I've gotten drunk with himI've never met Jerry Pournelle, but I'm guessing that's not an exclusive club. ;')
And the CEV will take us back to the moon and some derivative of it will take us to Mars (if we can beat the Chinese there). However, regardless of what language is spoken when we get there, we (humanity) will get to the stars. I don't care what color the person's skin is that first touches down on the soil of a planet circling another star, but I do pray that they remember who we American's were and what we truly stood for and what we truly have done for intelligent life in this universe, as we know it.The way they'll remember it is if we're the ones to do it. :')
That's my impression as well. I actually "knew" him from meeting him several times at computer events in the late 70s and early 80s. He was one of the original "wise men" columnists in the nascent PC industry (and he was right far more than he was wrong and he was usually wrong only on timing). Years later I spent a long drunken weekend with him and Larry Niven at a Science Fiction convention (my first... and I discovered what a "con suite" was). I then saw him at least twice a year at computer events and he always recognized me and said hello. Half the time, however, he would whisper to me something to the effect "my wife is here with me, don't mention what we did." We didn't do ANYTHING, but I gather he had no way of remember that, therefore I played along... for all it was worth!!!!
I have every faith that "we" will get there first, regardless of the language we speak. I'm counting on the free humans to make it there first. So far that means Americans or those who have aligned with us ideologically. The three books I mentioned in my earlier post, Fallen Angels, Heavy Lifters and Privateers, I consider my "space entrepreneur's" trilogy, even though they have totally separate authors. All speak to the spirit of free enterprise (with a bit of larceny and rebellion) triumphing over the bureaucrats and Luddites. I reread them every couple of years for inspiration.