24 ms·
terraforming is pure scifi, the least hospitable place on earth is vastly more hospitable than the best place on mars, even after almost every conceivable plane
by throwaway2048 9y ago
terraforming is pure scifi, the least hospitable place on earth is vastly more hospitable than the best place on mars, even after almost every conceivable planet scale disaster. Pretty much every technique that could be used to make mars more hospitable could be used on earth instead. We dont have to spend 20 million dollars a kilogram to get there either.
Its part of a futurist escapist fantasy where we have somewhere safe to go when we ruin the earth, so why worry about it right?
- JoeAltmaier 9y agoI like to add here: why don't we try a colony on the top of Mt Everest first? It is so much easier than going to Mars, what with (some) air and water already there. But otherwise pretty comparable. And no rockets needed.
- dsq 9y agoThe way to develop technologies that will save the earth's environment is to go to space or other worlds where there are no NIMBYs or reactionary fanatics or existing corporate kleptocracies, develop them to maturity, and then redeploy on the mother planet. Commercial fusion power, for instance, will probably always remain 'thirty years from now' as long as the unholy alliance of fossil fuel incumbents and so-called 'Greens' continues.