The McLaren Discriminant

I’ve never been one to engage in a lot of “there are two kinds of people in the world…” divisions.

Oh, I think that humans are fundamentally inclined, probably at a biological level, to see things in terms of “us and them”, but like a certain brilliant Scotsman, I also tend to think that the direction of increased civilization is the direction of a more inclusive “we”.

That being said, every now and then I run into something that so perfectly illuminates the difference between the people in my tribe and the people who are just Not Like Us.

Here’s an example:

(High Resolution Version).

If you look at that photo, knowing that it’s a picture of a bunch of dirt on another planet and your first thought is “it’s a bunch of dirt on another planet”, then you are Not One Of Us. If, on the other hand you get excited because “it’s a bunch of dirt on another planet” then you’re probably in the sensawunda tribe.If you look at that and focus on what it means that we could take that picture, then you’re also in my tribe, but it’s a different one. I shall refer to this, until I forget, as the McLaren Discriminant.

Phoenix Mars Lander Images
NYT Coverage

“Yowza.” In the tribe.

Making Light has another image that relates, from Bad Astronomy.

Think on this, and think on it carefully: you are seeing a manmade object falling gracefully and with intent to the surface of an alien world, as seen by another manmade object already circling that world, both of them acting robotically, and both of them hundreds of million of kilometers away.

Never, ever forget: we did this. This is what we can do.

I’m getting an engineering erection over here.