Re: Terraforming NOT! [was Re: SF book recommendations wanted...]

From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Thu Jun 01 2000 - 18:15:49 MDT


"Robert J. Bradbury" wrote:
>
> Various people wrote:
>
> > > Terraforming Venus ?
> > > Is Mars not a better option ?
>
> >> I have often wondered about the ways in which to terraform Venus and if
> >> it would be possible to do so with any of the other planets in our solar
> >> system.
>
> I'll simply comment that "terraforming" is an *obsolete* concept
> in an era of nanotechnology. It is one of those memes that when
> invented sounded like a really good idea and continues to exist because
> of the romantic visions we have for the pioneer/explorer and freedom
> from governments we find burdensome.
>
> If you argue for terraforming, you have to justify the following --
> "Lets Keep people confined to gravity wells, instead of giving
> *every* single person a 'world ship'". Why? The usable mass in
> the solar system is ~10^16 kg/person, or roughly the mass of
> the asteroid Eros (~24 km diameter).
>

I intend to reference your paper as a counter to the rationale for
terraforming, but thats not the sort of info I'm looking for at the
moment from the list. Can you make any SF recommendations for venus
terraforming, or for terraforming in general?

Mike Lorrey



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