Is There Life on Mars?

Okay, it's highly unlikely that there is much if any life on Mars, and if it is, it's probably not "intelligent" life, but a lot of renowned physicists believe that the numbers point towards life on other planets.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20003358-71.html?tag=rtcol;pop

Well, I think it's an interesting proposition, but as Dr. Hawking points out, it's unlikely that they are going to interact with us in a peaceful manner. This idea makes me think back on countless sic-fi movies where the aliens have destroyed their home planet and now have to suck our brains out to fill their need for living flesh, so its not exactly a revolutionary concept...except that Stephen Hawking said it.

Anyway, since it's highly unlikely that we'll find this extraterrestrial life in my life-time, I'm going to go ahead and disagree. I think that if this highly advanced species finds us first, they are likely a curious race. They will probably know from experience that their finding of a new species likely signals that species' decline (as we have done with other groups of humans and animals), and I'd like to think they will try to combat our destruction. They could know of our existence already, and be watching us from afar so as to not interfere with our ecosystem. I think it's flawed to assume that life more advanced than our own would keep making the same mistakes as we do in our tiny sphere of existence.

On the other hand, if we make contact with them, I think it's a crapshoot. They could be nice, but if they are lesser-evolved creatures than we are, they could be more like dinosaurs or gorillas than humans in their behavior. What will this mean for them? Who knows. Maybe by the time we meet them, we will realize that objective study is impossible with interaction, and we will just monitor them from afar, but if this meeting takes place in near-human future, we may just destroy them and harvest their planet for resources.

So, I see both points of this argument. I guess we'll just have to wait it out, but I'd like to think that peaceful coexistence is possible. The more we know about life on this planet, the more we know about the potential for life elsewhere. Who's to say that extraterrestrials will "see" as we do using light. Their sensory organs could be tuned to different things: smell, touch, hearing, radio-frequencies, radiation, or some undetectable source. It's a pretty cool thought because we can only observe the progression of life on this planet. Who knows what tiny changes in geography or external interaction could have shaped life differently?

I like to think that some of the most dominating and successful species on earth are insects. They may be small relative to people, but they are generally capable of reproducing at an alarming rate, and more importantly, they have no sense of individualism. This "hive" mindset allows them to work exclusively for the good of the colony or tribe, making them extremely efficient workers. The one thing that makes us superior is our need to invent. Is it possible that there could be a species of inventive "insect-minded" creatures out there, trying to take over the galaxy?

Maybe, but I'm just ranting and speculating, so I'll digress. Feel free to give me your thoughts on extraterrestrial life, and when we'll make contact.