Thursday, February 09, 2012
Lake Vostok
News:
My first response to Lukin's moon-landing comparison was "Yeah, okay, you Russkis were late to the moon so you have to say that."
Then I thought about it for a moment. He's perfectly right. Maybe more than right.
We've been examining the moon forever. In fact, plants and animals have been shaping their lives around the moon's influence for as long as life has existed. And humans have been looking closely at the moon with telescopes for 400 years. Our moon landings didn't tell us anything we didn't already know.
This under-ice Great Lake is much less familiar, much less explored, than the moon. We didn't even know it existed until 30 years ago, and we haven't been able to 'see' it at all until now.
When your entire culture is based on sadistically aggressive imperial expansion, you're blind to most aspects of reality. When your only question is "What's out there?" you never ask "What's in here?" After the end of the Space Race a few Americans are starting to ask the latter question, which turns out to be far more interesting and USEFUL. ¶ 9:34 AM
Valery Lukin, the head of Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, said reaching the lake was akin to the Americans winning the space race in 1969.
"I think it's fair to compare this project to flying to the moon," said Lukin, who oversaw the mission and announced its success.
My first response to Lukin's moon-landing comparison was "Yeah, okay, you Russkis were late to the moon so you have to say that."
Then I thought about it for a moment. He's perfectly right. Maybe more than right.
We've been examining the moon forever. In fact, plants and animals have been shaping their lives around the moon's influence for as long as life has existed. And humans have been looking closely at the moon with telescopes for 400 years. Our moon landings didn't tell us anything we didn't already know.
This under-ice Great Lake is much less familiar, much less explored, than the moon. We didn't even know it existed until 30 years ago, and we haven't been able to 'see' it at all until now.
When your entire culture is based on sadistically aggressive imperial expansion, you're blind to most aspects of reality. When your only question is "What's out there?" you never ask "What's in here?" After the end of the Space Race a few Americans are starting to ask the latter question, which turns out to be far more interesting and USEFUL. ¶ 9:34 AM
