Cassini ...meh?

[Rum]

I watched a brilliant documentary about the superbly successful Cassini mission last night on BBC2 (I think it was from memory).

The mission and the science were clearly spectacularly successful and I was riveted, having followed it in dribs and drabs as images and info have been released over the years. It was the first time I had quite realized how much they have learned and found out about the Saturn system. A huge amount it turns out. Seeing it all gathered together brought it home.

The science and the engineering were astonishing and the discovery factor was 11/10,...and yet...

..the public imagination seems not to have engaged with it all.

It wasn't huge in the media (here in the UK anyway), it doesn't seem to have excited popular imagination to any great extent. And yet it is arguably one of mankind's greatest achievements. The extent of the team work - globally - was impressive too.

I wonder - are people just bored by such things now? Are they so besotted by cat videos on YouTube, soaps on TV and distracted by the utter drivel fed to them as reality TV that amazing things like this are just...'meh'?

[Clinton Huxley]

Young people. If they can't take a selfie with it, it doesn't exist.

[JimC]

I think it ran rings around most previous missions...

[Brian Peacock]

You Oort to be more careful about what you say.

[JimC]

By Jupiter, I think you're right!

Sorry, feeling a bit spaced out...

[devogue]

99% of humans are just dull, useless, uninspiring, hateful fucking cunts.

[Brian Peacock]

Shut up and open another bottle.

[Sean Hayden]

I don't know if there are fewer people interested or not. I have thought recently about how humans would be the worst travel companions in space ever. They'd only ever remark about the size of things. 'Oh my god it's huge!', "This is even bigger than the last system!", 'It's unbelievably big!', 'Unimaginably vast!', 'It's incomprehensible!'

-would somebody please shoot that fucking thing already.

[JimC]

99% of humans are just dull, useless, uninspiring, hateful fucking cunts.

Ratzians, of course, are denizens of the 1%...

[devogue]

99% of humans are just dull, useless, uninspiring, hateful fucking cunts.

Ratzians, of course, are denizens of the 1%...

Yes.

I have discovered that it is vitally important to understand certain things about humanity and accept them unless you want to go mad:

* only 1%of people keep promises or act honourably without the incentive of personal gain or the threat of personal loss.

*at social events you must not discuss politics, religion, science, history or anything that requires a little general knowledge. To do so is to be considered rude, negative, intimidating, weird or boring.

*discussions about property prices, how things have changed since growing up and past and future travel are fine.

[pErvinalia]

Shut up and open another bottle.

[laklak]

Majority of ground apes are complete and utter imbeciles, video at 11.

[Rum]

I get goosebumps knowing we can do this.

[JimC]

Getting serious, so do I, Rum...

[devogue]

Cassini is an unbelievable achievement. There are other possible reasons for relative disinterest in the mission.

You would think that in a just world Cassini's progress would have been shown step by step on TV or in cinema, with people gathered around and watching in their billions as they did during the first moon landings. However, there is no live human element. For 50 years now the extraordinary has become mundane with regard to human space travel - we've gone no further than orbiting Earth. If we can get humans to Mars and beyond, interest would definitely rise - the human drama aspect can't be underestimated.

Also, CGI has driven and carried our imaginations to undreamt of realms - we've become so spoilt and sugared up with amazing eye candy that our boredom threshold is now very low. Science fiction works well in two hour high intensity doses, whereas science like Cassini is measured in decades.