Editing 2359: Evidence of Alien Life
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
| Latest revision | Your text | ||
| Line 11: | Line 11: | ||
This comic depicts a table of possible responses to new information on the possibility of alien life. It is presented in table form, with the columns representing three categories of reaction to new evidence, and the rows representing the strength of new evidence, increasing down the table. Each intersection then shows a small scenario of what the response would be. The left and right-hand column scenarios are hyperbolic in either their acceptance or denial. The center column represents a reasonable course of action.{{Citation needed}} | This comic depicts a table of possible responses to new information on the possibility of alien life. It is presented in table form, with the columns representing three categories of reaction to new evidence, and the rows representing the strength of new evidence, increasing down the table. Each intersection then shows a small scenario of what the response would be. The left and right-hand column scenarios are hyperbolic in either their acceptance or denial. The center column represents a reasonable course of action.{{Citation needed}} | ||
| β | This comic was a reaction to [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds.html the discovery of phosphine gas on Venus], which is where Ponytail's "V" figure in the second row comes from (a representation of the phosphine absorption feature). {{w|Phosphine}} is a molecule whose presence in the Venusian atmosphere came as a surprise. Light breaks phosphine down, meaning something must be producing it. However, there is no known abiotic mechanism on Venus that would produce the gas in the quantities observed. The phosphine could therefore be a sign of life on Venus, but more evidence is needed. Venus was also an unexpected place to find a possible sign of life — although it was {{w|Venus in fiction|a common pulp fiction setting in the early 20th-century}}, the arrival of the space probe era dashed hopes that the hidden surface might be, say, an exotic jungle | + | This comic was a reaction to [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds.html the discovery of phosphine gas on Venus], which is where Ponytail's "V" figure in the second row comes from (a representation of the phosphine absorption feature). {{w|Phosphine}} is a molecule whose presence in the Venusian atmosphere came as a surprise. Light breaks phosphine down, meaning something must be producing it. However, there is no known abiotic mechanism on Venus that would produce the gas in the quantities observed. The phosphine could therefore be a sign of life on Venus, but more evidence is needed. Venus was also an unexpected place to find a possible sign of life — although it was {{w|Venus in fiction|a common pulp fiction setting in the early 20th-century }}, the arrival of the space probe era dashed hopes that the hidden surface might be, say, an exotic jungle. More recent efforts at finding life in the Solar System have mostly focused on Mars and various ice moons with suspected {{w|Ocean#Natural_satellites|subsurface oceans}}, but life more-or-less as we know it could exist within the upper atmosphere of Venus, which has more Earth-like conditions than the surface. However, while the discovery of phosphine is interesting, it is not nearly enough evidence to claim that "life has been found" on Venus, and likewise, it is comically understated to refer to the paper as "evidence of molecules" in Venus's atmosphere. |
The title text refers to an action which is simultaneously too cautious and not cautious enough: the speaker is skeptical that aliens exist, which is usually an appropriate belief, except that presumably Megan and Cueball are in the situation presented in the bottom row, where aliens have landed right in front of them. Rather than modifying his belief (presumably it's Cueball, who was the one to approach the aliens in the other panels), he expresses an intention to approach the alleged aliens and attempt to remove their masks. He believes that he will expose a human wearing a costume, perpetrating a {{tvtropes|ScoobyDooHoax|"Scooby-Doo"-style hoax}}, but no matter what the outcome is, he's acting rashly. If the beings before him are aliens, he will be initiating a very aggressive first contact and will likely receive a violent response, and even if the alien is not violent, Cueball might end up removing an environmental apparatus that is protecting it from Earth's environment (or vice versa). On the other hand, even if the "aliens" really are fakes, Cueball might end up injuring someone who is just playing a harmless joke (and who'd want to keep ''some'' kind of mask on to reduce the spread of {{w|COVID-19}}). Also, aggressively reaching out to grab an impostor's mask and yanking on it might likewise produce a violent response. | The title text refers to an action which is simultaneously too cautious and not cautious enough: the speaker is skeptical that aliens exist, which is usually an appropriate belief, except that presumably Megan and Cueball are in the situation presented in the bottom row, where aliens have landed right in front of them. Rather than modifying his belief (presumably it's Cueball, who was the one to approach the aliens in the other panels), he expresses an intention to approach the alleged aliens and attempt to remove their masks. He believes that he will expose a human wearing a costume, perpetrating a {{tvtropes|ScoobyDooHoax|"Scooby-Doo"-style hoax}}, but no matter what the outcome is, he's acting rashly. If the beings before him are aliens, he will be initiating a very aggressive first contact and will likely receive a violent response, and even if the alien is not violent, Cueball might end up removing an environmental apparatus that is protecting it from Earth's environment (or vice versa). On the other hand, even if the "aliens" really are fakes, Cueball might end up injuring someone who is just playing a harmless joke (and who'd want to keep ''some'' kind of mask on to reduce the spread of {{w|COVID-19}}). Also, aggressively reaching out to grab an impostor's mask and yanking on it might likewise produce a violent response. | ||
| Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
In the first row, an asteroid looks like an "alien probe". The "least cautious" response immediately jumps to the conclusion that the asteroid '''is''' an alien probe. The "too cautious" response simply ignores the possible implications of the asteroid and instead diverts either into a {{w|I know that I know nothing|Socratic assertion}} or some other less relevent form of [https://youtu.be/vh5kZ4uIUC0 philosophical doubt], while the "appropriately cautious" response seeks to discover more pertinent information about the asteroid. Some humor is derived from the "appropriately cautious" response including a firm and unambiguous "it's not aliens". | In the first row, an asteroid looks like an "alien probe". The "least cautious" response immediately jumps to the conclusion that the asteroid '''is''' an alien probe. The "too cautious" response simply ignores the possible implications of the asteroid and instead diverts either into a {{w|I know that I know nothing|Socratic assertion}} or some other less relevent form of [https://youtu.be/vh5kZ4uIUC0 philosophical doubt], while the "appropriately cautious" response seeks to discover more pertinent information about the asteroid. Some humor is derived from the "appropriately cautious" response including a firm and unambiguous "it's not aliens". | ||
| β | The "alien probe" asteroid refers to {{w|'Oumuamua}}, which passed through the Solar System in 2017. ' | + | The "alien probe" asteroid refers to {{w|'Oumuamua}}, which passed through the Solar System in 2017. 'Omuamua's {{w|trajectory|hyperbolic trajectory}} indicated interstellar origin. Because of the unusual elongated shape suggested by its {{w|albedo}} (the object was never visualized as more than a point source of light) and indications of a slight non-gravity related acceleration, there were many wild speculations about 'Omuamua's origin, including it being an alien probe similar to the one presented in the science fiction classic {{w|Rendezvous_with_Rama|Rendezvous with Rama}}. The image of an astronomer looking through a telescope and being alarmed by seeing "something huge" which is actually very small and very close is [https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/men-pleased-fake-ufo-293395676 an old comic gag], but the difference in parallax would immediately distinguish a close asteroid from a far one. |
The second row refers to the discovery of phosphine gas on Venus, with the "least cautious" response to simply conclude that there '''is''' life on Venus. The "appropriately cautious" and "too cautious" responses provide more general conclusions about "molecules" on Venus, with the latter adding nothing at all to our understanding. | The second row refers to the discovery of phosphine gas on Venus, with the "least cautious" response to simply conclude that there '''is''' life on Venus. The "appropriately cautious" and "too cautious" responses provide more general conclusions about "molecules" on Venus, with the latter adding nothing at all to our understanding. | ||
