'Is There Life on Mars?' - An Interview with My Brother on the Young People's Discussion at the Autumn Lecture
What Was Discussed in the Young People’s Breakout Room? An Interview with My Brother, Leo
By Harry Cook, Age 10
On the 20th October there was a CPW lecture entitled ‘Life on Mars’. The topics explained and queried were: the creation of the universe, evolution on Earth up until now, and, as the name suggests, if there is life on mars, and if it would go to the same heaven as us.
The young people group also listened to a part of the lecture before going into a breakout room to discuss their views on numerous questions.
To achieve some insight on what went on inside that breakout room I interviewed my 12 year old brother, Leo, (13 on Monday), on five topics. These were his answers:
Q 1: What questions did you discuss?
A: What would a Martian look like, would they go to the same heaven as us, and do we have a right to ‘trespass’ on mars.
Q 2: What do you think a Martian would look like?
A: I think a Martian would look like whatever best suited its environment.
Q: And what would that be?
A: Something with a way to keep warm, such as fur or fat, with a way to get energy from its surroundings, and, if it is intelligent, something to manipulate its environment with, like tentacles or arms with opposable thumbs.
Q 3: What was the general agreed view of the group for the second and third questions (Would a Martian go to the same heaven as us? and; Do we have a right to ‘trespass’ on mars?)
A: For question 2, for the most part, yes, and for the 3rd it was a split opinion, but everyone agreed that we shouldn’t [trespass] if we will ruin it.
Q 4: Do you think there is life on mars?
A: I think that we shouldn’t speculate on it unless it is for preparations - as in making decisions based on whether or not there is.
Q 5: Did you have any other philosophical or theological thoughts on this matter during or after the talk?
A: Yes:
That souls are impressions of the life of individuals.
That heaven is a state of conscience and purity of soul.
That god created not only this universe but that he is an entity in the ‘mother universe’ that created the multiverse.
That there are fragments of god, like roots, in everything he has created, that grant divine inspiration, not dissimilar to the holy spirit.
We would like to thank Monica Grady for such an interesting lecture, and James Teague with the other helpers for the fascinating talk with the young people.