The US Congress tried to figure out if life exists outside the Earth. Experts in the field of astrobiology were invited to the meeting, but after two hours of discussion, the congressmen did not manage to come to a consensus.
The Democrats, taking the opportunity, quipped that the Republican Congress is more interested in the issues of life in space than in the lives of ordinary US citizens.
The topic of the two-hour hearing, organized by the House Science and Technology Committee, was "Astrobiology: Looking for signs of biological life in our solar system and beyond."
Astrobiology is a science that studies the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the Universe, including the study of the possibility of life on other planets.
In addition to the search for life in the universe, the congressmen set themselves the task of finding out how modern science searches for extraterrestrial life, and to find out what role NASA is assigned in this matter, follows from the minutes of the hearings.
To help find answers to all these questions, Congressmen invited three experts to the hearing: NASA astrobiologist Mary Wojtek, professor of physics and planetary research at MIT Sarah Seeger and expert on the history of science and astrobiology Stephen Dick.
The questions of the congressmen were different and did not always coincide with the agenda, reports The Washington Post. In particular, experts were asked what brought them to astrobiology, what, in their opinion, is the main threat to planet Earth.
Experts were divided. Stephen Dick suggested that asteroids pose the greatest danger to the planet. Ms Seeger said the main danger is overpopulation, and Mary Wojtek called the struggle for energy resources the most pressing problem.
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Scientists agreed on one thing: all three insisted on the need to develop astrobiology and increase funding for research on the search for extraterrestrial civilizations.
Then Republican Congressman Bill Posey asked about the highest temperature recorded on the planet. The question baffled the experts. “I always tell my students that every day for me is like defending my doctoral dissertation. To be honest, I don’t remember offhand,”Professor Seeger admitted.
“Do you believe there is life in space? And if so, are they watching us? And what do they think of New York? Ralph Hall, Ralph Hall, the Honorary Chairman of the Science Committee, Republican from Texas, asked at the end of the hearing.
The NASA astrobiologist replied that, whether someone is observing New York or another city in Indiana, the diversity of life on Earth is phenomenal, and a professor at MIT suggested that “the chances of a planet like Earth being which is life are high enough."
Stephen Dick, in turn, referred to the Copernican principle, and suggested that what happens on Earth happens somewhere else in the universe.
With this, the discussion of extraterrestrial life in Congress came to an end.
House committees' agendas were formed by Republicans with the majority of seats in the lower house of Congress. Hearings devoted to the discussion of UFOs could not but provoke a stinging reaction from the Democrats.
“The hearings were not about immigration reform, not about improving the welfare of American families, not about raising the cost of living, not about agriculture law.
Not surprisingly, Americans say that our Republican Congress is from another planet. They are more interested in life in space than in the lives of Americans.
To say that the GOP is prioritizing wrong would be an understatement of galactic proportions,”said Democratic Congresswoman Emily Bitner.
Republican head of the science committee Lamar Smith is not the first time Democrats have given cause for criticism. Prior to that, he accused the scientific community of lying: according to Smith, scientists deliberately misled people, claiming that humanity is to blame for global warming on Earth.
Another member of the science committee, Republican Paul Brown, is famous for his statement that "the earth was created in six days," and talking about the theory of the big bang and evolution is the machinations of the devil.
According to a survey conducted last summer by the Huffington Post in conjunction with YouGov, exactly half of US citizens believe in the existence of life on other planets, only 17% deny the existence of extraterrestrial life and 33% of those surveyed found it difficult to answer.