Should Earth begin seeding other planets?

My opinion on this is that we should first get our own act together before we start spreading humanity across the stars like a plague. If we can't learn to live with ourselves on the same planet, how could we seriously justify spreading our problems across the cosmos?

From what I know of human nature, if we can't straighten out ourselves first, we don't deserve to touch the stars.

In all seriousness this is an interesting thread.Mankind is young in this sphere but old in heart.What makes any planet capable of taking care of its enviroment is through the very understanding of lifes cycles.An older race would probably have a better lock onto these measures but it doesn't mean a young one can't try.But what would help humanity is if our awareness along with our age was enhanced.This way the planet would be harvestable with little problems as possible.You have to have the equipment upstairs to make the downstairs accessible.If the reason were legit there would be access granted, but not before we clean up our own planet.In a sense it would be like going outside the country and trying to claim land that is not necessarily ours or theirs but responsibility plays a big role in what can be done.How responsible as a whole is Earth for what they do and from an outside perspective our Atmosphere reflects its inhabitants.We must mature into our growth.

Very good thread.

[edit on 13-6-2007 by menguard]

The concept of Panspermia or Exogenesis is not new, and is considered in some detail by Wikipedia, But the ideas that what we have here is directed exogenesis or that the intended panspermia is designed to create intelligent life is somewhat more controversial.

Hoaglands web site has some interesting information about the possiblity of intended panspermia having occured in this system, and he points to the recent Cassini mission and its coming photographs of the Saturn moon Iapetus as possible evidence of a seed ship. It is a very engaging and interesting arguement.
A moon with a View

A critical aspect of the Cambrian Explosion is that the proliferation of the forms of life was absolutely incredible! For example, in the early beginnings of the Cambrian Era, there were by “roughly fifty” phyla. Today there are approximately 35 phyla.

“The best known animal phyla are the Mollusca, Porifera, Cnidaria, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Annelida, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, and Chordata, the phylum to which humans belong. Although there are approximately 35 phyla, these nine include the majority of the species.”
Phylum

"The key factor is that out of the pond scum arose a wide variety of animal phyla – just the sort of thing that an intelligently planned seed ship might prefer, i.e. animals instead of pond scum (aka football players instead of leaching lawyers). Furthermore, the seed ship could not always be certain of the host planet’s conditions, so that 50 or more phyla were dispatched, but within a few million years, a forth of them might have already paid the price of survival of the fittest. It’s not that any particular phylum was better than others. It’s just that Earth’s phylum, Chordata, was the one to begin wondering about Iapetus." Dan S. Ward

*Mod Edit: to remove T&C violation*

[edit on 6/13/2007 by kinglizard]

Red_Dog_BOM:

Very interesting post. So I take it that you're all for seeding other planets?

Originally posted by SG-17
But if we go FTL in normal space, or even just 80% it wont have to be a generation ship, because of relativity, going that fast would slow down time considerably, roughly at 70% 10,000 years in normal time would be around 2 or 3 years on the ship.
[edit on 6/13/2007 by SG-17]

I had heard of Time Dilation but had never researched it before. Very interesting theories. more on Time Dilation. As I look more and more into the idea of traveling at lightspeed, the more I think it could be possible. Are there any experts out there that can comment?

Sorry to take this thread off topic, but when researching the topics of lightspeed and mass and seeing that the speed of light can be sped up or slowed down and also that mass is subject to momentum, it would lead me to believe that there is a small window left open for maniulation of these laws.

Mass

In particle physics, the mass is often calculated as a mathematical combination of a particle's energy and its momentum to give a value for the mass of the particle that is the same for all observers.

Still it would seem at our current place in time, it's not likely that even were these laws further research and developed that they would become common for hundreds of years.

Originally posted by tyranny22
Sorry to take this thread off topic, but when researching the topics of lightspeed and mass and seeing that the speed of light can be sped up or slowed down and also that mass is subject to momentum, it would lead me to believe that there is a small window left open for manipulation of these laws.

The biggest problem is the power requirement. It's doubtful that we'll be able harness the power of 10,000 suns anytime soon to push our little spaceship close to the speed of light. We'll never live that long as a species.

