Re: SPACE: Beyond Apollo (was: a to-do list for the next century)

From: GBurch1@aol.com
Date: Sat Apr 08 2000 - 06:55:39 MDT


In a message dated 4/3/00 4:08:56 AM Central Daylight Time,
bradbury@genebee.msu.su writes:

> I'll buy the "aesthetic nostalgia" argument, but can you come
> up with a "rational" argument for leaving useful computronium
> in a nonuseful form at the bottom of a gravity well?

EVENTUALLY? No. But having just read a fairly in-depth (pardon the pun)
account of the geological work that was done by the Apollo lunar explorers, I
can say that 1) there is a LOT to learn from in-situ, fine-grained
exploration of just about every planetary body and 2) it's impossible to
predict what we CAN learn from such investigation a priori. Is such
knowledge more valuable than what we can do with the computronium in the
meantime? I don't know, but eternity is a LONG time . . .

       Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
      Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
      http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
                                           ICQ # 61112550
        "We never stop investigating. We are never satisfied that we know
        enough to get by. Every question we answer leads on to another
       question. This has become the greatest survival trick of our species."
                                          -- Desmond Morris



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