Congress Just Held a Remarkable Two-Hour Hearing on Aliens

In a refreshingly pro - science move , the House Science Committee set by two hours yesterday to talk over the ongoing lookup for extraterrestrial life . The ensuing conversation was fascinating , but at times exasperate , with the experts discussing everything from alien biosignatures to the possibility that we ’re being catch .

The earreach , called “ Astrobiology : The Search for Biosignatures in Our Solar System and Beyond , ” was set up to study the burgeon field of space biology and the search for biosignatures in our solar system and beyond . To that end , the U.S. House of Representatives institute together three expert , all PhDs : Mary Voytek , Senior Scientist for Astrobiology in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA main office ; Sara Seager , Professor of Physics and of Planetary Science at M.I.T. ( whose workplace we featured originally this year ) ; and Steven J. Dick , Baruch S. Blumberg Chair of Astrobiology , Library of Congress ( who we ’ve also talk about here at io9 ) .

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The Republican - dominate House Committee centered many of their question on the issue of whether astrobiology could be an inhalation for youthful people to get demand in scientific discipline and engine room . The witnesses were even asked how they catch into astrobiology .

Rep. Bill Posey ( R - Fla ) even ask the watcher what they considered to be the greatest risk to life on Earth . Perhaps he was question if extraterrestrial intelligence ( ETIs ) might pose a threat . The panelists ’ answers included asteroid , overpopulation , and somewhat inexplicably , the pursuit for energy resource . Regrettably , this subject is outside their area of expertise , and their reply think over as much .

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But when they got down to the crux of the subject at hand , the witnesses advocate for increased funding into space biology and SETI , the lookup for extraterrestrial intelligence information . They asked for investments in place telescope , like the James Webb scope scheduled for 2018 , to discover chemic signature tune of life in the atmospheres of distant exoplanets .

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They also discuss the possibility of well-informed sprightliness . Rep. Ralph M. Hall ( R - Tex . ) ask , “ Do you think there ’s life out there , and are they studying us ? And what do they think about New York City ? ” The question was clearly about intelligent life-time , and not microbial life .

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Seager was reluctant to speculate about ETIs , and dodgingly said , “ The question is : Is there liveliness near here , in our neighborhood of stars ? We think the probability are good . ” To be honest , her speciality is in observe chemical substance biosignatures , notintelligent life history . Voytek give a rather puzzling and unimaginative resolution , enounce “ Whether they ’re appear at New York or some small townspeople in Indiana , the diversity of biography here and the way that we endure our lives is phenomenal , and I think it goes all the means down from humans to microbes . ”

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Even Dick ’s answer was restrained , say “ I think the guiding principle holds that what ’s happened here has occur elsewhere in our huge macrocosm . ” Which is a surprisingly crippled reply arrive from him . This is the same guy who ’s said thatbiological intelligence information is the elision , not the rule . In a post - biological population , says Dick , machines are the prevailing mannequin of intelligence . Perhaps Dick was dumbing - it - down for a Congress mostly concerned in knowing if they should fund ongoing endeavors in astrobiology .

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gratefully , Dick made the delivery for increased government support for SETI ( which in all fairness was outside the ambit of the hearing ) . Here ’s an excerption fromhis testimony :

One of the most appealing characteristics of exobiology is that the discipline forces us to inquire questions that put in view our place in the universe : What are life , awareness , and intelligence in a universal context , and what are the metaphysical assumptions that underlie our understanding of these concept ? Is there a general theory of living systems , a oecumenical biology as there is a ecumenical purgative ? What are refinement and refinement ? What is our plaza in the 13.8 billionyear unfolding of cosmic evolution ? Some of these dubiousness carry on consciousness and intelligence are beyond the scope of the current NASA astrobiology program , but they are nevertheless an significant part of the lookup for lifetime in the universe of discourse . Almost precisely twenty years ago , in the same session that see the demise of the Superconducting Super Collider , the 103rd Congress end the NASA Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ( SETI ) program .

In increase to a renewed hunting with the latest engineering , the reinstatement of funding for SETI would allow a systematic examination of these challenging questions . It would also repair the contrived programmatic divorcement between the search for microbial and intelligent lifetime , which , despite engage different scientific communities , are part of the same research problem . And I believe SETI would be bear by the public , which as always is interested in sprightliness beyond Earth , whether microbic or intelligent .

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The latest White House budget call for $ 17.7 billion for NASA , a flimsy decrease from 2012 .

“ You ’ve pretty much indicated [ the find of ] lifespan on other planet is inevitable , ” Rep. Bill Posey , R - Fla. , told the witnesses . “ It ’s just a subject of time and funding . ”

[ ViaWashington Post|UPI|Astrobiology entanglement ]

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