Awesome

[ISV Venture Star]

NASA Ames’ Worden reveals DARPA-funded ‘Hundred Year Starship’ program | KurzweilAI

But Worden warned that in settling on other worlds, we need to be cautious. “How do you live in another world? I don’t have the slightest idea,” he said. “If you’re a conservative, you worry about it killing us; if you’re a liberal, you worry about us killing it. I think things like synthetic biology have lot of potential for that. I think rather than make an environment on [another world] like Earth, why don’t we modify life … including the human genome … so it’s better suited to [that world]

Hmmm...

Of course, if there's existing sentient life that's already well suited to that environment, it might be worthwhile to grow special synthetic biological clones that human users can mentally teleoperate. That way the colonists can fully experience the new world and interact with native life. Just a thought...

[Human No More]

Definitely... sign me up for an avatar

Also, interesting point in beaming power to a ship from a planet for propulsion, that's how the ISVs are powered on their acceleration phase from Earth

[Tsyal Makto]

This sounds AWESOME! The technological similarities to Avatar are astounding. Can I get my genome customized? I'd like a 10ft tall, thin, blue skinned, striped, bioluminescent body with yellow eyes, feline features, and a neural interface device in the rear of the head.

Hope that's not too much to ask for, NASA.

I have no doubt that surogate bodies, which one can transfer their consciousness to, will become a reality in the future, and I have a feeling it will likely be sooner than later, mainly from reading this article. With that said, I feel that the Na'vi will likely be hugely popular.

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by Tsyal Makto

This sounds AWESOME! Can I get my genome customized? I'd like a 10ft tall, thin, blue skinned, striped, bioluminescent body with yellow eyes, feline features, and a neural interface device in the rear of the head.

Hope that's not too much to ask for, NASA.

I hope they can do that because I want that too...
They'll be overloaded with requests though

Don't forget the Na'vi ears and the tail

[Sight Unseen]

Quick! Someone email NASA and call dibs for us!

[Spock]

How about we don't modify the human genome, I can only imagine the kind of jeopardy our race would be subjected to by modifying it sufficiently to exist on a hostile world. I'm in favour terraforming. The rule of evolution is that a species outcompetes lesser life forms occupying the same ecological niche. There's likely to be nothing more than microbes on exoplanets anyway.

[Human No More]

So you'd destroy other lifeforms simply because you can?
They have a right to a home, to their lives, too... Fine if you terraform a completely dead planet such as Mars, I guess, but any earthlike planets are far more likely to have life.

[Fosus]

Why go so far away, moon is close and has a nice Pandora-alike low gravity to support Na'vi sized bodies.

[Tsyal Makto]

Pandoran biosphere on the moon... Or maybe a Pandoraformed Mars...

Do want!

[Spock]

Originally Posted by Human No More

So you'd destroy other lifeforms simply because you can?
They have a right to a home, to their lives, too... Fine if you terraform a completely dead planet such as Mars, I guess, but any earthlike planets are far more likely to have life.

That depends on how advanced the life forms are....

I also believe you're wrong in one instance, I would not be destroying other life forms because I can. I would be doing it because it is a benefit to humanity. It would be expanding our influence. In saying that, I am not a creature of brutality, if a newly discovered biosphere is too complex I would likely refrain from terraforming. Another factor to consider is how desperately humanity needs brand new expansion space.