Reality TV from Mars

I wrote previously about the talk a few guys from JPL gave at our executive conference a few months back about their plans in Second Life.  The idea of “first an avatar, then a robot, then a human” is certainly a captivating way to think about how exploration is going to be done in the next 30 years.  This piece from Wired

sheds a little more light a new connection, between the humans we’ll eventually send to mars and their virtual representations in the metaverse.  The idea seems to be to help the astronauts feel more connected with the people on earth they left behind:

The psychological boost enjoyed by Mars-bound astronauts of knowing that they are ‘golden people,’ celebrated as heroes by millions on Earth, cannot be overstated,” says Zubrin.

So I guess this completes the loop: first an avata, then a robot, then a human…then the human on mars drives the avatar.  Wonder what kind of net speeds they’ll get on Mars?  Sadly it will probably be better than I get in most hotels…
(Thanks for the email Dave B

!)