The Exploration Age + 515 Years...

[veemonjosh]

It's hard to believe that it's been 515 years since Columbus discovered America. And it all started with three ships, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/CristobalColon.jpg (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/CristobalColon.jpg)



Yes Folks, It's been 515 years to the day that Columbus discovered America, and it all started on October 8th, 1492, with the launch of Spain's Santa Maria. This 82 foot long boat showed the world that humans took the next step in exploration..


and yet where have we gone in just 515 years? Where are we going in the next 515 years. What are our goals and objectives here? After all some folks say going to the moon was the next step, or that going to Mars would be the next logical choice.


But if the first 515 years have shown us anything, it shows that with space comes risks, and dangers, yet with that same risk taking enthusiasm it reaps rewards..After all without exploration, the United States, space shuttles, and even airplanes wouldn't exist.. In short the exploration age has given us a new look on life.


but what should the goals be for the next 515 years? Where should we go? What should we do? After all even though it's been 515 years, should we as a species, think about traveling to the stars? Or should we abandon exploration altogether, and leave it alone?


let the discussion begin..

:fox:

[BCVM22]

http://www.esreality.com/files/placeimages/2006/46138-i-lold001.jpg

[The Wolverine]

I was about to say something in reply to the first line, then I realized what you did.

Magnificent.

[Ishtar]

Happy Columbus Day. However, iirc, Columbus really DIDN'T discover America, well not the 1st one to. Apparently, the Vikings discovered it before he did. Yeah, I know, I'm being a nitpick. ><

[The Wolverine]

Happy Columbus Day. However, iirc, Columbus really DIDN'T discover America, well not the 1st one to. Apparently, the Vikings discovered it before he did. Yeah, I know, I'm being a nitpick. ><

Thing is, Columbus landed in Jamaica, not the USA. That's why this day is meaningless.

[BCVM22]

Thing is, Columbus landed in Jamaica, not the USA. That's why this day is meaningless.

Columbus could have landed in Mexico for all it matters. The point is that this thread is hilarious.

[Gatomon41]

Thing is, Columbus landed in Jamaica, not the USA. That's why this day is meaningless.
His discovery effectively changed the history of the world, cultures, and peoples, wither good or bad. This day isn't meaningless. It has so much meaning than one realize, but not for celebration.

[Rook]

Heh, too much irony.
Ya know I wonder how the Native Americans would view this day.
Ooh boy is it gonna be a long day.


great way to start it: here (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation)

[The Wolverine]

Heh, too much irony.
Ya know I wonder how the Native Americans would view this day.
Ooh boy is it gonna be a long day.

Heh.

Here in AZ (or at least Phoenix), the schools can't legally call it "Columbus Day" anymore.

Political correctness at it's finest.

[tucsoncoyote]

And yet you know folks, I know where he got it from, but the truth be told, Exploration has taken place over the last 515 years and everyone pokes fun at Columbus.

But then again remember Exploration is a term that today is used very loosely and a lot of folks tend to forget that Exploration is in fact a discovery of certain things on many different levels.

For example take Columbus day (which I have to agree is totally Pointless because our teachers have skewed the facts on a number of levels and we've all heard the issue of how "Columbus supposedly Discoverd America."

yet in the long run Columbus didn't really discover anything, but rather he didn't even explore the so called "New world..."

He, Columbus, exploited it..

Exploration As I stated is a form of Discovery, of finding out new and interesting things, like the splitting of the atom. Or trying new industrial ideas like the Steam Locomotive or assembly line practices.. Even Flight itself was an exploration in unto itself as Man until the 1700's didn't know what flight was.. but each step of flight went a step further.. First Balloons, then gliders, and finally powered flight with just the last 50 years of it being just space travel and exploration as well. But everytime there is exploration in the real world, there is also Exploitation of the same issues at hand.

So yes Exploration and Exploitation are part of the same coin.. What some see as Exploration of a new undiscovered territory is usually done so that someone else benefits in the process. (in short Columbus didn't really discover America per se, but rather he helped Up and coming countries like Spain, France and Britian exploit the so called Wealth and riches that supposedly existed..

But then like I said in my Space Age +50 post, Sputnik itself is in a way a bit of our first steps off the planet, to the moon, mars and beyond, and yet humankind has also exploited the technologies we've created..the computer, the internet, and even Ipods are nothing more than exploitive ways of the Space Age tech that got us to the moon.


But the bottom line is this.. Exploration can't exist without exploitation.. and Exploitation isn't without exploration in a subject. After all this hasn't been going around for just 50 years.. but 515 years..10 times longer than our exploration/explotation of space..so believe me, Columbus might have explored the world to some folks but in others he exploited it, In the end Columbus ended up not a hero but the proverbial bum.. He was tried as a criminal, and in the end, it just proves that Exploration and exploitation are part of the same equation. it's just our human nature to do both.. Oh and if you are going to plagurize a writer, do it a bit more creatively.. after all exploration breeds exploitation don't you know..

oh and one final thing.. Happy Columbus Day.. Especially in Ohio...as for me? I'm just waiting till the 14th and 15th of the month.. After all it's been 60 years since man broke the sound barrier in the air, and 10 years of doing the same on the ground.. Not to bad for exploring some of the things we've done as of late..But like I said, Exploration and Exploitation are part of the same coin we flip every day. Enjoy it till you find out what it's like to be exploited..then you'll see how bad columbus day really is.

