aircraft have a less chance of collisions or other accidents than ground vehicles, and less natural obstacles that their program can misinterpret. autopilots of varying complexity have been in commercial use for decades. Even if you're physically inside the robotic aircraft the chance of failure-even if it is catastrophic-is small with respect to the robotic ground car or bus. Most of us deal with this kind of risk daily anyways. As for the chef and the spouse, so much can go wrong that would be hard to anticipate in the engineering phase. And when something goes wrong either your digestion or your genitals are on the line. Definitely not in my comfort zone.

we could build industrial manufacturing systems and a launching point on the moon. industry would be pollution-less on the moon, and the lesser gravity couldn't hurt. launching missions from the moon would remove a lot of the problems and costs inherent in launching missions from earth. Building some infrastructure could make space exploration a lot more feasable.

I once had a job where i sold cell phones and was expected to bust my ass the entire time, which was a bit unrealistic since the mall we were in was completely dead. As much as i loved the other staff there the owner signed all the wrong exclusivity deals and was actually scared to death of technology. Long story short, there just wasn't a lot we could do. I would sa i did 0-2 hours here, even though i honestly tried to do more. Shortly after i gave my notice the HR manager (one of the two other permanent employees) was sent over to fire me (even though i had already quit) for being late twice in two weeks, she gave me a hug. My next job was at a newspaper where i worked my ass off(6-8 hours with intermediary deadlines) but if there wasn't any work they let me do whatever. Then i got laid off because of the recession.YAAAAY!! Anyways i can definitely say i enjoy jobs where i actually work more. Slacking isn't a natural state for me.

oh man.. all I can think of is the friction burns D: