Feature Article February 12, 2004
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- No little green men!
I have been very impressed with the photographs of Mar's surface that are being beamed back to earth, and I expect to be doubly impressed with the information that Spirit Rover will be sending back in the weeks and months to come. But where are the 'little green men' that we earthlings thought inhabited that bleak planet?
It is interesting how scientific knowledge dashes our beliefs--and has done so throughout history. Mars photos are only the latest to discredit imaginative explanations that the human race has invented in an attempt to explain the unknown. Man seeks a reason for all natural phenomena, and if scientific reasons cannot be discovered to explain a situation, we make one up. History, from the days it was first recorded, is littered with attempts and beliefs (religions?) to explain the unexplainable.
No educated person since the 3rd century BC believed the earth was flat. The Greek philosophers, Pythagoras and Aristotle, were instrumental in publicizing and proving the spherical concept. Yet today there still exists an active 'Flat Earth Society' that denies all the physical evidence. Some of us learn slowly from the scientific method.
The mystery of Mars is as fascinating. In 1543 Copernicus proved that earth and other planets revolved around the sun, a concept that had been around but not accepted for the previous 18 centuries. Half a century later Galileo invented the telescope and we were able to see into the heavens in more detail than ever before. Until 1888, just a little over a century ago, it was commonly believed that water canals existed on Mars. Now another postulation has been dashed, but Rover is looking for signs that water has existed there.
Over 75 years ago, on October 30, 1938, Orson Wells on his famous radio program War of the Worlds frightened his listeners by describing Martian invaders, extraterrestrial 'little green men', who had invaded Earth; concerned listeners jammed phone lines. So far Rover has not seen any sign of life, but is to search for microscopic indications that some form of life does or has existed.
Scientific discovery is rolling back the mysteries of our universe and beyond and it is debunking some of the ideas that we have invented to cover our anxieties; we do so want a reason, not being content with blind beliefs. In future decades, years and centuries, there will be some interesting proofs or disproof of present postulating.
No 'little green men' this time. Really, it is a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, there is plenty to muse about: explorations of The Big Bang theory of creation, 'black holes' careening about out there swallowing everything in their paths and the expansion of our universe. For years scientists have monitored radio waves from outer space but as of this date no pattern has been observed that would indicate broadcasting by a thinking being. Life as we know it doesn't seem to exist beyond planet earth and we haven't yet received a reply to the messages we have etched on the sides of various interstellar vehicles.
Too bad there are no 'little green men'; but let us not give up hope. We humans do not like loneliness any better than mysteries, and we have only begun the explorations.
