EHARNDEN@AUVM.BITNET (Eric Harnden) (02/11/89)
guess it's time to chuck in my two bits. i've been following this
war for a while now, and am astounded at the floods of thinly veiled
invective that have poured across this issue. now i know why they call
it flaming.
let me start by saying outright that i am an advocate of manned
spaceflight, and for truly bad reasons. i think it's neat. i want to go.
if i can't go, i want my son to.
the problem is, of course, that the unmanned advocates have every
statistical reality on their side. jfk in fact did us all a great disservice
by making a man on the moon a national agenda without first providing for a
stable infrastructure for research and exploration. we advocates of manned
travel pay for that through our guts now, because there simply is not all
that great a return on the dollar. arguments about technological return are
just hair-splitting, on *both* sides of the fence. the returns are real,
but it as spurious to overestimate their value as to try to post-predict
when they would have occurred had not manned travel been their source.
more important, the manned advocates are in a bizarre soicial bind in which
what to them are the most profound arguments in their favor are not allowed
in serious public debate. because public money is at stake, they cannot simply
say *because it's there* and be heard. simply put, they have no case.
on the other hand, the umanned folks lean on rationality as their only
argument. they take refuge in the resolute, logical unassailability of their
position. in other words, they commit the fallacy that c.p. snow was warning
us about in The Two Cultures. their contempt for the irrationality of their
opponents' words ignores the fact that the dynamics of our culture are not the
sole property of scientists any more than of artists. few, if any, great acts
are truly rational. fiscal responsibility has little to do with sheer monkey
curiosity.
not that i disagree, you understand. money's tight, and education and
housing really are more important.
but i **reeeallly** would like to go.
oh, and lastly... there will always be type A personalities willing to
take a risk for the sake of that curiosity. don't confuse rhetoric with
insanity. a little enthusiasm is good for anybody, and should not necessarily
equate one with a coke-head.
Eric Harnden (Ronin)szabonj@right (Nick Szabo) (02/12/89)
In article <Added.sXwpU3y00Ui3AER09e@andrew.cmu.edu> EHARNDEN@AUVM.BITNET (Eric Harnden) writes: >i think it's neat. i want to go. So do I. But even more, I want humanity in general to go, to stay. >if i can't go, i want my son to. Same here. And the best way to insure our sons (and daughters!) will go is to work on long-term projects, that will produce the discoveries and new technology we need for economically viable, sustainable space settlement. > the problem is, of course, that the unmanned advocates have every >statistical reality on their side. So why support uneconomical, unscientific space activities, which detract from progress towards our goal? >on the other hand, the umanned folks lean on rationality as their only >argument. We have not ignored the emotional and cultural aspects. A vigourous exploration of all parts of the solar system will be at least as culturally uplifting and emotionally edifying as manned space shots to LEO. >a little enthusiasm is good for anybody, and should not necessarily >equate one with a coke-head. I would go farther. A *lot* of enthusiasm is *essential*. But it must be combined with the cold, hard weighing of the facts, or it is useless. Nick Szabo szabonj@fred.cs.washington.edu
marsh@linus.UUCP (Ralph Marshall (617 271-7648)) (02/13/89)
As an advocate of putting people in space, as well as a strong program of exploration by unmanned probes when that makes more sense, I thought I'd try to inject some opinions from people who have actually been there. I got a GREAT book titled _The Home Planet_, edited by Kevin Kelley, for Christmas, and it is full of wonderful stuff about the history of man in space. Lots of great pictures, and all of the text is quotes from various people, of several different countries, who have been in space on one mission or another. (The original text is included for non-English speaking astro/cosmonauts, which makes for a nice visual effect). Anyway, somewhere in the middle of the book (they only numbered the AWESOME pictures, not the pages), we find the following description by two Soviets: "After the third major mission, _Salyut 7_ was mothballed, and for five months it was maintained by radio control. Then communications ceased and _Salyut) went silent. Dzhanibekov and I were launched into space to find the _Salyut 7_, which had gonde "on strike." After changing orbits, we searched for the station from the spacecraft for two days. At last, the man-made star rose above the horizon and flashed in the rays of the sun. We floated into the station and turned on the lights, which did not, of course, light up. There was complete darkness, deadly cold, and an ill-boding, oppressive, and truly cosmit silence." Viktor Savinykh, USSR "We left the spacecraft and entered outer space, and hurtling high above the Earth beside the vast and silent _Salyut 7_, we studiet it attentively. The solar panels were strangely oriented, their photoelectric cells peeling away in pieces, and looking for all the world like storm-torn sails, the once bright green shell had been burned and was now covered in grayish-rust spots. The portholes were all closed by shutters on the inside. No damage, however, could be seen on the hull of the craft. Well, what has happened to you, cosmic wanderer, we asked, but we got no answer." Vladimir Dzhanibekov, USSR "The station had fallen into trouble without people aboard and met us now with an icy silence. In absolute silence Viktor Savinykh and I inspected the compartments. The beam of the flashlight picked out the various items of equipment, all in their correct places along the sides. The interior was in ideal condition. The traditional Russian welcoming gift of bread and salt had been left on the tiny table by Leonid Kizim, Volodya Solovyov, and Oleg At'kov, together with a letter asking those who came after them to look after this house and wishing them success." Vladimir Dzhanibekov, USSR "For seven long days, working both during the day-side parts of the orbit and by flashlight, we tried to find out what was causing the solar panels to fail. We wanted to get at least one bulb to light. Finally, we found the culprits when we checked all the storage batteries. Two of them had gone out of comission. We undid the thickly plaited cabling and connected the solar panels directly so that they always faced the sun. The batteries began to recharge and finally there was light. Automation is indeed a wonderful thing, but in the end humanity has the last word." Viktor Savinykh, USSR Even if this doesn't convince you of anything, check out this book! It has great pictures of Earth from orbit, people on EVA, the Apollo missions on the Moon, and tons of other great stuff. The commentary is also very good. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Marshall (marsh@mitre-bedford.arpa) Disclaimer: Often wrong but never in doubt... All of these opinions are mine, so don't gripe to my employer if you don't like them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
robina@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Robin Adams) (03/09/89)
It has just occurred to me, that if life on Earth is not an accident, then we
are just as likely to find Dinosaurs on another planet as we are intelligent
life.
...Maybe we 'should' send an unmanned probe.
o o o
o o
o o o
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