6 ms·
Do you think that the great explorers of the past would have risked their lives if they could have avoided it? Danger is a big part of the adventure of explorat
by hooande 14y ago
Do you think that the great explorers of the past would have risked their lives if they could have avoided it? Danger is a big part of the adventure of exploration, but no one wants to die unless it's absolutely necessary. If Colombus could have sent a robot, he would have.
The bottom line is that Bags of Mostly Water don't belong in space. Our only hope for colonizing the solar system is to do most of the heavy lifting with robots. And if I were one of those colonists, I would sleep easier under the martian moons knowing that I had an army of space robots to help me with any problems that arise.
Humans find ways to explore the universe while keeping themselves alive. Let's embrace it
- andrewflnr 14y agoI don't believe Columbus would have sent a robot. Sure, explorers would rather not die exploring, but generally, I don't think that not being there is an acceptable price. Would you send a robot to the top of a mountain if you could, or do you want to climb it yourself?
- yajoe 14y agoA subtle point is that the Spanish royalty funded and helped organize Columbus, but none of the royalty accompanied Columbus. Why? Back then class and "castes" had significant meaning. The decision-makers sent expendable people similar in spirit to the way we would send expendable robots. Our approach today is not unreasonable or atypical of past expeditions.
- wpietri 14y agoSure, but whose name do we remember? Whose story do we tell? For better or worse, humans are narrative creatures. Note the recent talk of funding a Mars mission by treating it as a reality show. Our approach is reasonable. But since people are unreasonable, the reasonable approach may not be the best one.
- melling 14y agoNo, the guy 100 years before him would have. Meaning the first guy who had the robot. They would have measured how long it took, known the best routes, then tens of thousands of people would have followed shortly thereafter because a lot of the danger would have been taken out of the voyage.
- andrewflnr 14y agoYou've got a point there. I'm not saying we shouldn't use robots extensively, just reacting to the idea that "humans don't belong in space, it's too expensive".
- riledhel 14y agoIn the same spirit of your comment, Colombus didn't send other people to do his job/wish/quest, he wanted to go west.