Last night’s viewing of ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ ended, as they always do for me, with a complete awe that Richard Dreyfuss was able to leave his family and home planet behind and set off into the cosmos with the ETs. Having a kid of my own now, that sense of disbelief is shot through with a little bit of anger that he left his children and family behind, but that decision has always perplexed me. It’s not that I wouldn’t want to be a space traveler, per se, but just up and heading off with the greys in their interstellar holiday ornament is a yard too far, leading to today’s deep space query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) really puts it all down to questions of having enough room, ’cause the Millennium Falcon is pretty cramped, asking: Do you have any real desire to be a space traveler?
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The idea of traveling through space is intriguing, but to go through with it, there would need to be the perfect mix of conditions. First of all, I couldn’t leave my family behind. There would have to be room on board for all three of us or no deal. Second, I would need to bring some games. I can imagine that there is going to be a lot of downtime during any extraplanar travel, so I would need, at a minimum, a set of dice and a deck of cards. Huh, I really thought there would be more, but I guess provided just the two things (and the opportunity) I would be hurtling through space. My wife and I have always been the nomads of our respective clans, so I don’t think it would surprise anyone if we announced that we intended to leave the planet. Having moved across the country, thousands of miles from our families, it wouldn’t be too much different than taking residence on a vessel traversing the vacuum of space. Ground control, we are off to the stars!
For me, it’s a No. Why? Because it’s really a matter of destination.
Am I going somewhere? Do I expect to be able to return? If it’s just another form of transportation and a commute to work it would (probably) become routine to our perspectives.
If I want to be amazed, sometimes I just take a moment to think about the complexities involved in driving a car everyday. We are using dinosaurs compressed within the earth for millions of years as an explosive material that we are then exploding continuously while operating our vehicles, and then harnessing those explosions through human ingenuity which I don’t fully comprehend. Then I forget all about that, because I’m late for work and have to hurry down the road.
So, travel itself holds little interest to me. Destinations do.
Not really, unless its relatively fast, really safe and I want to go somewhere or see something. I think it would be really interesting first couple of times, but when it becomes routine, its same as travelling by any other means.
Yes. Love adventure and exploration. Would go in a heartbeat, even if one way.
yes
In a heartbeat. The only thing I have tying me to Earth is my nephews, and while it would be difficult to leave them, the chance to explore new worlds is just too alluring. I know it wouldn’t be at all like sci-fi and it would be very difficult, but anything worth doing isn’t going to be easy.