The Next Generation of Explorers Is Already Exploring

This is a commendable effort, but NASA Watch again here confuses "exploration" with "expedition". Does Jordan himself ever refer to this as doing "exploration"? Does ABC News? This evidently very privileged kid is certainly challenging himself, but doing so in a way that sure doesn't benefit anyone else. Does this kind of challenge, which could as easily be called a "stunt" as it could be called an "exploration" set any kind of standard for the true explorers that we yearn for?

Editor's note: this sounds a lot like armchair quarterbacking to me ....

"Editor's note: this sounds a lot like armchair quarterbacking to me ...."

Exactly my point. What it sounds like to you is not what it sounds like to a lot of us.

Look, this kid is certainly courageous and driven (he also seems to have a lot of money). We should respect him for that. But is that what defines an "explorer"? He's going where many people have gone. He may well be exploring his own capabilities and pushing back his own personal frontiers, and I guess that's admirable, but he's not doing this for anyone else.

Armchair quarterbacking, eh? I don't have the cash to be an international mountain climber (I will admit to that), so I don't get to comment on what makes an explorer, you seem to be saying. Is that correct? Somewhat lame logic. And you don't know that I don't climb high mountains, so I'm not even sure quite where you're coming from.

Editor's note: I was referring to YOUR comments. This is where I am coming from:
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=6563
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=10690
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=24755

Been there, done that.

You don't know what chair I'm sitting in

Editor's note: well instead of just taking potshots at people - as if you know more than the rest of us do, how about providing some context - i.e. your personal exerience. What sort of exploring have you done? As far as Devon Island goes, we regularly stand in places that no human has ever stood before - and have been unravelling the history of the place - for the first time - often at personal risk.

, so please get off the high horse that you're sitting on. Devon Island was indeed a marvelous adventure. But we were talking about exploration.

So you've "been there, done that" I gather, but you still haven't produced a coherent response to the words I posted. Those words were just offered to invite some dialog. I certainly don't need such dialog, but you opened the door, and you don't seem to want to go in.

As long as you bring it up, what exactly made your adventure at Devon Island "exploration"?

There's no dialog to invite; you just found a way to turn "hey you used the wrong word" into a long & combative question.

OK, so you aren't willing to address my original question (which was hardly either long or combative), but instead turn it in to an adolescent "whose exploration is bigger" question.

Editor's note: Here we go. Name calling. Yawn.

But I will state for the record, that the distinction between "exploration", "expedition", and "adventure" is an important one, as big promises are being made in the name of the former.

By your own definition, "exploration" would seem to be standing where no one has stood before. So, with all due respect to Jordan, who I actually greatly admire, how does that apply to him? With regard to Devon Island, what exactly was the "risk" that often accompanies exploration? Surely not a personal risk.

The fact that the editor is troubled by these comments leads me to believe that this isn't the best place to address them.