posted 09-24-2003 03:00 PM               

Bruce Sterling, a science fiction author, journalist, etc out of Austin, TX, wrote an article titled "10 Technologies That Desrve To Die."

He kicks it off by writing, "some technologies...are so blatantly obnoxious that the human race would rejoice if they were obliterated. A wise society would honor its young technical innovators for services rendered in annihilating obsoltete technologies that are the dangerous hangovers of previous, less advanced generations."

And he offers 10 such technologies -- including nuclear weapons, coal-based power, the internal-combustion engine, incandescent light bulbs, land mines, prisons, cosmetic implants, lie detectors and DVD's. The 6th item on the list is, however, manned spaceflight.

His comments about manned spaceflight:

"One hates to see this dazzling technology go, but when one resolutely sets the romance aside, there's not a lot left.Thanks to decades of biological research, it's now quite clear that flying around the solar system is bad for one's health. Without healthy strees of gravity on one's skeleton, human bones decay just as they do during prolonged bed rest, while muscles atrophy. Cosmic rays blast through spacecraft walls and human bodies, while solar flares will fry astronauts as diligently as any nuclear bomb. I won't mention the fact that spacecraft are inherently rickety and dangerous, because that's a major part of their attraction.

China is about to send her first "taikonaut" into orbit, to belatedly become the world's third manned space power. As a test of national will and skill, Chinese spaceflight is vastly preferable to, say, invading Taiwan. I promise to watch Chinese manned spaceflight with great interest, and I might even buy the mission patch and decals, but frankly, there isn't much there there. There haven't been men or women out of low-earth orbit in some 30 solid years. We don't seem to miss them in any way that is quantifiable.

There is little point in stepping onto the moon, leaving flags and footprints and then retreating once again. The staggering price of shipping a kilogram into orbit has not come down in decades. In the meantime, unmmaned spacecraft grow smaller and more capable every year. Until we bioenginner ourselves to enjoy cosmic rays, or until we've got rockets that can lift a Winnebago made of solid lead, this technology belons on the museum shelf."

posted 09-24-2003 06:39 PM               

And wasn't this the guy who wrote that Gutenberg's new contraption was nothing but trouble, could smash fingers, and that anyone might print just about anything and spread their ignorant thoughts far and wide?

Oh, perhaps he was right about that one.

posted 09-24-2003 08:58 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by rjurek349:
I just got my October issue of MIT's Technology review, and thought the board would be interested in an article I just read.

Bruce Sterling, a science fiction author, journalist, etc out of Austin, TX, wrote an article titled "10 Technologies That Desrve To Die."

He kicks it off by writing, "some technologies...are so blatantly obnoxious that the human race would rejoice if they were obliterated. A wise society would honor its young technical innovators for services rendered in annihilating obsoltete technologies that are the dangerous hangovers of previous, less advanced generations."

And he offers 10 such technologies -- including nuclear weapons, coal-based power, the internal-combustion engine, incandescent light bulbs, land mines, prisons, cosmetic implants, lie detectors and DVD's. The 6th item on the list is, however, manned spaceflight.

His comments about manned spaceflight:

"One hates to see this dazzling technology go, but when one resolutely sets the romance aside, there's not a lot left.Thanks to decades of biological research, it's now quite clear that flying around the solar system is bad for one's health. Without healthy strees of gravity on one's skeleton, human bones decay just as they do during prolonged bed rest, while muscles atrophy. Cosmic rays blast through spacecraft walls and human bodies, while solar flares will fry astronauts as diligently as any nuclear bomb. I won't mention the fact that spacecraft are inherently rickety and dangerous, because that's a major part of their attraction.

China is about to send her first "taikonaut" into orbit, to belatedly become the world's third manned space power. As a test of national will and skill, Chinese spaceflight is vastly preferable to, say, invading Taiwan. I promise to watch Chinese manned spaceflight with great interest, and I might even buy the mission patch and decals, but frankly, there isn't much there there. There haven't been men or women out of low-earth orbit in some 30 solid years. We don't seem to miss them in any way that is quantifiable.

There is little point in stepping onto the moon, leaving flags and footprints and then retreating once again. The staggering price of shipping a kilogram into orbit has not come down in decades. In the meantime, unmmaned spacecraft grow smaller and more capable every year. Until we bioenginner ourselves to enjoy cosmic rays, or until we've got rockets that can lift a Winnebago made of solid lead, this technology belons on the museum shelf."

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posted 09-24-2003 09:21 PM               

Which of the following does not belong:

a. nuclear weapons
b. coal-based power
c. internal combustion engine
d. DVDs
e. manned spaceflight

Answer: E

"Manned spaceflight" is not a technology, at least not when compared to the other items on his list. If he had, say, included the Space Shuttle, then it would fit. But for his list to make sense, then it would have had to have taken the shape of:

a. War
b. Artificial heating
c. Powered transportation
d. Archived media
e. Manned spaceflight

posted 09-26-2003 05:02 PM            

And if he had ment for us to ride in trains he would have given us wheels!

posted 09-26-2003 07:32 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Gordon Reade:
If God had ment man to fly He would have given us wings!

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Wrong...God would have given us MONEY !

(spoken from a pilot)

Tom