A permanent base on Mars would have a number of advantages beyond being a bonanza for planetary science and geology. If as some evidence suggests exotic micro-organisms have arisen independently of terrestrial life studying them could revolutionise biology medicine and biotechnology.

The way that organizations and organisms anticipate the future is by taking signals from the past most the time.

All living beings not just animals but plants and microorganisms perceive. To survive an organic being must perceive - it must seek or at least recognize food and avoid environmental danger.

The position I took at the time was that we hadn't really examined any of the potential environmental consequences of introducing genetically modified organisms.

Organisms by their design are not made to adapt too far.

Let's talk of a system that transforms all the social organisms into a work of art in which the entire process of work is included... something in which the principle of production and consumption takes on a form of quality. It's a Gigantic project.