From Barry Isaacs, Lamerton, Devon, UK
From
I see with some alarm that you describe the New Horizons spacecraft as “plucky” – a term usually defined as having courage in the face of adversity. This seems to imply that the probe has acquired intelligence, can understand what it is doing and experiences human emotions.
This isn’t far removed from the plot of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, where an earlier spacecraft leaves the solar system, only to return centuries later and wreak havoc while it tries to locate its creator: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.
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