"You couldn't trust an apparently Earthlike planet; chances were its biochemistry would be lethal to man. It was rare good luck to find a world like Atlantis." (p. 74)
Rare good luck? It happens all the time in American interstellar sf. In Poul Anderson's Technic History:
Hermes
Avalon
Dennitza
- and plenty of others - although there are also planets with less hospitable environments, of course, e.g.:
Diomedes
Starkad
Talwin
Good night.
4 comments:
Given the random nature of evolution, the most likely outcome would be not a deadly ecosphere but one that was somewhat incompatible -- that would require widespread introduction of terrestrial organisms, from bacteria on up.
Kaor, Paul!
Besides what Stirling said I would add that we do see repeated mention in the Technic series that worlds where men could live without needing to wear life support systems were not common. Many technically terrestroid planets needed modifications before humans could live there. E.g., human colonists introduced terrestrial organisms, both plants and animals, to Altai to enable them to live there.
Ad astra! Sean
A factor that would make many planets have life but be lethal for humans is the Carbonate Silicate cycle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonate%E2%80%93silicate_cycle
It tends to adjust the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to levels that warm the planet enough for liquid water but not so warm the seas boil.
An earth size planet that gets about as much sunlight per unit area as Mars would likely end up with liquid water, but the CO2 levels for the amount of greenhouse warming that would bring that about would be lethally high for humans.
I don't think this point about planetary climate had been realized until very late in Anderson's writing career.
Kaor, Jim!
A good point! Makes me wonder if this factor was mentioned in THE HARVEST OF STARS series or GENESIS, written late in Anderson's life. Or possibly in FOR LOVE AND GLORY.
Ad astra! Sean
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