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The Impact of Science

The Ethics of Terraforming

Terraforming is the artificial transformation of other planets into places suitable for human habitation. A good thing, surely? Paul York argues that terraforming isn’t as ethically straightforward as you might think.

“Terraforming is a process of planetary engineering, specifically directed at enhancing the capacity of an extraterrestrial planetary environment to support life. The ultimate in terraforming would be to create an uncontained planetary biosphere emulating all the functions of the biosphere of the Earth – one that would be fully habitable for human beings”
(M.J.Fogg, Terraforming, 1995, pp.89-90).

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