The Ethics of Terraforming

If life is discovered on Mars, and I mean actual living bacteria, not just
fossils, will the discovery affect the way we proceed with colonization or
terraforming of the planet? I mean, if Mars is alive and we start bringing
terrestrial plants and various other organisms, wont it be just like
bringing dogs and rabbits to Australia or Kudzu to the US?



In my opinion, it is the same, but I think we should do it anyway. It seems
clear that life will never go beyond the microscopic stage on Mars. Mars is
basically a dead-end as far as life is concerned. So I think that if we
can, we should make whatever use of it benefits humanity. I just think
there are others who will not agree. I think that if some of the upcoming
Martian probes find life there will be a vocal minority who will argue that
we should never send people there (and maybe no more probes) because of the
risk of infecting the existing ecosystem.

Eric Nave wrote:

If life is discovered on Mars, and I mean actual living bacteria, not just
fossils, will the discovery affect the way we proceed with colonization or
terraforming of the planet?

Yes. We might have to nuke it first, to get rid of it.

I mean, if Mars is alive and we start bringing
terrestrial plants and various other organisms, wont it be just like
bringing dogs and rabbits to Australia or Kudzu to the US?

No. Bacteria don't have rights.

Better a green Mars than a dead one.

--
Scott Lowther, Engineer
Remove the obvious (capitalized) anti-spam
gibberish from the reply-to e-mail address

We should not terraform Mars during my lifetime. Future generations won't
care what I think. If there are bacteria, there might be worms or shrimp.
It would take time to fully inventory Martian life. I'll guess that
terraforming will start in 2125.

On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 05:37:19 GMT, in a place far, far away, "Mike
Rhino" made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

We should not terraform Mars during my lifetime. Future generations won't
care what I think.

What makes you think that current generations do?

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"Rand Simberg" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 05:37:19 GMT, in a place far, far away, "Mike
Rhino" made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

We should not terraform Mars during my lifetime. Future generations
won't
care what I think.

What makes you think that current generations do?

That explains why the world's problems haven't been solved yet.

Mike Rhino wrote:

"Rand Simberg" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 05:37:19 GMT, in a place far, far away, "Mike
Rhino" made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

We should not terraform Mars during my lifetime. Future generations
won't
care what I think.

What makes you think that current generations do?

That explains why the world's problems haven't been solved yet.

Wow. Now THAT's hubris.

Let me guess: "Mike Rhino" is a pseudonym for Al "I created the
Internet" Gore, right?

--
Scott Lowther, Engineer
Remove the obvious (capitalized) anti-spam
gibberish from the reply-to e-mail address

"Eric Nave" wrote in message
...
If life is discovered on Mars, and I mean actual living bacteria, not just
fossils, will the discovery affect the way we proceed with colonization or
terraforming of the planet?
Wow, we are proceeding ? Where ?

-kert

We should not terraform Mars during my lifetime. Future generations won't
care what I think. If there are bacteria, there might be worms or shrimp.
It would take time to fully inventory Martian life. I'll guess that
terraforming will start in 2125.


That would be an amazing accomplishment if we could do it in your lifetime
though. I think nanotechnology might be required, and it might be necessary to
use nanotechnology to extend your life so that it can be accomplished in your
life time. As for not leaving any stone unturned, how long do you think it will
take to overturn every stone on the planet Mars. If Martian life is not "in our
face" when we land, we shouldn't worry about it too much.

Tom

In article ,
Eric Nave wrote:
If life is discovered on Mars, and I mean actual living bacteria, not just
fossils, will the discovery affect the way we proceed with colonization or
terraforming of the planet?

It would be legitimate grounds for going a bit more slowly and cautiously
with exploration and colonization, to make sure that the native life was
reasonably well understood before terrestrial contamination became
excessive.

(Even now, with most researchers fairly sure that there is no life on the
Martian surface, precautions are taken to limit contamination. Landers
are not routinely sterilized -- that's costly, and hard on electronics --
but attempts are made to *reduce* bacterial load.)

The final decision on terraforming will be made by Mars's inhabitants, who
will be in a better position to assess the pros and cons of altering their
planet than people still living on Earth.

I mean, if Mars is alive and we start bringing
terrestrial plants and various other organisms, wont it be just like
bringing dogs and rabbits to Australia or Kudzu to the US?

Not unless there are environments on (more likely, in!) Mars where
terrestrial organisms can grow and reproduce. The reason why people
stopped sterilizing landers was the growing certainty that it's pretty
much impossible for Earth bacteria to grow and spread on the Martian
surface.
--
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pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well. |

"Mike Rhino" wrote in message . ..
We should not terraform Mars during my lifetime. Future generations won't
care what I think. If there are bacteria, there might be worms or shrimp.
It would take time to fully inventory Martian life. I'll guess that
terraforming will start in 2125.

I've always been excited about the possibility of terraforming another
world. However, as a biologist, I concur with Mike Rhino's opinion.
If life is discovered on Mars, it will likely be our only example of
extraterrestrial life for quite some time. It would be a crime
against science to make wholesale alterations to the Martian
ecosystem, before we understand it thoroughly.

I would guess that terraforming of Mars, if it is ever done, will not
begin until considerably later than 2125. We have had hundreds of
thousands of biologists researching life on Earth, for several
generations, and we're far from hitting bottom. Assuming that there's
any life to find on Mars, I would guess that, by 2125, not even a
hundred biologists will have visited the place. We'll have more
questions than answers.

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Says man with chainsaw.
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