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Jere H. Lipps wrote (8/25/97),
>Do we need to settle on a name for this discipline? Exobiology has been
>used for years for extraterrestrial life (and remains, as George Gaylord
>Simpson once said, "A discipline that has yet to discover its subject").
>Jack Farmer introduced Exopaleontology for the study of extraterrestrial
>fossils a little while ago. Now we have astropaleobiology and
>astrobiology. Do we need to be consistent?
[Material deleted]
Thank you, Jere! My hackles rose when "astropaleobiology" appeared,
evidently in ignorance of the earlier terms. But the fact is that none of
these adrenalin-soaked astroterms is necessary. Biology is the study of
life--wherever, whenever. How arrogant it is to place *all* nonterrestrial
life ("exobiology") on a par with the creatures of one planet ("biology")!
A similar problem showed up when geologists began to study rocks from the
moon. The term "selenology" had a brief vogue and failed, replaced by
"lunar geology" and "planetology." Astropaleontology will have its day too,
but I predict that it will eventually be replaced by local terms such as
"Martian paleontology," "Vegan paleontology," or "Norstrilian
paleontology"--whatever is appropriate to the planet at hand.
Terms having been discussed, let's get on to the more interesting subject
of how to deal with extraterrestrial fossils. All earth life is probably
related ancestrally, but this would not necessarily be the case for all
life. Certainly, forams and mollusks and angiosperms are not to be expected
on Mars. Even so, *ichnologists* can expect to see their subject matter in
the skies ("Exoichnology"? Give me a break.). If multicellular organisms
existed on Mars, then we can expect to see tracks, trails, burrows, and/or
roots. There's a good grant proposal in this. Hey, NASA! You can reach me
at:
Andrew K. Rindsberg Telephone (205) 349-2852
Curator, Paleontological Collection Telefax (205) 349-2861
Geological Survey of Alabama <arindsberg@ogb.gsa.tuscaloosa.al.us>
P.O. Box O
Tuscaloosa, AL 35486-9780, USA
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