# Life on Mars: Dad said it, I believe it... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 2, 2001, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-dad-said-it-i-believe-it/74596 "2001-08-02T03:50:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-dad-said-it-i-believe-it/74596/21 "2001-08-07T21:52:09Z")
I don’t see how both of you can be so clueless about the definition of “organic”. Here is the [correct definition](http://www.misionero.com/HTML/DefOrg.htm). I think that it is self-evident that none of the compounds on Mars were produced in accordance with these principles. [sub]Hey, **someone** had to say it[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-dad-said-it-i-believe-it/74596/22 "2001-08-12T06:55:12Z")
Hi, everyone! I had to be out of town for awhile. I wouldn’t have had much to say anyway, except this: **Bad Astronomer** is, I think, pretty dead on. This isn’t anything near proof, merely interesting, and my number one reservation is that there could be several explanations for the noted circadian rhythm which don’t require any organic life. For example, the observed rhythm may have been caused by the heating and cooling of the instrument package itself. That, of course, is impossible, because it would imply that my own father had some part in screwing up the experiment. Therefore you can see that I am completely incorrect. I note the above merely as an observation. My father _is_ correct, at least in one narrow respect. His experiment _did_ report signs of life on Mars. Whether or not the experiment worked properly is another question entirely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-on-mars-dad-said-it-i-believe-it/74596.md?page=1)