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“It’s like you have a loved one in a coma in the hospital, and you have the doctors telling you you just have to give it time and she’ll wake up,” says Callas.

by ibdf 8y ago

“It’s like you have a loved one in a coma in the hospital, and you have the doctors telling you you just have to give it time and she’ll wake up,” says Callas. “But if it’s your 97-year-old grandmother, you’re going to be very concerned, and we are. By no means are we out of the woods.” This is just a sad analogy. Yes, let's compare the life of a robot to the one of a human being.

manicdee 8y ago
The life of a human being can be evaluated in terms of how many people they've interacted with, the influence they've had on those peoples' lives, and the lasting memories that people carry with them once that human has gone. It is quite possible to apply the same metrics to "a robot" (which is actually an entire science program at JPL), and see that this program has affected the lives of many more people than most humans ever will. There are people whose entire careers have been based on this program, and the community of technicians, scientists, engineers, administrators etc around the robot is just as real as the community around any person. If this robot ceases functioning, the entire project stops, careers are ended, and a community is fractured. To this community the robot is just as important as any human. Your lame attempt at concern trolling shows very little respect for the community involved in this project.
- jacobreg 8y ago
  Not to mention that far more than a lifetime has been collectively invested in it. Given its budget of $400M, and assuming an engineer costs roughly $1,000/day, we have about 1000 people-years invested in this project.
  - meric 8y ago
    A modern day pyramid: monumental sacrifice and sights to behold.
- interfixus 8y ago
  Not to mention the rest of us. The razor sharp images from the twin rovers have been a constant source of awe and wonder for the last fifteen years. For me, these almost snapshots really helped establish Mars as a place, as somehwere, just like anywhere else. Thank you, America. One of your nicer cultural exports.
- ibdf 8y ago
  How is this trolling? Put in to perspective, I'm not diminishing the work accomplished, I'm simply criticizing the comparison. Would you do such comparison if it was towards a person you know? "Oh, your brother is in a coma? How sad, it's just like when Mar's rover went through that sand storm.. .don't worry it he will wake up any moment".

by ibdf 8y ago

manicdee 8y ago

The life of a human being can be evaluated in terms of how many people they've interacted with, the influence they've had on those peoples' lives, and the lasting memories that people carry with them once that human has gone. It is quite possible to apply the same metrics to "a robot" (which is actually an entire science program at JPL), and see that this program has affected the lives of many more people than most humans ever will. There are people whose entire careers have been based on this program, and the community of technicians, scientists, engineers, administrators etc around the robot is just as real as the community around any person. If this robot ceases functioning, the entire project stops, careers are ended, and a community is fractured. To this community the robot is just as important as any human. Your lame attempt at concern trolling shows very little respect for the community involved in this project.

jacobreg 8y ago
Not to mention that far more than a lifetime has been collectively invested in it. Given its budget of $400M, and assuming an engineer costs roughly $1,000/day, we have about 1000 people-years invested in this project.
- meric 8y ago
  A modern day pyramid: monumental sacrifice and sights to behold.
interfixus 8y ago
Not to mention the rest of us. The razor sharp images from the twin rovers have been a constant source of awe and wonder for the last fifteen years. For me, these almost snapshots really helped establish Mars as a place, as somehwere, just like anywhere else. Thank you, America. One of your nicer cultural exports.
ibdf 8y ago
How is this trolling? Put in to perspective, I'm not diminishing the work accomplished, I'm simply criticizing the comparison. Would you do such comparison if it was towards a person you know? "Oh, your brother is in a coma? How sad, it's just like when Mar's rover went through that sand storm.. .don't worry it he will wake up any moment".