Ethics Involving Terraforming

Wikipedia describes terraforming as:

“Terraforming or terraformation (literally, “Earth-shaping”) of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to the environment of Earth to make it habitable by Earth-like life.”

More recently the following have been observed: * Venus: Finding traces of phosphine gas on Venus. Source: The Royal Astronomical Society * Mars: Salty ponds found on Mars suggest stronger prospect of life on red planet Also for Mars, is this thought that sending our rovers to Mars may have led to contaminating the habitat. Seeing that life can indeed thrive in harsh environments here on earth (tardigrades in general, as well - shrimps fish and crabs thriving near hydro-thermal vents using chemosynthesis - thriving deep down in the oceans near volcanic vents, microbes that survive by ingesting arsenic e.t.c. It is possible that the microbes on our rovers could indeed survive the Martian climate. And with the establishment of the colony in 1997, maybe their numbers have increased. But not on the scale which would warrant that earth based lifeform is interacting with lifeform that is native to Mars. Note, I am mostly referring to microbes. It doesn’t seem like we have plants, trees and other more complicated multi-cellular organism on Mars. If we did, we would have found some trace of it by now.

I think there are a couple of thoughts related to this topic: * The actual mechanisms that we leverage in order to develop and deploy equipment, that allows us to explore real-estate in our solar system. * How must we develop mechanisms in semi-autonomous or autonomous facilities that are remotely operated. Because, to my untrained mind, I cannot think of a way of manufacturing equipment with humans directly involved in the process. And then some insurance that the organic residue that humans are leaving on these devices isn’t going to be able to find a way to propogate on the actual and intended destination.

I think Carl Sagan was of the opinion that if we do indeed find microbial or other life on non-terrestrial habitat. Then we should not be undertaking the process of terraforming these regions. If memory serves me correct, Sagan’s way of thinking was that this is how life started on earth billions of years ago. So if we intervene in that process, then we may be doing a great disadvantage.

From an earthly vantage point, there are more of us on this planet vs any other time during our known history. As with any system dynamic, the increasing population places stressors on the environment. In random order: * Loss of rain-forests and the incredible bio-diversity that nature has powered (along with it) for billions of years. * Loss of arable land, top-soil. * Ocean acidification. * Increasing concentration of green-house gases in the atmosphere. With a number of factors that contribute to this (Use of fossil fuels, factory farming of beef, production of cement +)

Any given system can only take so much stress, till a particular point of no return is reached. Whether you have a rubber band, an iron-bar, a building. The same is true for our civilization. Just like the mind, in it’s existing form cannot survive without the body. Similarly, we cannot have a thriving and robust civilization without the means, ability, mechanisms and functions in order to support our population base. And do it in a way sustainable manner.

Now, if we were to calculate the actual value that nature provides. Then we may very well find out that this value is actually quite significant. For example and this is just one example, but the contributions that insects make could very well amount to trillions of dollars. No one pays the insects to go about doing what they do. But there is not a single person on earth who doesn’t rely on the work that the insects do. From pollinating fruit trees, vegetable plants, nuts. To helping pollinate flowers and all the different kinds of plants and trees that we use for a large number of our needs.

It’s important to understand and distinguish the stressors that are negatively impacting our ecology. We then need to look at each one of these situations contingent on the level of impact that it is having on our ecology. So, we shouldn’t just look at this with the distinction that the impact is occuring because of human activity. But also by the overall level of impact.

How this is tied to the topic of terraforming other habitats, is that in terms of taking these stressor away. We will face outcomes in one of the two given set of realities. The way I see i and in random order: * We work towards reforming all of our systems. Many successive cycles of creative destruction that will be required in order to ensure the safety, security and stability of the overall system on the timeline. Realizing the fact that the mechanisms that are put in place are only going to work for so long. And so, there is the crucial element of succession planning. In order to train and prepare the next generation. Not just to hand everything over to them. But to teach, guide and nurture them throughout the process. As well, enable mechanisms that will ensure a very high degree of statistical probability attached to enabling continually better conditions in the future. Part of this also involves taking the chronic set of sources (stressors) and moving them to off-world habitats. Including but not limited to, heavy polluting industries (in particular), polluting industries (overall), recycling and storing toxic materials.
* For any given reason, we do not do the work that is required in order to bring the reforms that are necessary. In such a scenario, we are leaving a lot of things up to chance. In the process of doing so, we may have less of an ability in order to exercise certain mechanisms if and when we need them. Also, on a case by case basis, it is possible that we may completely lack with the ability to deal with an event. If and when it were to happen.

With regards to making life interplanetary. We have stressors on our systems. As we peer out of our own planet and into the nearby neighborhood. We find that there may indeed be traces of life there. Who knows what we will actually find on Mars, in the atmosphere of Venus and in the underwater oceans of Europa.

