Basically, yeah. There's two types of navigation. One of them you don't need instruments for, it's instinctive, and one of them the computer does for you.
[ He considers that, which is a bit easier to grasp than most of what they've been discussing. A bit less so in context, he can't quite fathom navigating a vessel "instinctively," but it seems more common with modern transportation-- automobiles and such, whereas he'd liken it more to walking from his flat to the grocery, something he'd obviously have no need to use a map or compass for.
And granted, he'd most recently been in the Discovery Service, which specifically involves traveling to and through that which has been previously uncharted. Irving doesn't think modern technology would have made any difference in their own voyage, here, but it's still interesting to hear, and useful even, maybe, to know, if not specifically for travel reasons, then maybe others. ]
How does it... the computer, is it like a compass? Or a chronograph? What kind of guidance does it offer you exactly?
It literally steers the ship for you. Like you tell it "take me here" and it automatically plots the course and does the guidance. I keep an ear on it, obviously, and if we're actually being pursued or doing something delicate a human pilot is better. The ship's navigation is good for getting from point A to point B, though.
It helps that space is very, very empty, so you can go in a straight line most of the time. You're not so much at the mercy of waves or weather or landmasses like on the ocean.
That's remarkable. Unimaginable. [ Except Irving is imagining it, already trying to work out how it... well, works. ] I take it the, uh... computer, is it? has a map that it can somehow reference, to navigate from?
[ He might not know much about how "programming" works, or what's involved or even, really, what to call it, but after six month of using his network device, he more or less has an idea of programming, at least-- that there's some kind of underlying mechanism and system at work within modern technology that allows it to function how it does. Same as a compass or chronograph, in a way... well, no, not the same, but close enough that anyone with a reasonable understanding of science could draw a basic comparison. ]
What about all the other planets, and stars? The sun, and moon?
I don't really think about the sun and the moon because I don't hang around Earth much. But think of it this way. If the Earth were the size of one grain of sand, then the nearest star to the sun you know would be about three miles down the beach. And there's a lot of stars that are way further.
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finder overflow; extramuralizing
no subject
And granted, he'd most recently been in the Discovery Service, which specifically involves traveling to and through that which has been previously uncharted. Irving doesn't think modern technology would have made any difference in their own voyage, here, but it's still interesting to hear, and useful even, maybe, to know, if not specifically for travel reasons, then maybe others. ]
How does it... the computer, is it like a compass? Or a chronograph? What kind of guidance does it offer you exactly?
no subject
It helps that space is very, very empty, so you can go in a straight line most of the time. You're not so much at the mercy of waves or weather or landmasses like on the ocean.
no subject
[ He might not know much about how "programming" works, or what's involved or even, really, what to call it, but after six month of using his network device, he more or less has an idea of programming, at least-- that there's some kind of underlying mechanism and system at work within modern technology that allows it to function how it does. Same as a compass or chronograph, in a way... well, no, not the same, but close enough that anyone with a reasonable understanding of science could draw a basic comparison. ]
What about all the other planets, and stars? The sun, and moon?
no subject
I don't really think about the sun and the moon because I don't hang around Earth much. But think of it this way. If the Earth were the size of one grain of sand, then the nearest star to the sun you know would be about three miles down the beach. And there's a lot of stars that are way further.