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Space Historian Sees Cyborgs in Our Future
Space.com ^
| 15 February 2007
| Leonard David
Posted on 02/15/2007 7:41:09 AM PST by jmcenanly
Albuquerque, N.M. Fifty years after the dawn of the space age, hundreds of people have flown into space. A dozen of those left their boot marks on the Moons surface, and several nations now are planning to send astronauts back to the Moon and then beyond. So you would think the expansion of humanity ever deeper into the Cosmos is a sure bet.
But the notion that human explorers are destined to become an interstellar species is far from a sure thing as far as Roger Launius is concerned.
More likely, humans, and the machines they use to explore space, are going to evolve together in ways that are hard to predict at this early stage in the opening of the space frontier, said Launius, an eminent space historian and chair for the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
Multi-Planet Species
Speaking to a crowd of space professionals at the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF 2007) in Albuquerque Feb. 14, Launius said humans are destined to become a multi-planetary species, but that word may take on a whole new meaning as time evolves.
Given that there will be the first child born on the Moon, as well as Mars, will that person be a Homo sapien, he asked. Could the differences of gravity, radiation exposure mean those children would be unable to return to Earth?
I think thats problematic, Launius said, and in some respects might this be an evolutionary road not unlike that taken by amphibian creatures that departed their water world to become land creatures.
There is the possibility of the evolution of human species into something different, Launius said.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: future; space
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Considering our continued and increasing dependence on interconnected databases, some of us, like the soldier shown here, may be there already.
1
posted on
02/15/2007 7:41:13 AM PST
by
jmcenanly
To: jmcenanly
To: cyborg
3
posted on
02/15/2007 7:43:35 AM PST
by
Graybeard58
(Remember and pray for SSgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
To: jmcenanly
There is the possibility of the evolution of human species into something different, Launius said. Yes, I've read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, too. ;)
4
posted on
02/15/2007 7:44:17 AM PST
by
Mr. Jeeves
("When the government is invasive, the people are wanting." -- Tao Te Ching)
To: theFIRMbss
5
posted on
02/15/2007 7:45:42 AM PST
by
billorites
(freepo ergo sum)
To: theFIRMbss
Resistance is futile....you shall be assimilated
6
posted on
02/15/2007 7:47:29 AM PST
by
Vaquero
("An armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
To: theFIRMbss
7
posted on
02/15/2007 7:48:02 AM PST
by
billorites
(freepo ergo sum)
To: Mr. Jeeves
Or Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.
8
posted on
02/15/2007 7:51:46 AM PST
by
Squawk 8888
(Is human activity causing the warming trend on Mars?)
To: jmcenanly
YOUR MOVE CREEP!!!
9
posted on
02/15/2007 7:51:54 AM PST
by
Trueblackman
(Terrorism and Liberalism never sleep and neither do I)
To: jmcenanly
I'm glad I won't be here.
10
posted on
02/15/2007 7:53:34 AM PST
by
beethovenfan
(If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
To: jmcenanly
"Would you like plasma with your nanobites?"
11
posted on
02/15/2007 7:54:53 AM PST
by
Enterprise
(Drop pork bombs on the Islamofascist wankers. Praise the Lord and pass the hammunition.)
To: Squawk 8888; Mr. Jeeves
>Or Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land
My favorite book
about attempting to mix
men with machines is:
To: jmcenanly
Aww, come on! Where are the Jeri Ryan pixs?
13
posted on
02/15/2007 7:56:47 AM PST
by
Lee'sGhost
(Crom! Non-Sequitur = Pee Wee Herman.)
To: jmcenanly
Cyborgs in our future? Given the advances in robotics over just the last decade, the integration of machine and man will easily occur within our lifetimes. Unsurprisingly, most of the applications of this technology, at least at the beginning, will be of a military nature.
14
posted on
02/15/2007 7:57:13 AM PST
by
Gantz
(Th4+'5 th3 +h30ry, 4nyw4yz.)
To: jmcenanly
To: theFIRMbss
Thanks for the tip- I liked the two Crichton novels I've read so far (State of Fear, Airframe).
16
posted on
02/15/2007 8:04:10 AM PST
by
Squawk 8888
(Is human activity causing the warming trend on Mars?)
To: jmcenanly
17
posted on
02/15/2007 8:06:50 AM PST
by
freedomson
(Tagline comment removed by moderator)
To: jmcenanly
We have the technology....
18
posted on
02/15/2007 8:06:58 AM PST
by
Joe 6-pack
(Voted Free Republic's Most Eligible Bachelor: 2006. Love them Diebold machines.)
To: beethovenfan
I'm glad I won't be here.A person with a cochlear implant, that brings sound from an external sources, converts it into electrical impulses, and transmits it directly into the cochlea of the ear could rightly be termed a cyborg. Many people now have these devices, most notably this guy.
19
posted on
02/15/2007 8:09:13 AM PST
by
jmcenanly
(Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy. -- Robert A. Heinlein)
To: jmcenanly
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