Unless of course, Scott, they did not have the resources or the means to terraform thousands of worlds. What if they had only enough resrouces to terraform a handful, if not one?

Um, what are the chances that a terraformed planet just happened to evolve the same species (humans) that terraformed it? Either the terraforming process included something to cause the evolution of humans (in which case evolution is NOT due to random mutations after all), or the terraformers were not humans. Or we're not humans. Take your pick.

maybe that explanation explains UFOs. if aliens did terraform this planet (and possibly others) for their own life, theyd be remiss to not come and check up on it every so often.

This still doesn't work for me. In a mere 20,000 years or so, we've managed to infest the entire planet, overtax it's resources and threaten the ecosystem. So say within the next 50 years we figure out how to terraform other remote planets - then we wait a few million years to go use those planets? Somehow I suspect this one will be a smoking cinder by then. If the whole idea of terraforming remote planets is to make room for a population overflow, then it better work faster than a million years. Maybe not Star Trek Genesis fast, but within hundreds, not thousands or millions of years.

How about this. Maybe aliens came to this planet during the jurasic era, did their terraforming in the form of a cataclysimic event to kill off the pesky dinosaurs and cool things down a bit. Then they later stopped by and and decided to turn the planet into their penal colony - they dropped off a few hundred criminals, who became the first cave men. Periodically they drop off a few more psychos, who blend right in. That I might believe.

Well, that's a coincidence. I just swung by here to check on this place, and you are talking about me! Yes, it was me. And by the way, we most certainly DON'T have a "thing" for CO2. That's why I spent millenia getting all that carbon underground where I hoped it would stay. But noooo.

Look at it like this: you guys are an agricultural research station. Just because I planted lots of corn and don't croon lullabies to each individual stalk (you) in the shower doesn't mean I'm not paying attention.

Humans probably are aliens.
In reality, there are only finite set of souls. Some are morphed as trees or insects or bacteria or humans.
When one goes down the same soul comes out in a different form which is not necessarily good.
Take for instance. When a beautiful forest goes down the trees are replaced with humans and obviously bacterias. So most likely sum of trees birds insect souls = sum of humans bacteria virus.
So we get to chose how the world looks like.

reminds me of a joke

A scientists says to God "I have aquired the knowledge to create life from basic elements."
God says, "wow, cool, show Me"
The scientist bends down to scoop up some soil and God says "whoa fella, use your OWN dirt."

So maybe crop circles are the alien way of marking territory. Maybe the dogs are howling with laughter.

Nevermind who's terraforming the planets, we may be infecting the Solar System and the galaxy with our bugs and bacteria.
1.) (http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090207/sc_space/scientistkeepmarspristine)
2.)(http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080916-st-space-life.html)

What you need to terraform a planet: (1) bacteria; or (2) nanobots. You can stick either of them into asteroids or comets and fire them off in all directions. In fact, the panspermists believe that Nature can do this simply by bombarding colonized planets with asteroids at oblique angles.

OK, but by that logic the terraformers are not likely to be humans. They just need to be a species that can thrive in Earth's environment.

Scott,

I don't buy the notion that a creator-species capable of technological advancements you describe would create and destroy inhabitants that evolved in their "garden". I don't think the creator-species would allow a weed species to form in the first place - if that was important. It assumes that the creator-species would not have advancements in spirituality. I don't think technological advancements are sustained without spiritual advancements. It makes sense that humans didn't evolve from apes and we were placed here by or as the other species in the scenario that you describe. The creator-species would inject some aspect of free-will into the newly terraformed planet, which doesn't support the idea that genocide would be performed to make room for the creator's species.

Your scenario plays on the fears that God (or a creator) has some agenda. God doesn't care; he has no need to be met.

I love the concept, but it seems like a big assumption that humans are the driving species instead of an unwanted byproduct. The Jellyfish Overloards are already here humping themselves back to adolecence indefinately. Once they grow to the size of house and start walking on land, were all going to be on the wrong end of billions of stingers.

"they made a big mistake because Earth got populated by people who evolved here before they could use it."

What if it's not a mistake?

What if it's exactly what they intended?

"To Serve Man"... (pssst... it's a cook book)

An interesting variation on "assimilation" into the/a Borg collective. (Not to mention the behavioral similarities between people and cows).

Scott,
Been an avid follower of your work for years.
still like God's debris the best.

Just wondering your take on an issue

If a guy predicted the stock market crash on sept last year down to the day several months in advance I'll say he's 1/365 lucky.

If he predicts the same for the 9th of February (also several months in advance) and he is right the second time what the h*ll am I supposed think?

And he ties it into some catholic Davinci code mumbo-jumbo called Legatus.

I hope come the 9th this post makes me look like a fool.
else, I'll like2know what u think.

For those without imagination. What do you think the burning bush in the old testament was? God or a UFO.

This is founded on some well-known misconceptions:

(1) It is far from obvious that other planets have life. The usual argument is that there are a hundred billion galaxies each with a hundred billion stars, most of which have planets, so with many billion billion planets around it only needs a tiny chance for life to start on any given planet for the universe to be teeming with life. But the chance may be incredibly tiny. There are respectable arguments by Fred Hoyle (the greatest ever astrophysicist by far) and by Freeman Dyson (a first rate physicist) that the chance is so incredibly small that it is a complete mystery how it managed to get started here on earth.

(2) there is a timing and travel-time problem. Getting from one star to another is a real pain and takes forever. Useful communication is essentially impossible (a phone call with a years or worse wait for each response) . Ah, but wormholes or whatever! That is moonshine. There is zero evidence that they are theoretically viable, let alone actually exist.

I wanted to tell you - here in Israel our state-owned electricity company sent out the possibility to join a plan to create your own electricity. Basically, you put solar plates on your home to generate solar power. If you need more, you'll get it from the electricity company. If you don't use it all, the rest will be sent to the electricity company, and they will pay you for it! For now, only home owners with enough money to invest in this will probably join. But just think of the possibilities. To expand to less sunny places - windmills for people in windy areas, water power if you live next to a river, etc, etc. All you need is a electricity company who will invest in building your infrastructure, You can pay them back by sending them free electricity for a few years before you start to gain revenue.

I also heard about a town called Sundsvall in Sweden. They gather the snow from the winter there in a huge hole in the ground. The huge amount of snow makes it sustain throughout the summer, melting very slowly. It's used for cooling in the city hospital.

As you said - energy crisis is nothing but lack of fantasy.