NASA’s “Standards” White Paper. Does NASA’s drive for consensus make young scientists susceptible to being trampled by mastodons?

NASA’s “Standards” White Paper. Does NASA’s drive for consensus make young scientists susceptible to being trampled by mastodons?

Survival in the Ice Age required youth who were able to balance instruction from their elders with a rebellious streak sufficient to reject their instructions when survival required adaptation. Does NASA's need for consensus upset this balance?
Is NASA making itself irrelevant to the search for life in the cosmos?

Is NASA making itself irrelevant to the search for life in the cosmos?

NASA holds this week a workshop to consider looking (again) for existing life on Mars … but only 20 years from now. By then, humans may have been on Mars for a decade, thanks to Elon Musk, or (maybe) someone less interested in planetary protection. Thus, in 2042, detecting indigenous Martian life will likely be much more difficult. NASA will be too late.