Thread: Pale Blue Dot - бледная, синяя точка - по-русски перевод.

Yeah... it's time to start working on terraforming the other celestial bodies around us. Viva to the extreme techno-gaianism!!

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Yeah... it's time to start working on terraforming the other celestial bodies around us. Viva to the extreme techno-gaianism!!

Ah but as Carl Sagan said "Побывать — да. Поселиться — ещё нет."

Maybe someday terraforming will be more than science fiction, but I wonder how good we will be at colonizing other planets when we cannot properly manage our own.

Originally Posted by Deborski

Ah but as Carl Sagan said "Побывать — да. Поселиться — ещё нет."

Maybe someday terraforming will be more than science fiction, but I wonder how good we will be at colonizing other planets when we cannot properly manage our own.

Ah, the difference is like the difference between testing a new drug on mice or on humans.
Technically, the humanity can effectively control the global warming by many artificial tools, like deploying a mirror onto the geostationary orbit and making more or less shade as required. However, the full implications of that have not been studied and making the experiment without the proper study is too irresponsible. However, when using that very same approach to heat up Mars or cool down Venus, we can monitor the situation and correct it as needed. However, as Carl Sagan noted at some point in time, if I remember him correctly, we cannot embark on that task until we cannot confirm 100% there's no life on those planets. Because, if there is life, even the microbial life, we will be destroying it by introducing our terrestrial microbial life. And that means that if the humanity thinks its moral to do that, the extra-terrestrial life who wants to do that with the Earth will find it legitimate too. With the very sad consequences for the terrestrial life since our planet is very vulnerable from the attack (the impact or mass-microbial infestation) from the outer space. So, until we can find the proper definitions for life and confirm there's no life on those planets, we can't start it unfortunately. But, technically, that is possible with today's tools and the demand is there - since the stable Mars habitation is the key to the riches of the asteroid belt. So, the market is there and the ability is there, it's just the moral issues we have to settle down first.

Yeah, the moral issues are what concern me the most. Life can abound in forms we may not even be aware of as humans, since our senses are limited only to a certain spectrum which we evolved to sense our world. Our senses have not evolved to see certain colors or shapes which may be quite clear to a butterfly, for example. How would we even know if we were destroying an entire race of beings? Definitely more study and testing is needed. And Space can never be the province of any one country. Newt Gingrich's recent comments about building a moon colony would be laudable, except for his rhetorical insistence that it must be an AMERICAN lunar colony. No one can lay claim to the moon! Or any other planet for that matter. Humans will need to work together, in international cooperation, to properly explore the "final frontier." But it will be a long time before we can manage this, I think. Maybe not even in my lifetime or yours. We can barely tolerate the differences in our skin color and language and culture - how could we even begin to contemplate relating to a completely alien, extraterrestrial, species?

Originally Posted by Deborski

And Space can never be the province of any one country. Newt Gingrich's recent comments about building a moon colony would be laudable, except for his rhetorical insistence that it must be an AMERICAN lunar colony. No one can lay claim to the moon! Or any other planet for that matter. Humans will need to work together, in international cooperation, to properly explore the "final frontier." But it will be a long time before we can manage this, I think.

Let's be realistic. The whole "international" thing will never work out. The most "international" we can probably make out of it would be an international corporation with the countries having certain share. As for the Moon, the battle for the base and mining of the He-3 had already begun long ago. Now you see countries like India which not only announce their space program, but have practically launched the unmanned lunar probe which actually reached to the Moon and have done its job. So, do you think India has nothing else to do, but try fancy expensive space programs for fun? There's no poverty in India anymore? No expensive military programs to match Pakistan? They simply had no choice - if they let the Moon be conquered by the other countries, they will never get to the source of He-3 and will be obliged to purchase electricity from the other countries in the next half century.

What's the most interesting here, is that the US had actually abandoned their government-sponsored Moon programs leaving it out for the private business. So, what's their new focus? Mars. The Moon international corporation is apparently what they had in mind. And when the other countries will spend their last capital to buy some shares of it, the US plans to build the national base on Mars and get to the asteroid belt first. Rare minerals, uranium, hydrogen for fuel and energy, etc. Who do you think will get to Mars first, the US or India?

By the way, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with a country claiming a newly discovered territory. Nothing I can think of that would be prohibited by the international law.

Originally Posted by Deborski

Maybe not even in my lifetime or yours. We can barely tolerate the differences in our skin color and language and culture - how could we even begin to contemplate relating to a completely alien, extraterrestrial, species?

Ah, it's all relative. Also, how close can the contact with the possible extraterrestrial species could be? It could be as close to nothing as today even if we know they are there. And there's great potential for a war since historically that was the only way to settle disputes between the various kind of species at least on our planet. Would you care to kill a wolf? Would a wolf care to kill you? And both you and wolf are mammals. Would anything change if you meet a speaking loudly barking wolf? So, make your own conclusions...