Rand Simberg has a great rebuttal on FoxNews.com to the inane "Red"/luddite arguments that we humans shouldn't pollute Mars (or anywhere else) with our presence, until we develop "character".

And she's concerned that we will attack some "unsuspecting ecosystem." Here's a newsflash, Lori — not only are ecosystems off the earth "unsuspecting" — they're non-existent, as far as we know. There is no solid evidence for life in the universe anywhere other than on our planet (which isn't to say with any certainty, of course, that it doesn't exist).

If this remains the case, our role in expanding into the universe will not be to ravage ecosystems, but to create them. We can, and will, make our dead solar system flower, overbrimming it with life (and not just human life), and consciousness, and love, and beauty, and laughter. And we will help it in knowing itself in a way that it cannot without sentience as represented by ourselves.

Take that, Kim Robinson.