Giant Nasa rover launches to Mars

[Neil]

Hopefully it does not.

Why not?

Just to annoy you.  And then they'll stop looking.

Nope.  What you're forgetting is that most NASA scientists are Tims with PhDs.

Perhaps, but high profile failures make Congress unwilling to fund science, primarily because Congressmen are horribly stupid.  Nevertheless, sometimes it works to our advantage in annoying Tim.

[Neil]

Hopefully it does not.

Why not?

We've been over this before.  Finding life in the solar system is a really bad sign.

I don't recall that discussion.

[Razgovory]

Hopefully it does not.

Why not?

We've been over this before.  Finding life in the solar system is a really bad sign.

I don't recall that discussion.

Great Filter.  Something keeps aliens from visiting Earth.  Or being seen from Earth.  We don't know what it is.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter  Finding life on Mars moves that filter up a step.  If that filter moves up to a point beyond where we are, then it's unlikely we'll have interstellar travel.

[Neil]

Great Filter.  Something keeps aliens from visiting Earth.  Or being seen from Earth.  We don't know what it is.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter  Finding life on Mars moves that filter up a step.  If that filter moves up to a point beyond where we are, then it's unlikely we'll have interstellar travel.

It's unlikely that we'll have interstellar travel.

That said, I don't think that life on Mars, past or present, makes a difference.

[Siege]

"There is a 95% chance of extinction within 9120 years." (Doomsday Argument)

[Razgovory]

Great Filter.  Something keeps aliens from visiting Earth.  Or being seen from Earth.  We don't know what it is.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter  Finding life on Mars moves that filter up a step.  If that filter moves up to a point beyond where we are, then it's unlikely we'll have interstellar travel.

It's unlikely that we'll have interstellar travel.

That said, I don't think that life on Mars, past or present, makes a difference.

I should have made myself more clear.  When I said "we", I meant the Human species.  Not "Razgovory and Neil".  I think it's unlikely that the two of us will have interstellar travel.

[Neil]

Great Filter.  Something keeps aliens from visiting Earth.  Or being seen from Earth.  We don't know what it is.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter  Finding life on Mars moves that filter up a step.  If that filter moves up to a point beyond where we are, then it's unlikely we'll have interstellar travel.

It's unlikely that we'll have interstellar travel.

That said, I don't think that life on Mars, past or present, makes a difference.

I should have made myself more clear.  When I said "we", I meant the Human species.  Not "Razgovory and Neil".  I think it's unlikely that the two of us will have interstellar travel.

The human species isn't likely to have interstellar travel at any point.  The ramscoop is a great idea that probably won't work, and the devoting the resources to anything else isn't feasible.

[Razgovory]

Yeah, the Ramscoop looked like the idea, but it looks like it won't work in our part of the galaxy.

[Razgovory]

Nope.  What you're forgetting is that most NASA scientists are Tims with PhDs.

Having a PhD in some scientific discipline sort a precludes you from be so credulous in scientific matters.