Mars - not a teat!

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/mars/olympus_mons.jpg

Watching the night sky as I do, last week I noticed the planet Mars - easy to spot because it glows red. For as long as I can remember Hollywood has had a passion for the planet Mars and has exhibited not just a fear of those 'little green men' - a stereotype of extraterrestrials born out of alien sightings in the 1950s, but a general xenophobia of all things alien.  Recent photographs of Mars and America's continual search for 'life', has prompted me to consider what they actually mean by 'life'. I've always liked Margaret A. Boden explanation, which is that ‘Metabolism is a criterion’ (1999:231). Metabolism being 'a type of material self-organization which…involves the autonomous use of matter and energy in building, growing, developing, and maintaining the bodily fabric of a living thing’ (1999:237) and further that it 'involves material embodiment – embodiment, not mere physical existence‘ (1999:240). However, since all life is used in some fashion, I'm wondering if America's search for 'life on Mars' evidence by the half a million photographs taken with the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), a multi-band camera on the NASA Mars Odyssey is less a philosophical concern about life itself and our human place in the universe and or whether or not Mars is colonized, and more to do with how they can eventually exploit any potential life form and make a land grab before any other nation. The fact that they are investigating safe landing areas and monitoring dust activity tells me that they intend to invade this planet at all costs. But why? Apparently Mars is an extreme planet with changing weather patterns and its terrain is likened to that of Death Valley in California or Siberia. The best thing about NASA's photographs is the absolute beauty and terror of the planet, which we would not otherwise see. My view is Mars should be considered an amazing body. Am I old fashioned in my viewpoint? I'd like to think that we humans can appreciate something from afar without having to invade and destroy it, which bring me not so subtly to Q & A last night and a comment made by Germaine Greer about the fact that America did eventually get its act together about land rights for Inuit Indians, but that Australia has yet to work out vital issues in regards to land  rights with Indigenous Australians. That strangely beautiful image above, tells me that Mars is not a teat on which America can suckle - look, don't touch!

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Margaret A. Boden (1999). 'Is Metabolism Necessary?' British Journal of Philosophy and Science, Oxford Uni Press, 50 pp. 231-248.