Its amazing that some people at Berkeley  spend  so much time and energy  to  come up with so little. 
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 Columbus lived in a different era, but people were as curious then about exploring the earth as they are today over exploring outer space. Should we stop the space program because our 'curiosity' might someday harm indigenous aliens on some other planet we might  'discover'?   I suppose some might answer yes, but to me, curiosity and exploring new places is  human nature. That hasn't changed one bit.