I just happened to notice this article , because it combines two of my favorite subjects: chimps and space exploration. Iran plans to send a monkey into space some time in the next month. It’s part of their program to put an astronaut (or cosmonaut if you prefer) into space by 2020, and one on the moon by 2025.
The Robots are Not Terribly Interested
It’s interesting, because by 2025 it’s quite possible that there will be no other living human beings who have been to the moon. Those Apollo boys aren’t getting any younger. So that honor will go to the Iranians. A country that blocks facebook.
I also think it’s quite smart to start by sending a monkey up first. It’s got the cost and risk benefits of a non-manned mission, but some of the publicity value and also experience of actual physiological reactions which would be missing from a totally robotized journey.
I do have some misgivings, though, because I just watched “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” the other day.
Which will be the first to supersede mankind, the next being to evolve from us? Will it be super-intelligent apes or will it be soul-less but super smart robots? Actually, I think we can confidently consider ourselves safe in the short term.
Although Chimps, Gorillas, Orangutans and Baboons (all apes, not monkeys, btw) have learned a few words, use some pretty clever tools, and clearly have family and tribal relationships that are similar to humans, I don’t expect any of them to try and take over the world any time soon. I don’t expect any of them actually understand the concept of “the world.”
Will we be superseded, overtaken or rendered irrelevant by robots? They are going to be getting more sophisticated every year. They can process information way, way faster than we can, and they’re taking in more information and correlating it all the time. But I think we’re on safe ground there, too. The robots totally could take over the world. They just don’t want to.
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