On the verge of truth

I think that with the comming moon and mars missions a lot of the publics focus will be on space as it was in the lat 60's and 70's people are more open minded now about space and even aliens. I think that on one of the missions either to the moon or mars we will make contact ( but we know that we already have had contact for a while) but kept up this rouz as a way to keep the public under control and keep governments working and religion stable. So are we drawing closer to the truth or farther away from it by going to the moon and mars??

i say we're drawing closer... we may not make contact on either the moon or Mars, but we'll still be taking one step closer to finding life. Even if we did find signs of life, before NASA could publicly announce it, the government would shut them up indefinately or just delay the unveiling. even if these were micro-organisms they'd do this.

Given the religious instability that already exists here, do you think it would be a good idea to drop this little truth on the fanatics of every faction?

I'm willing to bet 9/11 would be a day in the park compared to the insanity we'd see then. Religious fanatics don't like hearing that they're wrong -- it always has to be their way -- and if you try to disagree with them, you're the enemy. Any proof presented wouldn't matter, as they'd claim it was all a lie. That doesn't go just for Islamic extremists, either.

If aliens are shown as being even indirectly responsible for any religious beliefs, stories, or rites, it would be denied by the extremists and lead to a new and improved round of car-bombings, hijackings, etc.

To be quite honest, if this is the reason that the world's governments have covered-up contact with aliens, it might not be a bad idea, as I don't think a lot of people are really ready to deal with that in their minds.

And no, you can't go by the people on this site as a good cross-reference of society for predicting how well it would or wouldn't work out.

I'm so glad I was not born into a religious family. I'm 15 and think religion is a bunch of bull. So the discovery wouldn't affect me in any way, besides me exploding with excitement and the yerning to learn more...