Why Organized Science Longs for Extraterrestrial Life

Organized Science longs to find extraterrestrial life. Why so? There are various answers, but the mundane one is indeed funding. NASA is eager to find extraterrestrial life somewhere because that will increase the agency's popularity with Congressional committees. The search for taxpayer support is never far from the minds of those who live at the intersection of science and public policy. Another motivation is not at all mundane. Organized Science has long banked on the faith that life started by accident. The thought that life on Earth might in fact be unique is unpopular, because that could mean that some source of intelligent design played a role. We can't have that! Soon after Darwin's Origin of Species appeared, Bishop Wilberforce debated Huxley at Oxford University. Famously, it was the first clash between Organized Religion and Organized Science. The bishop said that if Darwin can "demonstrate to us our fungular descent, we shall dismiss our pride, and avow, with the characteristic humility of philosophy, our unsuspected cousinship with the mushrooms." To this day such cousinship has still not been demonstrated; not by Huxley, not by Darwin, nor their well-funded successors. Richard Dawkins confidently asserted not long ago that turnips are our cousins. One hundred and fifty years after Huxley's debate with Wilberforce, the evidence of Man's uniqueness continues to withstand every challenge.