At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)
This past Friday, the Cassini spacecraft was deliberately crashed into Saturn. It had been sending back data from Saturn and her moons for seven years, on a mission that's lasted twenty.
The reason the Cassini was crashed into Saturn was so that it wouldn't contaminate any of Saturn's moons. A couple of them have a possibility of life, and the scientists didn't want any of Earth's microbes (which probably lingered on the spacecraft as it was built by people) to accidentally pollute them.
(There was an excellent NOVA on this.)
Which got me to thinking...
What if an ancient (prehistoric) alien probe was uncovered here on Earth?
My hubby watched that program and found it very interesting. I know it is quite cool what they can do but I'd rather watch star trek. This may be one reason why I always got a D or D- in science. If an alien probe was found here...wear the hazmat suits and investigate, don't let the general public know since the average person would freak out or try to destroy it or make money from it. I would never let it get to the general public as there could be something on it that would kill us. I think of the Star Trek episode where everyone felt drunk and even Spock was affected
ReplyDeleteYeah, that could happen.
DeleteI explored that idea in my Cassa books. Would make us wonder about our origins.
ReplyDeleteArthur C. Clarke also posited that idea in 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the movie, the scenes with the obelisk were creepy.
ReplyDeleteI am sure we are not alone in the galaxy, I am sure there are other intelligent life forms out there. It's not hard at all to think they have visited us in some way.
I never could get into 2001. I should try to again sometime.
DeleteI think my hubby would like to watch that, thank you for the link!!!
ReplyDeleteIt was a fascinating episode.
DeleteIf it was uncovered here, then maybe it crashed here billions of years ago and the microbes from it were what caused life, just like they were afraid of with Cassini.
ReplyDeleteNot much I guess. Nothing changes, except now we know for sure, and anyone who wasn't sure already is an idiot.
ReplyDeletePerhaps.
DeleteIt might make us reassess how life started in the first place. I see a couple of people have already had similar thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested to see what they could find out about it and where it might have come from.
ReplyDeletebetty
Oh well I am putting on my optimistic hat and say that maybe this would be the birth of some fabbo scrummy new sort of food, calorie free but still delicious chocolates maybe, delivered by the hand of some friendly sensible clever folk. Yippee
ReplyDeleteChocolate? Then, I'm in!
DeleteI really like Sue Elliott's response. ~grin~ Very clever. All I could think of was John Carpenter's "The Thing" from the eighties.
ReplyDeleteI'd go for silly over creepy any day, too ;)
DeleteI'd love it. It would make my day. Nothing exciting ever happens. (Unless it was evil of course)
ReplyDeleteNothing exciting ever happens... Oh, I wish that were true here.
DeleteEh. I guess I'm weird but the idea doesn't do much of anything for me. I'm neutral on it all I guess. lol
ReplyDeleteI am cynical enough to believe we will never find any intelligent life (or their probes, or anything else). I fear all intelligent races end up destroying themselves before they can leave their home solar systems. Just like we might just well do. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI'm more optimistic than you. Although, I don't believe that this probe would actually exist.
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