Are Humans meant to expand beyond the Earth?

[Court463]

I just finished watching a History Channel documentary on Humans colonizing Mars. And I came across an Intresting point. Should Humanity expand beyond the earth.

In my opinion yes, we should and we will. But I know there are some people out there who think we should just leave it alone and not leave the Earth, I was wondering what other peoples opinions were.

Another point is, Is there ethical concerns with Teraforming Mars.

Meaning would it be wrong for Humans to physically change a planet so that we could live there.

[JaneDoe321]

Oh man.... I *knew* all those years poring over sci-fi mags weren't wasted.

I don't think it's wrong. We teraform Earth all the time in ways great and small. So long as it's done with some kind of conscious and mindful approach and not a Halliburton contract to make a handful of political cronies rich, I think it's ok.

[Court463]

Thats exactly what I think, but I'm curious to the religous opposition to this subject. I'm not sure if it litterally says in the Bible, Torah, or Koran to not leave earth. But I know some people are ethically opposed to it on a religous basis.

[JaneDoe321]

I think if there were some literally admonition against leaving earth we'd see more people demonstrating every time a space mission took off.

But, I suppose any excuse for a protest.

[Court463]

Yeah that makes sense, lol.

That would be a very intresting protest.

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Court463 I just finished watching a History Channel documentary on Humans colonizing Mars. And I came across an Intresting point. Should Humanity expand beyond the earth. In my opinion yes, we should and we will. But I know there are some people out there who think we should just leave it alone and not leave the Earth, I was wondering what other peoples opinions were. Another point is, Is there ethical concerns with Teraforming Mars. Meaning would it be wrong for Humans to physically change a planet so that we could live there.

A lot of questions, too bad the History Channel did not answer them.

Not sure about ethical concerns, but they should preserve some of the planet in it's natural state in possible, like we preserve some natural areas of our planet.

The concern about taraforming is that we might mess with the balance of things. Example: if you remove a rock from the moon you make it's total weight that much less, although it would be not be by very much that change would effect it's orbit in a teenie weenie way, if you believe in the concept that all things are connected such that everything effects everything else, then somehow removing that rock would have a tiny impact on the whole universe. Example: if the moons orbit did shift enough it could effect the earth, perhaps resulting in a slight climate change here. But I doubt if we could conduct a environmental study about what effects taraforming Mars would have on our solar system.

I do not think that individuals have enough control to prevent our exploration of the solar system. It is a historical momentum that would be hard to stop. From the first shaman that dressed up in eagle feathers the human race wanted to fly. Our mythology speaks about it. Fight represents freedom (free as a bird) and we have been on a historical mission throughout history towards that objective. Even when we collectively were unaware of our passion. Our technology has been geared toward competing that mission, from bikes to airplanes, to jets, to rocket ships, we want to fly like superman. Our evolving technology seems to be taking that pathway as if on it's own momentum. We even want to get high on drugs and religion, as a spin off of that historical desire that motivates us to blast off from Mother Earth. And the womb of Mother Earth has supplied us with every material we need for that birthing, and liberation, as well as the intelligence to complete the task.

Like a bird taking a seed from one location to another so that plants can become moble, our job is to take plants and animals to other planets that remain bare. To help Mother Nature to expand thoughout the universe.

That might sound far out, but just look around at all the evidence for this, some of which I noted.

[LookToTheFuture]

Quote by: Court463 I just finished watching a History Channel documentary on Humans colonizing Mars. And I came across an Intresting point. Should Humanity expand beyond the earth. In my opinion yes, we should and we will. But I know there are some people out there who think we should just leave it alone and not leave the Earth, I was wondering what other peoples opinions were. Another point is, Is there ethical concerns with Teraforming Mars. Meaning would it be wrong for Humans to physically change a planet so that we could live there.

I really don't think there is a 'should' about all this. Space for the most part a big open space with large rocks floating about in it. If no one else is using it why shouln't we?
I also could not see any ethical reason why humans, if they could, should not teraform a dead planet into something that harbours life. It would be absurd not to.

[Chief Matt]

I think it's a good idea. Our Earth is constantly changing, so why don't 'we' explore something way beyond. Several weeks ago I heard a report on the news about maybe life on Mars, it looked like somebody was walking on Mars, some claim it was a rock. I think it is a very mysterious search, and sooner or later we'll get there and find something.

[grandpa]

Quote by: Chief Matt I think it's a good idea. Our Earth is constantly changing, so why don't 'we' explore something way beyond.

It's a fantastical idea, no matter how you slice it. But a major problem is finding a livable space out there.

Grandpa h.

[Compugasm]

I think a sea colony would be much better. I'm not discounting entirely the Mars colonization, but I don't get why living underwater has been pushed aside.

[another day]

Quote by: Court463 Thats exactly what I think, but I'm curious to the religous opposition to this subject. I'm not sure if it litterally says in the Bible, Torah, or Koran to not leave earth. But I know some people are ethically opposed to it on a religous basis.

