TED Conversations

Derek Young

Thinker and Experimenter,

TEDCRED 30+

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

If we had the technology, would we establish life on other planets and continue to destroy its environment?

In the distant and/or near future, would we continue to waste resources that other planets have?

Would we trash and waste a planet a day?!

What would our track record be as a species if we don't preserve and care for the current planet we live on and we jump from planet to planet just to sustain our own species?

This was more of a multiple question scenario that played in my day as I talked to a stranger. We were just talking about the sun and how it might blow up someday, but it prompted me to think about the repercussions in the future.

Just some food for thought.

Topics: Future Scenario
0
Share:
progress indicator
  • thumb

    Ken brown 30+

    • 0
    Jul 27 2012: Our goal should be developing technology that let's us rearrange matter at it's basic level,regardless of what it is.We get that tech, we don't need to touch a planets resources but until then we are stuck with what we got.
    • thumb

      Derek Young 30+

      • 0
      Jul 29 2012: Hello Ken, long time no chat!

      Do elaborate futher, please. How would being able to rearrange matter at its basic level help?
  • thumb

    James Zhang 30+

    • 0
    Jul 26 2012: I don't think we will destroy our environment, because theoretically, isn't all energy conserved and not destroyed?
    • thumb

      Derek Young 30+

      • 0
      Jul 27 2012: Well, I mean won't we reap all that planets resources and travel to the next planet after we are done assimilating its resources for our own species survival, so not destroy, but leave the planet resourceless?
      • thumb

        James Zhang 30+

        • 0
        Jul 27 2012: Is it possible to leave the planet resourceless? To be resourceless, doesn't that mean there'd be no water, mechanical energy, heat, wind, etc. My definition of resourceless is when there becomes 0 energy.
        • thumb

          Derek Young 30+

          • 0
          Jul 29 2012: Resourceless as in can't sustain any human life and no material that is usuable for creating something more complex than a bicycle. The previous inhabitants of this hypothetical planet might also leave behind a lot of waste; like nuclear waste.
      • thumb

        James Zhang 30+

        • 0
        Jul 29 2012: Hmm, but if there was a previous race of intelligence, even before the dinosaurs perhaps, then wouldn't there be some kind of artifact left behind even after a nuclear waste result?

        Ok well, I hope there won't be this one guy who gets access to nukes and decides to blow us all. I guess that's really the best most of us can do anyways... :/

        But on sidenote...
        While nuclear waste doesn't last forever, it does last for a very very long time, from what I've seen. Would nuclear waste also be inhabitable with life? Like would there be a life form that can survive radiation or aren't affected too much? I've done a little research. Cockroaches can survive nuclear blasts and radiation to a certain extent. It's due to their cell splitting and simple body structures that they can survive radiation. However, there are these one simple lifeforms called Water Bears, which are said to survive ANYTHING. Nukes, radiation, super cold space near absolute zero, super hot temperatures, super high pressures or super low pressures, you name it lol
        • thumb

          Derek Young 30+

          • 0
          Jul 30 2012: I was specifically talking about homo sapiens surviving on another planet and maybe the artifacts are all around us hidden in plain sight?

          Yes! Water Bears are awesome and kinda adorable!
      • thumb

        James Zhang 30+

        • 0
        Jul 30 2012: Hmm, that would be very interesting if we can find artifacts about humans on another planet or on the Moon.

        Water bears are so beast. It's just so ridiculous how they can survive even space and everything. Which really makes me think, the water bears themselves could have been from somewhere outer space perhaps and were one of the first species to ever inhabit earth...
        • thumb

          Derek Young 30+

          • 0
          Jul 30 2012: dun....dun.....dun......!!!! Maybe! More research should be made upon Water Bears, maybe we could develop coats of armors like theirs or space suits! =P
      • thumb

        James Zhang 30+

        • 0
        Jul 31 2012: rofl

        More research is indeed being made on water bears. If there are water bears found on, say Mars, that would be huge, real huge!

        but I'm not sure its their coat of armor that makes them so resilient, it's just their ridiculously simplistic structure... Or maybe its their coat of armor...

  • Simba P.K.S

    • 0
    Jul 26 2012: haha... funny question!:)
    But meaningless question at this point of time!:)
    • thumb

      Derek Young 30+

      • 0
      Jul 27 2012: Is it also meaningless to save money for future unforeseen expenses?

      • Simba P.K.S

        • 0
        Jul 27 2012: Hey!
        That is not what I meant... There are a lot of if's involved in this... This question may assume importance at a later time.. If we find proper technology, if we find it fit to live on, if some of us can live there. how long we can live there, what all resources are there & most importantly if there is a place like Earth which we can inhabit!
        If a few of these if's are answered, the question assumes importance! Meanwhile, its like boxing the sky!:)
        • thumb

          Derek Young 30+

          • 0
          Jul 27 2012: Well, when my topic says "If we had the technology" I assumed that humans would have invented machines that created artificial atmospheres for air breathing species on planets without atmospheres similar to ours, spaceships that closed the gap between these planets in short amounts of time, detection devices for detecting the resources available on that other planet, and the hypothetical post apocalyptic Earth scenario.

          I guess that was a lot to assume, so would humans learn from this hypothetical situation or would they continue to rob the planet of its resources and created an environment that couldn't hold life even if the futuristic people tried, or at least in the scenario and extent of the futuristic technology in my imagined hypothetical situation. Pretty far off into the future, but we might have invented ways to preserve ourselves for many years in a cryogenics chamber without aging in the next century or less....who knows.

      • Simba P.K.S

        • 0
        Jul 29 2012: I don't know really... It depends a lot on various factors.....:)
        • thumb

          Derek Young 30+

          • 0
          Jul 30 2012: Simulate a stream of factors through your comment and we can make for some interesting conversation. =P
  • thumb

    Gerald O'brian 50+

    • 0
    Jul 26 2012: What is environment?
    What I know about wasting ressources is that the waste drops as technology makes progress. So by the time we colonize other worlds, it's unlikely that we'll be anything like the sloppy industrials from the 19th and 20th century.
    • thumb

      Derek Young 30+

      • 0
      Jul 27 2012: That is a good way of thinking about it. =)

      I hope so Gerald.
Showing all 20 comments