Originally posted by SuicideVirus

The biggest problem is the power requirement. It's doubtful that we'll be able harness the power of 10,000 suns anytime soon to push our little spaceship close to the speed of light. We'll never live that long as a species.

Yeah, you keep saying that.

Is there anything you based this on? Like an evolutionary time scale of sorts or maybe an equation based upon the exstinction of other species?

Are you basing this idea on a tecehnological singularity and the threat of AI?

Originally posted by FlyingRoman
Seeding other planets? Terraforming and bioforming other worlds for human colonization is a neat idea. I have always been in favor for such thing to happen.....One of the few questions that arise though is do we posess the technology to actually send a crew safely through the radiation belt that blankets the Earth....I've seen some things lately that have made me question whether or not we actually made it to the moon in the 60's & 70's....believe me, I am one who really wants to believe it true.....but conflicting shadow's, light where there shouldn't be....wind russling the flag, and no blast crator......If the government felt the need to fake the lunar landing, and lie to the public......how plausible is it that they could make it to the moon now, let alone other planets.

BESIDES THE OBVIOUS EXAMPLES OF A FAKE MOON LANDING CAN YOU GIVE MORE EVIDENCE ON WHY YOU THINK IT WAS STAGED, I MEAN IT DID SEEM LIKE A PISSING CONTEST AND MY QUESTION IS WHY HASNT ANYONE ELSE DECIDED TO TRY AND MAKE IT TO THE MOON, WHY ARE WE STUCK ON A SPACE STATION THAT ONLY ORBITS THE EARTH AND HAS COMPUTER MALFUNCTIONS AND ALMOST WAS ABOUT TO BE LEFT TO HOVER IN SPACE UNTIL THEY REBOOTED THE COMPUTERS?

Originally posted by CHRISTIANSEVEN
BESIDES THE OBVIOUS EXAMPLES OF A FAKE MOON LANDING CAN YOU GIVE MORE EVIDENCE ON WHY YOU THINK IT WAS STAGED, I MEAN IT DID SEEM LIKE A PISSING CONTEST AND MY QUESTION IS WHY HASNT ANYONE ELSE DECIDED TO TRY AND MAKE IT TO THE MOON, WHY ARE WE STUCK ON A SPACE STATION THAT ONLY ORBITS THE EARTH AND HAS COMPUTER MALFUNCTIONS AND ALMOST WAS ABOUT TO BE LEFT TO HOVER IN SPACE UNTIL THEY REBOOTED THE COMPUTERS?

First off, I suggest you not type in caps, it is considered yelling, and thusly rude, just saying.

The reason no one has gone back to the Moon since the Apollo landing is simple,
there has not been a reason to and the technology was not advanced enough to be usable.

However, we will be returning to the Moon, by 2025 at the very latest (technically it's
supposed to be 2020, but there are always problems), and will be building a permanent manned base there.

Should we find a more primitive people what should we do? Make a deal with them, by that I mean, economically. We send ships to their world and make money of the trade. We could create a kind of federation where everyone is under our rule, and in turn, we protect them. Think about the workforce, we would be awsome to be so kind. I really want a headcrab like from HL2, only defanged, hehehe.

But hay, seed other worlds? begin with Titan. The whole place is methane. When burned, it makes CO2 and H2O. Do that, then restart the core(massive satilites with microwaves in my opinion), and you got your self a nice place. Plant some plants and you got yourself the 02 to live on. Done and Done. should take 20-40 years depending on our comitment.

perhaps would should try to work out how to feed our species, how to treat each other with dignity and respect, how to overcome petty territorial warfare and how to rise above the station of the instinctual animal before we talk about moving to other planets.

In my opinion, if we were to travel to another planet now WE would be the bacteria that would infest and corrupt it.

Michener, in his book SPACE (which I commend for your entertainment) did a take on a similar issue of communication with other civilizations. There are perhaps 400,000,000,000 (four hundred billion) stars in our galaxy. Perhaps one quarter have planetary systems. Perhaps one half have planets with an ecology capable of supporting life. The problem appears to be distance. Altair is 93,850,000,000,000 miles away. It would take 428,544 years to reach Altair at 25,000 MPH, but only 16 at the speed of light. Even if we could obtain speeds up to 1/7th the speed of light, it's a long journey. Is it possible to go faster than 1/7th the speed of light? The amount of energy needed to fly a spaceship into the galaxy would be essentially equivalent to that needed to illuminate the US for the next 50,000 years. Interstellar travel remains a technological challenge that we are not yet up to speed on. It remains a wonderful dream, but does not appear as realistic for our generation.

