Would You Go On A Trip Into Deep Space? Even if you knew you were never coming back...

[cangor 0]

Hey, look, I love life, and I don't care enough to go into space if I knew I wasn't coming back. Someone else can do that and be famous, but, eh, not for me...

[lemonwonder 0]

I would definately do it!! NOT!!!!!!There is absoultely no way I would do it... unless the whole of earth was doing it, and cellphones and internet and stuff came along... coz really... ud get bored. Also, the radiation... dont wana get cancers... NO WAY!

[anwiii 17]

well i thought this topic was funny....especially the voting option. why? because i am curious and an adventurer by nature. i explore hoping i'll get lost just so i can try to find my way back. i love to experience to things and new places. if i were to visit outer space, i doubt i would ever return. i would be lost forever out there. it intrigues me though so is my exploration knowledge worth my life? i doubt it in this lifetime. too much good for me to do here on earth to be selfish and satisfy my curiosity on just one area of space. i'm still undecided though because sometimes my curiosity gets the best of me

[Rezy56241 0]

Nope, guess I'm a chicken, what can I say. XDBut seriously, I'm not going to go on a one-way mission (Pointless) as I would see all this amazing stuff and never get to share it with anyone else or use my knowledge, so what would be the point of wasting my entire life on a deep-space trip.

[bishoujo 0]

I would go, provided I can come back! Exploring space has been one of my fantasies, but I don't fancy getting stuck in space forever!

[jopak134 0]

it would be wonderful, i would like to go. but if you mean just in the ship then maybe not.

[heavensounds 0]

Now, what kind of a question is that? I think that nobody wouldn't go into the deepest space if one had no chance to survive. We don't eve have the equipment to go there so it would be like going into the jungle at night, alone and with a bloody, smelly wound. You DIE! Even if it were possible to go somewhere sooooo far, try not to forget that you'd still be there yourself. Your ego wouldn't stay on earth but follow you everywhere you'd go! It is therefore completely pointless to run away in space or anywhere else!So many of you said yes, that I really am concerned about humanity

[Wolfpack 0]

Now, what kind of a question is that? I think that nobody wouldn't go into the deepest space if one had no chance to survive. We don't eve have the equipment to go there so it would be like going into the jungle at night, alone and with a bloody, smelly wound. You DIE!
Even if it were possible to go somewhere sooooo far, try not to forget that you'd still be there yourself. Your ego wouldn't stay on earth but follow you everywhere you'd go! It is therefore completely pointless to run away in space or anywhere else!

So many of you said yes, that I really am concerned about humanity

I am really concerned about the lack of humanity in you, does your soul NOT guide you to new, exciting and thrilling experiences? I see most of you wish to remain safe and certain, not wanting change at all, or wanting reward for your acts. I laugh at you, cold hearted robots, laughing at my supposed lack of humanity.

Well, I'd do it even if nobody would know I was the guy who tripulated that ship. I do not care about rewards for after my death I won't be able to rejoice on them, I'd rather wish to live life to it's fullest. And by the way, if I had the opportunity to travel to the depths of space I'd probably not come back because of personal choice and not because of technical limitations.

[bangms 0]

My answer would probably be No. I think leaving the Earth, friends, family, practically my life behind for the experience of seeing deep space doesn't seem worth it to me. I mean it does sound like an incredible experience, like truly spectacular, but going out and never being able to come back, it doesn't sound worth it. It does make me curious to think about what is out in space and even further than what we know but I guess I just have to leave my mind to imagine.

[salamangkero 0]

I am really concerned about the lack of humanity in you, does your soul NOT guide you to new, exciting and thrilling experiences? I see most of you wish to remain safe and certain, not wanting change at all, or wanting reward for your acts. I laugh at you, cold hearted robots, laughing at my supposed lack of humanity.
Well, I'd do it even if nobody would know I was the guy who tripulated that ship. I do not care about rewards for after my death I won't be able to rejoice on them, I'd rather wish to live life to it's fullest. And by the way, if I had the opportunity to travel to the depths of space I'd probably not come back because of personal choice and not because of technical limitations.

I have something that might be of relevance. When Marge Simpson spent days inside a glass dome that covered all of Springfield, she said, "I think what I miss the most is the feel of the wind blowing."

Now, consider this, exploring space is not like exploring earth. Within our planet, our ancient mariners spent months, or maybe a year, at sea, but there's always fishes to catch, islands to land on, reefs to avoid, ports to moor in, gulfs to take shelter in, natives to trade with, heck, they even have each other to play cards with and, generally, share 99 bottles of good rum. They had the sun, moon, stars, wind, storm, rain, lightning, thunder, sea, spray, foam, whirlpools and ocean currents to keep them a rather lively company.

In space, there is nothing. Oh sure, you'd get to cross the asteroid belt and see Jupiter two years after leaving Earth. Within twelve years, you could be viewing the frigid Neptune. Then what?

Really, I don't even think humans could manage to last twelve years of complete isolation and inactivity. Yeah, sure, Jupiter and Saturn are really lovely to look at, but of what use are they to you, as an individual? Can your patience hold out for two years? For two years, can you really wake up every single day, looking forward to a brief encounter with the gas giants?

If only we could really be selfless people in the name of science, we'd gladly undergo a one-way mission, enduring an eternity of solitude in exchange for a few weeks of "discovery" Unfortunately, we are but humans who have needs like social interaction, various weather conditions like wind and rain, recreation, sex, heck, even just human touch or the presence of another human, that, m'dear, is real humanity. That is soul, the imperfection that makes us humans. You call us cold-hearted robots; what do you think then of those high-technology machinery that we hurl unto planets to gather data?

