Re: starship-design: Hi, from a newbie

[Toxicroach <toxicroach@swbell.net>]

Here's my previous post.


I think you're shooting very very low on the number of computers--- both of
you.  I think computers would be so common
as to not even be really noticed--- they would be beneath the horizon of the
crews conscious thought.  Even now, how
many processors do I have in my apartment?  I can only guess--- 1 in my
coffee  maker, one in my blender, one in my
microwave, one in my kitchen clock, 3 in various clocks, minimum of 7 in my
entertainment system, 1 in my beard trimmer,
one in my computer speakers, one in my monitor, 1 on my printer, and, of
course, the 1 I am writing to you with.  That's
nineteen, and I'm being conservative.  And I don't like in a space
station---  on wait, add one for my fire alarm.  That's
twenty so far, add two for my phone and answering machine-- 22.  5 for my
stereo that I forgot about, one for my vacuum
cleaner, and another for my electric typewriter (my backup.  29.  Arguing
over  the number of computers is silly--- there will
be as many as needed, and you won't even have to know about 99% of them.


About colonization--- here's the problem---  what's the point of having a
space  station over an uninhabited planet?  Much
less a manned one?  There isn't really, not that is going to free up the
billions of dollars necessary to put one up over Mars
(which will be our first conquest--- you guys seem to be supposing that
we'll  be visiting other solar systems anytime soon---
fraid not.)   from any government.  The biggest reason we went to the moon
was  to show up the Soviets for Sputnik.
Without some government rivalry of some kind, the space program has gone
quietly downhill.  (Note: China claims to be
going to the moon.  New source of public enthusiasm for space travel in the
US?)  And it's going to be a long time, if ever,
before private enterprise is going to be able to come up with the capital to
take such a risky (and to many peoples mind,
(useless) proposition.  To justify manned colonies on Mars, they have to be
REAL colonies.  Not just the ultimate Space
Camp, filled with techies having the time of their lives.  Real colonies
include having people who don't have master
degrees, and maybe even bachelor degrees.
Look at history.  the colonization of the Americas was not done by the
aristocrats and well to do--- it was done by the
ambitious poor, who took the risk of going somewhere strange and very
dangerous  for the chance to make something of
themselves and live free.  I believe this will be the driving motive behind
any  interplanetary colonization--- the desire to
escape the tyranny and bullshit of the old earth.  The great mass of people
who  will be willing to uproot their lives and go
millions of miles to someplace they most likely will never come back from
will  not be the intellectual elite (for the most part),
or the middle class.  The people who have nice, cushy lives will not want to
go.  People trapped in the ghettos, or
refugees from whatever new Taliban's that arise in the coming centuries, the
religious weirdoes (UFO cults, the Hare
Krishna perhaps, Southern Baptists :-), the outcasts, misfits, and science
fiction fans will be the ones who fill out the ranks
of colonization.  Or, in other words, mostly people who may or may not have
a  high school education.
Of course, there are certain technological advances that will be necessary
for  mass colonization (and thus any sort of real
colonization), the chief one being a way to get huge numbers of people to
Mars  in under a year.  Maybe real nuclear
rockets, antimatter, laser propelled transports, who knows... but something
that makes mass transport in space possible
will be necessary, IMHO.  Most of a true colonization effort will not be
flying  around in shuttlecraft--- it will be hard, very
hard work, even with the assistance of robots and computers and all the high
tech.  Some technical education will
perhaps be required--- perhaps done one the way to Mars, or before.  People
will have specific roles they are trained for,
but it will not have to be a full understanding of all the issues involved,
anymore than the computer on those cars that
adjust for rainy weather has to understand meteorology to do it's job.

That's my theory.  Critique it, please.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Franchuk <bfranchuk@jetnet.ab.ca>
Cc: starship-design@lists.uoregon.edu <starship-design@lists.uoregon.edu>
Date: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 3:46 AM
Subject: Re: starship-design: Hi, from a newbie


>Toxicroach wrote:
>
>> C) Did any of you receive my last email?  (longwinded, perhaps boring,
about
>> colonization on Mars)  I sent it from a different program, no response
from
>> anyone, and I didn't receive it from the listserver.
>
>I don't think so! Can you resend?
>
>--
>Ben Franchuk - Dawn * 12/24 bit cpu *
>www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk/index.html