[samtheman]

This is future homeland for the human race. All this talk about the ethics of locking out the developers in order to preserve a few microbes reminds me of chosing snail-darters over the welfare of American farmers.

Allow a decent interval to explore Mars, see exactly what's there, keeping it as pristine as possible for during that interval (so as to not disturb the investigation, sort of like keeping the integrity of a crime scene) and once we're satisfied that there's no life or that we've collected and stored enough samples of whatever minisicule life there is: start ripping and tearing!

[TomB]

'The idea of terraforming Mars is extreme, but it is not cranky - that is the truly horrible thing about it,' said Paul Murdin, of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge. 'If it was just a silly science-fiction notion, you could laugh it off. But the idea is terribly real. That is why it is dreadful. We are mucking up this world at an incredible pace at the same time that we are talking about screwing up another planet.'

Huh?

Just think of the amount of hate for the human race one must have in order to make that statement.

[FITZ]

she added. 'This is just not on.'

Okay --- she convinced me with that.

[OneRatToGo]

Just think of it as a late term Martian abortion. It's our right as humans to choose.

[Future Snake Eater]

I've been hearing about this idea since I was a kid, and it's always fascinated me. However, it makes me wonder if it's even possible. A lot of their theories for raising the temperature on Mars to something tolerable by humans involves global warming practices, something that isn't even proven on Earth--and we have enormous active volcanoes helping us out here, something that isn't available on Mars.

[general_re]

...turning the Red Planet into a blue world with streams, green fields and fresh breezes and filling it with Earthly creatures.

Planet of the Supermodels, here we come...

[FierceDraka]

Terraforming Mars is probably a pipe dream. Does anyone actually think that any politician on Earth would be capable of the long-term thinking needed to even seriously consider such a project?

We can't even get those bureaucrats on the Hill and at NASA to get us back to the moon.

The more I witness, the more I think we as a species are doomed to being confined at the bottom of Earth's gravity well.

PRIVATIZE SPACE EXPLORATION NOW!