Kids More Interested In Cyberspace And MySpace Than Outspace?
from the cybernauts,-not-astronauts? dept
Apparently, NASA is getting worried that the kids these days aren't interested in outer space, preferring to do their "travels" through cyberspace. That seems like a somewhat odd conclusion, as there doesn't seem to be anything mutually exclusive about the two. Also, it's not like you need every kid to be interested in going into space. The number of people who actually get to travel in space is quite small, and I'd imagine that there are still plenty of kids interested in the possibility of either becoming an astronaut or working for NASA. Of course, it might help (as the article notes) if there actually were sexy space missions again. These days, everything having to do with sending people into outer space has been rather mundane and boring.
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Filed Under: generation y, kids, nasa, space
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Mundane and boring?
Back in the day, being an airplane pilot was risky and exciting, it is not anymore, yet we somehow find a way to lure a few people into doing it here and there, no?
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Re: Mundane and boring?
Ok what about the first-Womanon the moon?
This will surely start another multi-billion space
race, something we could all think of when we're
struggling to pay rates and taxes!!
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Re: Mundane and boring?
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Duped
The reality is that NASA is a beurocracy that has brainiacs spinning their wheels in hamster-like cages.
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Re: Duped
Challenge yourself in how to use your brain, with out being a hamster. Without being a gear in a machine. If you don't your whole life will revolve around excitement. What happens if there is nothing to be excited about, when there is no fun to be had. You won't be too happy.
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Re: Duped
:-)
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I'd love to do alot of things
It's big. It's ominous. It's entirely irrelevant.
Tho the lack of really good sci-fi stories might have something to do with it too. When I was a kid, my first aspiration to go to the moon was reading Isaac Asimov's stories. Two that come to mind are Low earth orbit skydiving, and the one about arena matches on the moon. The people weighed so little, that they were able to fashion wings for themselves and it was an airborne battle.
Imagine being able to fly under your own power. It would be incredible. Alas, if we ever do get to colonize the moon, it's so damn inhospitable, we'd have a hard enough time trying to keep the colony alive to be off creating huge arenas for mankind to fly around in.
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Re: I'd love to do alot of things
Still, we'll be around for that.
How cool is that?
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Re: Re: I'd love to do alot of things
Moon Base Entry, Internet Encyclopedia of Science.
It should be interesting to see how this generation reacts to the next lunar missions.
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Going where no man has gone before...
Most kids want to go in space because they haven't found the wonders of cyberspace until they get older; massive amounts of porn and pirated games/movies/music. Maybe Virgin should open up an interactive music store on the mooon...
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education
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consider this...
my HS had about 900-1100 kids (grades 9-12). another school had over 2k. each year, the other school had better sports teams. they didn't have "better coaches" or "more funding" or anything like that. they just had a larger talent pool to use. and the larger a sample size, the better you'll get.
so yeah, having 1000 applicants for 10 positions isn't as good as having 10,000 applicants for those same 10 positions.
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It was all a hoax!
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Re: It was all a hoax!
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Re: It was all a hoax!
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Re: It was all a hoax!
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Re: It was all a hoax!
But none of this matters when people read a headline and think they know the whole story. Easier to follow than lead.
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Outer Space? lol!
"generation y" doesn't care about going outside, in outer space (ie outside the computer) because it isn't as entertaining.
Imagine technology just suddenly died.. I think a lot of people might commit suicide. I find that sad, the fact is.. nobody would know what to do. There would be those nature people who wouldn't give a shit, and then there would be everybody else who would be saying.. OH NO SOCIETY IS GOING TO COLLAPSE.. lol it is sad society is so attached to technology. It is purely a mental connection, as their actual existence is not connected to any such thing.
"mundane and boring"
Yet the people accomplishing these mundane and boring things, no doubt have a sense of accomplishment. As if they really helped in doing something, they probably even had a lot of enjoyment accomplishing the task. These people likely feel full of life.. where as.. the current "generation y" would need excitement, entertainment, to feel that same feeling. Even if the feeling would be fleeting.
I am noticing that techdirt likes to defend things.. I've got a better idea, start attacking things instead.. if they can not defend their own mental activities, then they aren't defendable. Defend yourselves not the groups, because many times the members of the group are just following what they see. I don't want to write a 6000 word comment here.. so I am going to just abruptly stop here. I will not finish the comment, it will be as is. If you think it looks finished and argueable, then well all I am going to say is it is not finished, so it can't be fully arguable. Let individuals defend themselves, force them to make their own defense. Don't be a crutch. If a crutch is a tool, I think we can all agree it will be over used. Guns are tools, computers are tools, televisions are tools, clothes are tools.. We use tools without reason half the time.
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In my lifetime...
In a generation where the guy that walked on the moon is an annoying blowhard politician, and 'Houston, we have a problem.' is an overused cliche, I can see that we wouldn't have as much interest.
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As for space(as for as this Hoeppner cares) it's not something I'm to worried about. A pretty light show that the only reason our govt needs to keep a vested interest in is so a handful of corporations don't get all the benefits of space(after all someday it will be commercially feasible).
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Freakonomics Quorum
It had much more insightful commentary than these comments here.
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Freakonomics Quorum
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