In his blog at wired.com, noted sci-fi “cyperpunk” author Bruce Sterling reprints an email alert he apparently received earlier this week from The Planetary Society. “NASA Science Situation More Dire Than We Thought!” reads the subject line of the message, which begins with this statement: “The disastrous anti-science, anti-exploration agenda being foisted on NASA and Space Science has become more dangerous than we ever imagined possible.” More dire? More dangerous? Is this a reaction to NASA’s lunar base plans? (The message is dated December 5, one day after the announcement.) Reading through the message, though, that new development is this: “Now, in yet another slap at the value and future of Space Science and Exploration, NASA head Mike Griffin unceremoniously requested the resignations of two distinguished scientists from the NASA Advisory Council (NAC).” The problem is, though, that these resignations took place in August, not December. Oops. (The Planetary Society’s “Save Our Science” web site, last updated in late November, refers to the lame-duck Congress and the NASA budget, not the NAC resignations.)
So, did the Planetary Society send out the wrong message last week, or did Sterling get, um, well, cyber punk’d?
I read Sterling’s last column in Wired magazine… and, well, it wasn’t very good:
“So mark my last little act of prediction in this space: I don’t have a poll or a single shred of evidence to back it up, but I believe more good things are in store, and some are bound to come from the tangled, ubiquitous, personal, and possibly unpredictable Net.”
I was kinda hoping for something more specific.
I got the TPS message also.
B