Terraforming

Terraforming

Is it right, is it even possible, to terraform a planet just because we have ruined our own planet. Should we build elsewhere. What are the implications of Terraforming? What impact might it have on the human race.

Please discuss and debate.

I am against Terraforming, as I don't believe it is ethical since we may be destroying the habitats of creatures that we know very little about if anything. Are you against it? Or for it? If so, why?

There is no real chance of life starting on most of the planets in our solar system.

I think there are so many avenues unexplored on our own planet like building Man Made Islands... Making Building on high Platforms like oil rigs but bigger in scale...

Whats to stop us all having Gardens on a roof's to improve oxygen levels and re-cyle carbon emissions ?

How about developing slates and bricks that are mini Solar panels to use the sun as energy, so our house is like one large battery...

All it takes is us to take a step back and think. We need to change with our world, rather than changing the world to suite us.

As for terraforming, I think one day with the current rate of growth in human population its some thing that needs exploring, we need more resources and ways of gaining them, and we need more land mass espically if the next Ice age is a few hundred years away, we should be planing for that now and how to sustain the human race.

THey did found growing plants somewhere on a planet just cant remember where but I think its possible because..
Why else would there be other planets if we have no use of it

Planets are supposed to do something we just need  to figure it out.

Making use of ever aspect of our own planet and working along with it, and blending to our own enviroment should be looked at, the reaserch funding that could go into Terraforming could change our way of lives for the better...

I know if the Goverment here offered to knock my house down and build me a more energy efficent one in it's place at a cost of me swapping my mortgage to them and getting charged an extra 1% on my repayments for the term of the pay back I would, one for the better good of the planet and two a house that costs less to run means less stress.

Is it right, is it even possible, to terraform a planet just because we have ruined our own planet.

Is it right? What would make it immoral? How do you define what is 'right' versus what is 'wrong'?
Also, our planet may not be in tip-top shape in every respect, but I'd hardly call it 'ruined'.

Is it right, is it even possible, to terraform a planet just because we have ruined our own planet. Should we build elsewhere. What are the implications of Terraforming? What impact might it have on the human race.

The biggest effect terraforming would have on humanity is that our species would suddenly (not from our perspective, of course) branch out in dozens of directions as we adapted to new environments. Certain freedoms would have to be left behind as the first off-world habitats would require constant monitoring and might be somewhat crowded. Families would be strange as people with the same "mother" but were all test tube babies who were created with frozen embryos.

I am against Terraforming, as I don't believe it is ethical since we may be destroying the habitats of creatures that we know very little about if anything.

So if we have to choose between preserving a biosphere whose most complex organism is a green fuzz that clings to rocks or ensuring the survival of our species we should side with the organisms that are one in a million instead of the ones that are one in a trillion?

There is no real chance of life starting on most of the planets in our solar system.

Mars, Europa, Titan.

I think there are so many avenues unexplored on our own planet like building Man Made Islands... Making Building on high Platforms like oil rigs but bigger in scale...

There is plenty of unused land on Earth and I don't see why we should go to so much trouble to make a tiny bit of real estate that is massively expensive.

Whats to stop us all having Gardens on a roof's to improve oxygen levels and re-cyle carbon emissions ?

How about developing slates and bricks that are mini Solar panels to use the sun as energy, so our house is like one large battery...


All it takes is us to take a step back and think. We need to change with our world, rather than changing the world to suite us.

What does this have to do with terraforming?

As for terraforming, I think one day with the current rate of growth in human population its some thing that needs exploring, we need more resources and ways of gaining them, and we need more land mass espically if the next Ice age is a few hundred years away, we should be planing for that now and how to sustain the human race.

Well if other planet are colonized it won't mean that millions of people will pull up stakes and go to Alpha Centauri. Colonization of other planets will involve very few people and take a long time.

THey did found growing plants somewhere on a planet just cant remember where but I think its possible because..[/quotes]

No such thing happened. If there was any proof of life on other planets the scientific community would explode and we would be planning a trip to Mars next year instead of in three decades.

