Starlog #23: “Improve a mechanical device and you may double productivity. But improve man, you gain a thousand fold.” -Khan
Margaret asks, “What new technologies are making us more self-sufficient?” Why is it necessary to be self-sufficient in these areas? How will this help us progress as humans and as explorers?
Gosh lots of tech nowadays we use on a daily basis that make us self-sufficient. And yes it does make us rely on a lot it so kinda throws out the self-sufficient out of the window but yeah just using your phone and its alarms, Face-timing family, having meeting via Zoom or Skype, have access to research papers, education, new languages, diet recipes, order medication online and get it delivered, anything automated like opening doors, lights with timers, get your food delivered to your house, GPS and Google maps, anything Wi-Fi, auto-stop on trucks and cars, parking aids, robots being used for surgery, looking up tutorials to fix something at home and so many more.
But yes can people still find their way around without Google Maps, parking a car with or without censors and so on.
I do believe it is necessary to be self-sufficient because it saves money, you learn new things and skills by thinking for yourself and using your own hands albeit through trial and error, you are more grounded with the world around you, more independent.
That being said I am a big fan of any technology that moves us forward and makes everything easier, saves time and helps and saves others.
It will help us as explorers to figure out how to grow our crops in a sufficient way, how to make our settlements work for us as in solar panels, water drainage systems, purifiers,….
Self-sufficient life style is becoming more and more popular and people are finding ways to grow their own food, collect natures’ elements to turn it into energy, compost systems, purify water, it is all about making new homes work for itself and the people living in it. Finding new ways to exercise, renewable clothes, diapers and these are just little examples of how this is needed in space and is already being developed in the ISS for future interplanetary travel.