZE]Apparently not. That's what's so revealing about wireheading. Unlike food, drink or sex, the experience of pleasure itself exhibits no tolerance, even though our innumerable objects of desire certainly do so. Thus we can eventually get bored of anything - with a single exception. Stimulation of the pleasure-centres of the brain never palls. Fire them in the right way, and boredom is neurochemically impossible. Its substrates are missing. Electrical stimulation of the mesolimbic dopamine system is more intensely rewarding than eating, drinking, and love-making; and it never gets in the slightest a bit tedious. It stays exhilarating. The unlimited raw pleasure conjured up by wirehead bliss certainly inspires images of monotony in the electrode-naïve outsider; but that's a different story altogether.[/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]"
​

[FONT=verdana,][SIZE=-1][SIZE=-1]
[SIZE=-1]http://wireheading.com/index.html

[/SIZE] [/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT]

 

[Doveaman]

Would life on Mars be a problem for your religious beliefs?

Sure, why not?

Hello everyone,

So the Mars Curiosity Rover successfully landed on the Red Planet. Some of its objectives are to find evidence for past or present life on Mars and/or evidence of past, life-friendly conditions on the planet.

The point of this thread is not to say your religion is false IF life is found; rather, I am interested if life on other planets would be a problem for your religion. Would God (Judeo-Christian god) also be credited with making this life even if it not mentioned in the bible?

Feel free to discuss any questions which may arise from this topic.

Scientists like to tell us that life on Earth could have came from Mars, so it also likely that life on Mars could have came from Earth.

 

[Blackwater Babe]

They need to find where the human pleasure centers are located and hook me up.

Introduction to The Hedonistic Imperative

Niven predicted it as the comming drug plague some years ago;
Wirehead (science fiction) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Blackwater Babe]

Sure, why not?
Scientists like to tell us that life on Earth could have came from Mars, so it also likely that life on Mars could have came from Earth.

No its not actually, because of the gravity difference. Mars ejecta can reach escape velocity much more easily than Earth ejecta can. Not saying it couldn't happen ever, just saying Earth -> Mars is a lot less likely than Mars -> Earth.

 

[juvenissun]

Doesn't it rather depend what they are? What if they are more plant like than animal like? Or more bacteria-like?

We judge them according our standard which tells plants from animals.

 

[juvenissun]

No. Being happy, and being capable of survival, are two entirely different things.

Stimulating the reward center of a rat's brain will result in the rat starving to death, but there's no doubt it will die happily.

It is the same thing. In your example, the rat failed in evolution.