The Poll of the Seven Planets

[Lexicus]

The correct answer is to hope that more-advanced aliens exist and are willing to save humans from themselves.

 

[Hygro]

It would be more awesome if we are independently viable.

 

[Lexicus]

Hey I'm just trying to get closer to the e d g e

 

[Hygro]

I g e t you

 

[Perfection]

All life extinguished only Giant Death Robots remain. They form two factions that ravage the resources of the system in a perpetual stalemate. The motives for the war lost to history, they fight on with the utter destruction of the opposing side their sole purpose.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

More advanced is fine, as long as we kill more of them in the inevitable first contact war.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

yea but it's like much more prectical to make space stations or colonise asteroids I've heard

Yes and no. Strictly speaking, it may be easier but we won't be sure until we've tried both.

From a practical sense, no, however. As with colony ships (in some other thread), any society that could spin up an asteroid big enough to be a self sustaining entity would easily be able to make a go out of colonizing a planet. Both present unique and massive challenges to overcome and mot of those challenges are the same.

Not if, when.

It's as inevitable that life on Earth will be extinguished forever.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I don't fault your reasoning about Mars, but what about Enceladus and Europa and anywhere else in the Solar System? You don't actually think humans are going to colonize a moon that has oceans of hydrocarbons, do you?

That's a huge reason to colonize such a moon! That's a huge resource that we could easily utilize - even with today's technology. We could turn it into all sorts of plastics and other materials with far fewer steps and energy input than doing it from raw carbon scraped off an asteroid.

Yes, I do believe humans are going to colonize every corner of this solar system if we survive long enough. It will be an uneven expansion but we'll end up on every corner, so to speak.

I do hope that if there is life on any of the outer worlds that we don't colonize or change them. Study, absolutely but I would hope we would leave them alone - particularly if the ice moons contain advanced life. If it's single-celled or very primitive life I tend to care less about it though I recognize this is a moral knife's edge I'm walking on.

I will always prioritize Earth life and humanity in particular over other life but I don't want to recklessly extinguish it though. This is why I really hope Mars is lifeless because it takes away any moral qualms about drastically changing it to better suit us. It's got so much else going for it that it is almost an ideal starting point for our colonization of space and learning to terraform. Though as I said above, it really isn't that much easier than colonizing an asteroid and I would settle for that and would happily make the move.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Isn't it like a thing that colonising planets is a waste of time and resources?

No I think it's the noblest endeavor our species can possibly undertake.

We can be the mechanism through which life itself spreads through the cosmos.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Non intelligent life forms on Mars ?
I'd imagine there would be a debate and a vote of some kind, followed by terraforming. Life on mars might exist at the poles which humanity would need to use the pole water over ridding any ethical concerns.
But any terraforming is a long way off there may be someway to save species of mars life before terraforming and place them into some sort of preserve

'over riding' ethical concerns only applies if colonization actually happens. The discovery of life could result in governments effectively banning it. I think eventually as long as we survive, we'll get out there but governments do have the power to stop it for a looooong time because of how many resources have to be marshaled to make the effort work.

I can predict trends in technological growth with some confidence but my powers of prediction fail when it comes to figuring out what stupid thing the government will do next. Especially now.

Also, I think I'd be fine with keeping Martian life in preserves but I don't know that my point of view would win that moral argument.

 

[Narz]

Smarter than us, so we could learn from them.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

That's a huge reason to colonize such a moon! That's a huge resource that we could easily utilize - even with today's technology. We could turn it into all sorts of plastics and other materials with far fewer steps and energy input than doing it from raw carbon scraped off an asteroid.

And do what with it? There would have to be a lot of people all the way out there to make any kind of lucrative market for it. And how would it be disposed of, once people don't want it anymore - do we create planet-sized piles of plastic?

 

[Terxpahseyton]

If there is life on Mars it would raise very serious ethical and moral questions about colonization. I want to colonize Mars so naturally I'm leery of such a situation.

Why? What life could there be on Mars? Microbes? Even insects? We pay no concern whatsoever to their lives here on earth. So what does the moral question stem from? The unique gene code? Well, unique gene codes are cool and I see the sense in bio-diversity. But bio-diversity is important because we live in this biosphere and need it.
We are not going to compete with Mars sperm over a place in their biosphere. We would have to create our own. So, if colonization destroyed some of that - it probably would not matter.

 

[red_elk]

I believe expansion in the Solar system will be done through automatic research, mining and power stations. At least in next several decades. It is already going on for about 50 years, by the way. Human exploration will be restricted to may be competition to reach Mars first, but other than that, progress in AI and robots technologies will make automatic exploration far more feasible. For human colonization, I think remote places on Earth are a good example. Some people work in Antarctica, but not too many of them want to colonize it, despite it would be much easier than Moon or Mars. In optimistic scenario we will have manned research station on the Moon in next 50 years or so.

 

[Glassfan]

By "more intelligent", do we mean wiser, or more technologically advanced? A race of peaceful philosophers I could handle, but running into the Klingons, not so much...

 

[Perfection]

Klingons are cool, it's the Romulans you should be worried about.

 

[CavLancer]

Good question Glass, I meant more technologically advanced, able to kick our butts without breaking a sweat, if so inclined. Big if. To me anyone wanting to run into such, prefering this to stick chasers, is certifiable.

 

[Glassfan]

I chose more advanced because it's optimistic. It suggests that civilizations can progress without destroying themselves with self-inflicted wounds - nuclear war, environmental degradation, rise of the machines.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Klingons are cool, it's the Romulans you should be worried about.

Klingons eat live worms, inflict pain on each other for fun, and I'd rather listen to a herd of cats fighting than "Klingon opera."

Romulans have terrible fashion sense and no imagination when it comes to hairstyles.

 

[Synobun]

Tribbles or bust.