Is the bar higher for scientific claims of alien life?

[Admin]

The skepticism and debate around the question of "are we alone in the universe" makes the field of astrobiology more cautious

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[Hildy]

There certainly seems to be a deep prejudice against life on Mars. It should be remembered that the first searcher for Martian life was the Viking rover and one of it's experiments (the Limited Release experiment) returned a positive result.

One wonders if the ALH84001 meteorite, shown in the photo, had been an Earth rock if it would be taken as a sign of life.

Instead, in both cases, and in the case of other Martian meteorites, the scientific community tried to create somewhat convoluted explanations as to how natural processes could explain them.

One source of this prejudice that cannot be discounted is Science Fiction which conflates life with civilization. War of the Worlds just wouldn't be the same if it were War of the Martian Microbes. Although it is Earth microbes that ultimately defeat the Martians.