From Paul Snell, Heanor, Derbyshire, UK
The suggestion that we should deliberately seed life through the cosmos alarms Richard Swifte (Letters, 23/30 December 2017). When the astronomer Fred Hoyle championed panspermia – life reaching Earth from elsewhere – I do not recall hearing that this “alien” life was a “contaminant” that shouldn't have arrived, despite it ending up with humans being, eventually, in control of the planet. If Hoyle was right, then what sort of alien “ethics” decided upon our existence? Should we not repay the compliment?