Why else would there be other planets if we have no use of it

Planets are supposed to do something we just need  to figure it out.

Planets aren't supposed to do anything, they just exist.

Making use of ever aspect of our own planet and working along with it, and blending to our own enviroment should be looked at, the reaserch funding that could go into Terraforming could change our way of lives for the better...

I know if the Goverment here offered to knock my house down and build me a more energy efficent one in it's place at a cost of me swapping my mortgage to them and getting charged an extra 1% on my repayments for the term of the pay back I would, one for the better good of the planet and two a house that costs less to run means less stress.

What does this have to do with terraforming?

What does this have to do with terraforming?

If we look after our own planet why do we need another ?

And the reason I say build out at sea is the planet is mostly water, so why not make the most of the entire Global area... Like this:- http://www.akuaku.org/archives/2002/09/man_made_island.shtml

We can Terraform the Sea, living on Floating or stilt like Islands wont upset the Ocean life too Much, it will cut out a fair bit of light from the Sea Bed, but restriction and building laws would have to be made.

What I am trying to say is why terraform in presant day... I admit terraforming needs researching for the future.

Our planet is the best suited to our needs.

What does this have to do with terraforming?

If we look after our own planet why do we need another ?

You're right, it's not as if a single asteroid - which there are thousands of in our solar system - could devastate our ecology and completely destroy our civilization. It's not like a gamma ray burst could ever occur nearby and burn up our atmosphere. It's not as if a genetically enhanced disease could kill millions or billions of people.

As long as we stay on one planet, our species is vulnerable. Like I said before, we are ensuring our survival by colonizing other planets.

Edit: does anyone have that web site that listed all the ways that the world could end?

And the reason I say build out at sea is the planet is mostly water, so why not make the most of the entire Global area... Like this:- http://www.akuaku.org/archives/2002/09/man_made_island.shtml

We can Terraform the Sea, living on Floating or stilt like Islands wont upset the Ocean life too Much, it will cut out a fair bit of light from the Sea Bed, but restriction and building laws would have to be made.

What I am trying to say is why terraform in presant day... I admit terraforming needs researching for the future.

Our planet is the best suited to our needs.

Why should we build these ridiculous ocean cities instead of trying to contain and eliminate urban sprawl and encouraging birth control?

I guess you're right We need to change our current way off living because we all became a pure nature killer
I mean look at when electricity was made and the car..
It destroyed a lot in only 100 years. that aint very long you know.
So if we keep doing this for another year..
We all be dead.

 :'(

I guess you're right We need to change our current way off living because we all became a pure nature killer

If we don't learn how to look after this planet we will make the same mistakes on another.

You're right, it's not as if a single asteroid - which there are thousands of in our solar system - could devastate our ecology and completely destroy our civilization. It's not like a gamma ray burst could ever occur nearby and burn up our atmosphere. It's not as if a genetically enhanced disease could kill millions or billions of people.

OK you have a point... Many of these disasters if they could so easyily happen they would have happened, many of these are scare tatics and over acclaimed, every year people claim the world will end by a Metorite or a Solar Flare etc... But there is a Chance of its happening, so you have a point... We need a Plan B...

But going to a new planet could open up a new world of Virus...

Are we ready for trying to Terraform a Planet ?

Why should we build these ridiculous ocean cities instead of trying to contain and eliminate urban sprawl and encouraging birth control?

May be we should do both... I agree living in the country with the highest rate of teen pregantcy that this problem needs adressing... Most Teens fall preggy to get given a free council flat or home as a first time home buyers average age due to house prices (£110,000) is 32 years old.  If there was more land to develope then may be Teens falling Preggy would drop:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4584175.stm

'Wrong direction'

"The welfare system in itself is an incentive to become a single non-working parent. Working two-parent families are treated as cash cows that can be milked to support any other lifestyle choice," he said.

I guess you're right We need to change our current way off living because we all became a pure nature killer

If we don't learn how to look after this planet we will make the same mistakes on another.