WHAT!!! And screw up the rest of the Galaxy? Hell if there is intelligent life out there I hope that they have had the intelligence to put us in quarantine.

Our sun and Vega move around the Galaxy at the speed of 700,000 miles per hour, and the Galaxy itself rotates at 559,350 miles an hour. Our sun is moving us toward the star Vega at approximately 31,000 miles an hour. What of "Deep Space?" Should we set our sights on a star system moving towards us, and escape the gravitational field of our sun while moving in the opposite direction of it's path of travel, would that not add incredible relative speed to our spacecraft? Would the direction of rotation of the Galaxy itself not be relevant, should we be in "Deep Space" moving contra to it's rotation? Is "Deep Space" subject to some galactic gravitational field, or merely a nullity? Perhaps the astrophysicists have an answer for these questions, but their answers are based upon theory, without the benefit of experimentation. Perhaps the engine of our spacecraft is not the only means of propulsion.

Originally posted by tyranny22
Red_Dog_BOM:

Very interesting post. So I take it that you're all for seeding other planets?

What makes you so sure that we haven't already?

Personally, I think we are generally doomed to extinction if we don't get off planet. Are we worth saving? I'm not qualified to answer that question.

Are we worth saving? I'm not qualified to answer that question.

I am, not Osama.

[edit on 20-6-2007 by Gorman91]

I think we'll evantually begin seeding other planets but not for a good hundred or two hundred years.

Originally posted by Red_Dog_BOM

What makes you so sure that we haven't already?

Personally, I think we are generally doomed to extinction if we don't get off planet.

I agree. Statistics suggest that we are in fact doomed to exstinction if we do not get off this planet. If another global killer like the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs hits the Earth. I guess one could argue that we could develope the technology to destroy asteroids with out actually having to leave earth. But, eventually, even if it's another 3 million years, there will come one so large that we can do nothing to stop it.

It's like putting a shot glass in the middle of the Sahara and never expecting it to collect water. Sure, chances are it'll be a long time before it rains, but one day that rain will come.

For a country that cares so much about protecting it's oil, it doesn't seem like they care too much about their greatest resource ... mankind.

Originally posted by Red_Dog_BOM
Are we worth saving? I'm not qualified to answer that question.

I don't know that anyone is qualified to answer that question except maybe God. Surely you have an opinion though?

I feel like any species that is capable of somewhat complex thought and such extreme emotion, whether good or bad, is worth saving. Though mankind has shown extremely horrific nature in war and greed, I feel that we've also shown extreme beauty in our love and compassion.

Originally posted by tyranny22
I agree. Statistics suggest that we are in fact doomed to exstinction if we do not get off this planet. If another global killer like the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs hits the Earth. I guess one could argue that we could develope the technology to destroy asteroids with out actually having to leave earth. But, eventually, even if it's another 3 million years, there will come one so large that we can do nothing to stop it.

That is a long shot, I'm of the opinion that your looking at the wrong horse. If you want to know which horse will cross the line first, just look at the most active energy source in our solar system, then look deeper at the most active source on our planet. These two horse will hit much, much sooner. And there won't be a damn thing we can do about it either. Which is why its unpopular and underfunded science.

For a country that cares so much about protecting it's oil, it doesn't seem like they care too much about their greatest resource ... mankind.

I am of the opinion that we are not like a resource as much as we are a like a virus.

I don't know that anyone is qualified to answer that question except maybe God. Surely you have an opinion though?

My opinion is that God designed us for a specific purpose, which appears to be linked to this solar system only. I may be wrong, as I'm not anywhere close to being a biblical scholar, but I think there are passages in the Bible refering to this planet as our home, separate from the other heavenly bodies. I'm thinking something in us must change before we can travel into the "heavens". Additionally, the path to our salvation is in that same book, which I don't recall reading anything about seeding other planets.