HOUSE BILL: Enceladus Mission Probe Funding (Passed)

[JGibson]

I share my fellow colleague VPH's objections to this amendment being added to the bill.

[RFayette]

I share my fellow colleague VPH's objections to this amendment being added to the bill.

[Former Senator Haslam2020]

How is it wrong to not kill microbes? Their may also be more advanced life forms on Enceladus, so we can research but we shouldn't kill.

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

How is it wrong to not kill microbes? Their may also be more advanced life forms on Enceladus, so we can research but we shouldn't kill.

I agree with your statement and I approve of your Section 5 amendment to protect alien life.

[RFayette]

How is it wrong to not kill microbes? Their may also be more advanced life forms on Enceladus, so we can research but we shouldn't kill.

Because such a stringent requirement could make it impossible to do any research at all (for instance, if stepping on the planet would kill microbes).  It makes no sense to apply protections for humans to the tiniest of microbes.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I second the remarks by the Minority Leader. I would, first, remind my colleagues that the amendment refers to genocide, not the accidental killing of a few microbes.

More importantly, however, I cannot condone the implicit argument that the extermination of the only known alien life in the universe would be an acceptable price to pay for getting a closer look at a rock. We have, as the authors of a potentially historic mission, an obligation to take the ethical implications of our actions into account. We must not allow the mistakes of Columbus and Cortez to be repeated on Enceladus. No doubt my colleagues will think this a false equivalence; yet as the Minority Leader notes, we cannot know if the organisms we may find are sentient. To wave away concern for the rights of new species so to pave the way for future colonization is a chilling prospect, and one I cannot support.

This amendment is an effort to be thorough, and to set in place legal protections before discoveries are made and the rationalizations of selfishness begin. The discovery of alien life would be a unique opportunity, and we must treat it carefully; if that carefulness causes delays, that is far preferable to the would-be genocide of a species.

[Former Senator Haslam2020]

I second the remarks by the Minority Leader. I would, first, remind my colleagues that the amendment refers to genocide, not the accidental killing of a few microbes.

More importantly, however, I cannot condone the implicit argument that the extermination of the only known alien life in the universe would be an acceptable price to pay for getting a closer look at a rock. We have, as the authors of a potentially historic mission, an obligation to take the ethical implications of our actions into account. We must not allow the mistakes of Columbus and Cortez to be repeated on Enceladus. No doubt my colleagues will think this a false equivalence; yet as the Minority Leader notes, we cannot know if the organisms we may find are sentient. To wave away concern for the rights of new species so to pave the way for future colonization is a chilling prospect, and one I cannot support.

This amendment is an effort to be thorough, and to set in place legal protections before discoveries are made and the rationalizations of selfishness begin. The discovery of alien life would be a unique opportunity, and we must treat it carefully; if that carefulness causes delays, that is far preferable to the would-be genocide of a species.

Thank you, you make excellent points. We could still research the microbes but we don't have to kill to do it and we should treat all life great. What if it were us? What if aliens didn't care if they discovered us? We shouldn't let any harm come to our potential cosmic friends, but it may be more than just microbes we find down there. There's a body of water larger than the Pacific.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Does the objection still stand or do we need to proceed to a vote on the amendment.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Does the objection still stand or do we need to proceed to a vote on the amendment.

Answer Me, Damn It!!!

[Former Senator Haslam2020]

We need to proceed to a vote, Mr. Speaker.

[Former Senator Haslam2020]

We need to proceed to a vote, Mr. Speaker.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So much for a negotiated settlement.

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Status: Objection filed. Representatives, a vote is now open on the amendment, please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.

[JGibson]

NAY

[Illiniwek]

AYE

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

AYE!

So much for a negotiated settlement.

Where's the fun in that?

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Aye

[VPH]

nay

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

AYE!

[RFayette]

nay

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

NAY


I applaud the desire to protect said organism, but I fear we might be tying our hands too much, especially if the organism prove a hazard.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

So much for a negotiated settlement.

Where's the fun in that?

That's the problem these days, no one takes the time to do a real serious negotiation anymore. It's a lost art!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Also this vote is now tied at present.

[Former Senator Haslam2020]

Aye!

[Former Senator Haslam2020]

NAY


I applaud the desire to protect said organism, but I fear we might be tying our hands too much, especially if the organism prove a hazard.

The craft not organisms shall ever the turn to Earth, I understand your vote, but it shall never prove harmful to anyone. If us humans are harmful and destroy eachother, who's to say we won't destroy an innocent race?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Apologies for the delay.

Vote on Final Passage of Amendment H8:08:

Aye (5): Harry 80th wasn't a Do-Nothing Congress Truman, Haslam2020, Illiniwek, LT and Peebs
Nay (4): JGibson, NC Yankee, VPH, and Rfayette

The amendment has been adopted.

This looks like something out of the thread on odd Supreme Court divides.