Review of Journal Articles About Unmanned Systems Applications

 

Blog Intro:   Welcome back to another blog post to Unmanned Adventures!  In this post  I plan on finding  a peer-reviewed journal article from an academic or scholarly source that I will review, assess, and provide an assessment on a future unmanned application in the space environment.  Although this will have academic rigor associated with it, I will attempt to keep it entertaining and interesting.  Please feel free to leave your thoughts and any additional assessments as you see fit.  Thanks!

Motivation:  This blog is being posted in fulfillment to meet the requirements of an  assignment to an Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Master of Science Course,  Application of Unmanned Systems (UNSY 501), so it is being posted in a non-attribution environment and for the purpose of stimulating and furthering discussions of the future application of unmanned systems.

Application Description:  The journal article that I will review is one I found in the Theology and Science regarding the application of unmanned space craft using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to preach Christianity to other civilizations outside of our solar system.  In other words, this concept would use unmanned systems to preach among the stars.   In his article, "Christian Unmanned Mission Beyond Solar System? A Preliminary Review", Enrico Beltramini, claims that a voyage of faith, lends itself to the voyage into space.  Beltramini submits that the leaps and advances in technologies have enabled human’s “space exploration” to transition to “space civilization.”  

Capabilities:  The specific capabilities to evangelize in space were not presented by Beltramini, however he mentions leveraging the incredible space technological successes being demonstrated by Elon Musk, Jeff Bazoos, Sir Richard Branson’s companies as space gets more and more privatized.  Beltramini sees these capabilities having the ability to travel for hundreds of years to reach other solar systems and engage with any alien civilization to spread the word of God.  He uses the term “posthumans” as the unmanned systems that will go on their “missions.”  He also proposes that AI will be the main capability to guide the space vehicle the vast distances of space, and guide the posthuman missionaries.         

Challenges:  The challenges of human missionaries being able to travel through the vast distances and voids of space clearly makes Beltramini fully recommend the AI infused posthuman model to do this activity.  An incredible challenge that would be interesting to witness, is when, and or if, these posthumans missionaries actually meet up and engage with alien beings from another world.  Beltramini claims that whatever beings are out in the universe, they are all God’s creation, so the missionary mission will blend in well with whatever alien civilization.  Beltramini speaks of Roman Catholic beliefs that will be presented during these interstellar missionary missions.      

My Review:   When I came across this article, I never even thought that people were actually thinking about using unmanned space vehicles and robots as an application to preach to other alien nations, yet to be discovered.  I was glad to see that engaging with non-earthlings is an extension of American “Manifest Destiny.”  I think that the more we explore as humans, not just Americans, the more we gain as a civilization.  I am not sure any engagement with another alien civilization will be received very well if a robotic posthuman shows up and starts to preach.  I think that there will be many different religions represented on whatever team is gathered to plan and execute this mission, so Roman Catholic perspective might become more of a blended Christian message. An interstellar missionary knocking on the door of another world, might be taken as the same when a missionary, regardless of religion, comes knocking on your door.   

 

References

 

Beltramini, E. (2019. October 9). Christian Unmanned Mission Beyond Solar System? A  Preliminary Review. Theology and Science, 17:4, 499-510. https://doi-org.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/10.1080/14746700.2019.1670964