Space Colonization, A hippy dream

[Mark]

Erm. have I missed something ?

Yeah, the last one was a hoot. The skiing in Phoenix was fantastic except for all those pesky cockroaches feeding on the bodies. Other than that, though...

 

[FireGarden]

shecky

And sorry, Zakur, all those quotes reminds me of a bible thumper arguing the existence of god by quoting scripture.

What do you think Zakur was trying to prove?
I thought it was a "bible-thumping" pep-talk.

 

[zakur]

shecky
What do you think Zakur was trying to prove?
I thought it was a "bible-thumping" pep-talk.

Exactly. I'm not so arrogant or ignorant to believe readers here would be swayed by a few quotations. Besides, Tsiolkovsky died in 1935. His views on human space exploration could hardly be characterized as a silly pipe dream of someone who "watch(es) too much Start Trek."

 

[zakur]

Thought I'd bump this thread with links to a few more perspectives.

Here is a link to an essay by SF critic Gary Westfahl who (much like Morchella) blames the Columbia disaster, in part, on Science Fiction: http://www.locusmag.com/2003/Commentary/Westfahl02.html

You've got to admire the astounding power of a form of literature that can keep inspiring people to do silly things.

But you've also got to wonder, especially on the days when those things go horribly wrong, whether this is necessarily an admirable quality.

And here is a link to responses to Westfahl's essay, including letters from SF luminaries Michael Swanwick and Jerry Pournelle: http://www.locusmag.com/2003/Features/Letters02.html

Michael Swanwick:
It takes a special kind of gall to claim, as they themselves emphatically would not, that the terrible deaths of seven astronauts is good reason to put an end to the Age of Space. Beside this, Gary Westfahl's assertion that a literature thronged with astronauts falling into the Sun, drifting off into endless nothingness, opening their helmets to vacuum, and, yes, burning upon re-entry, somehow convinced us all that space flight was easy and safe shrinks to insignificance.

Jerry Pournell:
As to why explore, some people like Westfahl have to ask. Some, like the crew of Columbia, don't need to ask that question. Like Scott at the South Pole, the Columbia crew knew the risks and they chose to take them: as would many readers of science fiction, and many Americans, and all the astronauts and test pilots I have met. The star road takes a fearful toll: but it's one paid cheerfully.

Mr. Westfahl hasn't been asked to go up. He's not at risk. And I am not at all surprised that an academic critic of science fiction hasn't the foggiest notion of what we are all about.