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" As long as we can imagine a better path, of course we are obligated to seek it. This is why unwarranted pessimism about our future is actually irresponsible. "
David Grinspoon
Better
Why
Path
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" It's quite possible that the end of us will not be the end of the Earth. Even if we really screw things up and things go badly for us and our civilization, the Earth is pretty resilient. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Civilization
Will
" I do a lot of work with NASA and am involved in research projects studying planetary evolution, Earth-like planets, and potential conditions for life elsewhere. "
David Grinspoon
Research
Potential
NASA
" The reason you see so many volcanoes on Venus is partly due to the fact that there's virtually no erosion there. So on Venus, you're seeing features, some of which are hundreds of millions of years old on the surface. On Earth, we do not see any surface features nearly that old - you only see much more recent features. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
You
Seeing
" Part of the point of SETI has always been a search for answers about our own cosmic potential and destiny. If 'they' are out there, it means that there may be hope for us. "
David Grinspoon
Potential
Destiny
Hope
" I do comparative studies of climate evolution, and the interactions between planetary atmosphere and surfaces and their radiation environment, and try to understand the environmental factors that can affect a planet's habitability and how they change over time. "
David Grinspoon
Environment
Time
Environmental
" The future peopling of Mars is much more than a scientific endeavor. It is a step of historic and spiritual importance for the human race. "
David Grinspoon
Race
Step
Spiritual
" I intend to apply the perspective of astrobiology, which is a deep-time way of looking at life on Earth, towards the question of the Anthropocene. What does the human phenomenon on Earth look like viewed from an interplanetary perspective? "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Life
Perspective
" I don't see it as coincidence that the great acceleration of the Anthropocene influences on Earth came during the same decades as our first exploration of the other planets. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
See
Exploration
" There is a real danger of unintended consequences, of encouraging people to give up. Pessimism, if it becomes a habit, can reinforce a narrative of unstoppable decline. If there is nothing we can do, that releases us from our obligations. "
David Grinspoon
Nothing
People
Consequences
" It is said that Mahatma Gandhi, when asked about Western civilization, remarked, 'I think it would be a good idea.' That's how I feel about intelligent life on Earth, especially when I think about the question of what truly intelligent life might look like elsewhere in the universe. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Life
Look
" I'm a strong advocate of new missions to Venus. "
David Grinspoon
Strong
Venus
New
" If you were on the surface of Venus, assuming you could see the Sun, which, you know, would be hard because it's so cloudy there, but the Sun would actually rise in the west and set in the east. And, it would do so very, very slowly, because the planet rotates incredibly slowly. "
David Grinspoon
Rise
Know
Cloudy
" We've almost been wiped out as a species many times, going back millions of years, and we've survived by reinventing ourselves and enlarging our circles of awareness, inventing new technologies and social structures. "
David Grinspoon
Awareness
Out
Back
" There's no question to my mind that saving our civilization and many other species is more important than our ability to do ground-based astronomy for a few decades. "
David Grinspoon
Question
Mind
Important
" I'm an astrobiologist, and I come from a planetary science background, so in a very broad sense, I study the evolution of planetary environments. "
David Grinspoon
Evolution
Study
Sense
" We're going to stop looking at Earth from orbit because we don't like what we are seeing and the conclusions that leads us to? That's nonsense. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Stop
Seeing
" Astrobiology is the science of life in the universe. It's an attempt to scientifically deal with the question of whether or not we're alone in the universe, looking at the past of life, the present of life, and the future of life. It's an interdisciplinary study incorporating astronomy, biology, and the Earth sciences. "
David Grinspoon
Past
Alone
Future
" We're going to get off fossil fuels, no question. We may not do it quickly enough to avoid some pain, and I'm quite worried about that. But by the 22nd century, there's no way we'll be on fossil fuels. "
David Grinspoon
Enough
Off
Pain
" I think chemists always think they know more than they know, because nature has a lot of possible pathways it can try. "
David Grinspoon
Try
Always
Know
" Radiation is one of the important factors in evolution. It causes mutation, and some level of mutation is actually good for evolution. "
David Grinspoon
Important
Evolution
Good
" The more we look at the kinds of soils and the nature of the atmosphere and the polar caps, it all adds up to tell us that some liquid, which we very much believe was water, did flow in abundance on Mars in the past. "
David Grinspoon
Look
Water
Flow
" Mars does not belong to 'America,' nor to Earth, nor to human beings. "
David Grinspoon
America
Belong
Earth
" There is a history of thinking about space science from an environmental ethics perspective. And part of what I want to do is turn that back and use that experience to see if it reflects how we think about the Earth. "
David Grinspoon
Perspective
Space
Science
" I think Pluto has to be considered among the places in the solar system that are possible homes for life. "
David Grinspoon
Places
Think
Solar
" In my Ph.D. thesis, written in 1989, I discussed the fact that when a civilization develops the technology to prevent catastrophic asteroid impacts, it marks a significant moment in the evolution of the planet. "
David Grinspoon
Technology
Fact
Evolution
" My high-school friends and I felt part of a community of smart, forward-looking space and technology freaks. "
David Grinspoon
Community
Smart
Space
" I'd like to jump a couple hundred years into the future and work with the scientists who are getting back the first information from our probes to planets orbiting nearby stars. "
David Grinspoon
Stars
Future
Work
" Now, humans have become a dominant force of planetary change and, thus, we may have entered an eon of post-biological evolution in which cognitive systems have gained a powerful influence on the planet. "
David Grinspoon
Change
Evolution
Influence
" Thinking about the new epoch - often called the Anthropocene, or the age of humanity - challenges us to look at ourselves in the mirror of deep time, measured not in centuries or even in millennia, but over millions and billions of years. "
David Grinspoon
New
Age
Challenges
" We need visions of a future in which we have applied our infinite creativity to the task of living on a finite world, where we have embraced our role, become comfortable and proficient as planet-shapers, and learned to use our technological skills to enhance the survival prospects not just of humanity but of all life on Earth. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Creativity
Future