Miscellaneous Monday - Exploration

[Andy Gladstone]

Happy Monday Atlassian Community!

Today is Columbus Day in the United States, a day that commemorates the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus and his armada of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria in 1492. 

It's also a celebration of exploration that began with the first civilizations spreading out from the Mesopotamian River Delta to the Age of Exploration that was personified by the likes of Columbus, Cabot, de Gama, Vespucci, Magellan, Drake, Raleigh and so many others that impacted history.

This, coupled with the anniversary last week of the launch and successfully orbit of Sputnik I has had me dreaming of where the next age of exploration will take place. 

We've been to Space...

We've been to the Moon...

We've been to the bottom of the Ocean...

Where will we go next, and why?

[Michael Karl]

Though I admire all those pioneer explorers, I think that it is more important to get by in the world we know and we inhabit than finding and exploring new worlds. What's the worth of flying remote-controlled helicopters on Mars when we loose our ecosystems on Earth at the same time? We can celebrate Richard Branson to fly in his own little spaceship and cross the border to space for some minutes of weightlessness or Elon Musk launching his big rocket to watch it explode, but what's the point while we loose more than a hundred species every day?

Personally I think we should concentrate our efforts to survive on our home planet rather than pushing the boundaries of the known universe. We won't evacuate our entire population to space or the bottom of the ocean probably for hundreds of years to come, and some billionaires scratching on the doors to something mankind already discovered decades ago may seems glorious - but I don't get the point.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying let's stop exploring space or the depths of the oceans - but I think, it's not crucial and we have lots of other things to worry about.

[Andy Gladstone]

@Michael Karl excellent points. But exploration does not have to even mean leaving the natural environment we are in. Many great discoveries that have helped mankind live a better life on this planet were discovered through exploration of accessible places on the planet as well. Science, medicine, arts and engineering have all benefitted from exploration and discovery in the inhabitable terra-firma of the Earth. 

[Haoyang Lu]

Considering how electricity (brings us industrialization and urbanization) and nuclear power (which significantly delayed the WW3) changed the human history, I'm afraid that pushing the boundaries of science and universe is the most efficient way to survive on our home planet.

[Darryl Lee]

Another perspective: You cannot discover something that belongs to someone else.

Many people in the United States instead recognize today as Indigenous Peoples' Day.

[Darryl Lee]

And not to belabor the point, but this is a humorous (and sobering) take on Columbus, as well as a proposal to instead honor Bartolomé de las Casas, considered to be one of the first advocates for universal human rights: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day

[Michael Karl]

I agree with both of you, @Darryl Lee and @Andy Gladstone , and I know that my words were provocative in a way. I am interested in science since I was a kid. When thinking about the development of mankind, I stumbled across the question wether our extinction would have taken place maybe thousands of years ago without progress. Maybe some epidemic would have wiped us out long before.

On the other hand our developments now seems to lead to our doom, be it through the too powerful weapons of mass destruction in our arsenals, or maybe through climate change. I don't think James Watt meant any harm when he took the steam engine to everyday-use perfection but today we are pretty much aware that our fossile-fuel-burning machines do cause big scale harm - but we still keep using them.

To wrap up this post: Discoveries can be vital to our survival. But they also can lead to our extinction. The tip of the scale is responsibility. History shows that we are usually too greedy and stupid and vain to be responsible.  

[Michael Karl]

By the way: Thanks a lot for providing the Oatmeal-Link. That was a really interesting, informative and well-written essay. I shared that with some people and need to do further research on that Bartolomé de las Casas whom I heard of for the first time.

[Dominika Kuraś-Moskwa _Deviniti_]

You know what, I agree with @Michael Karl

A big shoutout everybody who had the courage to explore new lands, space... But maybe now we should focus on stopping the destruction of what we have already discovered.

We shouldn't go to another planet while we don't appreciate ours.

[Joseph Hansbrough]

I think that it would be great to continue to explore the areas of our world, such as rainforests and deserts, perhaps Antarctica, and to of course further explore the oceans and space to be more aware of what exist outside of our current perception. Of course, the contingency would be that we don't destroy what is there or wipe out what exists - I would hope the advances in technology would help reduce such impact. To the same extent, there are things that we simply won't know or can't know, and that is OK to - the mystery spurs the desire for exploration further. 

Beyond that, I suppose the next frontier would be time itself....not to sound too science fiction, but I'm too much of a Dr. Who fan to not consider the concept. :-)

[Aaron Geister]

As an Indigenous person of North America(Turtle Island) we do not look at this day as Columbus day, but has Indigenous People day. I can not celebrate a person who brought genocide to my people and land.

As was stated you can not discover land in which people are already occupying or living.

I do think that for those that came here its within the lack of education to what had really happen. So they have celebrated Columbus for some time. Those first explorers and people that came to our great Turtle Island seen a land of mystery and a garden of opportunity.

Thanks for the post @Andy Gladstone as it is good to see both sides of history and the stories to which we are given.

I am Anishinaabe of the Ojibwe and of the Maa'iingan nindoodem Wolf clan. I come from the great lake region. My people span a great distance and one of the most diverse and biggest tribes of US and Canada. We span across imaginary lines of US and Canada. We have so many dialects of language and the most of verbs of any language in the world.
We have a diverse way of life and even though we are across the country have many different ways of living with the seasons we are one people. We have great stories that have go back 1000's of years before Columbus or any European settlement.
We continue today to fight for our rights and land and have been reduced to such small portions of land to which our ancestors took care of and lived off of.

Before US and Canadian settlement there were over 500 tribes. This side of the world has the most diverse language pool of any country or area.

I am writing this to help others look at the other side of the story and see that we are still here living in a modern world hanging on to every thread of our ancestors way of life while maintaining a modern life. We are balancing two worlds or more to live.

I like the post and where it went talking about exploring and the coming of challenges I just want to leave this here as some celebrate Columbus to remember the Indigenous people and take time to learn about your local area and who the first people are. You might be surprised with the knowledge you can learn.

[Michael Karl]

Thank you for sharing. Your post really opens a new vantage point to the topic.

[Ajay _view26_]

Maybe the next 'Columbus' will be an AI, exploring the digital realms and uncovering the mysteries of virtual worlds! 🤖🌐 😊

[Andy Gladstone]

I have a feeling that we will be having discussions in the future about how beneficial or damaging AI is/was/will be just as we are discussing it about human explorers. I did notice that @Mandy Ross posted on LinkedIn that she has just started a new role in a company dedicated to providing safe AI solutions for children using the internet and this topic is currently top of mind for me since I still have some children at home that I hesitate to provide AI access to.

[Summer Hogan]

I think we should go to Mars next. I've been watching "For All Mankind" on Apple TV and I think that would be a great place for us to explore next. Although, the space programs in this world don't seem to be what they are when we went to the moon. I'll be interested to know where we explore next.

[Ankush Bora]

Back dated comment. :)
Nice thread to pick up on.