Habitat Contamination - Warning: Rambling Ahead!

Technical matters (assuming you mean hardware) are important, but without
the living matter, it probably wont survive.

As far as pest are concerned, its not so much a matter of keeping them out,
(which of course should probably be tried to best ability), its more of not
providing the environment they need to survive. No home for the pest, and
they will naturally die out, regardless if we spend a bunch on contamination
procedures or not. Of course its best to not overload the problem by taking
reasonable precautions. No sense bringing in mosquitos or no-see-ums just
because we don't have marshes...some of the pest could adapt to whats
available (Life finds a way: Jurrasic park :-)

As far as sterilizing soils... gee, I don't know if that could be done.
There are bacteria necessary to provide the nutrients in soils...symbiotics
and all. Just like the bacteria in our guts, that are 'foreign" yet help
with digestion. (Any time you take a load of antibiotics, it wipes out your
good flora as well as your bad. Some folks take a yogurt enema to restart
culture :-) Now thats fun huh?! ) Many similar bacteria are in soil and
help convert minerals and other nutrients to useable form for the plants.

Just like you need to infuse a 'starter" of bacteria to make yogurt, using
sterilized soils or off world artificial soils (lunar, asteroid, etc) would
require a 'soil starter".

The point of all this way way back, was that we still don't know enough
about what seemingly insignificant parts of the ecology are important, and
can be left behind and which are the hidden keys. Everyone would probably
agree that killer african bees may be best left behind, but without some
kind of pollinating insect, it would be tedious to do otherwise. So do we
take a chance on an occasional bee sting in favour of self pollinating
system?

Next question is what keeps the bees in check? Do we do that through
controlling the bee hives population in larvae production?

Suppose a few mosquitos make it in, decide the condensation drippings are
sufficient to lay eggs in, and set up housekeeping just as the blood suckers
they were on Earth? Do we start spraying poison around (potentially creating
our new version of "silent Spring") or perhaps let in a few web weaving
spiders? How about a few birds as well to snatch up flys, bugs and extra
spiders?

Granted the balance is going to be hard to figure...how many spiders to
mosquito ratio...

Happily many of these are self regulating... when the mosquitos all get
eaten off, then the quantity of spiders will deminish accordingly. Kinda
neat.

Another key question is what lifestyle or humanity defining traits do we
want to continue with? Almost every people on earth know of birds. From
artic to tropics and fringe desert areas. Birds could be said to be
instrumental for Space flight, since it was their inspiration that created
Icarus fables and other yearnings for flight.

Possibly no birds, no attention to the sky...perhaps instead we would want
to be puffy clouds instead :-) ... So, do we include birds for that future
generation feel connection to Earth and ancestors with some common threads?
Or do we ban all mention of birds in the Space culture, to try an avoid a
feeling of "missing something". Create a new culture totally oblivious to
Earth. (Do we hate our Earth mother so much?) Would doing so create a new
homo espaciales, "space human" ?

I was born and raised overseas, in an americanized colony of sorts. A kind
of hybrid you may say. I the morning, I would have my cereal, Rice Krispies,
and read the offers on the back panels will muching away. Now folks, these
were stupid stuff. Wind up airplanes, and other cheap stuff. Reading the
coupon directions for getting these items always included the note:
"Continental USA only, void everywhere else". This always made me feel like
a second class citizen...left out and sad. It may seem stupid, but imagine a
whole space island full of people reading literature from earth, poems,
movies, paraphenalia, etc etc. How will they feel at having been denied much
of these cultural or 'Earth " heritage? Seeing a butterfly, a dolphin, a
sheep, snake, etc. Many items that are part of our everyday life
unknowingly.

Yea, we could argue that many city kids right now are deprived of these
things, and they survive. But then the question is what do we want to
create? A new paradigm of what is a human environment? Self create ourselves
to our own model? A super race of trans humans? Sounds exciting! :-)

I truly believe that if we try and create a new ecology for people, with
what has been proven to be our very limited understanding of what
constitutes our own physiological needs, that we will probably fail. Just
like ancient mariners sickened and died on long ocean voyages for lack of
simple vitamin C from lime juice.

I don't propose we just sit on earth and give up the dream to expand into
the universe. But I do suggest that we should take a wholesale chunk of
Earth when we do so. Almost literally scoop out a complete setting; soil,
bugs, critters, plants and birds. With a big enough chunk of biology, we
have a better chance of getting enough ecology for it to adapt and allow
survival.

best example of adaptability are many of the island that were once part of
the mainland and became island through rising seas over eons. The rising
waters captured an intack ecology that could survive seperated from the rest
of the land. The creatures of course adapted and refined themselves to the
particular needs and created a new balanced ecology. Thats what may be
needed to insure long term success.

To this earth island in Space , we can add from resources from Space; lunar
mining, asteroids, etc. using the "starter" we already have to grow out.

After a few hundred generations (sometimes sooner) the versions of biology
we have in Space will become better versions (for Space environment) than
the originals. They will automatically adjust themselves in ways we could
not start to do, to provide whats needed, as through an invisible all
knowing hand where at work. Harness the power of gaia or mother nature or
what ever you want to call then intercinnected organism that is our ecology.

The bone shaking shamans know that the place you live will provide all you
need, if you study it. Everyplace on earth has the foods it needs. In Maine,
you have apples and grapes for vitamins. In CostaRica you have papaya, in
china you had oranges. There is no need , in a developed ecology, to cross
transport vitamins; what you need has been provided.

As far as disease, if we are well norished, and clean, low stress, our
bodies will overcome most of the outbreaks that come along. We can't isolate
the creation of disease. Biology is too complex. look at the common cold.
Each year, some new versions pop-up. If we are strong, we don't catch it. If
not, then all we can do is try to minimize the symptoms and support our
bodies natural immune system through warm chicken soup. :-)

How do we stay strong gets back to natural foods again, from a naturally
balanced ecology.

Will some folks die from new diseases, until enough of our immune system
finds a way? Yup. Diseases are part of the human experience. Without these
punches, our specie would get soft. The organism needs constant challenges.
Grow or die. It may not seem fair, but it is what it is.

Every human civilization that has gotten too cushy, has been overthrown.
Chinese, Ottomon, Roman, Aztec, Spanish, British. American? Earthlings?

Utopia can not exist. Its good to work towards improvements, but foolish to
think we can attain it.

Create a cyclinder, dysan sphere, hollow rock,,, mirror in solar, but
propogate it with a chunk of complete Earth, let the bugs duke it out, lets
not try and figure it all out ourselves. :-)

Anyone read Marshall Savage? How about Assimov?