Profound thoughts

TED Talk

Posted by: Emily | June 17, 2011 | 5 Comments |

My TED talk on Mars – in two parts. Comment please!

Part 1:

Part 2:

under: English Assignments, TALONS Stuff

5 Comments

By: Jen S on June 19, 2011 at 3:18 pm

Great TED Talk, you brought up a lot of interesting point and multiple views. The question I have is whether or not mars is really the best planet to terraform. True it has a partial atmosphere, and is the most similar body to earth in our solar system. However, if we would have to make biosphere and methods of dealing with the reduced gravity anyways, might it be better to colonize the moon first? It is closer to earth, so bring supplies would be cheaper and it would probably be a good stepping stone before attempting to terraform mars, especially since there haven’t even been any manned missions to mars yet.

As for the matter of finding developing life on mars, I believe it is highly unlikely. The most plausible theory about life on mars, is that if it ever developed it is was long before life on earth. Since mars is smaller than earth it would have cooled down and become habitable first. It also would of lost its magnetic field (if ever it had one) and atmosphere first. So mars might actually be earth’s future, but it is unlikely that life might one day develop there.

My final question is whether terraforming another planet really our best bet to avoid a dooms day scenario. It is more probable that we will destroy our selves, than be destroyed by an asteroid. So if we had enough money to terraform another world, a better option would probably be to use the money to fix the issues on our own world.
~Jen S
By: Immy on June 19, 2011 at 10:31 pm

Emily, I loved it! Great script writing
I especially liked the part about if there were martians on Mars then how would we deal with them. We as humans have a history of being complete brutes when it comes to possession of lands so why are we giving this potential for special treatment to the beings of mars? Obviously we would want to be specially flexible with the options because if there ever comes a point where colonists are on Mars and the earth is more or less in ruins then we might wanna be a little nice to the creatures that were already there so we can live there too. I don’t see why colonists and most likely microscopic bugs couldn’t live in the same place. I think that it’s unlikely we’d be able to kill a bunch of micro organisms while still keeping the environment safe for our own good anyways.
By: Daniel on June 19, 2011 at 11:18 pm

Hey Emily! I really like your topic, especially at such desperate times. You covered everything really well, and I also really like how you added an ethical issue to your talk. Kudos to you for having a (seemingly) very well-rehearsed talk!

On Mars, gravity may be very different. Given this, standards may change over generations. Do you think that, given time, humans living on Mars will lose certain traits that we humans on Earth are forced to have, in exchange for other adaptations that living on Mars would require? Would they become a branch of the human race that, given time, will be completely different from what we are now?

Great talk and great points!
By: Emily on June 21, 2011 at 12:51 pm

Okay, to Jen, first: Thanks Yes, there are many talks of colonizing many of our solar system’s moons. As to life on Mars – many asteroids and such have hit both ars and Earth. Scientists speculate that some debris might have flown off from the impact and gone between the two planets, carrying bacteria between them. But, since Mars is now so cold, the bacteria there would be frozen or dead now. But it is possible that life on Earth could have come from Mars, or vice-versa. And about the doomsday scenario: yes, it is more likely that we would kill each other, but if a colony was started off Earth, and an epidemic started, quarantining Earth would permit said colony to keep humanity going. An asteroid was only an example of a scenario.

To Immy: Thank you On Earth, people destroy other animals’ habitats to make way for their own needs. Humans on Mars would most likely be more concerned about themselves than Martians. Also, the reason people would leave MArs alone if they found life there would be, not because we couldn’t coexist, but to avoid contaminating extraterrestrial life, to see how it would evolve without our interference.

And finally, to Daniel: Thanks! *bows* What I think you are trying to say is: in time, would Martian humans evolve and branch off from Earth humans? I think that it’s very likely, depending on how close Martian life is kept to Earth life. They would probably adapt to lower-gravity life, and probably to a thinner atmosphere and less air pressure, again depending on how much of a difference there is from Earth.

Thank you all for your comments and questions!
By: Meghan on August 9, 2011 at 6:54 am

Hi,

I just saw your post on an Octavia Butler tribute site saying you wanted to know more about her. I wouldn’t say I know a lot about her.. she was a deeply private person from what I’ve heard and so the most I’ve read is comments about her from people who considered themselves friends, in addition to her essays and short biographies in the backs of her books. However, I’ve read just about everything by her and I’m also in the education field, so I could make some reading recommendations if you’re interested. I could also give you the titles of the books in which other prominent speculative fiction authors have commented on her and her work.