Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!harrier.ukc.ac.uk!sss3
From: sss3@ukc.ac.uk (S.S.Sturrock)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Why bother? (was Re: Terraforming, sun shield)
Message-ID: <6992@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>
Date: 4 Mar 91 13:50:49 GMT
References: <1991Feb22.192438.26397@athena.mit.edu> <6956@harrier.ukc.ac.uk> <2078@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov>
Reply-To: sss3@ukc.ac.uk (S.S.Sturrock)
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.
Lines: 43

In article <2078@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes:
>
>I suppose that besides the sense of exploration (at least before it's settled!)
>and challange of engineering is the question of what we are doing as a
>species.  Do we want to survive in the long run?  If so we should seed some
>other planets or space itself by colonies so that major events on earth like
>ice ages and asteroid impacts don't destroy us completely.

We made it this far without terraforming Venus.  Ice ages would not affect us
too much as a species, may reduce the numbers with any luck, asteroid impacts
are pretty uncommon, nope, poor argument.
>
>This raises some other long-range questions we have not really addressed.  How
>long do we want our species to survive?  Forever you say?  Well, then we'd best
>be moving very quickly to get off planet!  The dinosaurs were around several
>hundred million years (someone can correct me on that number if needed!); do we
>want to last that long?

The dinosaurs were a group of species, individual species lasted much less time
on the whole.  Homo sapiens have been around about 2 million years, a mear
fraction of time.  Nope, I'm not worried.  Besides, I would like to see a bit
more evolution from our present state.
>
>Do we want to be sufficiently advanced so that we can create slow moving star ships
>to get to the nearer stars so that when our sun blows we won't fry?

Maybe I am wrong but I was under the impression that the sun was good for
another 5000 million years yet, still not worried.

>  Tom Schneider
>  National Cancer Institute
>  Laboratory of Mathematical Biology
>  Frederick, Maryland  21702-1201
>  toms@ncifcrf.gov

The point of my earlier post is to say that OK it may be possible to terraform
another planet, but do we really want to.  Why stick to one solar system, lets
get out there and have a look.

Anyway, we may end up having to terraform the Earth at this rate!!!


Shane Sturrock, Biol Lab.  Canterbury, Kent, Great Britain.