Most of these mistakes could be corrected right now, it's just that we don't have enough collective will to do so. We are dependent on cars and coal factories and everything else that makes our rivers flammable and our air poisonous. Can you say that a population of a few hundred people with technology perhaps 200 years more advanced than our own would be unable to cope with an environment that they control and have tailored to their own personal needs?

You're right, it's not as if a single asteroid - which there are thousands of in our solar system - could devastate our ecology and completely destroy our civilization. It's not like a gamma ray burst could ever occur nearby and burn up our atmosphere. It's not as if a genetically enhanced disease could kill millions or billions of people.

OK you have a point... Many of these disasters if they could so easyily happen they would have happened, many of these are scare tatics and over acclaimed, every year people claim the world will end by a Metorite or a Solar Flare etc... But there is a Chance of its happening, so you have a point... We need a Plan B...

These disasters have happened. Haven't you ever heard of a mass extinction event?

But going to a new planet could open up a new world of Virus...

Perhaps if we colonize a planet with all sorts of life forms and the first thing we do is jump out of our hip and eat the first thing we find growing on a tree we might get a disease, but it's not like there would be a lot of physical contact between the colony and Earth anyway. The distances are so vast that trips to other planets will usually be one way only.

Are we ready for trying to Terraform a Planet ?

No, we don't have the technology or the resources to do so at this time.

Why should we build these ridiculous ocean cities instead of trying to contain and eliminate urban sprawl and encouraging birth control?

May be we should do both... I agree living in the country with the highest rate of teen pregantcy that this problem needs adressing... Most Teens fall preggy to get given a free council flat or home as a first time home buyers average age due to house prices (£110,000) is 32 years old.  If there was more land to develope then may be Teens falling Preggy would drop:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4584175.stm

Maybe we could do that, or maybe we can reform welfare laws so that people aren't given homes because they have a kid.

No, we don't have the technology or the resources to do so at this time.

May be getting to a point of inhabbiting another world is also 200 years or so off... So why not try and develope changes to our own now, learn new terraforming Techniques, like adapting the desert would help for Mars, Adapting subtrainian dewlings or mountains... We don't have to just look at the sea, there are many area's on our planet we have not looked at building in and so fourth... The Eyjiptions adapted to their surrounds, Aztecs, Escimo's, people living in the Jungles... But us the more demosteicated are the only ones destroying the world... Why not make some thing that helps give back what we have taken away....

Maybe we could do that, or maybe we can reform welfare laws so that people aren't given homes because they have a kid.

I agree 100%...

It's all something to think about, especially looking after our own planet. But back to the topic about colonizing other worlds; What gives us the right to do this? Not that I am saying it shouldnt be done, I have mixed views on the subject. But it's like many things. We, as the human race, like to "mess around" with things. It's happened countless times and will happen countless more no doubt.

Can we say we can terraform other planets just because they arn't important? Who's to say they arn't important? Just a few things to think about.

Regards,
Darico

^^I heard about that. If they build a base on Mars, and keep it intact, (with Mars atmosphere), then surley we can do stuff to our own planet, to save it, as we've screwed it up so much.

I did see a news article about the amount of pollution China is making.

It's all something to think about, especially looking after our own planet. But back to the topic about colonizing other worlds; What gives us the right to do this? Not that I am saying it shouldnt be done, I have mixed views on the subject. But it's like many things. We, as the human race, like to "mess around" with things. It's happened countless times and will happen countless more no doubt.

Can we say we can terraform other planets just because they arn't important? Who's to say they arn't important? Just a few things to think about.

Regards,
Darico

Landofshadows is right, the chance of ANY life forming outside is slim to nothing. The main code of human genetics is to survive and spread our seed. Slowing down birth rates is stupid, making new planets is not. We're meant to spread out, why should it stop at Earth?

Then what you are saying, is that it will take time?

Then what you are saying, is that it will take time?

Quote more, who was that directed at???

About time: that's all we need. Well that and money. Once we learn how to do it, it would take what, a 100 years to Terraform Mars?

We may not have all that long till the next ice age...

