

Ask HN:  Is this the worst terrorist act imaginable? - amichail

Finding extra-terrestrial life would be the greatest discovery in history and is not something that can ever be eclipsed.<p>What prevents a nation from developing life that can live on Mars say and then secretly putting it there to mess up the search for extra-terrestrial life?
======
BrentRitterbeck
No, but it would probably contend for the title "Dumbest thing to do with a
couple hundred billion dollars".

~~~
frossie
I think the SETI guys just died laughing. The poor guys have been getting by
on a shoestring for years - the chance of anybody spending billions to mess
with them is.... remote :-)

------
rdouble
What if this bio-engineered martian life form gains the power to disrupt the
internet with an endless stream of bizarre posts?

------
kqr2
Although they go to great length to decontaminate probes which land on Mars,
it may not be perfect. So we may be inadvertently bringing alien life to Mars
already.

<http://www.spacewar.com/news/mars-life-03k.html>

~~~
amichail
Yes, but what is the chance that these bacteria would survive the trip and
thrive on Mars?

~~~
profquail
Nonzero.

------
nostrademons
Like in _Contact_ , if you buy the it-was-a-hoax interpretation?

------
tokenadult
To answer the question posed in the title, no, not by far.

------
joeycfan
Chuck Norris.

