What effect will the announcement of life on Mars have on the C/E debate? Will it matter if Mars life is very similar to earth life? or would it be better if Mars life is very different?
I'd like to see some of the ID bigwigs go on record about the various features of Mars. ID claims to be able to detect design just by looking at objects.
Go for it. Say definitively whether any of the objects photographed on Mars are designed. Lay your assertion out for all to see. As far as I'm concerned, anyone claiming to be able to see design should put up or shut up.
As far as conventional biology goes there is no prediction because we don't know exactly how or when or where life first arose. If complex organic molecules drifted in from space, then Martian life could join the club of common descent.
On the other hand, if life arises independently, it could be quite different. No one on these threads has ever said the origin of life was anything more than a set of hypotheses.
All this assumes that NASA isn't just blowing more smoke.
The road of rationality is a narrow one, but it gets you where you want to go. Once you step off that road, you're in the wilderness. I can't predict how those people will respond.