We are not saying that any of this is impossible to solve. But as with s̵p̵a̵c̵e̵ ̵m̵e̵d̵i̵c̵i̵n̵e̵ computer networking generally, getting the knowledge we’d need to have r̵e̵p̵r̵o̵d̵u̵c̵t̵i̵o̵n̵ ̵i̵n̵ ̵s̵p̵a̵c̵e̵ everyone on one network that is safe and ethical would be a massive, costly, decades-consuming affair, and strangely, among people advocating for v̵a̵s̵t̵ ̵s̵p̵a̵c̵e̵ ̵s̵e̵t̵t̵l̵e̵m̵e̵n̵t̵s̵ nearly every human being connected in the next thirty years, nobody is doing the sort of enormous spending necessary to get answers.
My sense is, the “frontier thesis”, notwithstanding if it was dismissed by academia in the 1980’s, is the big reason for going. I loved the Little House on the Prairie books, as a kid…the resourcefulness of those settlers was off the charts…can world recapture some of that self reliance? I’ve always loved the manned space program, since some of my earliest memories were Apollo missions. Sure it must be hard to do Space, but it sounds like a really cool thing to do. Thanks for the reviews, I won’t be buying this book even if it has some interesting ideas, because I don’t wanna read a book on why something can’t/shouldn’t be done. “Those who think they can and those who think they can’t, are both right”. 🚀👍
There's already fiction on the ethics of childbearing in space. Bill Ledbetter's "The Long Fall Up" is about a woman giving birth in free fall in violation of a law restricting all births to a spin gravity station. It won the Nebula Award in 2017. So we have some cultural grounding for the principle of letting women choose which risks to take.
Thinking on the robustness of Apollo astronauts: there were a lot of astronaut candidates who had the same background and health profile but weren't selected to fly. A comparative study of them against the men who did go to the Moon might reveal something interesting. But saying "that doesn't count" without the study is just blather.
That might be interesting. Problem is there are just so few of them. Delp at al 2016 tried to do a comparative study between them and LEO astronauts for cardiovascular effects and the quality of the work was *terrible*, in part due to small number statistics.
Actually, maybe the “frontier thesis” doesn’t include the modern day versions of social experiments of Mayflower, or Penn’s Welcome, needed now. Reading NS Lyons, The China Convergence, discussing the convergence of the US pole with the China pole (meaning one worldwide system of governance) suggests little diversity in the earth’s future. We need diversity, competing ideas, social experiments, and hopefully space can provide that much needed outlet to keep humanity fresh and energetic. I’m getting tired of a govt growing in scope, increasingly directing every aspect of our lives.
We are not saying that any of this is impossible to solve. But as with s̵p̵a̵c̵e̵ ̵m̵e̵d̵i̵c̵i̵n̵e̵ computer networking generally, getting the knowledge we’d need to have r̵e̵p̵r̵o̵d̵u̵c̵t̵i̵o̵n̵ ̵i̵n̵ ̵s̵p̵a̵c̵e̵ everyone on one network that is safe and ethical would be a massive, costly, decades-consuming affair, and strangely, among people advocating for v̵a̵s̵t̵ ̵s̵p̵a̵c̵e̵ ̵s̵e̵t̵t̵l̵e̵m̵e̵n̵t̵s̵ nearly every human being connected in the next thirty years, nobody is doing the sort of enormous spending necessary to get answers.
My sense is, the “frontier thesis”, notwithstanding if it was dismissed by academia in the 1980’s, is the big reason for going. I loved the Little House on the Prairie books, as a kid…the resourcefulness of those settlers was off the charts…can world recapture some of that self reliance? I’ve always loved the manned space program, since some of my earliest memories were Apollo missions. Sure it must be hard to do Space, but it sounds like a really cool thing to do. Thanks for the reviews, I won’t be buying this book even if it has some interesting ideas, because I don’t wanna read a book on why something can’t/shouldn’t be done. “Those who think they can and those who think they can’t, are both right”. 🚀👍
There's already fiction on the ethics of childbearing in space. Bill Ledbetter's "The Long Fall Up" is about a woman giving birth in free fall in violation of a law restricting all births to a spin gravity station. It won the Nebula Award in 2017. So we have some cultural grounding for the principle of letting women choose which risks to take.
Thinking on the robustness of Apollo astronauts: there were a lot of astronaut candidates who had the same background and health profile but weren't selected to fly. A comparative study of them against the men who did go to the Moon might reveal something interesting. But saying "that doesn't count" without the study is just blather.
That might be interesting. Problem is there are just so few of them. Delp at al 2016 tried to do a comparative study between them and LEO astronauts for cardiovascular effects and the quality of the work was *terrible*, in part due to small number statistics.
Actually, maybe the “frontier thesis” doesn’t include the modern day versions of social experiments of Mayflower, or Penn’s Welcome, needed now. Reading NS Lyons, The China Convergence, discussing the convergence of the US pole with the China pole (meaning one worldwide system of governance) suggests little diversity in the earth’s future. We need diversity, competing ideas, social experiments, and hopefully space can provide that much needed outlet to keep humanity fresh and energetic. I’m getting tired of a govt growing in scope, increasingly directing every aspect of our lives.