NASA's Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to Earth

Re:NASA's Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to E... by eru on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @03:23AM (#40129431)

> If we can harness all of the energy and mass available in our solar system, we [1] can likely compute more than several galaxies full of classical humans. We might even begin to test the edges of physics.

I grant that. But why would that keep us from pressing on?

If we have more resources in general, we will also have more resources for interstellar adventures.

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Re:NASA's Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to E... by echelon on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @10:04AM (#40132132)

I'm sure we will send interstellar probes of some sort. But I think that assuming we'll want to send lots of entities vast distances in space and time might be a lot like thinking we'll have flying cars.

We already have quite a lot to exploit in the region around us.

We assume we understand our future wants, needs, costs, and capabilities. (Granted, any future thinking is also subject to this, including my own.)

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Re:NASA's Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to E... by eru on Thursday April 25, 2024 @01:50AM (#40153904)

> We already have quite a lot to exploit in the region around us.

I don't disagree.

> We assume we understand our future wants, needs, costs, and capabilities. (Granted, any future thinking is also subject to this, including my own.)

Even if 99.99% of people are content with what the solar system has to offer, there will still be billions left to go and explore and settle outside for whatever needs and reasons they have. Even if those needs are imagined, or the reasons might be purely ideological or religious.

> But I think that assuming we'll want to send lots of entities vast distances in space and time might be a lot like thinking we'll have flying cars.

If only a tiny fraction of people will _want_ this, that's enough.

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