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Mars Will Send No More

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Mars Will Send No More

Tag Archives: Mars

Robots on Mars and in Our Lives

04 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in educational

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

alphago, artificial intelligence, documentaries, machine learning, Mars, mars rover, movies, opportunity, robot, self driving cars

When I was a wee lad in the 1970s and 80s, the idea of robots on Mars was far-fetched fodder for science-fiction stories in comic books. This year, Amazon Studios released a film that shows just how far we have come by making this concept a reality. As a follow-up to last month’s post about a mysteriously unsigned postcard that arrived in my mailbox with a riddle about robots, I’d like to share a few thought-provoking and inspiring videos for the author of that postcard as she works on her robot novel. It turns out I correctly guessed her identity, and we enjoyed some good correspondence about the rise of the robots and our relationships with them.

First up is the 2022 film Good Night Oppy, which I cannot recommend highly enough. It tells the story of the Mars rover Opportunity, NASA’s amazing robot who was expected to last only 90 days but overcame the odds to explore the red planet for fifteen years. Good Night Oppy conveys not only fascinating science but the equally interesting way in which humans can form emotional bonds with robots. It does so through captivating interview clips with people who worked on the project, including people who were so inspired by Opportunity and her mission as teenagers that they eventually grew up to work on the project itself.

The gorgeous musical score and the exquisite recreations of the peaks and perils of Opportunity’s journey by Industrial Light & Magic make this a film not to be missed. It’s currently free to watch for Amazon Prime subscribers, and the cost is more than reasonable for everyone else. Below is the film’s trailer. Though it is in many ways a triumphant tale, you have a more stoic heart than mine if you can make it all the way through without crying.

Another wonderful film that focuses on the artificial-intelligence aspect of robots is currently available to watch for free on YouTube. AlphaGo tells the story of the A.I. developed to master the game of Go and its eventual triumph over the world’s top-rated human Go player. Like Good Night Oppy, this film brings you into the lives of the humans who created this robot and helped it learn, but the big difference here is that the robot was an antagonist in some people’s stories. To the players who faced it, AlphaGo was an enemy—or, at the very least, a competitor.

One of the more interesting subplots in this documentary involves the Go player whose world was shaken by losing to the robot, and who subsequently joined the development team to advance the robot’s potential. Go is an incredibly complex game, perhaps even more difficult to master than chess, and this film does nothing to explain how the game is played. But even if you know nothing about Go, this film is well worth watching.

Even if you don’t play Go and have no plans to travel to Mars anytime soon, our lives are increasingly affected by robots, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. The first robot I encountered was ELIZA, a rudimentary bot that ineptly conversed with my sister and me in the early 1980s on our TRS-80 computer from Radio Shack, back when you could load a videogame from a magnetic cassette tape. These days, I’m a big fan of the Midjourney robot who helps me create digital art for various projects such as blog posts, postcards, and stories.

But one of the most useful applications of autonomous robots to arrive in recent years is in self-driving cars. I have been driving on the roads with other humans for thirty-five years now, and I can testify that humans absolutely SUCK at driving. I’ve had a car totalled by a drunk driver on a holiday weekend, lived though one of my friends running a red light and breaking her neck, and almost been run over in crosswalks a thousand times. We are our own worst enemies, and the stats of traffic fatalities and injuries leave no doubt about that. If you aren’t convinced that self-driving cars are the wave of the future, watch the following video from Derek at Veritasium, then check out his trip in a self-driving cab from a company in Chandler, Arizona.

I love dystopic stories about a future where robots decide that the solution to human problems is the obliteration of humanity. The first and second Terminator movies are all-time favorites of mine. On the other hand, I grew up on Asimov’s robot stories, which tend to be more optimistic. While it is entirely possible—in fact, almost certain—that some organizations and governments will develop robots to oppress and slaughter people, we are also fortunate to be living in an era where robots are being built for scientific exploration, making our lives safer, inspiring us to learn about our universe and improve our lives, and raising questions that help us gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be human. The bots at Chess.com are even helping me sharpen my chess skills.

So, do I fear robots, or do I trust them? The answer is simply yes. Robots are tools, like a hammer. In one person’s hands, a hammer can be used to build a house for safety and shelter. In another pair of hands, the hammer could cave in a human skull. I don’t believe the question is “Are robots good or bad?” The question is “Who are we?” The things we create—robotic or otherwise—will reflect that.

And now, on a lighter note, here is comedian Ryan George.

The robot uprising is here.

Retrofuturistic Topps Space Cards from 1958

08 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in science fiction

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

1958, fried eggs, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, meteor, Moon, outer space, planets, topps, trading cards, vintage space art

72 mysterious mars

Space travel ain’t what it used to be! Technology, design, and planetary knowledge have evolved since these beautiful Topps trading cards came out in 1958. But if you are like me and easily amused by vintage space art, these cards are worth checking out.

80 exploring jupiter

Below is a slideshow featuring a few dozen of my favorites. You can find a complete collection, including scans of the text on the back of the cards, at http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~dan/tsc/go.html

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

23 meteor peril

Meteor Peril! Isn’t space travel exciting?! The only thing that could make it more fun is fried eggs.

