# Has overt life on Mars' surface been disproven?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-overt-life-on-mars-surface-been-disproven/687079>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 26, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-overt-life-on-mars-surface-been-disproven/687079 "2014-04-26T22:18:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-overt-life-on-mars-surface-been-disproven/687079/41 "2014-04-29T00:47:13Z")

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> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Why doesn’t NASA ask the Old Ones?

You have no idea how unbelievably snotty they are…

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-overt-life-on-mars-surface-been-disproven/687079/42 "2014-04-29T01:07:26Z")

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> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Why doesn’t NASA ask the Old Ones?

Are you kidding?  
[They](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Ruk) will kick your ass because it is fun.

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**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-overt-life-on-mars-surface-been-disproven/687079/43 "2014-04-29T03:28:39Z")

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> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Why doesn’t NASA ask the Old Ones?

> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> You have no idea how unbelievably snotty they are…

Not if you offer them a glass of water.

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**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-overt-life-on-mars-surface-been-disproven/687079/44 "2014-04-29T13:26:50Z")

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> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Why doesn’t NASA ask the Old Ones?

> [@Lumpy](#):
>
> You have no idea how unbelievably snotty they are…

> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> Not if you offer them a glass of water.

No, I was talking about the NASA administrators, who get quite unreasonable when you ask them why we’re spending billions of dollars on space probes when we could just ask the UFO aliens for the data. (:p)

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-overt-life-on-mars-surface-been-disproven/687079/45 "2014-04-29T17:23:24Z")

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> [@chargerrich](#):
>
> To quote Timothy Ferris, “Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence”.

This would be more accurate as “Absence of evidence is not proof of absence” - it certainly can be taken at least as circumstantial evidence of absence.

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