For exploration, humans aren’t up to the task.
Space is intrinsically dramatic, but there’s a little secret to human spaceflight that few understand: machines went there first. By the time humans orbited the Earth in the early 60s, satellites had already measured a great deal about the near-Earth environment. Even 50 years ago, machines did the trailblazing for the people. And If AI continues to develop as fast as it is right now, we will rapidly reach a point where risking humans in space exploration will become pointless. Jim Anderton comments.
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Episode Transcript:
When I was growing up, every kid wanted to be an astronaut. They were the Conquistadors of the future, the new Magellans, Columbuses and Amundsens. And science fiction kept space as the place of the greatest unknowns and dangers.
Space is intrinsically dramatic, but there’s a little secret to human spaceflight that few understand, machines went there first. By the time the Gagarins and Titovs and Glenns orbited the Earth in the early 60s, satellites had already measured a great deal about the near-Earth environment.
In the case of the Moon landings, again, robots were there first and were essential in proving the surface was safe for Armstrong and Aldrin as well as the ten other men who walked on its surface. The simple reality is, even 50 years ago, machines did the trailblazing for the people.
Now we’re talking about exploration of Mars and more distant planets of the solar system, places which again have been extensively explored by machines. Now add AI and imagine a highly dexterous AI driven robot. It could be easily protected from ionizing radiation, requires no strict pressure, oxygen, food or water, and no biomedical monitoring. Almost as importantly, it could be designed to weigh a fraction of the mass of a single astronaut, with the weight savings multiplied by the absence of all the environmental support systems needed for people.
If AI continues to develop as fast as it is right now, we will rapidly reach a point where risking humans in space exploration will become pointless. The machines will simply do it better.
That doesn’t mean that humans won’t travel in space; quite the contrary. I expect that the near-Earth and lunar environments will be teeming with people, both in transit and to exploit the resources available on the lunar surface and from nearby asteroids. But the concept of 2001: A Space Odessey, or Star Trek just isn’t going to happen.
In the future, no human being will set foot on an alien world without a thorough understanding of what they will find. It will be confirmation, not exploration. One consequence of this is that space probes will be lighter, cheaper, faster and more numerous, all of which are good things for increasing scientific knowledge. But if you’re kid today and you dream of climbing out of your shiny silver spaceship in a pressure suit onto the soil of a new, unknown world, expect to be greeted by robot that’s been there for years—a robot that will likely be more intelligent than any human scientific researcher.
AI will replace millions of jobs, and I think that space exploration may just be one of them.