That's what we SHOULD do, because we need such robots more than we need Mars exploration itself. Space will remain utterly hostile to unarmored humans, so we must perfect machines to do our work.
Humans can come along for the entertainment later, but the greatest goal is a robot system that caters to humans, conquers for them, but doesn't require them.
They could do that on Mars if we cast aside the legacy "send humans for exploration" mindset and perfected robotic systems (which we absolutely require to interact with the totally hostile off-Earth environment) to pave the way for a hundred years or two.
People try to relate traditional terrestrial exploration methods to space, but we can do better. "Woodens ships and men" were cheap and utterly expendable on Earth. Ships now are worth vastly more than their human crews and cannot be casually thrown away. We inflict terrible damage on technology development by focusing on humans first, because we cannot casually expend them as was once the custom.
We can afford to lavish time (free) and robot technology development (vital on and off-Earth no matter what it costs) to explore space without having to worry about human passengers for decades or centuries. We can consider projects lasting many lifetimes.
"Today while I was filling up my 2003 Corolla with gas, a guy drove up to the next pump in his 1952 MG convertible. Which gets 30MPG. My Corolla gets 27MPG."
The MG is slow, dangerous, and broken by comparison. Much of the 'Yota weight protects the occupants. The MG barely does so at all.
"Topsoil-based fuels will lead us directly to a future where only the rich can afford to eat real food, which will be produced on hillside farms in locations too remote to factory-farm."
Small farms and gardens will remain practical, and be more profitable for those who sell produce.
Driving used vehicles (paid cash, no loans) for decades helped pay off my mortgages (no new houses either, so I own my homes instead of the bank), more than paid off my considerable tool collection (which I use for many other things), and helped ensure I can coast through the recession.
Everyone else should buy new stuff. It's good for the economy in general.
I'll do differently, have fun doing it, and save stoopid monies so I can spare some for toys and even more tools. Nothing new here, I just copied the old fuckers I grew up around who'd weathered the Depression.
Worked for them, worked for me, can work for you and is ideal for people who like technology.
"Americans, Canadians, British - that is what your troops are shedding their blood there for."
No, that's the necessary story line to humor the many fools in the world. My feelings as a serviceman were never disturbed by our wars because I don't believe in "Jihad for democracy". Democracy the Iranian Mullahs. It's for modern, secular people, not superstitionists.
"Blood for oil" is actually quite reasonable. War for wealth and power are the most logical sort after those of self-defense. "Useful" wars are nowadays considered immoral (instead of handy, limited tools for the diplomatic toolbox) so the only "moral" wars are the Jihad/Crusade/Global Love Enforcement variety.
I don't expect Muslims to turn modern and secular. I regard them as savages (anyone whose religion is more than a hobby qualifies) prefer the maintenance of situations where they kill each other (++ for schism, Praise Be To Allah), and am fine with them provoking the backlash their backwardness deserves. I'd like to see Pakistan collapse and the "Pakiban" go to war with India so it can finish them off.
Profoundly Islamic nations don't have "liberty", they have religious law, and that is by their choice. They violently defend that law against transgressors.
A forklift may do the "work of fifteen", but fifteen men aren't going to lift a pallet to the second storey of a house as easily as one forklist, then repeat the process all day.
"Force multipliers" mean you can deploy a smaller, more capable package of people and equipment that does things packages with lesser tech couldn't do in the first place.
Overbuilding reduces mobility. Use "augmented infantry" to dig in and construct barriers. Get below and behind mother earth.
HESCO bastion and even sandbags can take RPG hits, while chain link fence and similar can disrupt the warhead at standoff distances. (Soviet tanks with fence sections as Panzerfaust protection date to WWII.)
"You have air support of various types, which is why the military is developing delivery drones that drop off supplies. "
No, we don't always have air support. Weather/altitude/night/urgent needs elsewhere can affect sortie availability, and drones can't be everywhere 24/7
Eventually we will fight someone who can bring MANPAD systems to play with, and as the last Afghan squabble demonstrated they are terrific for plinking tender targets like helicopters.
If air support were perfect, all the grunts would need to carry is a good radio. (BTW radios aren't perfect either.)
"Spend it on vehicles (trucks, ships, aircraft, and forklifts) "
Drive any of those on a goat track then get back to me.
We are already a roadbound force tied to the massive wheeled vehicles whose height (driven by mine blast considerations), high ground pressure (big wheels are still wheels) and weight make them unable to go many places an exo could go.
Right now, humping things like a large mortar and lots of ammo up a mountain is difficult and exhausting. The necessity to carry organic firepower (UAVs and manned combat air patrols can't be everywhere) means infantry walk to work with what they can carry.