So if it was up to me I would try and buy more time by bettering our way of life until then, while still investing on Tech to reach Mars and put a man on the surface, and get it to sustain life.

Then what you are saying, is that it will take time?

Quote more, who was that directed at???

About time: that's all we need. Well that and money. Once we learn how to do it, it would take what, a 100 years to Terraform Mars?

At you Deliciously_Saucy

Yay. 

Maybe we should discuss methods of Terraforming? It all really comes down to releasing Greenhouse gasses to heat up the atmosphere melting the ice on Mars, giving it flowing Oceans, and once warm enough, bringing in simple plants/moss that can easily adapt to harsh environments creating oxygen for more complex life forms.

There's still plenty of debate on how to heat up the planet though....

Well we could just drill down deep enough and try to create an implosion (not explosion) intense enough to create an extreme heat that will melt metal and possibly the magnetic pulses of it. This would be extremely hard though, and the risk the planet would blow up is high.

You can't just release gases onto a planet, they'll just escape into space. There's no atmosphere on Mars, and earth needs those elements. For the most part at least. Perhaps we need to get the planet "alive" again (refer to the gaia hypothesis) and get it moving. We would need to heat it up if this were to happen.

Anyone have any other methods, apart from a huge implosion, because i'm not too sure, I mean fusion's an option if anyone wants to suggest it.

You can't just release gases onto a planet, they'll just escape into space. There's no atmosphere on Mars, and earth needs those elements.

For a man who speaks of gravity as a fact, you don't have much faith in it... There's a reason why men didn't float off of the moon when they were walking on it ( apparently ).

" Even though Earth's gravity is pulling the apple down from the tree, the apple in some small way must be pulling the Earth in the apple's own direction. "

Well we could just drill down deep enough and try to create an implosion (not explosion) intense enough to create an extreme heat that will melt metal and possibly the magnetic pulses of it. This would be extremely hard though, and the risk the planet would blow up is high.

You can't just release gases onto a planet, they'll just escape into space. There's no atmosphere on Mars, and earth needs those elements. For the most part at least. Perhaps we need to get the planet "alive" again (refer to the gaia hypothesis) and get it moving. We would need to heat it up if this were to happen.

Anyone have any other methods, apart from a huge implosion, because i'm not too sure, I mean fusion's an option if anyone wants to suggest it.

You know nothing about anything, do you? If you release gases on a planet with no atmosphere they will remain on the planet (although technically they will be in "space" because the vacuum would extend to the surface of the planet), but they'll spread out so much that it is for all intents and purposes gone.

Do you know what an implosion is? How is an implosion caused by who knows what supposed to make a planet Earthlike? The same question applies to fusion.

Hey, JH, I seem to know more than you at any rate.

It has been proven, they released Gases on the moon...they dispersed and headed off to the nearest black hole...or so we think, the point is, they didn't stick around. There is no gravitational field to keep them there and thus  float off where ever they want to. Water, sticks together in space (as an example of what a gas does) but it will jut by a tiny momentum drift off forever never reaching it's target. That's what I mean.

Gases cannot stick to a planet unless there is a gravitational field keeping them there. The gases only stay on earth because of the gravity and the spin (or so says Stephen Hawkins)

I theorized and implosion, because an explosion would completely wipe out the planet of the magnitude I was talking about. An implosion would be something that created an astronomical amount of heat in a contained area this will theoretically heat up the core and thus get the tectonic plates of Mars moving again. This would create fusion inside the planet, where energy is constantly being recycled.

Once the planet has heated up, the gravitational field from inside the core will be generated from the huge masses of metal that turn magnetic once they are molten...go ask a chemist and not a drug chemist either. Something like electrolysis, yet in gases. We know little about gravity, but what we do know we can use, especially if we know something about magnetism.

That gravity, will then draw in outside dust particles that contain seeds of life as I'd like to call them. The heat will heat up the Ice caps on mars, and the rivers and oceans will flow once more, these seeds, or organisms will grow and eventually begin the process of photosynthesis. Eventually this will terraform the planet, although this will take billions of years.