THE POINT-COUNTERPOINT PUBLICATION FOR FEBRUARY 16, 2011
( to infinity and beyond )
POINT SECOND GENESIS OF LIFE DR. CRIS TOPHER McK AY
Encountering extraterrestrial life is likely, and it is our responsibility to be stewards of new life forms.
Volume 24 Issue 14
Are we likely to find extraterrestrial life? Do we have a plan if we do? My answers to these questions are yes and no, respectively. From spacecraft observations we can certainly rule out any widespread life or intelligent life on the other worlds of our Solar System. However, there very well may be microbial life dormant or below the surface on Mars, Europa (a moon of Jupiter), or Enceladus (a moon of Saturn). There are four reasons to be optimistic that life will be found on other worlds. First, life is composed of elements such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur, which are common in the universe. Second, all life on Earth requires liquid water to grow or reproduce, and we have clear evidence that such water has existed on Mars in the past (as well as that there is currently liquid water below the ice on Europa and Enceladus). Third, the organic molecules of life such as amino acids can be produced easily in non-biological processes, and organic molecules are found in many places in the outer Solar System. Finally, life appeared quite early in Earth’s history, soon after the surface cooled enough for liquid water to be present. All this bodes well for the search for life beyond the Earth, and so we search. What we search for is not just life, however, but convincing evidence of a second genesis of life—in other words, a different form of life. We now realize that all known life on Earth is part of a single genetic and biochemical system descendant from a common ancestor. If we find evidence of life on another world we will want to compare its genetic and biochemical composition to that of life on Earth and determine if that life is different, implying an independent and separate origin. To make this comparison, we need biologically intact material—either dead or alive. Fossils are not enough for this test. However, we are not really ethically prepared to take on our search for a second genesis of life. What do we do once we find it? There are three possibilities: we remove it, we ignore it, or we help it. Some have argued that if we discover a second genesis of life on Mars, we can simply remove it, put it in storage in the laboratory and then continue undeterred with the expansion of Earth life and humans on Mars. Others have argued for a non-interference principle: if we discover a second genesis of life on Mars, we quarantine the planet. I don’t accept either of these points of view. I argue that if we discover a second genesis of life on Mars, we ought to take active steps to enhance that life and alter Mars so as to allow that life to thrive. Proposing to help Martian life assumes that we can know that it needs help. I think it is safe to make that assumption based on the fact that any life on Mars would not exercise dominant control of the cycles of light elements such as nitrogen and carbon, as life on Earth does. Perhaps life on Mars did have such control in the past. Regardless, we should deter-
mine what Martian life needs and what environment suits it and then alter Mars so that this indigenous life can globally thrive—dominating the cycles of the light elements. Contamination from Earth poses a serious problem for restoration ecology on Mars. If Mars were altered to allow for life to spread, any contamination from Earth would also spread and possibly compete with the Martian life. We could not be certain of the outcome. For this reason, we would need to remove all viable Earth life from Mars before the restoration of habitable conditions could commence. We know that there are viable Earth microorganisms on Mars because all spacecraft to Mars launched after the Viking missions in 1976 were not sterilized. The international committee that sets policy determined that the conditions on Mars were such that no organisms from Earth could grow or reproduce. Thus, sterilization was no longer required. The Pathfinder lander, the two Mars Exploration Rovers, the Beagle 2 lander, and the Phoenix lander each carried about one hundred thousand viable microorganisms to Mars. None of these contaminants can grow or reproduce on Mars, and any exposed to the Martian sunlight are rapidly destroyed by the biocidal solar ultraviolet light. However microbes left inside the vehicles and shielded from the ultraviolet light, would remain dormant yet viable. But if conditions on Mars were altered (by human or natural means or outer space events) so that water once again flowed on the surface, this terrestrial contamination would wash out and could begin to grow. In these instances, it is a necessity that we would have to remove all Earth contaminants to let Mars’ life develop isolated. Moreover, it is essential that all future exploration of Mars be designed to be biologically reversible, where any interference or contaminants from Earth can be removed. This preserves our options in the event we discover what we’re searching for: a second genesis of life. The author is a planetary scientist at nasa Ames Research Center, studying planetary atmospheres, astrobiology, and terraforming. He has been actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human settlements.
