Editing 2095: Marsiforming
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The title text provides examples of how this could improve things: preserving Martian life (a proposed reason to terraform Mars would be to provide a second planet to preserve Earth life at the cost of destroying any potential [undiscovered] Martian organisms, so by marsiforming Earth, we would provide a second planet to preserve Martian life, if there is any life on Mars), needing fewer interplanetary launches (no need to leave this planet's atmosphere in order to visit itself, and Martians who might otherwise need to return to their home planet could instead settle on Earth), and making it easier to field-test Mars rovers (field-test means to test in the environment of actual use, which would readily be available on Earth). While the second and third items would indeed be advantages, and the first would be as well if Mars has developed life, they are severely outweighed by the fact that most life on Earth, including humans, would die. | The title text provides examples of how this could improve things: preserving Martian life (a proposed reason to terraform Mars would be to provide a second planet to preserve Earth life at the cost of destroying any potential [undiscovered] Martian organisms, so by marsiforming Earth, we would provide a second planet to preserve Martian life, if there is any life on Mars), needing fewer interplanetary launches (no need to leave this planet's atmosphere in order to visit itself, and Martians who might otherwise need to return to their home planet could instead settle on Earth), and making it easier to field-test Mars rovers (field-test means to test in the environment of actual use, which would readily be available on Earth). While the second and third items would indeed be advantages, and the first would be as well if Mars has developed life, they are severely outweighed by the fact that most life on Earth, including humans, would die. | ||
| β | Unstated in the comic are the extreme costs such a proposal would incur, which would surely be grounds for rejection. Between the thin atmosphere, harsh solar radiation, and other changes, Earth would become uninhabitable for most life currently on Earth, most notably humans. Almost all humans value the continued existence of the human race far more than Martian exploration | + | Unstated in the comic are the extreme costs such a proposal would incur, which would surely be grounds for rejection. Between the thin atmosphere, harsh solar radiation, and other changes, Earth would become uninhabitable for most life currently on Earth, most notably humans. Almost all humans value the continued existence of the human race far more than Martian exploration (if nothing else, it is for the benefit of humans that Mars is being explored, so exterminating the human race would render the benefits moot). |
There are known extremophile species that would survive underground on Mars. If similar life is hiding on Mars, marsiforming the Earth would benefit their possible eventual interplanetary efforts. There is an {{w|Terraforming of Mars#Funded research: ecopoiesis|existing project}} to begin experimental terraforming on Mars by nurturing some of our extremophile species on it. | There are known extremophile species that would survive underground on Mars. If similar life is hiding on Mars, marsiforming the Earth would benefit their possible eventual interplanetary efforts. There is an {{w|Terraforming of Mars#Funded research: ecopoiesis|existing project}} to begin experimental terraforming on Mars by nurturing some of our extremophile species on it. | ||
