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Displayed name	phlogiston
Member number	6426
Title	Apprentice
Postcount	1
Homepage	http://www.wfvisser.dds.nl/indexEN.html
Registered	Thursday, October 27 2005 07:00

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Explore Mars now in General
phlogiston Apprentice Member # 6426	written Thursday, October 27 2005 04:27 Profile Homepage #44 >before having a large and prosperous colony on >mars it would take years of terraforming and >the costs into that kinda technology would be >staggering At the rate our capabilities in biotechnology are progressing, it is very conceivable that we will be able to engineer organisms, (microorganism probably) that are designed to thrive on mars and alter the atmosphere and land to our needs. Technology akin to that seen in the geneforge games actually. Once designed, which doesn't have to be particularly costly or time consuming, we would only have to seed the planet and sit back for a few millenia. Almost all organisms rest on essentially the same biochemical basis, and it is quite possible that organisms can be designed in a 'modular' fashion, in which biochemical modules can simply be combined to yield a specific organism for a task. As very well illustrated in the geneforge games, this level of biotechnology can ofcourse also yield all kinds of dangerous organisms (diseases etc.), intentionally or not. Possibly, the same technology may also provide effective countermeasures. Also, it may take a long time, if ever, for society to accept this technology fully. I.e. if you design an organism from scratch, are you not 'playing god'? And would using intelligent vertebrates for slaves be acceptable (serviles, minds etc.)...? I really think biotechnology will get to that point sooner rather than later, and the geneforge games provide a surprisingly real picture of what the future holds in that respect and how society might react to it. -------------------- ----- "If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down." - Wernher von Braun Posts: 1 \| Registered: Thursday, October 27 2005 07:00

Author

Recent posts

Explore Mars now in General

phlogiston

Apprentice

Member # 6426

written Thursday, October 27 2005 04:27 Profile Homepage #44

>before having a large and prosperous colony on >mars it would take years of terraforming and >the costs into that kinda technology would be >staggering

At the rate our capabilities in biotechnology are progressing, it is very conceivable that we will be able to engineer organisms, (microorganism probably) that are designed to thrive on mars and alter the atmosphere and land to our needs. Technology akin to that seen in the geneforge games actually. Once designed, which doesn't have to be particularly costly or time consuming, we would only have to seed the planet and sit back for a few millenia. Almost all organisms rest on essentially the same biochemical basis, and it is quite possible that organisms can be designed in a 'modular' fashion, in which biochemical modules can simply be combined to yield a specific organism for a task.

As very well illustrated in the geneforge games, this level of biotechnology can ofcourse also yield all kinds of dangerous organisms (diseases etc.), intentionally or not. Possibly, the same technology may also provide effective countermeasures. Also, it may take a long time, if ever, for society to accept this technology fully. I.e. if you design an organism from scratch, are you not 'playing god'? And would using intelligent vertebrates for slaves be acceptable (serviles, minds etc.)...?
I really think biotechnology will get to that point sooner rather than later, and the geneforge games provide a surprisingly real picture of what the future holds in that respect and how society might react to it.

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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down." - Wernher von Braun

Posts: 1 | Registered: Thursday, October 27 2005 07:00