Laika

[sslounge]

Comments

[sslounge]

You haven't read too many LJ posts then.

What makes this one weirder than others?

[weaselwoman13]

I'm really fond of the episode of The Tick where they're sending a monkey up into space and some comic book-y mishap happens up in the space pod which makes the monkey suddenly gain humanlike intelligence and the ability to speak...and he proceeds to scream and sputter at the NASA people, berating them for sending a monkey into space, and how pointless it was, and how uncomfortable and freaked out he was. Even though the overall tone was comic, they made the monkey's terror uncomfortably palpable before he got his intelligence augmented, and it was clear that the writer's position was distinctly anti-monkeys-in-space

[sslounge]

I think I remember that Tick episode. It was the first one I ever saw, but all what I remember is that monkey bit.

That's exactly it, it's the fear these animals must have felt that truly horrifies me. If it was just instantaneous death, well they had no way of knowing, but clearly these animals (whether primate or canine) had no idea what was going on.

[thisisjusttosay]

We've squandered whatever knowledge we gained that it really makes the space programs of the time really seem like exercises in futility disguised as propaganda.

Sounds like a way you could define the entire Cold War.

[sslounge]

Yeah...pretty much.

[hellbound_heart]

I couldn't believe that anyone could willingly do such a thing; poor Laika. It still seems incredible, and as you say, has effectively done little.

[sslounge]

It's become a joke about people wondering where our jetpacks and flying cars are considering the fact we're now in the 21st century, but there is a point: After all this talk and hype over the admittedly admirable goal of traveling into space, we're now only cosmetically removed from where we were circa 1960.

[gemsweater]

Stuff I've seen about the chimps is pretty horrific, too. It's not like I've ever seen a chimp in real life but when you see pictures of them strapped into test apparati it's easy to squint and see their resemblance to human children, a resemblance which really exists in terms of their intelligence and aptitude.

[sslounge]

I didn't want to sound like I was trivializing the chimps' fate either; The almost calier way assorted governments would not even bother recovering the crafts when landed at sea are appalling, regard of the animal inside. Just the dogs leapt out because that was what I first surfed onto (darn Wikipedia)

[gemsweater]

I SEE THRU U I KNOW YOU HATE CHIMPS