Originally Posted by
Herbert West
It would give us insight on how life is formed, maybe on how life first appeared. It may even give insight into how to create life artificially.
It would give us insight into ways of evolution in such drastically different worlds as Earth and Mars.
It may possibly give us insight into different forms of life than the ones we know. Hell, life in Martian conditions probably is another form of life.
It would give us proof, that life is not an Earth-unique phenomena.
It would give us proof that we are not alone in the universe, even if our only neighbors are bacteria on a nearby planet.
But for an ignorant guy living in a basement it wouldn't mean anything, of course.