Re: Space travel by humans is not possible now

On 23 Jan, 22:31, Eric Chomko <pne.cho...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jan 23, 4:15 pm, simberg.interglo...@xxxxxxxxx (Rand Simberg)
wrote:

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:04:04 -0800 (PST), in a place far, far away,
Einar <eina...@xxxxxxxxx> made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such
a way as to indicate that:

On Jan 23, 2:28 pm, Ian Parker <ianpark...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 23 Jan, 16:55, Einar <eina...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There is a wide chasm between insect like intellect and
human like intellect.

Apparently not in Ian's case.  Or Eric's.

I've seen a picture of you Simberg. Those glasses of yours makes you
look more like an insect than many humans. :)

There is a serious point here. What sort of robot is best adapted to
particular tasks? There are pros and cons of different designs. An
insect has got a high level of intrinsic stability. If we had a system
with balance sensorsd and a computer you do not need intrinsic
stability.

There is yet a third alternative - a gyroscopically stabalised system.

Each has its own merits. What I mean when I say this group is defunct
is simply this. We cannot discuss these issues. I am dubious about
whether insect systems are the ideal for the exploration of Mars, they
are the ideal system for autonomous bugs where you need a very small
size.

I believe we should try to conduct ourselves as we would at a
scientific conference. Clearly we don't.


- Ian Parker
.