system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why don't we "seed" life in the solar system?

Of course, one would like to know if something exists first. Suppose though, we find nothing: How much sense would it make to deliberately place simple organisms (bacteria, esp. extremophiles) on other planets? Are there conditions where earthly organisms could survive and thrive? Would a "shotgun"-approach work, i.e. shoot a large sample of different types onto a planet and come back later to see what sticks?

On an aside: Can we exclude that we don't seed already? Is the production environment for probes totally sterile or is any bacteria etc. brought along *certain* to be dead through exposure to vacuum, radiation and temperatures?
gpt
Mainly because we are just getting started exploring the solar system in the first place.  We barely know a thing about most of the solar system.  We don't even know if there _is_ life on Mars, and we haven't landed on Europa at all, or done any significant exploration of Titan.  We'd kind of like to get a good idea what those places are like before putting bacteria on them.  Especially since someone would have to spend millions and millions of dollars to do so.

And yes, it's possible that some bacteria have been carried along with our probes, although attempts are made to sterilize them.