Posthuman Blues

That jazzy music in the background is "Blade Runner Blues" from Vangelis' "Blade Runner" soundtrack. Thanks to Sauceruney and Chapel Perilous.

On the Martian front, it appears I was dead-on with my press conference predictions. If there's one thing planetary exploration shouldn't be, it's drearily predictable. But the fact-management priesthood at JPL has managed to provide the impression that it's just that. What's more, no one with big-media backing is pressing them on it.

Oh, and it gets better. You know the money Dubya wants for his Moon-Mars initiative, ostensibly designed to get humans doing productive things in space? The Mars portion of it, at least, is going to finance more robots! Boy, I'm excited. With any luck, JPL can hold another big Mars news conference in an other five or ten years and regurgitate precisely what they "announced" today.

Something else I'm sick of: Gloating project scientists at the JPL operations center who just can't contain their excitement when one of their toys manages not to crash. I monitor the Mars mission websites, so I'm constantly coming across massively self-congratulatory quotes that never fail to come across as thoroughly geekish. They typically read like this:

"'We really slam-dunked this baby,' said Dr. Smith, pumping his fist in the chilly air of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory control room. 'When that rover extended its robotic arm, I almost had an orgasm.'"

And I'm sick of JPL's dewy-sweet anthropomorphism. Yes, the rovers are cool. But they don't "wake up." They don't "sleep." They don't give "stand-up performances" or "do jigs." They do exactly what they're told to do. These JPL guys are doubtlessly the same guys saving up for "Valerie" androids.