[zarrar (OP)]

do you think that scientists have now become explorers of today?

[Ylide]

Well, sure.  There's really no geography left to explore (aside from deep deep sea) so exploration of the nature of life, the universe, and everything is naturally what's left.  It's a little more controlled than explorations of yore, of course.  A scientist doesn't run off willy nilly and see what he/she finds, there is usually a goal in mind and a specific set of tools and techniques to achieve that goal.  Even with all the planning, many discoveries are still random luck.





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[MayoFlyFarmer]

Sometimes we run off willie nilly and see what we find.  That is often the most exciting kind of science, just more difficult to get funding for.  Also many/most explorers had a goal of what they wanted to find, or a good guess (hypothesis???) of what tehy would find.  Just like scientists, the greatest discoveres often occured wehn they were wrong.
Also, if you look at teh two ACTUAL types of explorers we have left (deep sea explorers, and astronauts) we typically tend to lump them in the category with the rest of us scientisits (you know, the people who can't spell).

That's no moon.... its a GRAPEFRUIT!!!!

[neilep]

I think the very nature of exploration is scientifically based. The early explorers were akin to the scientists of today. And there are just as many scientists out there whose nature of study by it's very nature requires them to get out there and travel...paleontologists for example....geologists etc

I would say that there IS still a vast amount of geography to explore, not just to discover the whereabouts of somewhere but to discover the reason behind the make up of the land, the composition of the soils and sediments and rocks etc and what these reveal about the world we live in and provide evidence of aeons and eras past, climate change and planetery history and much much further afield etc.

I think that Scientists in the lab are very much the explorers of today too, utilising the tools at hand. Exploration in the lab is on a smaller scale with the opportunity for profound discovery with incredible consequences of incalculable definition and magnitude on a truly Universal scale.

And that's what I have to say about that.



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