Baker also warns against falling wholeheartedly for the lava hypothesis just because it seems simpler. "To say something is better because it's simpler is how physicists think," said Baker. That reasoning is less successful in the more complicated world of geology. "Simplicity is a human artifact," he said.
This might sound rather philosophical, but it comes from Baker's decades of watching and participating in many Mars water controversies.
"Mars is great because it has a character of familiarity and strangeness," said Baker.
That, at least, is something on which he and Leverington agree.
"Previously I had a very terrestrial view of the Martian surface," said Leverington. On Earth, water is the great molder of landscapes, after all. But after staring at enough images of strange channels on the moon and Venus, his perspective changed. "Now I try to get away from the provincialism that we have as inhabitants of this water world."
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Reader Comments Read all comments (2)
Audrianna Cole of UT 2:28PM July 27, 2011
2bits of CO 12:17PM July 27, 2011