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posted by
cmn32480
on Thursday October 29 2015, @01:57PM
from the in-soviet-russia-mars-monkey's-you dept.
from the in-soviet-russia-mars-monkey's-you dept.
Russian scientists are currently training macaques to solve puzzles and use a joystick for a planned 2017 trip to Mars:
Each day a team, led by Inessa Kozlovskaya, trains the monkeys to control a joystick and hit a target highlighted by a cursor.
When they complete the task successfully they are rewarded with a sip of juice.
Once they have mastered this task the macaques will be trained to solve simple mathematical tasks and puzzles.
At the end of their training the creatures should be capable of completing a daily schedule of tasks on their own.
[...] Macaques typically have a lifespan of around 25 years, so it is hoped there is enough time to train them properly and for them to survive the six-month trip to Mars, added the team.
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(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday October 29 2015, @05:01PM
Which is worse, being cruel to monkeys or being cruel to people (who volunteered but perhaps didn't truly understand what they volunteered for)? I'm not saying that's an easy moral question, but it's at least a question.
My general view on the matter: If we're going to engage in the activity of putting people on another planet, we need to accept the fact that people (and testing animals) are going to be killed in the process. People died getting us to the moon, to LEO, and even to the first successful space flight. Which isn't unusual in the history of exploration: People died to get Europeans across the oceans and deserts too (I'm just talking about the difficulties of travel here, not what the Europeans did once they arrived).
I for one am OK with it.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Thursday October 29 2015, @08:34PM
As you mentioned, the difference is in consent. Humans may not understand all possible risks or possible outcomes, but they UNDERSTAND that they don't understand, yet still choose to go, usually for the betterment of mankind. And, a lot of them probably love the idea. Monkeys cannot give consent, and their minds are too weak to fully comprehend everything going on around them. As far as they know, they're trapped in a weightless metal cage with nobody else and no greenery. Want to see monkeys commit suicide? Send them to mars.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday October 30 2015, @01:20AM
to LEO, and even to the first successful space flight
The first successful manned space flight was LEO. I'm not sure anyone died in the process to launch Sputnik, but obviously plenty died during the V2 and V1 stages.