Re: Why is Star Trek so robophobic?

Victor Velazquez wrote:
> "David Johnston" <david@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
> news:tb2qp35ugd4r0gbkv6gibpo751ajivr12c@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:39:45 -0600, "Ken from Chicago"
>> <kwicker1b_nospam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>> "Reading by the light of a lost Christmas day
>>>> It begins...."
>>>>
>>> They can't even use robots remotely controlled by the wonderful
humans?
>> What's so wonderful about a species of couch potatos?
> 
> Ask all those rich guys in the Renaissance with nothing but time on
their 
> hands. 

The difference is that back then, those rich idle guys were not the 
EXPLORERS.  They may have been artists, musicians  , etc.  But they 
didn't man the ****ps.  The crews of Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand 
Magellan, Captain Cook, etc., had a whole lot of hard work and danger 
ahead of them.

If you show what robotics and automation will have progressed to by the 
23rd century, you beg the question of why humans are needed to explore 
space at all.  Which, in fact, is why humanity has stopped doing that 
since the Apollo moon landings ended.

Even with present-day automation and computers, we've been successfully 
exploring our entire Solar System without having to send any humans 
anywhere.  And if you extrapolate that trend, the Star Trek concept 
collapses.  You can send automated machines "to explore strange new 
worlds," blah-blah-blah.


-- 
Steven L.
Email:  sdlitvin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 the NOSPAM before replying to me.