Konstantin Tsiolkovsky c.1926
Posted on 06/17/2005 9:12:49 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Say the word “terraforming” amidst a gathering of space enthusiasts and it’s a bit like upending your beer mug in an Australian pub. It means you’re ready to duke it out with anybody in the joint. And the fight usually breaks out along these lines: One team sees the quest to replicate the biosphere of Earth on other planets as a moral imperative, an inevitable destiny, or both. Others -- equally passionate -- recoil at such pretension, proclaiming with surety that humans have no right to interfere with Nature as writ large upon the face of other worlds. Both viewpoints are, of course, so fraught with self-defeating conflicts as to be, well, flat out wrong.
Weird, isn’t it, that an enterprise that no one now alive can remotely hope to see fulfilled should arouse such fire and fury? [Nobody quibbles much about warp drives, wormholes or what we’re actually going to reply to ET.] But there seems to be something about the notion of taking a planet upon whose surface you did not evolve and changing it to suit yourself that catalyzes all audiences immediately to one pole or the other.
Bind yourself to the nearest mast and try to listen dispassionately to the combatants and you’ll start to hear these discussions for what they really are: religious conflicts. Disagreements rooted in faith, belief and longing. What you won’t hear, usually, is good science. Not often sound engineering tips. And not much of immediate practical use to those of us who want to expand Humankind’s range to include the resource base of space, a primary goal of the membership of the National Space Society.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
ping
I always ask these folks in person if they'd move out of their house and scratch a living from Nature the 'natural' way. No takers so far. The don't seem to appreciate we're part of Nature, and what we do is as 'natural' as how every other living thing reshapes the world in furtherance of it's life.
My son started talking about "terraforming Mars" and Europa when he was five. I think that's still one of his dreams.
But, I don't see how it presents a religious conflict. If one believes there's a God who put us here for a purpose, and made us special in His likeness, why wouldn't that purpose include preparing other planets for use as our habitats?
Privately funded? No problem.
True. We 'interfere with nature' every moment of our lives. Each and every single moment.
I believe in god and I don't think that god would mind us creating planets from the dead..
I get into battles over turf on my property, against gophers, ants, raccoons, and other vermin. I reserve the right to terraform my property, and if the libs try to stop me I reserve the right to go to Mars and terraform a slice of turf for my own survival!
I guess we don't want to complicate matters by suggesting genetic manipulation to adapt humans to the habitat..
But that may be the route we take...
It would be more cost-effective and produce more immeadiate results..
If the Speed of Light barrier indeed exists, then so does a "time" barrier that will make any need or desire for humanity to adhere to some physical standard completely useless..
Those divergent cultures will rarely, if ever, meet and interact..
Why does that name, Tsiolkovsky, ring a bell for me?
I know of no Christian religious teaching that addresses this or requires us to stay on Earth.
That's it!
Another Russian good with a slide rule (unlike me!)...
Dittos......
Islam maybe...
The Liberals accuse me of Terraforming because I drive an SUV.
The best thing about colonizing Mars may be that such whiny, stupid people won't be part of it.
Weird, isn’t it, that an enterprise that no one now alive can remotely hope to see fulfilled should arouse such fire and fury?
This is a remarkably and disappointingly ignorant statement. I would bet the author, however, that someone now alive will live see the enterprise fulfilled - interest on the wager compounded annually until then. ;)
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