There is a reason why these trips are meant for cold-hearted, unimaginative, inhuman precision instruments called robots.

Now then, let us get back on that hypothetical trip. Right after speeding past Neptune (or Pluto, depends on which one's closer to the sun) twelve or thirteen years after your launch, we come right into the middle of nothing. There'd be not much matter here, no planetoids, no asteroids, not much space dust, there are lots of electrons zipping outside your window, but I doubt you'll care much for that. You'll soon enter the Kuiper Belt but don't expect to be encountering a profusion of trans-Neptunian objects. They don't really breed that much celestial bodies out here anymore.

You'll probably spent a healthy twenty years inside the Kuiper Belt, so you might as well sit back, relax and enjoy the view. On the porthole on your right side, you'll see pretty much nothing, dotted with little white dots of somethings that are so far away. Every five or so years, perhaps, you'll actually see something, a shadow moving, blotting out those small specks. The good news is that you can still see the sun. Head to the stern of your ship and you'll see a faint white speck. Yes, ladies and gents, that is the sun that was, twenty-two years ago, blazing brilliantly overhead.

Now comes the hard part. Waiting. After the very exciting region known as Kuiper Belt, you'll really come into the middle of nowhere. This is where you'll probably die of old age, if not isolation. Your body will no longer be able to hold itself together and you will simply degenerate into a helpless lump of old human, missing social interactions. Oh what you'd give for a game of chess with your old buddy!

Now, note that you are not even in deep space yet. In a thousand years, your corpse will reach the Oort cloud, which is, relatively, a lively region in space. Sorry to disappoint, though, but much of this region is emptier than the Kuiper Belt. It was probably just as well that you're dead for even the most creative bloggers out there will soon run out of words to describe this emptiness. Even the most zealous scientist will soon grow tired of reporting nothing.

A few more thousand years and you'll come into interstellar space. According to wikipedia, this is a very turbulent region, where the solar winds meet other stellar winds. Yet, still, this is not deep space. It's gonna take you billions of years to get halfway there. Double that and you finally come to the edge of the Milky Way. Welcome to deep space. Welcome to the beginning of your journey into nothingness. If you thought that gap between Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud was boring, see what you can make of this

[buherath 0]

Well it depends. But I would really like to meet some real aliens. May be I could go and live on their planet. Who knows! That way I DON'T have to come back.But considering the possibility that I would never ever return to earth again, I would like to go there when I am quite old as 50. That way half of my life will be spent here on earth!

[Dagoth Nereviar 0]

Since Xisto forums have been down for a few days I have had alot of time in which to ponder this question. I think that it would be pretty foolish to go on a trip of which there was no return. At any point if you could be like SCREW this I wanna go home and have a sandwich. Turn around and hyperthrust your way home and be back for 2112 then yeah. I think it would be great to see places like mars. But it's a bit like. So what. Anything that is in conceivable distance of our planet is like... so what? Big rock filled with dust and notingness. I don't really think it's worth going to see them... Could be worth going to see the earth from space though. Just to be like, hey flat earth society.. screw you!!!

 

And conditions on the vessel itself could be pretty crappy, if it was like a massive country sized complex with thousands of square miles of floor space then yeah that is acceptable. I would need a house sized dorm. With a large community... mostly for breeding purposes *heh heh heh heh* But also I would have to have a reasonably large circle of friends with bars and clubs and stuff to stop myself going insane from boredom.

 

All in all I really can't see myself confining my life to something like this. Why spend your whole life in space when you study it from the comfort of your own planet amirite xD

[miladinoski 1]

Ofcourse I would, even if I know that I won't come back. But there is just one demand from me if that would happen, I would like an internet (?) link to the earth whenever I like in the whole trip 'till I exit the solar system (people can dream, can they?).

With that I would make a huuuuuuuuuge contribution to the whole world which makes my trip useful to the whole world and even though I will die probably (aliens, boo ) almost every single smart man in the world would know my name. My family would be more than pleased because of that, and I would be more than pleased (from behind the grave ).

Cheers

Edited July 1, 2008 by white_eagle (see edit history)

[bsdpowa 0]

If someone asked me that question in real life and offered me an opportunity to go in space I wouldn't hesitate a single split of a second! I don't need Earth, I don't need people, all I need is peace and quietness in the deep mystical Space exploration. So close but so far away, unconquered and undefeatable final frontier. Just thinking of going to Space makes me want to cry because I know that won't happen in my lifetime and I won't be able to fulfill my biggest wish, to travel in Space. Wandering in the quietness of mother nature chatting with nobody but my subconsciousness and experiencing one true love, peace and higher states of mind...

 

Look at it, so quite but so powerful...

 

[salamangkero 0]

With that I would make a huuuuuuuuuge contribution to the whole world which makes my trip useful to the whole world and even though I will die probably (aliens, boo ) almost every single smart man in the world would know my name. My family would be more than pleased because of that, and I would be more than pleased (from behind the grave ).

I think this is more about personal fame than the altruistic contributions to humanity.

 

Also, I don't think your blog posts will be entirely welcomed by the entire world. Smart men, critics and pundits would probably point out that your blog posts could be the truth just as well as it could be hallucinations. After all, you are a mere human, you do not have the precision of the mechanical explorers we launch into space. Thus, we'll have no way to verify whether your posts are what you truly saw or something that you perhaps might have dreamt in a particularly high fever.

 

I think the advantage of machines is that they require less resources than humans and provide more meaningful data.