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SF author Paul Melko told SCI FI Wire that his novel Singularity's Ring postulates a future Earth in which computers and networks are not the technological basis of human society.

"Humanity has been genetically altered to form pods--groups of two, three, four or five humans--which can share emotions and thoughts chemically," Melko said in an interview. "These pods now govern a desolate Earth that has been vacated by the technologically advanced entity called the Community," he said. "The main character is a quintet named Apollo, created to pilot a starship in search of what happened to the Community."

Nuclear weapons do have a lot of use, actually. The dropping of the atomic bomb also caused A) A huge push in technology and B) A fear of war when otherwise war may have broken out.

Also, Asbestos was used since the time of the Greeks as a non-extinguishable fuel. It was also used in blankets, tablecloths, etc. It was a pretty common part of every day life. This surely helped them move forward in civilization, bringing us where we are now. Sure, it may be useless- and even dangerous- now, but that doesn't mean that it never should have been used in the first place.

Same with these apples. We may find a way to make them better for you. Jam pack them with nutrients. Whatever. 50 years from now, we may find out it was ultimately unhealthy. Who knows? But not knowing is not a valid reason for not attempting to find out. Well, there is one community where it is...but it sure ain't the scientific one.

Seraphim

A quick way of terraforming mars that has been suggested and that would supposedly work with current technology is to use nuclear explosions to spread dust over the polar ice caps. The result would be that they absorb more solar radiation and supposedly melt within a few years (you have to keep exploding devices). You can read more here. The nuclear approach strikes me as more practical than the synthesis of large amounts of octafluoropropane.

(Incidentally, it's hard to see why this particular person got cited; the idea of using greenhouse gases to terraform mars certainly didn't come from her.)

I don't mean this to be shameless advertising(, because we don't make money off of this, the pennies we make from cafepress is put towards server expenses).

http://www.redcolony.com/ We accept articles from people and have a active forum with 16yros up discussing this very topic on scientific grounds. The site is about sharing ideas and getting the public excited about colonizing and sxploring (and terraforming) the Red Planet. I hope any visitors enjoy their stay.

Indeed, lichen is extremely hardy.
Certain types of the plant have been shown to be able to survive -100C ( 173 K) which is well within the range of Martian temperatures. However the reproduction and growth of lichen at that temperature is very limited.
But you have to start somewhere I guess.

You can get any time estimate you want for terraforming. this one is delightfully optimistic. The standard redneck way would be to dump a few truckloads of carbon dust on the ice at the poles and let solar heating start things going. Maybe using orbital mirrors to speed it up a bit.

As to shipping billions of people, I think we're talking about different things: I'm talking about shipping a few thousand people to maintain a viable genetic stock to repopulate a devastated planet from. A Mars colony would grow from colonists having babies, not from giant transport ships. Mars wouldn't be a bunker. It would be a pool of reserves.

The earth's atmosphere is roughly 1 part per 1000 carbon dioxide (0.1% or so). So apparently you can stand a good deal more.