Of course it says nothing about leaving earth in the religious bibles... The people who wrote those books had no concept of other planets as being places you could go. To them the sky was "the heavens", and stars were shiny dots to give us light.

As for should we, no I don't think we should. It would be an unhealthy environment for human beings to live, mentally. I think we should focus on getting the population under control so we don't need to resort to this.

[Halofan48]

yes, we should go to new worlds. We should try to keep some sections the same, though it will be difficult. We'll also have to adapt to the new location. Like, if we lived farther away from the sun, we would likely have larger eyes to compensate for the lack of light. If the planet had a lower gravity, we'd become taller. Still, we should do it.

Also, if we go to another planet, we should be careful. We might experience a new disease that would be extremely deadly. Or, if the planet has life, we might bring some to them.

I think expansion into space would be a great thing. We'd be less likely to be wiped out if a comet hit the Earth. We'd likely have more unity on planet surfaces (though maybe not with other planets) and might provide us with a great deal of knowledge.

Yet I have one last thing to say. If we are to terra-form a planet, we need to do extensive research about the planet. We may discover life based on Helium for all we know. Sounds far fetched, but it is a possibility. Life is resilient and can survive in the most unlikely of places.

Anyway, great thing, should be done ASAP. IMO

[Court463]

I just thought of another thing that kind of relates to this for all bible buffs that know about revelations.

If humanity expands past the earth onto other planets and maby other solar systems, how will the people away from earth be destroyed in the time of judgment, would it be like a loop hole from god, or whould he just kill (for lack of a better word) everyone not on earth so they could be judged as well, anyway i'm not so familiar with the technicals of revalations and armageddon so i could be asking a dumb question.

[Kite]

Quote by: Technosoul The concern about taraforming is that we might mess with the balance of things. Example: if you remove a rock from the moon you make it's total weight that much less, although it would be not be by very much that change would effect it's orbit in a teenie weenie way, if you believe in the concept that all things are connected such that everything effects everything else, then somehow removing that rock would have a tiny impact on the whole universe. Example: if the moons orbit did shift enough it could effect the earth, perhaps resulting in a slight climate change here. But I doubt if we could conduct a environmental study about what effects taraforming Mars would have on our solar system.

This isn't entirely true. Its true that all the planets in our solar system do have small effects on our planet, but removing a rock wouldn't be anywhere near enough to create any type of notable change. If you buy into that theory every time there was a minor meteor impact on the moon we would have gigantic tide fluctuations and axial changes on earth. There has to be a major major change for people on earth to feel the effects.

I think that it would be a great idea to move on to other planets. Growing populations are taking up more food, space, money and resources, not to mention that there needs to be jobs for them. Moving to another planet would offer a truly fresh start, not to mention that the job market would be quite expansive, such as mining ores not found on earth and the upkeep of colonies.

I don't buy the whole 'we might mess up another planet' rhetoric. Theres millions of planets in our galaxy. If we do completely screw up earth, at least there will be a place to run to.

[moxann]

I wish I had seen that special on the history channel, I need to start paying better attention again to what they are showing. It's just seemed to be the same military things.

I think that humanity should colonize another planet and hopefully learn from their mistakes to this one a treat the next with more respect. Even though for the most part we will be needing to synthesize many things and at the beginning stages have copies that adapt and air bubbles and all that jazz.

In some Science Fiction movies they show humans living in a type of bubbled field location on a planet I don't think really that we should change the planet but we should change our ways, space consumption included. We have changed the Earth many ways but I'm not fully for changing surroundings. Small alterations could be conciously done but look through all all possible aspects and ethics.

Ahhh well not to sound like an anti- anything but people could make their own choices I know it is my dream to someday fly through space and if any religious groups are against it... well I don't think we are at all near a time to need to be forcing people to fly away on spaceships and dominate a land.

Taking over any space/area/ecolan/environment is a dangerous thing. Like a sea colony disrupts many organisms humans can't be selfish to their own needs to spread and change I think Mars, though maybe more in the future(maybe only be a decade or two) could be much better done while perserving orginal land and space than out oceanic floors.

Maybe we should look further into other relgions other than the bible and see what people such as the Mayan's who studied the stars.

[Jayjhis]

The people that think it's wrong to leave Earth and go off to another planet don't have to leave Earth. Problem solved.

I wish every Christian understood the simple concept of "if you don't like it, don't do it". The world would be a much better place for everyone.

[Court463]

"if you don't like it, don't do it".

I've been trying to make that point for a long time.

[lindsay7]

I think it's a fascinating subject to pursue in science. Like anything, it would have ethical and safety questions, we would have to be cautious about it. Not cause harm to alien life or bring about unexpected repercussions on ourselves.

[Court463]

I disagree, we should get in our spaceships and burn our diesal fuel and dumb our radioactive waste on jupiter and then shoot anything we see, it will be a blast yeeehawww!

JK, the mental image of space rednecks is hilarious.

[Halofan48]

JK, the mental image of space rednecks is hilarious.

(cringes at the thought of space rednecks) Dude, that would be scary. I imagine space Nascar :(