Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Living in the Future: Curiosity

On the morning of August 6, 2012, I awoke in a tent in a campground near Slippery Rock in western Pennsylvania. I immediately checked my phone to confirm that Curiosity's cruise and descent stages had successfully completed their precisely choreographed immolation and self disassembly, like a multi-ton self-liquidating Swiss watch, and deposited Curiosity safe on its wheels on the floor of Gale Crater.

Putting a ton of robot harbinger safely on the Martian surface is an amazing thing. But then, so is getting the news on a mobile phone that fits in your pocket.

Welcome to the future, my friends: the future, where you you will spend the rest of your lives.

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