Research and development looks useless until it bears fruit. If the outcome were known, it wouldn't be "research".
Things a tethered powered exoskeleton could be used for (ignore teh drama and consider it a piece of equipment like a backhoe or forklift):
Vehicle maintenance: Wheeled combat vehicles often have massive tires, while tracked vehicles have heavy steel track. An exo at the shop would be able to replace or supplement lots of specialised equipment and work faster. Being able to "exo-manually" manipulate heavy components would speed maintenance and repair considerably.
Fortification: Filling HESCO bastion, digging in, etc in areas where using conventional machinery is awkward would be a very useful app. Use exo to carry (running) portable genset or drag it on a small trailer. Exo can then dig in, help position equipment. and go back and forth toting the trailer which could also hold ammo.
Instead of seeing the thing as sci-fi fappery, look at it as another tool you may years from now be able to rent like a dozer, backhoe, or crane.
"Nothing is going to happen to them, even if half of the Gulf Coast population winds up with cancer."
There is no hope for peaceful change, yet the public are too comfortable to put the fear of death into corporate leadership (who might lie awake at night if they had to worry about someone they defrauded or poisoned going kamikaze on them) so expect more of the same forever.
"You mean to tell us that President Chocolate Jesus's administration is no more ethical than the previous one?"
The LGBT folks found that out early on, and are now enjoying the view from under the bus. Not that selling them out saved anyone in the midterm elections. No one respects legislative cowardice.
Slashdot Mirror
Both were expendable, ships were short-lived and built from common materials.
That's what we SHOULD do, because we need such robots more than we need Mars exploration itself. Space will remain utterly hostile to unarmored humans, so we must perfect machines to do our work.
Humans can come along for the entertainment later, but the greatest goal is a robot system that caters to humans, conquers for them, but doesn't require them.
They could do that on Mars if we cast aside the legacy "send humans for exploration" mindset and perfected robotic systems (which we absolutely require to interact with the totally hostile off-Earth environment) to pave the way for a hundred years or two.
People try to relate traditional terrestrial exploration methods to space, but we can do better. "Woodens ships and men" were cheap and utterly expendable on Earth. Ships now are worth vastly more than their human crews and cannot be casually thrown away. We inflict terrible damage on technology development by focusing on humans first, because we cannot casually expend them as was once the custom.
We can afford to lavish time (free) and robot technology development (vital on and off-Earth no matter what it costs) to explore space without having to worry about human passengers for decades or centuries. We can consider projects lasting many lifetimes.
OT but amusing:
When I was stationed at Moody AFB in Valdosta back in 1982, we were warned that Lowndes County had the highest VD rate in Georgia.
When I returned for some training in 1995, the warning was repeated.
Glad to see County resources being diverted to prosecute P2P users by their enlightened institution of higher learning. :P
"What a wonderful way to grow up."
That's REAL education. The proper reaction is to become bitter, irate, and determined to change the system.
"His 1952 MG also has a chassis, so I doubt it will crumple like a soda can."
Not much of one. (I grew up working on T-series MGs.) Don't confuse such light ladder frames with anything but production convenience.
"Today while I was filling up my 2003 Corolla with gas, a guy drove up to the next pump in his 1952 MG convertible. Which gets 30MPG. My Corolla gets 27MPG."
The MG is slow, dangerous, and broken by comparison. Much of the 'Yota weight protects the occupants. The MG barely does so at all.
"Topsoil-based fuels will lead us directly to a future where only the rich can afford to eat real food, which will be produced on hillside farms in locations too remote to factory-farm."
Small farms and gardens will remain practical, and be more profitable for those who sell produce.
Driving used vehicles (paid cash, no loans) for decades helped pay off my mortgages (no new houses either, so I own my homes instead of the bank), more than paid off my considerable tool collection (which I use for many other things), and helped ensure I can coast through the recession.
Everyone else should buy new stuff. It's good for the economy in general.
I'll do differently, have fun doing it, and save stoopid monies so I can spare some for toys and even more tools. Nothing new here, I just copied the old fuckers I grew up around who'd weathered the Depression.
Worked for them, worked for me, can work for you and is ideal for people who like technology.
""Fighting fire with fire" just burns everything down."
That is a much-cherished asserted conclusion promulgated by those who are emotionally uncomfortable with force.
"Americans, Canadians, British - that is what your troops are shedding their blood there for."
No, that's the necessary story line to humor the many fools in the world. My feelings as a serviceman were never disturbed by our wars because I don't believe in "Jihad for democracy". Democracy the Iranian Mullahs. It's for modern, secular people, not superstitionists.
"Blood for oil" is actually quite reasonable. War for wealth and power are the most logical sort after those of self-defense. "Useful" wars are nowadays considered immoral (instead of handy, limited tools for the diplomatic toolbox) so the only "moral" wars are the Jihad/Crusade/Global Love Enforcement variety.
