Planetary Scientists Are Myth-Directed
They imagine life on every planet. But it is illogical
to build a case on a sample size of one.
Maybe it’s just the noisy ones who talk to the press, but planetary scientists appear to have an astrobiology addiction. They seem bent on finding life on every round thing in space. Why is this? They should know you cannot build a case on a sample size of one.
Planetary scientists tried that with exoplanetary orbits (i.e., predicting rocky planets near to the star, gas giants farther out) but were embarrassed when real exoplanets violated those expectations. Hot Jupiters were common, and other exoplanet systems seemed to follow no pattern. Now they do this with life. Earth has abundant life, but it does not follow that other bodies have it (see non-sequitur in the Baloney Detector). That’s a mythoid, not a factoid. They also promote myths of molecules emerging into life on any body that might be habitable. Most scientists reject miracles, but find that one very handy—indeed, essential.
The press never calls them on these myths. Watch the art of myth-direction in recent planetary science news.
How planets may be seeded with the chemicals necessary for life (University of Leeds). Dr John Ilee at U Leeds goes into a trance about complex molecules found in the spectra of stars. He envisions them raining down on planets like seeds, growing into cells. But what molecules is he talking about? Poisons like carbon monoxide, cyanoacetylene, acetonitrile, and cyclopropenylidene! These are the building blocks of lie, not of life. Ramping up the perhapsimaybecouldness index, he and his colleagues say,
Importantly, the disk regions in which the molecules were located are also where asteroids and comets form. Dr Ilee says it is possible a process akin to that which may have helped to initiate life on Earth could also happen in these disks – where bombardment by asteroids and comets transfers the large organic molecules to the newly formed planets.
Dr Walsh added: “The key result of this work shows that the same ingredients needed for seeding life on our planet are also found around other stars. It is possible that the molecules that are needed to kick-start life on planets are readily available in all planet-forming environments.”
This is goofy. It contradicts the science we know. There is also no way his myth could ever be proved wrong. Why doesn’t the press office call him on it? Oh; they’re in on the scam. They exist to make the university’s scientists look good. (It’s not working.)
Spacecraft could detect signs of life on Saturn’s moon Enceladus (New Scientist). Reporter Jonathan O’Callaghan myth-directs the detection of ice plumes on this tiny moon to visions of floating microbes. All we need to do is fund another NASA spacecraft to go sniff the ice, he says. Lucky for Jon, he will likely be retired with a hefty pension before he can be proved wrong.
Life on Venus may have only been possible for its first billion years (New Scientist). Reporter Jason Arunn Murugesu, buzzed on fumes from 3 European mythmakers’ smoke rings, sighs that all the life on Venus likely perished billions of years ago. “Venus may have been habitable for close to a billion years – far less time than previously thought, but still long enough for life to evolve,” he says. Hold on a minute: life? What life? Has he not heard that Venus is worse than Dante’s inferno, and that its orbit is outside the habitable zone, and that it is popping all over with volcanoes? Here’s a suggestion to turn their myths back into science. Let them fly there and look for evidence. Maybe they could take a one-way trip in Elon Musk’s Starman Roadster and radio back what they find. They may not survive, but they will regain their scientific credibility.
Credit: SpaceX, via BBC News.
Abiotic Myths
Earth and Venus Grew up as Rambunctious Planets (University of Arizona). This press release tells a myth of colliding planetesimals. It doesn’t mention life, but envisions space rocks crashing and melting to build the hellish Venus and the habitable Earth. Did they watch this happen? No? Then classify it as myth-direction.
NASA Confirms Thousands of Massive, Ancient Volcanic Eruptions on Mars (NASA-JPL). This press release is not about life, but about volcanic super-eruptions that should not have been possible on small Mars.
“People are going to read our paper and go, ‘How? How could Mars do that? How can such a tiny planet melt enough rock to power thousands of super eruptions in one location?’” he said. “I hope these questions bring about a lot of other research.
They point to calderas as evidence, but they seem sheepish about the explanation. Hoping that it brings about “a lot of other research” is one way to nudge more funding NASA’s way. Truth is not the issue. They will never know if Mars had thousands of super eruptions. They will just stay employed in the mythmaking business.
Remember that astrobiology is better spelled “bio-astrology.” They should read our piece, “How astrobiology could be scientific” from 9 Jan 2020.