77 mercurys amazing climate

mars

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in poetry

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Tags

gustav holst, Mars, planets, poems, poetry, war

mars

you and i have unfinished business

you taught me destruction
a skill for leaving trails
of unmarked graves and broken spears

your path leads nowhere but down

stone is your only element
you bask in the sun for millennia
and only learn what it means to burn

you serve neither love nor justice
but conquest as its own reward
its prize a thread of wounds and ash

what words could you offer for redemption

how dare you speak them
over the eulogy of rain
and falling earth

Do Not Panic!

09 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in science fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

alien, Fantastic Four, Mars, Martian, Steve Ditko, Strange Tales

Strange Tales 95 -  (21)

This great Steve Ditko short story comes from Strange Tales #95. Steve’s splash pages for these stories just rock our world. What great posters they would make!

Strange Tales 95 -  (22)
Strange Tales 95 -  (23)
Strange Tales 95 -  (24)
Strange Tales 95 - (25)

Race for the Moon: The Face on Mars!

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in golden age, science fiction

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Al Williamson, Face on Mars, golden age, Harvey Comics, Jack Kirby, Mars, Race for the Moon

What do you get when you cross Jack Kirby and Al Williamson? The coolest science fiction comics of the golden age! Thanks to our friends at the Digital Comic Museum, we’d like to share with you some stories from 1958’s Race for the Moon. Buckle up your space suit and get ready to rock!

Collector’s Guide: It can be tough to find the original Race to the Moon comic books (Harvey, 1958). But in 2014, a Kindle version of Race for the Moon became available. It has all three issues, formatted just for Kindle.

Issue #1 features artwork by Bob Powell. #2-3 feature Jack Kirby and Al Williamson.



EC Comics & Ray Bradbury: Mars Is Heaven!

14 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in science fiction

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

EC Comics, EC Comics reprints, Mars, Mars is Heaven, Ray Bradbury, Weird Science

EC Comics featured many stories by Ray Bradbury. Below today’s gallery, you will find a list of Ray Bradbury stories and the EC Comics issues where they appeared. We believe we’ve compiled a definitive guide. If you have additions or corrections, we would love to hear from you.




Your Guide to Ray Bradbury in EC Comics

Collected in “Tomorrow Midnight“

Punishment Without Crime (Kamen) – Weird Science #21
I, Rocket (Williamson) – Weird Fantasy #20
King of the Grey Spaces (Severin & Elder) – Weird Fantasy #19
The One Who Waits (Williamson) – Weird Science #19
The Long Years (Orlando) – Weird Science #17
There Will Come Soft Rains (Wood) – Weird Fantasy #17
Mars Is Heaven! (Wood) – Weird Science #18
Outcast of the Stars (Orlando) – Weird Science #22

Collected in “The Autumn People“

There Was an Old Woman (Ingels) – Tales from the Crypt #34
The Screaming Woman (Kamen) – Crime SuspensStories #15
Touch and Go! (Craig) – Crime SuspensStories #17
The Small Assassin (Evans) – Shock SuspenStories #7
The Handler (Ingels) – Tales from the Crypt #36
The Lake (Orlando) – Vault of Horror #31
The Coffin (Davis) – Haunt of Fear #16
Let’s Play ‘Poison’ (Davis) – Vault of Horror #29

Miscellaneous

Home To Stay (Wood) (Based on “Kaleidoscope” & “Rocket Man”) – Weird Fantasy #13
The October Game (Kamen) – Shock SuspenStories #9
The Black Ferris (Davis) – Haunt of Fear #18
What the Dog Dragged In (Kamen) (Based on “The Emissary”) – Vault of Horror #22
Sound of Thunder (Williamson, Torres, Krenkel) – Weird Science Fantasy #25 (reprint = Weird Science-Fantasy #3)
Zero Hour (Kamen) – Weird Fantasy #18
Million Year Picnic (Severin, Elder) – Weird Fantasy #21
The Silent Towns (Crandall) – Weird Fantasy #22
The Flying Machine (Krigstein) – Weird Science Fantasy #23 (reprint = Weird Science-Fantasy #1)
Surprise Package (Kamen) (Based on “Changeling”) – Weird Science #20
Mad Journey (Williamson, Frazetta, Krenkel) (Based on “The Earthmen”) – Weird Fantasy #14

Readers have submitted an additional four uncredited stories for this list:

A Lesson in Anatomy (Kamen) (based on The Man Upstairs) – Weird Fantasy #12
A Strange Undertaking (Ingels) (based on The Handler) – Haunt of Fear #6
The Jellyfish (Ingels) (based on Skeleton) – Vault of Horror #19
Just Desserts (based on The Smiling People) – Shock SuspenStories #3

Life on Other Worlds – MARS!

12 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by Mars Will Send No More in golden age, science fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

golden age, Life on Other Worlds, Mars, Planet Comics

In the future, women will not wear much clothing. But they will be in awe of man’s ability to ride ferocious beasts and kill really ugly monsters. In other words, it will end up being a lot like the past… At least that’s what we got from reading Planet Comics! From 1948-1950, Planet Comics included one and two-page features called “Life On Other Worlds.”

A little bit of science and a whole lot of fantasy, they still make for fun reading — and some of the rocket ships and aliens are outta sight! This month, we share with you the complete “Life On Other Worlds” features. So strap on your space helmet — and remind your girlfriend to undress before departure!

Collector’s Guide: Life on Other Worlds appeared in Planet Comics #49-51, #54-61, and #64.

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