3rd February 2003, 9:26 PM
I heard this morning on NBC that there is a conflict going on at NASA with a group called the "space mafia" or something like that. Basically, there is a fight between engineers and former NASA pilots (who now have a prestigious hierarchy at NASA and are the ones who set a lot of the rules). The engineers want to make the shuttles nearly (if not completely) automated. The former pilots, however, are a bunch of old geezers who believe things need to be less automated, because that is how it was in their day which is just the way they’s liked it. Automation completely eliminates human error as long as it is tested and refined for many, many, years. And the great thing about testing automation is you don’t endanger human lives in the process! I’m not saying this happened because of human error. I just think automation is one of the many steps we need to take to head in the right direction.
On another note: I found school to be very depressing today. In history class, the teacher brought up the Columbia tragedy and immediately the majority of the class responded with “the space program is a waste of money” and wouldn’t take the discussion seriously at all. I tried to argue how essential space exploration is to all human kind but I was over shadowed by obnoxious idiots who wouldn’t listen anyway. They’d much rather see the money go into their own pockets so they could spend it on clothes, drugs, and gasoline, which is what the majority of the kids in my class spend their money on. Too many people are near sighted and self centered. They can only think a week into the future and won’t sacrifice anything because they only see the short-term outcome rather than the benefits of such things in the long run.
God I can’t wait to leave this stupid planet. :)
On another note: I found school to be very depressing today. In history class, the teacher brought up the Columbia tragedy and immediately the majority of the class responded with “the space program is a waste of money” and wouldn’t take the discussion seriously at all. I tried to argue how essential space exploration is to all human kind but I was over shadowed by obnoxious idiots who wouldn’t listen anyway. They’d much rather see the money go into their own pockets so they could spend it on clothes, drugs, and gasoline, which is what the majority of the kids in my class spend their money on. Too many people are near sighted and self centered. They can only think a week into the future and won’t sacrifice anything because they only see the short-term outcome rather than the benefits of such things in the long run.
God I can’t wait to leave this stupid planet. :)