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Caves of Narshe Forums > General Topics > Protect Alien Life with NASA

Posted by: Rangers51 5th August 2017 01:35

I've seen this making the rounds the last couple days and it amused me considerably: http://www.npr.org/2017/08/03/541352728/do...tection-officer

But really, is it all that amusing? I think a lot of us out there assume that there is life beyond our planet, even if it's not intelligent, and it makes sense to keep that life both safe from us and safe for us if we might happen to stumble across it. I got to thinking about it, and I realized that not only is it important for safety, it's important for what we hope to learn about space by sending things out into it in the first place. It's one of those things that seems silly at first but the more you think about it, the more a good idea it seems. In fact, I think my wife would be a good fit for the role so I sent it to her to think about.

Does NASA use Monster, LinkedIn, or Indeed?

Posted by: Death Penalty 5th August 2017 16:44

This is super cool! It makes total sense, speaking practically, but it's still always a bit odd when we see news like this which sounds like something from a sci fi series.

Even if much of the work for a job like this isn't the kinds we imagine / the flashier parts advertised, it definitely seems like the kind of thing that would have a lot of foundation-laying, forward-thinking aspects to it: if sending humans to Mars does indeed happen on anything like the current theoretical time table (which, like, who knows), this kind of work would obviously be of crucial significance. No surprise, the article says that the former position holder is now in charge of Mars stuff.

Posted by: Kane 8th August 2017 01:10

If I had a math, science, or engineering background, I'd be all over this. Alas, I don't have one, so this super cool job will have to go to someone else.

But yeah, even without the whole "preventing the plot of The Expanse series," this seems like a vitally important position to have.