Astrobiology Quotes

“Very high altitude astronomy only works by ignoring established biological science”
― Steven Magee

“Over-the-counter ‪‎drug‬ ‪‎abuse‬ or addiction was a problem that I observed at Mauna Kea”
― Steven Magee

“I have been through the OSHA system twice and I can confirm that I did not have the right to a safe workplace or whistle-blower protection on either occasion.”
― Steven Magee

“It would appear that the blue sky is actually produced by the solar wind and solar radiation exciting air molecules to emit light, just like a neon lamp!”
― Steven Magee, Light Forensics

“Astronomy staff that routinely discharged industrial gas into the indoor environment at high altitudes did not wear oxygen deficiency monitors or protective breathing respirators.”
― Steven Magee

“It now seems that life began, not with a single component like a gene, but with several components that could work together. Life is less about a particular substance, and more about the way a group of substances behave when they are combined.”
― Michael Marshall, The Genesis Quest: The Geniuses and Eccentrics on a Journey to Uncover the Origin of Life on Earth

“Life is an edge phenomenon in the cosmos, something that has snuck in.”
― Michael Marshall, The Genesis Quest: The Geniuses and Eccentrics on a Journey to Uncover the Origin of Life on Earth

“Odds are you’re right-handed, but really you’re not. You’re left-handed. Every amino acid in every protein in your body has a left-handed twist to it. In fact, virtually every protein in every life form that has ever existed is exclusively left-handed. If astrobiologists ever find a microbe on a meteor or moon of Jupiter, almost the first thing they’ll test is the handedness of its proteins. If the proteins are left-handed, the microbe is possibly earthly contamination. If they’re right-handed, it’s certainly alien life.”
― Sam Kean, The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

“In the Solar System, Enceladus ought to be one of the highest priorities for the world's space agencies. Enceladus has a source of energy (tidal heating), organic material, and liquid water. That's a textbook-like list of those properties needed for life. Moreover, nature has provided astrobiologists with the ultimate free lunch: jets that spurt Enceladus's organic material into space.”
― David C. Catling, Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction

“Oxygen deprivation and supplemental oxygen are both bio-hazards for Mauna Kea workers”
― Steven Magee

“One of the biggest lies that is currently being told in the USA workplace is on the legally required OSHA poster: All workers have the right to a safe workplace.”
― Steven Magee

“I have worked with some of the greatest minds in astrophysics and it is now clear that they were the dunces of astrobiology.”
― Steven Magee, Health Forensics

“We would not find any human species outside our solar system, unless the same environment like earth exists.”
― Joey Lawsin, Originemology

“In high altitude astronomical facilities we routinely discharged large amounts of nitrogen gas into closed spaces. We were never informed by the astronomy management team about the abnormally low oxygen environments that the use of liquid nitrogen creates, how long term exposure to it manifests itself in human health and the resulting abnormal mental behaviors.”
― Steven Magee

“My memories of my time in high altitude astronomy indicate that there were no oxygen concentration monitors or alarms in the areas that liquid nitrogen was in use at the high altitude astronomical facilities where I had worked.”
― Steven Magee

“This fits in with what I saw in staff in astronomical facilities and was reporting to the management team: 10-14% Oxygen: Emotional upset, abnormal fatigue, disturbed respiration.”
― Steven Magee

“When discharging industrial gas into the indoor environment in high altitude astronomy, we never wore breathing respirators that fed us oxygenated air at above the legally required 19.5% oxygen levels.”
― Steven Magee

“Industrial liquid gas containers were left open and venting gas into the indoor environment in high altitude astronomy. On reflection, I realized that I routinely observed mental and physical effects that match those of a low oxygen environment in staff that I supervised.”
― Steven Magee

“The toxicity of medical and industrial gas to the human depends on where it is used. A gas that is regarded as safe in a well ventilated environment at sea level may be a toxic gas in an indoor environment at high altitude.”
― Steven Magee

“During my time in high altitude astronomy, I routinely witnessed workers breathing medical oxygen, industrial carbon dioxide, nitrogen and helium gas as part of their daily work routine.”
― Steven Magee

“When I worked in high altitude astronomy, the worst sickness that I experienced was not at the 13,796 feet very high altitude summit of Mauna Kea Observatory (MKO) in Hawaii, it was at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Arizona at the much lower altitude of 6,875 feet. Due to my very high altitude experiences, I knew that this strange sickness was not primarily caused by altitude sickness and was most likely Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). After reporting various behavioral problems in all of the staff to the management team, my contract was not renewed, I was unable to legally protect the health and safety of the workers that I was responsible for, troubleshooting of this environmental problem stopped and I left in a sickened state for my next position before I could find the root cause.”
― Steven Magee

“When I worked in astronomy, I routinely observed young college and university students working with liquid nitrogen and breathing nitrogen gas as they discharged it into the indoor environment at high altitude.”
― Steven Magee

“At the W.M. Keck Observatory on the very high altitude summit of Mauna Kea, there was no routine monitoring of mental functioning, blood oxygen levels, blood pressure or heart rate of workers.”
― Steven Magee

“Snow cleaning of the world's largest telescope mirrors was an impressive sight. The optics technicians would climb into a huge telescopic boom lift and spray immense clouds of cold carbon dioxide snow and gas onto the ten meter diameter mirrors high above the floor indoors. It would cause some of the accumulated dirt to magically fall off, leaving it less dirty.”
― Steven Magee

“Abnormal radiation exposure and oxygen starvation teaches you that reality is just a perception that is derived from your immediate environmental conditions.”
― Steven Magee

“When the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) found out that Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) were going to visit the site to assist in bringing it into legal compliance, they freaked out! They insisted that the visit had to be canceled and the result was that I eventually became so sick from the toxic workplace environment that I had no option but to leave.”
― Steven Magee

“There is a lot of willful incompetence in high altitude astronomy that is in the process of coming to light.”
― Steven Magee

“I have worked with many of the greatest minds in astrophysics and it is now clear that they were the dunces of astrobiology.”
― Steven Magee

“I regard Elon Musk as an incompetent in the fields of astrobiology and the long term biological effects of electromagnetic radiation.”
― Steven Magee

“Science of Life, Class in Session
(Sonnet 2087-2088)

Nature doesn't kill anybody,
nor does it save anybody -
life and death are human constructs,
just like beauty and the grotesque -

nature is above all that,
not in an almighty, all-knowing
sort of way, but more of
an indifferent sort of way -

because in nature, nothing's born,
nothing dies, they just change shape,
and some of those shapes are sentient,
some intelligent, some neither -

and each identity gets restructured
as they go through the shape-shifting,
which includes restructure of sentience,
or non-sentience, as the case may be.

Same elements that make the nonsentient stars,
when they change shape into organic material,
such as humans, they produce sentience,
but as a human corpse decay into nature,

those elements get absorbed into the soil,
into trees, bugs, and all sorts of creatures,
thus they seep into a diverse range of
sentient and nonsentient materials -

and thus the cycle continues,
from the birth of the universe
till the end of the universe -
beyond that, I don't know - nobody does -

it doesn't matter what happens after,
what matters is, how you behave now.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience