Colonizing Mars: Should Humanity Prioritize Colonizing Mars or Fixing Earth?

[Phrozen Sands]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

Oh, I don’t know, Phrozen. If I had to take a wild guess, I mean like, if Martian life did exist, it more likely than not would have evolved independently of Earth life. So, it could have a completely different biochemistry. Most Earth pathogens evolved to exploit specific biological systems, like human cells. So, it’s kind of like an evolutionary link? If that makes sense? Something like that wouldn’t exist on Mars, so because of that, I can’t see how Martian organisms could infect humans, like viruses and bacteria do here on Earth.

If they did though, the only thing I can think of off the top of my head would be that they could exist in like a dormant state due to Mars’ harsh surface conditions. So, when humans show up and begin to change the environment, like warming the planet, etc. they could mistakenly reactive these Martian microbes, causing health risks.

Well, Earth isn’t a living planet in the biological sense. But where you’re right though is while Earth itself isn’t living, the biosphere is a living network. It operates kind of like a self regulating system that supports and interacts with life. Does that make sense?

Lol! Sounds like something right out of a movie.

What do you mean by “biosphere”?

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

Well, that goes without saying. My frustration really goes beyond that. People ignore science/biology, but we’re trying so hard to find intelligent life based on our intelligence? Really?

Have you seen the movie “Don’t Look Up”? It’s a Netflix movie.