No, I haven’t discovered life on Mars. Maybe it’s there. If so, it’s probably tiny. Mars isn’t a tough place for little critters. We have places on Earth that are just as tough, and they house and support life. The “smokers” on the ocean floor pump very hot water—of a temperature you are told to use if you want to purify your water—into the surrounding environment, where you will find rather abundant life, from sulfur-reducing bacteria to tube worms to crustaceans. Harsh environments don’t seem to affect extremophiles. Physically, the extreme isn’t really so extreme.
So, on Earth we have critters living on the edge of the extreme. And that apparently applies to people, also. Yes, humans have the ability to visit and live in extreme physical environments, such as on the snows of Antarctica or the polar ice of the Arctic Ocean. Humans can also be found underground, going about their daily work in mines, and some can be found underwater, again going about their daily work.
Physical extremes seem to pose only temporary or survivable threats to the intrusion of life. Interesting. Social extremes appear to impose a greater limit on the capacity of a place to support life, at least, a greater limit on a healthful life. Look through both history and geography to see enclaves where more dangers derive from social makeup than from the physical environment.
Living in some social environments is very much like “living on Mars.” The extremophiles appear to do relatively well.
So, on Earth we have critters living on the edge of the extreme. And that apparently applies to people, also. Yes, humans have the ability to visit and live in extreme physical environments, such as on the snows of Antarctica or the polar ice of the Arctic Ocean. Humans can also be found underground, going about their daily work in mines, and some can be found underwater, again going about their daily work.
Physical extremes seem to pose only temporary or survivable threats to the intrusion of life. Interesting. Social extremes appear to impose a greater limit on the capacity of a place to support life, at least, a greater limit on a healthful life. Look through both history and geography to see enclaves where more dangers derive from social makeup than from the physical environment.
Living in some social environments is very much like “living on Mars.” The extremophiles appear to do relatively well.
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