COUNTERPOINT THE DUTY OF COSMIC CONCERN A few years ago, I wrote the following: “All I really need to know I learned from Star Trek—to seek out new civilizations, to keep my phaser set on stun, and never to put all the officers in one shuttlecraft.” But, now, as the possibilities of commercial space travel, space colonization and discovering a second genesis of life become possible realities, I think that we need something more—a deep consideration of what it would mean to discover “new civilizations” populated by extraterrestrial others. What would it mean to discover life as we don’t know it? How should we relate to unearthly environments and new life forms? In other words, what would it mean for us to take seriously a duty of cosmic concern? Although unquenched curiosity and a deep desire to understand the universe around us are primary motivators for going where no one has gone before, there are increasing appeals to the necessity of leaving our earthly home in order to survive. A decade ago, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking warned us, “I don’t think that the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I’m an optimist. We will reach out to the stars.” A more likely destination than the stars would be our neighbor planet Mars. It seems possible that we could “terraform” Mars—that is, transform it into a new Earth using University of Wisconsin botanist James Graham’s recipe: a large dose of heat and a smattering of bacteria, lichens and, eventually, redwoods. This is an intriguing possibility for some and a horrifying thought for others. Perhaps a more fascinating possibility is that we will unearth—actually, “unmars”—microbial life below the surface of the red planet. Then what do we do? Observe it? Collect it? Study it? Send it back to Earth? Before succumbing to Hawking’s appeal to get off of our gradually decaying terrestrial home and spread into space, we would do well to recognize that our track record here on Earth is suspect regarding how we treat one another and the environment. Indeed, it is increasingly hard to deny our own culpability in unchecked pollution and the warming of planet Earth. How can we be trusted in developing a new celestial environment when we hardly understand how to sustainably care for our own? Shouldn’t we better understand how to care for this planet before terraforming others? As we venture far from terra firma, we could use a good dose of humility. If we go where no one has gone before, there are likely to be unintended consequences. We need to be conscious and humble primarily because we don’t know what we don’t know. Further, the impact of the decisions we make and the actions we take today will affect not only us but also future generations of humans and—assuming that Earth may be only one of many environments where life can emerge—novel forms of extraterrestrial life.
We should ask not what we can gain from the cosmos, but what we can do to understand and care for the cosmos. The answer does not lie solely in cultivating Martian life to the best of our ability. This decision can only be made through negotiating bioethical concerns. The answer does not lie in observing or cultivating Martian life to the best of our ability. The decision how and when to explore space can only be made by taking ethical concerns seriously, paying particular attention to exercising care for the cosmos. Let me suggest the following guidelines : 1. Cosmos preservation insists that we value other worlds and life forms for their own sake, apart from our curiosity, interest, or profit. 2. Cosmos conservation mandates care for the universe’s resources, environments, and life forms, including consideration of our impact on extraterrestrial life and evolution. 3. Cosmos sustainability cautions us to refrain from irreversible harm, raising the question of what would constitute “harm” to Mars and other celestial bodies and to life as we don’t know it. At a minimum, we must guard against “forward contamination,” the introduction of terrestrial microbes to other worlds, and “backward contamination,” bringing extraterrestrial microbes back home.
DR. M A RGA RE T R. McL E A N
Reflective ethical concerns regarding encountering extraterrestrial life and new environments need to be the foundation of our space exploration.
4. Cosmos stewardship holds us accountable for our actions, compelling us to consider how our actions affect others—both human and not— and including how we affect our vast surroundings and the future. From research in subatomic space, we have learned that mere observation can change the characteristics of what is observed. Are we obligated to leave certain areas of the cosmos unseen, uninvestigated, or untouched by human hands or rover probes? 5. Respect for the extraterrestrial other invites a deep concern for the intrinsic value of the cosmos and the life within it, not only “charismatic fauna” extraterrestrial life but also microbes and non–carbon-based life.
There is much about the cosmos that we do not know, and so we explore. But we ought not go unreflectively where no one has gone before. These guidelines can prevent exploration from turning into exploitation and should inform us as before we take steps into the final frontier. The author is Associate Director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, and an avid watcher of the night sky.
February 16, 2011
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VOLUME 24 ISSUE 14
Edited by Lexie Tourek & Tanya Rogovyk Cover by Benjamin English (Kelsie Kaufman, Rose Jaffe, models) © Consider Magazine 2011
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