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- From: 18084TM@msu.edu (Tom)
- Newsgroups: sci.space
- Subject: Other life-forms
- Message-ID: <1992Jul28.013420.160431@cs.cmu.edu>
- Date: 28 Jul 92 01:32:14 GMT
- Article-I.D.: cs.1992Jul28.013420.160431
- Sender: news+@cs.cmu.edu
- Distribution: sci
- Organization: [via International Space University]
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-
- > Hmmm... Both sides have a point. I think it'd be great to leave a planet
- >such as Mars alone for the purpose of watching it evolve. But I don't
- >think that would be too prudent. That would be like telling everyone
- >on earth to go back to Mesopotamia (or whereever, ifever, we all came
- >from) so we wouldn't interfere with evolution on the rest of the earth.
- >Besides, our presence may just help evolution along. I stress _may_.
-
- This thread has yet to lose that misanthropic assumption that so many
- eco-pagans hold: Man is not-life (or of the Earth - or of the whatever
- system that contains life). This is the result of the idea that man-made
- equal unnatural. But of course, our artifacts are as natural as termite-
- mounds and beaver dams. Otherwise, they would not exist in nature (here).
-
- We have as much right (power) to evolve as any other life-form. Attempts
- to disprove such will always degenerate into the man = non-life argument,
- which, of course, is wrong. Consider: Our presence -may- help evolution
- along. This value-judgement can never be resolved! Who will decide? Only
- something not-living can decide, since it won't be part of the process, but
- non-living things can't judge! Computers? How can they not be a part of
- evolution, being an artifact (tool) of an evolving life-form?
-
- Consider this: We get to mars, and find some bacteria that Viking missed,
- and discover it kills plant and animal life. Is it okay to kill it?
- What about small-pox? Polio? AIDS.....
-
- Or, if you prefer...is it okay to breed cattle and corn, irrevocobaly
- changing thier evolution for all eternity? And ours? It think the only
- tenable position has to be based on the question: Will this action be good
- for us? The eco-pagans would do well to learn this question...
-
- -Tommy Mac . " Malcolm X: +
- .------------------------ + * +
- | Tom McWilliams; scrub , . You've seen the hat, " +
- | astronomy undergrad, at * +;. . '
- | Michigan State University ' . "
- | 18084tm@ibm.cl.msu.edu ' , *
- | (517) 355-2178 ; + ' now catch the movie! *
- '-----------------------
-