Tesla to Mars Orbit…and Slightly Beyond

Carolyn Petersen, you stated:

“None of this happened by magic or through prayers or chanting or just simply hoping. It happened because folks whose lives revolve around science, technology, engineering, math—and yes, art and music—did the hard work to plan and build all the aspects of the mission.”

Yet, I am certain that ALL of those things occurred during this project, and to give credit only to the intensive, though very limited scope of activities which you observe, serves to perpetuate the inherent flaws that have humbled mankind in all of his grand endeavors throughout history.

The “Magic”, the “Prayers”, the “Chanting” the “simply hoping”….they all took place; some in fantastic ways, for this mission to be ‘successful’. Let’s examine them in the order in which you first gave mention:

Who was it who said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Carolyn, I’d bet that you know! By this definition alone, the entire project was still born without it! Accomplished scientists, (honest, reasonable ones) will tell you that mankind knows very little about our shared reality, and what we do ‘know’ is constantly undergoing revision. They aren’t even sure if the atoms we’re each made of, would be more accurately termed, “Pixels”. Elon Musk, the daring dreamer that spawned the project itself, believes that “Magic” made it all possible. You see, he himself believes that our universe is a simulation. Talk about your sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic! You know, I for one am inclined to agree whole heartedly with him!

We, our shared reality is MADE of the stuff! “Magic”, I mean. Scientists can’t even begin to explain what keeps each and every ‘electron’ perpetually spinning along inside each of us, much less the fantastically advanced creations that comprise each of our trillions of single cells in our bodies! Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJyUtbn0O5Y

Fantastically advanced nano engineering right there.

We could go on and on about what constitutes sufficiently advanced ‘technology’ or even Elon Musk’s ‘Reality’….example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2x8fTTS4F8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqULEE7eY8M

For brevity’s sake, lets move to the next one: “Prayers”. Praying, or the act of communicating with a “higher power”, or “sufficiently advanced civilization” has a long history of achieving fantastic successes. Even in scientific circles. Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrRD10dLK1o

On to “chanting”….even if for no other reason than to give focus and repetition, if it brings positive reaffirmation to what one is doing, it’s already a successful methodology, and I’d bet that more than one member of Musk’s team was doing a bit of ‘chanting’ at launch. If one were inclined to research the subject, one may be surprised at the the scope and specific uses applied to effect positive outcomes throughout history.

And finally, “simply hope”. One is easily forgiven for thinking that this, as is the case here, often overlooked and under appreciated form of motivational exercise, is a waste of time. Yet, realistically, hope is the precursor to any thing worth doing within the scope of human endeavor. All of mankind’s empires up to and including those of today, were built upon shared hope, and collapsed because of dashed hopes, discord, lack of faith.

The best definition of ‘Faith’ that I’ve heard is this:

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”

Our reality is MUCH Grander, Stranger, more meaningful, Hopeful, than we are even capable of appreciating. Science is one of the tools that helps us uncover this Grandeur. To give more credit to the tools (and yes, people can be tools) we use to do so, than to that which is so evident, and already much Wiser and totally beyond us, is to be doomed to repeat the all too often forgotten mistakes of the past.

I for one, celebrate cooperative achievements frequently, from all corners of the globe. Would that one day, in the not too distant future, we all share in doing so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPXK2Ls-xzQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOs08ENsSbM

If you had the power to create a ‘simulation’ such as the one we currently inhabit, with sentient AI replicas of your kind, would you not want them thoroughly tested as to lasting fitness before allowing them the necessary upgrades to inhabit your realm?

/science-and-technology/2014/04/ancient-high-performance-electric-motors-discovered-that-are-still-in-production-2685290.html

We are all attending a form of ‘starfleet academy’ already, and from the vantage point of the ‘Holodeck’, though many simply will no permit themselves to believe it can be so…

Fantastic Journeys