I don't expect Muslims to turn modern and secular. I regard them as savages (anyone whose religion is more than a hobby qualifies) prefer the maintenance of situations where they kill each other (++ for schism, Praise Be To Allah), and am fine with them provoking the backlash their backwardness deserves. I'd like to see Pakistan collapse and the "Pakiban" go to war with India so it can finish them off.
"When are we going to start expecting people to act responsibly online? "
Never, and the expectation that "they" will act reasonably is itself unreasonable.
"Yet more proof that religious folk are vulnerable to the creation of oppressive sociopolitical groups. "
No, they ARE the "oppressive sociopolitical groups".
Profoundly Islamic nations don't have "liberty", they have religious law, and that is by their choice. They violently defend that law against transgressors.
"Of course, there's so little number of GNU/Linux installations out there that it's almost irrelevant."
More to the point, the user of the portable app will likely use in on their own fleet of machines. No public access, no problem
"How do you "defend freedom" anyway?"
By weakening religion, all of which oppose "freedom" and consist of frameworks for imposing restrictions.
"Freedoms" CONFLICT with each other, so choice is required.
Making applications portable is handy for doing things like running them from a USB stick. It also makes backup much more convenient.
Copy the program and its data in one shot, carry it with you, and use anywhere.
Windows apps are ahead of the game on this one:
http://portableapps.com/
Doing the "work of 3" is a poor comparison.
A forklift may do the "work of fifteen", but fifteen men aren't going to lift a pallet to the second storey of a house as easily as one forklist, then repeat the process all day.
"Force multipliers" mean you can deploy a smaller, more capable package of people and equipment that does things packages with lesser tech couldn't do in the first place.
"That a cheap RPG can take out."
Overbuilding reduces mobility. Use "augmented infantry" to dig in and construct barriers. Get below and behind mother earth.
HESCO bastion and even sandbags can take RPG hits, while chain link fence and similar can disrupt the warhead at standoff distances. (Soviet tanks with fence sections as Panzerfaust protection date to WWII.)
"You have air support of various types, which is why the military is developing delivery drones that drop off supplies. "
No, we don't always have air support. Weather/altitude/night/urgent needs elsewhere can affect sortie availability, and drones can't be everywhere 24/7
Eventually we will fight someone who can bring MANPAD systems to play with, and as the last Afghan squabble demonstrated they are terrific for plinking tender targets like helicopters.
If air support were perfect, all the grunts would need to carry is a good radio. (BTW radios aren't perfect either.)
"Spend it on vehicles (trucks, ships, aircraft, and forklifts) "
Drive any of those on a goat track then get back to me.
We are already a roadbound force tied to the massive wheeled vehicles whose height (driven by mine blast considerations), high ground pressure (big wheels are still wheels) and weight make them unable to go many places an exo could go.
Right now, humping things like a large mortar and lots of ammo up a mountain is difficult and exhausting. The necessity to carry organic firepower (UAVs and manned combat air patrols can't be everywhere) means infantry walk to work with what they can carry.
Research and development looks useless until it bears fruit. If the outcome were known, it wouldn't be "research".
Things a tethered powered exoskeleton could be used for (ignore teh drama and consider it a piece of equipment like a backhoe or forklift):
Vehicle maintenance:
Wheeled combat vehicles often have massive tires, while tracked vehicles have heavy steel track. An exo at the shop would be able to replace or supplement lots of specialised equipment and work faster. Being able to "exo-manually" manipulate heavy components would speed maintenance and repair considerably.
Fortification:
Filling HESCO bastion, digging in, etc in areas where using conventional machinery is awkward would be a very useful app. Use exo to carry (running) portable genset or drag it on a small trailer. Exo can then dig in, help position equipment. and go back and forth toting the trailer which could also hold ammo.
Instead of seeing the thing as sci-fi fappery, look at it as another tool you may years from now be able to rent like a dozer, backhoe, or crane.
"Nothing is going to happen to them, even if half of the Gulf Coast population winds up with cancer."
There is no hope for peaceful change, yet the public are too comfortable to put the fear of death into corporate leadership (who might lie awake at night if they had to worry about someone they defrauded or poisoned going kamikaze on them) so expect more of the same forever.
"You mean to tell us that President Chocolate Jesus's administration is no more ethical than the previous one?"
The LGBT folks found that out early on, and are now enjoying the view from under the bus. Not that selling them out saved anyone in the midterm elections. No one respects legislative cowardice.
"Communists and Corporatists are at opposite ends of the political spectrum."
China demonstrated they are less far apart than it would appear, and one may wake up as the other if expedient.