:coyote:

[Pilmedium]

Exploration can't exist without exploitation.. and Exploitation isn't without exploration in a subject.

The first part of that statement is awfully pessimistic. There must be other reasons to explore, such as curiosity or a desire to help some people. When exploration is for those reasons and widely supported or personally funded, there does not necessarily need to be any exploitation. Exploitation has usually been the result because of greed and delusions, but it does not always need to be.

With that having been said, the explorations of Columbus and other fifteenth and sixteenth century explorers did lead to mass exploitation of resources and people. I blame that on the European monarchs in whose names the explorers sailed.

[Captain Highwind]

but what should the goals be for the next 515 years? Where should we go? What should we do? After all even though it's been 515 years, should we as a species, think about traveling to the stars? Or should we abandon exploration altogether, and leave it alone?

Space?

Hell, we'll rip through space-time!

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/5753/gurren20lagann202001202nu5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Zeonic Freak]

Happy Columbus Day. However, iirc, Columbus really DIDN'T discover America, well not the 1st one to. Apparently, the Vikings discovered it before he did. Yeah, I know, I'm being a nitpick. ><

I heard some Chinese guy discovered America before the Vikings.

And yea, Columbus came back to Spain being cuffed up and not having any defense because of him "stretching his boundries". That seems to be the cost of exploration...

[J'onn J'onzz]

This is the best thread trend ever.

[XOMiss_Samantha]

Where is Amerigo Vespucci day?! He's the one America's named after. Columbus just came and killed a bunch of people and spread some wonderful diseases.

[Czar Gato]

I'm not one for rabid political correctness, but eh- I'm not big on Columbus Day, due to the exploitation of the First Nations peoples (which was of course not directly Columbus' fault, but he's kind of a symbol of all that followed colonization of the New World).

Actually, I'm surprised that there isn't an American Indian Day or something.

[Ishtar]

Thing is, Columbus landed in Jamaica, not the USA. That's why this day is meaningless.
Well, tecnically he still landed in an area the Europeans didn't know existed, and Jamaica is sorta included with the America Continents themselves.

Where is Amerigo Vespucci day?! He's the one America's named after. Columbus just came and killed a bunch of people and spread some wonderful diseases.

Yep, that's so true. He threatened them to look for gold that turned out to not really exist much in the area. >_>

[Wolfie~Giri]

I'm not too big on Columbus Day, even though most of my nationality is Italian. (But seriously, what does that have to do with anything? Columbus was Italian---and so on Columbus Day, we celebrates Italian culture..? If that's it then I simply don't get it.)

...And technically (And most of us already know) Columbus didn't discover America. Basically, he just proved his theory that the earth is round and not flat as most people believed way back then.

[J'onn J'onzz]

Nobody ever said Columbus FIRST discovered America. He was just the most chatty discoverer, who inspired most (not the British, Canadian, Japanese, etc. or Native Americans obviously...) people on TZ's ancestors over here.

And of course, it doesn't really matter, since this thread was just an oportunity to do another hilarious aniversary thread.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

...And technically (And most of us already know) Columbus didn't discover America. Basically, he just proved his theory that the earth is round and not flat as most people believed way back then.

Even then, people had known the earth was round for a long time. It was just something that only the educated elite knew, and the Church would refute, because they were the Church.

However, even if Columbus didn't discover the Americas, he's the one who made the 'new world' known to the 'old world', so he really did have a huge impact on history, and that can't really be ignored.

[Toonfan2000]

In Colorado (or at least my school district), we don't get the day off on Columbus Day, possibly to avoid rabid "Native American Heritage" groups going after them.

[bluedeucedodge]

Columbus Day is just pure crap. How can you "discover" a land that is already inhabited? I think I'll go next door and "discover" my neighbor's plasma TV.

[J'onn J'onzz]

Today is "Leif Erikson Day"... I like how the day devoted to the actual first European to set foot in America is the day after the day devoted to the commonly believed to be first European to set foot in America.

[Zeonic Freak]

Columbus Day is just pure crap. How can you "discover" a land that is already inhabited? I think I'll go next door and "discover" my neighbor's plasma TV.

Or you could do the next best thing, pull a Peter Griffin and invade your neighbors Pool, if he had one LOL:D (Hey, thats what Colombus did, kill the people who were inhabited america to begin with, and that was a trend that kept going for like 300 years)...

[I.R Joey]

I have a problem with how people say Columbus (or even Leif Erickson) discovered America? How can you discover something when there are already millions of people living there, with hundreds of distinct languages, cultures, religions and ways of life specifically adapted to the land.

One of the last acceptable hold out of Eurocentricism this idea of "discovering" the new world.

[Gatomon41]

I have a problem with how people say Columbus (or even Leif Erickson) discovered America? How can you discover something when there are already millions of people living there, with hundreds of distinct languages, cultures, religions and ways of life specifically adapted to the land.

One of the last acceptable hold out of Eurocentricism this idea of "discovering" the new world.
And yet another example of Chronocentricism.

[DarthGonzo]

"I claim this India in the name of Spain!"
"Um, sorry, Mr. Columbus, but this is China."
"...minor setback."