pantropy
Sign in to savePantropy is a hypothetical process of space habitation or space colonization in which, rather than terraforming other planets or building space habitats suitable for human habitation, humans are modified (for example via genetic engineering) to be able to thrive in the existing environment.
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- Subclass of
- space colonization
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- opposite of
- terraforming
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Pantropy is a hypothetical process of space habitation or space colonization in which, rather than terraforming other planets or building space habitats suitable for human habitation, humans are modified (for example via genetic engineering) to be able to thrive in the existing environment.
The term, meaning ‘changing everything’, was coined in 1942 by science fiction author James Blish, who wrote a series of short stories based on the idea (collected in the anthology The Seedling Stars). This was also the year when the term terraforming was coined, an alternative to pantropy, but sometimes envisioned as substituted by pantropy.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “pantropy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.