[phil_geo]

***SPOILERS*** for Man Plus

So President Bush recently announced that the new major effort of NASA will be to get a man on Mars. It seems like this election year promise must have been made with the idea that this would be very popular with the American Public, and most people want this goal to occur. Bush had to get this idea from somewhere - probably from a company analyzing poll data on a computer.

Does this remind anyone else of the plot of Man Plus, the Hugo/Nebula award winner by Pohl? I laughed out loud when I realized it is a direct recreation of the events that kicked off that novel.

In the novel, polls of the American people show they are extremely interested in getting man to Mars. The U.S. undergoes a huge, costly effort to modify man genetically to make him suitable to living on Mars with almost no extra equipment. They eventually succeed (kindof) and send a man to Mars.

The kicker is that afterwards, it is revealed that the American public is actually pretty neutral on sending a man to Mars. The reason the poll analysis shows strong support is that the mainframes on Earth have become self-aware, and have calculated it is in their best interest if they convince man to go to Mars, since he will have to develop many new computer capabilities to support the mission, and this will make them much more powerful. The joke is on the mankind, as they are subtly manipulated into doing the computer's bidding.

Could the same thing be happening to Bush right now? Is he a dupe of a Dell PC somewhere, fudging his poll results??? I don't know, I guess you have to have read the book, but it struck me as funny when I saw Bush on TV.

[emohawk]

There's some interesting parallels that you draw there phil! I find it hard to believe though that a rational logical computer could be behind most of Bush's policy and political decisions. Then again, maybe it's aim is to completely disenchant the publics opinion of Government to the point where being led by a computer seems like a good idea.

I'm an Australian though so it would only take a Palm Pilot to run us :)

[Mugwump]

Originally posted by emohawk
I'm an Australian though so it would only take a Palm Pilot to run us :)

Or John Howard. <grin>

[Spangblatten]

The whole Mars thing is a neo-con plot by Cheney/Haliburton so they can drill for oil!!:D

[emohawk]

I think they'll find if they drilled on Mars that under the surface is a caramel and soft nougat centre.

[Archren]

LOL Emohawk! God, that's one of the worst puns I've heard yet on this subject. Cheers! :D

[KatG]

Apparently, Bush Senior made the exact same promise when he was Prez, so it's really just a rehash. I think it's only partly opinion polls -- the big interest in the public over the Mars rover mission. It's also reassuring the aerospace industry that they'll get more money, helping to paint a picture of the American economy as robust, distraction from fallout over the Iraq invasion, the need for a big sparkly platform for election year, and the fact that several other countries are becoming more advanced in their space programs while we have in many ways let ours lapse. But it's unlikely to actually happen anytime soon.

[FicusFan]

No the whole space thing has been resurrected because of the Chinese and their plans for going to the Moon, establishing a base, and then going on to Mars.

What the polls show is that most Americans don't want to end the space program because of the latest shuttle tragedy, but think that all that money for the new program should be spent here.

It is the neo-cons and their seeing reds in the sky (can't give up the high ground). They were ok with (big echo) PIGS IN SPACE (from the muppets), but Chinese Communists in Space terrify them.

Its the Space Race - part 2
:D

[Archren]

I would say that although it was meant to be a "big sparkly project for an election year," it hasn't worked out that way. He didn't mention it in his State of the Union address, which is where he would've put it if he was going to make it a big deal.

I expect he's put in some additional NASA money in his proposed budget, and that no one at all will hear about it when it all gets stripped away by Congress.

[lemming]

And Bush unveils another weapon of mass distraction... :D

I'm happy to see renewed interest in space exploration, wherever it may be coming from.