🚀 go-pugleaf

In our last episode, Stuart Croall was heard to say:
<snip!>
: And manned spaceflight?  That appears to me to be about the biggest
: waste of anybodies money around...just about everything that we
: could possibly want to do in space could be accomplished with out
: people; they are significantly more expensive to hurtle up there,
: are they not, than various form s of unmanned vehicles.

Oh goodie! Does this mean that you'll be proposing the elimination of
human bank tellers as your ATM card seems to be working at the moment?
And can we _completely_ eliminate the attendants at gas stations since
"pay at the pump" is becoming more wide-spread? And what about your
job? Can't we turn it over to an eager high-school student with an
expert system guiding him or her in the completion of your former
tasks? Or would the job not be performed as well?

If it _would_ be performed as well, can we hope to see an immediate
announcement of your resignation and a change of address to somewhere
North Of 60 where you will live off the land?

The presence of man in space is not just about getting "the job" done,
it's also about getting the job done *right*. An ATM card is great for
all my banking...until it accidentally gets erased or damaged. And a
completely unmanned gas station would be useless for those without
credit cards--and probably pretty dangerous as would would leave
thousands of liters of *gasoline* available with no safety monitor.

(Congratulations. You pressed one or my hot buttons.)
-- 
Ed Dravecky III is: <> "This isn't some Deep Space Franchise. This station
dsheldon@netcom.com <> is about something!" Cmdr. Susan Ivanova, Babylon 5