October 18-22, 2024

Galilean Presuppositions

or

Perhaps Arthur C. Clarke has Too Great an Influence on Our Foundations

we sent Galileo to Jupiter

back in eighty-nine

got back a lot of pictures

and phenomenal data

both will busy us for years

and at the end of it all we sacrificed it

sent it into Jupiter to preserve his moons

fearing infection by terrestrial bacteria

could doom life unready for such invasion

now I’m not one who believes that life

exists on spheres other than our home

but they did, and that’s why Galileo died

in Jovian clouds instead of on Europan ice

but

what if they were wrong in that thought

(as they may well be in other thought)

could concern for unknown Europan life

have doomed an unknown Jovian glory