I agree with Stephen Hawking that it is important to expand humanity into the universe, but…:
Stephen Hawking says the colonization of outer space is key to the survival of humankind, predicting it will be difficult for the world’s inhabitants “to avoid disaster in the next hundred years.”
The renowned astrophysicist explores some of the most remarkable advancements in technology and health with the new U.K.-Canadian series “Brave New World With Stephen Hawking,” debuting Saturday on Discovery World HD.
Before its premiere, he discussed the earth’s most pressing concerns in an email interview with The Canadian Press from Cambridge, England, declaring space exploration to be humankind’s most urgent mission.
“We are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history,” said Hawking, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease, leaving him almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak.
Please stop using the E-word as though it’s synonymous with space settlement. It is not. It is a means to an end, and as long as the focus stays on “exploration,” it is easy for opponents of sending humans into space to say, “it’s cheaper with robots.” Unless you believe that robots will be our mind children (as some do), humanity is not going to settle space with robots. Every time you are about to say the phrase “space exploration,” stop yourself, and replace it with “space settlement.”
As an aside, for those who followed the link to Wikipedia, Jimmie Wales is not Hans Moravec. He’s not a douche, either. Or maybe he is. That one’s a matter of opinion, I guess. Anyway, as The Oatmeal points out, you get some pretty hilarious Wikipedia pages when Wales is doing a fundraiser. He should move his face over to the right side of the page, or something.
Yes, unfortunately science has basically hijacked the term exploration, even though science, rather then expansion, as the prime goal of exploration only dates to the Challenger Expeditions. By contrast all human exploration prior to the Victorian Era was for expansion of the national economy.
He’s not a douche, either.
Amazingly, douche is the French and Dutch word for shower, as a room mate of mine found out the hard way when he was an exchange student in Texas. He informed his hosts that he was going to take a douche. Hilarity ensued.
Last night I was telling a guy about Richard Speck, the notorious murderer who killed eight nurses in a student house in 1966. I pulled up the wiki, spun the laptop around, and he said, “That’s him?!” I said, “No, that’s Jimmie Wales, founder of Wikipedia. The guy with the pock marked skin is Richard Speck.”
“Please stop using the E-word as though it’s synonymous with space settlement. ”
It seems to me we need to explore the Moon. Though recently it seems we getting some exploration done, but still need manned exploration, but could have more robotic exploration before sending crew.
But long term, yeah. I can’t imagine much worse than doing exploring for next century without having human settlement.
I think in near term starting markets [rocket fuel] is as important or more important than any exploration. But exploration that will result in lowering cost of exploitation of resources [more markets]. Would lead to settlements.
It is a means to an end, and as long as the focus stays on “exploration,” it is easy for opponents of sending humans into space to say, “it’s cheaper with robots.”
Easy, but not always correct.
Cost of a lunar orbiter robot: ~$500 million.
Cost of a human circumlunar flight (Space Adventures or SpaceX): ~$200 million.
Whether humans or robots are cheaper really depends on mission objectives and must be determined on a case-by-case basis. The manned space community made a mistake when it conceded that point to the robots guys.
And, of course, people will gladly pay more for a trip to Paris than they will to watch Paris on the Travel Channel.
It is a means to an end, and as long as the focus stays on “exploration,” it is easy for opponents of sending humans into space to say, “it’s cheaper with robots.”
In that case, you lose everyone who would like to explore space but has no desire to live there. Pure explorers might be a less important than potential colonists, in terms of mindshare, but that doesn’t mean they should simply be discarded.
Then, of course, there’s the third leg of the stool — industrialization.