[Unkechaug]

A better question might be "should we?" Consider that we as a species seem incapable of taking care of ourselves on our own planet. Unless that changes, it seems pretty irresponsible. We would be like the dad that skipped town.

[Robotbeat]

(Taking a step back, big picture, so forgive the mystical language... We ARE talking about morality here, after all...)

What if the ONLY reason humans are worth it to Gaia/life/Earth/etc is the ability to seed life on other planets? What if we're Gaia's reproductive system, the whole reason Gaia puts up with our massive extinction-causing existence?

[Artistry121]

I've definitely had this thought before. Humans are like a long shot bet. It comes at the cost of the risk of a major extinction event but, if successful, could seed life across worlds directly.

Imagine a hundred worlds all with life forms subject to evolution.

Basically two ways of that life growing past its planet: 1) A lucky asteroid strike or other outside event 2) A form of creature that can build tools to get out of the planet

Only #2 would have an inbuilt strategy for galactic survival.

[wybiral]

We wouldn't have to take care of it. Could just seed and let life do its thing.

But to me the real "should we?" is because it might destroy evidence of other events. Maybe there are simple organisms hiding somewhere or some poorly understood phenomenon that would be obscured or destroyed by our introduction of life.

[IntronExon]

I’d tend to agree, from a sort of “Prime Directive” direction. We’re not so good at guessing really global, long term consequences in unfamiliar systems. We would have to be so sure before introducing life on a distant world. What if there was already very simple life just getting started? We could reduce universal biodiversity with the best of intentions.

[gooseus]

My thoughts are that we should send out robust seed organisms on probes with on-board AI that can do adequate scans for evidence of existing life before attempting to release the seed organisms.

A more advanced probe would have AI that could study the target planet as it approached and get more accurate readings on the environment. If no evidence of life is present then the AI could begin to rapidly evolve the seed organisms toward fitness for the detected target environment.

On arrival it could orbit the planet for a as long while continuing to evolve and release new generations of seed candidates and observing changes in the environment. Once evidence that life has taken hold is detected it could stop seeding and just continue monitoring. I'm assuming it would send progress reports home every once in awhile, even if nobody was still here to receive them.

[sharemywin]

what if all life on earth were about to be destroyed? some killer asteroid or something and we had a couple of years to prepare. And we hadn't populated another planet.