McKay advocates a moderately
biocentric position in the
ethics of terraforming, arguing that we must thoroughly explore a planet such as
Mars first to discover whether there is any microbial life before taking first steps toward terraforming, and that if indigenous alien life is found in an obscure niche or dormant on Mars, we should remove all Earth life and alter Mars to support the global spread of this alien life on Mars.[16][17] He has held a series of public debates with
Robert Zubrin, who advocates a moderately
anthropocentric position on the ethics of terraforming.[18][19]
See also
David S. McKay (September 25, 1936 – February 20, 2013) a NASA astrobiologist
References
^"5382 McKay (1991 JR2)". ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/. Retrieved 2 March 2021. McKay. Discovered 1991 May 8 by R.H.McNaugth at Siding Spring. Named for Christopher P. McKay (b. 1954), sapce scientist and exobiologist ...
^Microbial Life in the Atacama Desert, R. M. Maier, K. P. Drees, J. W. Neilson, D. A. Henderson, J. Quade, J. L. Betancourt;, Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez, Fred A. Rainey, and Christopher P. McKay, Science, Vol. 306 pp. 1289–1290, 19 November 2004
^Christopher P. McKay; Carol R. Stoker; Brian J. Glass; Arwen I. Davé; Alfonso F. Davila; Jennifer L. Heldmann; Margarita M. Marinova; Alberto G. Fairen; Richard C. Quinn; Kris A. Zacny; Gale Paulsen; Peter H. Smith; Victor Parro; Dale T. Andersen; Michael H. Hecht; Denis Lacelle; Wayne H. Pollard (April 5, 2013). "The Icebreaker Life Mission to Mars: A Search for Biomolecular Evidence for Life". Astrobiology. 13 (4): 334–353.
Bibcode:
2013AsBio..13..334M.
doi:
10.1089/ast.2012.0878.
PMID23560417.
S2CID21073805.
^C. P. McKay and R. M. Zubrin, "Do Indigenous Martian Bacteria have Precedence over Human Exploration?" in On to Mars: Colonizing a New World (pp. 177–182)
^R. M. Zubrin and C. P. McKay, "A World for the Winning: The Exploration and Terraforming of Mars", The Planetary Report, XII(5), 16–19 (1992).