There's a Star (wo)man, waiting in the sky ..
He'd like to come and meet us, but SHE thinks he'd blow our minds!
Yup, it's an AI generated image this time around in the caption, but I think it works for what I had in mind when I saw it. With some Mars news occuring, the 40th anniversary of the first untethered space walk coming later this week, along with the neural link being implanted in the first "real" patient .. I saw the picture and thought, hmmmm, there's a caption in there somehow, and the 'photo' makes it all feel futuristic in a 1960's way.
And I do like it, though I feel like Major Exposition when it comes to the setup vs the actual plot .. that works more like a zinger than an actual story .. it is slightly lacking. I also would like to think that I was pondering the "science" portion of the setup being somewhat realistic. Women tend to be smaller, weigh less, need less calories to maintain peak physical condition, and can fit into tighter spaces and be more flexible .. all things that would work well on interplanetary space flights.
So anyway, I know that all of you regular visitors to my blog will be signing up for their civic duty as a member of Space Force, amirite? Who knows what will be probing Uranus in the near future!
Hey, even if I was old enough, I'd have been eligible for Mercury/Gemini/Apollo - fortunately never desired to be one then, so Dad didn't have to lie and tell me I could be (he exceeds specs, would assume his sons would too, and we both did. ) and wow, 33 years...
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the women's minds?
DUH!!! INeligible.......
DeleteI have really no idea what happened to the ladies. I would guess that perhaps they were clones of someone else, or perhaps a woman that was "brain-dead" declared deceased, and then rehabilitated? If it was an actual switch, I'm guessing a full military retirement with honors, pension, .. possible instant wife and children and financial security, etc.. might help soften the blow as well? And who's to say they don't end up in a "donor body" of their own once the current one gets too used?
DeleteAnd 33 years would place the man at least 51 years of age if they started training right out of boot camp as an 18 year old .. which is why I went with that number. And there's the well-worn trope of 10,000 hours of training to master a skill .. so that's 416 days if someone trained EVERY day for 8 hours a day, and there's a lot of skills needed to be one of a limited crew that has to do EVERYTHING to set up a base on Mars. Figured 33 years would probably be at least a good guestimate.
Deletegrowing a clone sounds good. might be able to accelerate growth, too. Old Man's War (Scalzi) did that. You enlisted in the Army at 65, and were inducted at 75, and they had a slightly tweaked clone waiting, and transferred you.
DeleteNice cap and nice homage to the space and technology goings ons.
ReplyDeleteI find the AI images are getting better, but still have that 'valley of the dolls' feeling. Close, maybe too close, but certainly not close enough. The better they get and the more I see them though, the less enjoyment I get out of them as I find myself staring at them and picking them apart. Like how this one has hair growing out of her ear, seems like she's not centered in her helmet, has inconsistencies with her uniform, her zipper... my god, the zipper!
I've tried some AI generators and have yet to make an image that I'm satisfied with as they all miss those details and ruin an otherwise fine image.
AI still has a way to go in coming anywhere close to actual realism, and there often is an "uncanny valley" feel to most of the images that AI produces. And I do think it works well for what I wanted to do here .. and considering I am not likely to find many actual images of women dressed up in tight latex space suits, etc .. I think it did the job well for what I needed.
DeleteI know that you were a photographer, and had a feeling that you'd comment on the image, and you did not disappoint! It didn't tweak me nearly as much, and since the plot was quite fantastical, I didn't mind the image .. I am always happy when an AI picture has 5 fingers all where they should be, and there aren't multiple extra legs or extended torsos!