Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
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.