Terraforming- Not the WAY!!!

I have been thinking this one over for some time and have done a lot of research to see whether this has been covered publicly in the past. I can’t find anything so I’ll state it here. Err, this may be a lot of naff I don't know. Please forgive me if this is so.

Yes, people will die out eventually; this is an inevitability- if we stay on this planet. Of course, if we go and make new ‘homes’ elsewhere in the universe, we will be able to live longer (or rather that is what people say.). The problem with this is that we are taking over other atmospheres to meet our needs, which might not be the best idea. I am waffling here, I know that everyone likely to read this will be more knowledgeable about this particular subject than me so I’ll cut right to the chase.

No matter how many tests we might do on other planets checking out their atmospheric makeups and so on, it is doubtful that we will know everything about what we will be dealing with. After all, it will be very different, and therefore there may be totally unknown factors which will make our knowledge of what we had on Earth redundant. Then, by changing the atmosphere of that planet, the consequences could be disastrous. Not just for us, but if we miss something and there happens to be life on the planet, you never know what might happen to it; especially if this life is in it’s early stages of development, or indeed dormant.

The Alien life might decide to evolve, in the way in which it would have done in its own atmosphere, but of course with the addition of ours, who knows what might be spawned? Now, I’m all for the idea, but these things need to be checked and we must realise that just because we know not of something’s existence, does not mean that it isn’t there somewhere.

Ramadwarf on Terraforming planets

*Again, I apologise if I have written something similar to anyone else, or if this is a load of naff

reply to post by Ramadwarf Philes


There is nothing wrong with sharing your thoughts on the subject Rama.
I would imagine that any terra forming process undertaken by us, would be a relatively slow one. Perhaps taking at least decades to achieve an atmosphere comparable to Earth's.

I think it was C. Sagan who warned of the dangers of having human life possibly wiped out with a single event , and the need for us to have human life elsewhere should such a calamitous event happen.

But i think your right , we will probably encounter problems we couldn`t foresee whilst in the planning stage on Earth , but isn`t that one of the wonders of life .

Exciting stuff .

I think the ultimate concern here is the propagation of life beyond earth, not necessarily the preservation of our earthly forms and the preservation of human beings 'as we know them', as humans adopt and inhabit other planets within a few generations humans will begin to rapidly evolve and change biologically on a terraformed planet, rather than in a sort of 'biounit' that preserves the conditions on earth. Differing values of gravity for example will have massive effects on our biology, the propagation of life on newly terraformed planets will see the formation of new species, not the preservation of humans, from this viewpoint we should be less worried about the potentials of unforeseen factors and creations that are byproducts of our terraforming, if you get what I mean. The idea here IS novelty, not conservatism, as long as life is preserved.

I'm for terraforming Mars, because I think it was alive once to begin with. I wouldn't go beyond that though.

reply to post by AltruisticNarcissist


I hadn't thought of it like that actually. That's even more interesting than what I was thinking. So basically, in terraforming other planets, we would be endangering ourselves rather than saving. So we're screwed really, right?

Ramadwarf on understanding

reply to post by Donnie Darko


Terraforming Mars? Yip, it would certainly make a lot of sense to do so, thankyou , but still, if you think of it like that, maybe it wouldn't be such a great idea to do it; I say this because the life that once existed there is gone now, and you never know how the planet itself would react to a change like that, especially seeing as how what it will have been used to in the past won't be too similar to what we give it (I would think).

Ramadwarf on Mars' terrain

Before any planet could be terraformed there would need to be a magnetic field strong enough to repel radiation from space. Mars does not have enough of a magnetic field to do that. If Mars is heated up then the core might be kick started. There would have to be large amounts of greenhouse gasses pumped into the atmosphere to hold in the heat. There is no guarantee it would work.

reply to post by cloakndagger


Hmm, I see. So in order to successfully terraform Mars (and many other, if not most other, planets I suppose) you'd have to go through many stages before it could be completed. Well, I didn't think you could just change something as vast as an atmosphere just like that, but I'm learning more and more about the flaws and problems we would face in order to achieve the goal of terraforming. Thankyou!

Ramadwarf on how his knowledge is expanding

yes mars does have a weak magnetosphere. basicly just (domes) of mgnetic fields, isnt there also the problem that even though mars has two moons their mass isnt enough to keep the planet stable and it tumbles as well as the fact that the reason mars has a weak magnetic field is because the core is to cool to generate one very well.. so in order to terraform mars we need to know a lot more about it before we can do anything with it..

cool thread though.. and extremly interesting.. s&f

[edit on 21-9-2009 by scorand]

Originally posted by Ramadwarf Philes
So basically, in terraforming other planets, we would be endangering ourselves rather than saving.

So we're screwed really, right?

Its more than likely that by the time we have developed sufficient technology to undertake such a massive operation, our civilization (which is already after pacifying and evolving so much over the past 50 years - ie see EU) will have united most of mankind under some sort of flag which will then be spread to the newly colonized planet that will be viewed as a sort of 52nd state so to speak.

By 2050, the then developed world will be so intertwined economically and politically, we will barely recognize it from todays world, why do people think that we will necessarily have the same problems or militarily prevalent mindset then as we do now? Why would we start a war with our off world colonists when they would be supplying us with so much of our resources and why would they start a war on us if we are their main export market?

And by the time they do begin to change in an evolutionary manner (100+ years), we will have colonized so many planets that their little insignificant differences in the whole wider spectrum of evolutionary changes in the big picture will matter no more than black/white/asian etc.

Getting off this rock is the most important thing we can do.. Terraforming will be undertaken in some shape or form no matter where we colonize, we affect our surroundings to suit our needs, thats a trait of mankind that technology might hide but we will never lose.

reply to post by scorand


Yes, so there is plenty more we need to know before we can begin terraforming other planets, especially Mars I suppose, seeing as how it seems to be the most prominent planet in this thread.

Is there anything that can be done about the magnetic field? Will it be strengthened by the core being reactivated?

Ramadwarf on the need for knowledge

reply to post by Dermo


Hmm, what a world that will be! Well, I say world, it'd be many worlds wouldn't it.
But yeah, I agree with you entirely: other Planets will become as common place as countries and people will probably look on people like Whites/Blacks and Chinese as Earth people, rather than English, African or Chinese.
But yes, getting other places habitable is very important because this one isn't going to be around [as we know it] for too much longer.

Ramadwarf on Dermo