109 Quotes by David Grinspoon

Before we go there and set up greenhouses, dance clubs, and falafel stands, let's make sure that, in some subtle form that could be harmed by the human hubbub, life does not already exist there. If not, then by all means build cities, plant forests and fill lakes and streams with trout -- bring life to Mars and Mars to life. We'll then be the Martians we've been dreaming about for all these years.

As long as we are a single-planet species, we are vulnerable to extinction by a planetwide catastrophe, natural or self-induced. Once we become a multiplanet species, our chances to live long and prosper will take a huge leap skyward.

The planet Mars -- crimson and bright, filling our telescopes with vague intimations of almost-familiar landforms -- has long formed a celestial tabula rasa on which we have inscribed our planeto-logical theories, utopian fantasies, and fears of alien invasion or ecological ruin.

I was just so impressed with the diversity and inventiveness of the artwork submitted. To me, it bespeaks of a vast global awareness and excitement about imagining and exploring a neighboring world that is so like our own in some ways and so completely alien in others.

We need more Venus missions to really answer the biggest mysteries about the planet. Venus Express will be a great mission and will tell us a lot about the planet, but I think to really make the next leaps in understanding Venus we're going to have to do something more than just orbit the planet. We need to take the plunge and explore the clouds and the surface directly.

We're ignorant of life in the universe. We only have one planet that serves as an example and in science it's not good to derive information from a sample size of one.

They might do photosynthesis in the ultraviolet as opposed to the visual spectrum. It's a tremendous amount of energy if you can make use of it instead of being killed by it. It's unusual, but natural selection makes the best out of adversity.

In environments that are energy-rich but liquid-poor, like near the surface of Titan, natural selection may favor organisms that use their metabolic heat to melt their own watering holes.

Right now I would submit that lack of self-knowledge is an existential risk. An inability to act with global intent and consideration of multigenerational timescales is an existential risk.