Googling Mars

Google Maps has put a database of images of the surface of Mars online, allowing anyone who wants to explore Mars to do so from their own computer, for instance. It's a cool idea-- one that plays to Google's strengths.

Inevitably, however, some people accessing the images have seen some curious things on Mars, from an alien base to a huge sculpture of Gandhi. NASA explains the alien base as a cosmic ray destroying part of the transmission of the image, creating a bright streak on the Martian plain. At higher resolution, Gandhi disappears.

People have been seeing things on Mars for more than a century. The patterns defined, however, have often not been on the Red Planet, but rather in the wiring of the human mind. To survive in the world, humans have developed a mind that seeks out patterns-- and sometimes creates patterns where none actually exists. That ability may have been critical in getting humanity where it is, but it can also lead the uncritical down some strange blind alleys.