There is a mid-term impact with regards to the decisons that we are going to be taking. Then there is a longer term impact. Because there will come a time when we are going to be sending probes to star systems in the nearby galactic cluster.

The mid-term impact sits on this spectrum and it’s contingent on the kind of life that we find in our solar system. Ideally, we will find a way to incorporate these lifeforms into our being and begin to live with them in a symbiotc manner. Symbiotic in the sense that both or many organisms are intimately intertwined and they are living together in a manner that is beneficial for all of them. Kind of like the bacteria that live in our gut.

The longer term impact is also something that we should be mindful of. How we choose to expand in this solar system is something that could set a precedent for how we choose to expand across the Galaxy. I worry that if we are indeed the most technologically advanced civilization in this galaxy, then our expansion may not bode too well for other less technologically advanced civilizations. That is a fate that is completely avoidable with adequate rules, laws, provisions and systems in place. We do not want to expand in a manner that comes at the expense of extinguishing the enormour diversity that evolution has powered. Realizing the fact that there could indeed be many different forms of life, including but not limited to life that isn’t DNA based. Although, having barely tinkered with Frank Drake’s equation, I think that it is quite improbable that we are the only intelligent species in this galaxy. Specially considering the fact that we keep peering out and keep revising the number every couple of years. Because we just keep finding a lot more stuff out there. Whether it’s the number of stars in our galaxy or the total number of galaxies at that. But, again, what if we are and how must we expand.

Once we lose the structure that houses bio-diversity, we potentially lose it forever. Whether it’s in our rain-forests, somewhere in our solar system or through the wider galaxy at that. Because, I cannot think of a way to power billions of years of evolution in a shorter slice of time. Maybe super advanced super computer can do that.

Another point that I’d like to share is that problems like these cannot be defined in a richer context by one person or a finite number of people. Right now there are a lot of folks, whereby their livelihood has been impacted because of the covid19 situation.

At the same time, we have these bigger set of problems that we are going to be dealing with on the time spectrum. I think it makes logical sense to have a lot more people engaged and actively involved in such conversations. We are not going to get good outcomes by forcing people to: a)change their habits (Don’t drive gas guzzler, don’t eat beef, don’t leave engine running idly e.t.c) b) (Force individuals) and get them involved in conversations like these. No matter how important the issue happens to be.

So there is a huge opportunity for education (not in a traditional sense) and involving individuals from all over the world. To come together and to educate each other. To share share data. To be wowed by the discoveries that we are going to uncover in our local solar system. As well getting data from all over the cosmos. There is also a huge conversation with regards to supporting and sustaining the scientific research base. I am not an expert in this area. But based on the finite amount of research that I have done, I think that the mid to longer term means and ability to be able to continually support the absolutely crucial pillar of basic research is something that we are not focusing on.

But to come back to this topic, I personally believe that: * Focusing the entire or an over-whelming amount of our cognitive capital and redirecting it towards engineering a general puporse intelligence, only. If this is the only strategy then, again to my untrained and uneducated mind, this doesn’t seem right. What if this strategy doesn’t work? On the other hand, What if this strategy does work for someone who doesn’t want to share this major and pivotal breakthrough with others. Again, if it doesn’t work, then what is Plan B, Plan C, Plan 1500? I am not a pro or anti AGI guy. If it’s not open and collaborative in a radical sense, then I am personally not interested. For all other issues regarding this matter, I would want to talk to someone in the military or intelligence. Because these are the institutions that we have entrusted with protecting different domains. And enabling an engineered general purpose intelligence could be akin to enabling a new paradigm. And the realities within these new paradigms would have to be secured and protected. * Next, we already have general purpose intelligence. It’s all around us. They are our fellow human beings. Given that their needs are met, that they are living in safe and secure environments and that the talent matches the task. I think some of our problems seem more chronic, because at some point we stop caring about each other. So then society suffers. Because it becomes the norm to accept the ‘fate’ that has befallen upon a smaller number of us.

In an ideal outcome, humans and intelligence that has been engineered on a somewhat narrower timescale are going to be working together in order to optimize the best outcomes for the future. But, again, it comes down to how we choose to expand. Do we expand in a manner whereby we are mindful and conscious of how our expansion is impacting other lifeforms (in every parts of the process). Or do we just classify other lifeforms as not meeting specific criteria, deem them as non-conscious and then send in the earth diggers. From a galactic perspective, this could be out by a couple of decades. But let’s flip the situation and if only for a bit, what if there are other intelligent species in this galaxy and they are also planning to expand in a non-conscious manner. And they are 1% more intelligent than us. Food for thought.

In our local solar system, we need to figure out a way to send probes to other habitats in order to look more into this issue of what is causing these bio-signature gases to emerge in the first place. What if it’s not bacteria, but a highly intelligent civilization. Just on a different scale! Wouldn’t that be something.