4 ms·

Should be dropping packets of extremophiles into the atmospheres of the other planets to see if anything takes hold. I.e. practice panspermia.

WalterBright 9mo ago
I know this is an unpopular idea. But it's the right thing to do.
triceratops 9mo ago
I didn't downvote you. However, there are ethical and moral quandaries to doing that. What if you accidentally wipe out existing, undetected life on that planet? You aren't going to see anything "take hold" on a human timescale. Evolution takes place over geological time. By the time there's something to observe, there might be no one to observe it. Or all knowledge of the experiment might be lost.
- WalterBright 9mo ago
  There is no other civilization in the solar system. If it's humans vs alien slime mold, I stand for humans. > ou aren't going to see anything "take hold" on a human timescale Right. Seeding life onto lifeless planets takes a long time, but it is a moral imperative. We are the only life in the solar system, and maybe even in our galaxy. BTW, the Earth is going to fry in 100m years. We'd better learn how to colonize the other planets.
  - squibonpig 9mo ago
    What? It isn't a moral imperitive because it doesn't matter at all from a human perspective. It's not human vs slime mold, it's weird-specific-extremeophile-bacteria vs slime mold.
    - WalterBright 9mo ago
      The purpose of life is to spread and thrive.
      - mrguyorama 9mo ago
        Life is a name we give to arrangements of matter we prefer over others. There is no intrinsic "purpose". The universe itself is perfectly content with dynamics over timescales we cannot even approach comprehension of, and never will. The only driving force in the universe is an evolution from a state with heterogeneous energy densities to one with homogeneous energy density. "Life" isn't even in the equation. Interstellar travel is not possible for humans. Even if we could somehow induce perfect hibernation, scifi style, how do you maintain an engineered vehicle in the abyss for centuries? Meanwhile, we can't even take care of the abundance of resources here on earth.
        WalterBright 9mo ago
        What a sad point of view. Consider that the only reason you exist (and have wonderful things like air conditioning) is because your predecessors did have a purpose. > Interstellar travel is not possible for humans. Yes, it is. Transcribe DNA, put it in probe, probe goes for centuries, orbits a promising planet, then employs nanobots to build humans from the DNA. I.e. a seedship. > abundance of resources here on earth Our solar system is brimming with resources. All we've exploited so far is just pond scum on the Earth's surface.
      - squibonpig 9mo ago
        The purpose of any particular arrangement could be said to be to proliferate and dominate others, insofar as if it doesn't do that then it doesn't exist and will be overwritten by other arrangements. In this case we humans wouldn't want to spread an extremophile bacteria, we'd want to dominate it and minimize its presence. Human colonization is different from what you're talking about.
        WalterBright 9mo ago
        If you can get extremophiles to live on other planets, it becomes much more possible for humans to. It's a necessary precursor.
  - triceratops 9mo ago
    More like 1-4bn years actually.
ianburrell 9mo ago
That destroys any possibility of finding out if there was or is life on other planets. Life that would be better evolved to handle the conditions. It is also unlikely to do anything. The conditions are well beyond anything on Earth. Mars is near vacuum; life has survived in vacuum but didn't grow. Titan has liquid organics, but is really cold and microorganisms don't really handle hydrocarbons.
- WalterBright 9mo ago
  > That destroys any possibility of finding out if there was or is life on other planets. Life that would be better evolved to handle the conditions. Those two statements contradict each other. It's a given that Terran life would be poorly adapted to the conditions. So native live would overwhelm it.
- account42 9mo ago
  I think we still have some time before the prime directive comes into effect.

WalterBright 9mo ago

I know this is an unpopular idea. But it's the right thing to do.

triceratops 9mo ago

I didn't downvote you. However, there are ethical and moral quandaries to doing that. What if you accidentally wipe out existing, undetected life on that planet? You aren't going to see anything "take hold" on a human timescale. Evolution takes place over geological time. By the time there's something to observe, there might be no one to observe it. Or all knowledge of the experiment might be lost.

WalterBright 9mo ago
There is no other civilization in the solar system. If it's humans vs alien slime mold, I stand for humans. > ou aren't going to see anything "take hold" on a human timescale Right. Seeding life onto lifeless planets takes a long time, but it is a moral imperative. We are the only life in the solar system, and maybe even in our galaxy. BTW, the Earth is going to fry in 100m years. We'd better learn how to colonize the other planets.
- squibonpig 9mo ago
  What? It isn't a moral imperitive because it doesn't matter at all from a human perspective. It's not human vs slime mold, it's weird-specific-extremeophile-bacteria vs slime mold.
  - WalterBright 9mo ago
    The purpose of life is to spread and thrive.
    - mrguyorama 9mo ago
      Life is a name we give to arrangements of matter we prefer over others. There is no intrinsic "purpose". The universe itself is perfectly content with dynamics over timescales we cannot even approach comprehension of, and never will. The only driving force in the universe is an evolution from a state with heterogeneous energy densities to one with homogeneous energy density. "Life" isn't even in the equation. Interstellar travel is not possible for humans. Even if we could somehow induce perfect hibernation, scifi style, how do you maintain an engineered vehicle in the abyss for centuries? Meanwhile, we can't even take care of the abundance of resources here on earth.
      - WalterBright 9mo ago
        What a sad point of view. Consider that the only reason you exist (and have wonderful things like air conditioning) is because your predecessors did have a purpose. > Interstellar travel is not possible for humans. Yes, it is. Transcribe DNA, put it in probe, probe goes for centuries, orbits a promising planet, then employs nanobots to build humans from the DNA. I.e. a seedship. > abundance of resources here on earth Our solar system is brimming with resources. All we've exploited so far is just pond scum on the Earth's surface.
    - squibonpig 9mo ago
      The purpose of any particular arrangement could be said to be to proliferate and dominate others, insofar as if it doesn't do that then it doesn't exist and will be overwritten by other arrangements. In this case we humans wouldn't want to spread an extremophile bacteria, we'd want to dominate it and minimize its presence. Human colonization is different from what you're talking about.
      - WalterBright 9mo ago
        If you can get extremophiles to live on other planets, it becomes much more possible for humans to. It's a necessary precursor.
- triceratops 9mo ago
  More like 1-4bn years actually.

ianburrell 9mo ago

That destroys any possibility of finding out if there was or is life on other planets. Life that would be better evolved to handle the conditions. It is also unlikely to do anything. The conditions are well beyond anything on Earth. Mars is near vacuum; life has survived in vacuum but didn't grow. Titan has liquid organics, but is really cold and microorganisms don't really handle hydrocarbons.

WalterBright 9mo ago
> That destroys any possibility of finding out if there was or is life on other planets. Life that would be better evolved to handle the conditions. Those two statements contradict each other. It's a given that Terran life would be poorly adapted to the conditions. So native live would overwhelm it.
account42 9mo ago
I think we still have some time before the prime directive comes into effect.