Terraforming in the OTU

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

We dealt with the living space issue in the other thread.

On a planet the size of Earth, with Earthlike conditions, a HUGE number of human beings can live quite comfortably for an indefinite period of time. On Earth, we could fit our entire population fairly comfortably into just Texas. The real issue on Earth isn't space. Any good sized planet likely has plenty of surface area. Energy supply, pollution, clean water, etc are all much more important. The resources consumed in terraforming uninhabitable worlds (Venus or Mars, for example) could be put to much better use building megacities, turning deserts into gardens, creating hyper-efficient global transportation and communications systems, etc etc. At any TL below the really high ones, this is a lot cheaper and faster than trying to terraform something like Mars.

All true, and none of it necessarily relevant. As we noted in the previous thread, there was plenty of room in England at the time of the settlement of New England and Virginia, too, and certainly plenty of room in Europe. The amount of room available at home has only conditional relevance to the search for more living space.