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ASTR1002: Captain Cook Exercise


The Chancellor of the Exchequer

You are responsible for the finances of the British Empire. You fight a
constant war against spendthrift ministers and royals to keep the empire
solvent. Not that you are against wise spending, but people have to bear in
mind the consequences of their spending decisions.
An expedition to the South Seas would be quite expensive. It will require
outfitting a naval ship for a multi-year mission, and hiring a top-notch
crew of navigators and natural philosophers: valuable people whose skills
will be missed. For the same money you could build a hospital in the slums
of London - a hospital that would save literally hundreds of lives a year.
You could abolish fees for undergraduates at both universities. You could
outfit a new battleship: a ship that could be crucial if war breaks out
with the French again. You could subsidise the weavers guild and keep a
thousand craftsmen in work: good industrious folk who have families to
support.
But what if the expedition discovered some new lands in the south seas?
Wouldn't all that new land be worth a pretty penny to the exchequer? You
are not so sure. Dutch explorers in the south seas reported finding very
nasty, dry and desolate lands, inhabited by screaming savages. Sure, it
would be possible to colonise a desert, but why bother? The money would be
better spent on fertiliser to improve the green fields of England. A
southern land may be huge, but it is a long way away and unlikely to ever
be of any practical benefit to Britain. It takes the best part of a year to
get there - surely profitable trade with somewhere so distant is crazy.
The cost of settling such a land would be astronomical. One expedition
would be bad enough, but imagine trying to ship tens of thousands of people
to some savage wasteland on the far side of the planet. You would have to
raise taxes: not popular with the voters. It might tip the whole economy
into depression! And all the supplies - no colony would be self sufficient
for decades. You tremble at the thought of endless supply ships travelling
half way around the world. Consider the example of your North American
colonies: even after two hundred years they still run at a loss. Every time
you try to rise taxes there, they threaten rebellion.
And what if it fails? Colonies often do: well over half the early colonies
in the Americas failed. You are buying a long-term investment with little
chance of payback for decades, and a good chance of the whole thing
folding.
Your advice is to give up the whole idea and invest the money in high-tech
stocks (steam engines) instead.

ASTR1002: Captain Cook Exercise


The Home Secretary

You are responsible for the state of Britain. You are also the world's
first environmentalist. You are horrified by the polluted air of London,
the fetid rivers, the over-farmed hills, and all the congestion of life in
this crowded island.
Already the traffic in London is so bad that the horse shit is sometimes a
foot deep in Trafalgar Square. Virtually none of the rivers in Britain
still have drinkable water. You can smell the major cities from miles away.
And still more children are being born: in fifty years the population may
have passed ten million!
Food is ever scarcer: farmers are now ploughing barren hilltops that they
would never have looked at in the past. Top-soil is blowing away at an
alarming rate, and the great forests of England have almost all been
chopped down. Fifty years from now, Britain will be a barren wasteland, and
its people will surely be starving and reduced to savagery.
Today you have to consider a radical proposal to send an expedition to the
far end of the world. The immediate purpose is scientific, but the hope is
that it will find new lands to colonise.
You are in two minds about this. New farmlands might help stave off
starvation in Britain. Though this seems dubious: surely it will never be
cost-effective to ship food for a year from the far side of the world.
Your real worry is that we would be exporting the abomination that is our
environmental policy. We've already destroyed to environment of Britain: do
we have any right to do the same to pristine lands in the South Seas? Look
what our colonists have already done in North America: millions of square
miles of forest destroyed, rivers polluted, and the Passenger Pigeon (once
the most common bird in North America) hunted to extinction.
No - let's take a stand here. Let's leave the lands of the South Seas as
they are. If we explore and settle them, we will bring nothing but
environmental disaster. We've already ruined our land - let's leave it at
that.


ASTR1002: Captain Cook Exercise


The Astronomer Royal

This expedition must go ahead! It is of fundamental importance to
astronomy. By observing the transit of Venus, we will be able to measure
the distance to the Sun and all the planets! The whole scale of the
universe will be revealed! The philosophical ramifications alone are
enormous. And think of the prestige: the French will have to acknowledge
that we are a cultured nation then. All Britons will have new pride in
themselves! This will be worth votes!
The transit is the main goal of this expedition, but, as so often in the
history of science, the spin-offs may prove to be of equal importance. The
plan is for the expedition to continue on, after the transit, to search for
the fabled great southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita.
This great southern continent may not exist. Many previous explorers have
found nothing, or only barren, unprofitable wastelands. The explorers may
disappear, as have so many before them. But surely this risk is worth
taking! Think of the biological importance of any new lands that we
discover! New plants and animals, hitherto unknown to civilised man! Surely
they will give new evidence of God's design in the creation. And they may
be useful too: we may find new crops superior to any we currently have: the
financial rewards could be awesome. It is a risk, for sure. But the cost is
only 10% of the value of the Prince of Wales' collection of cravats - King
George wastes more money on his mistresses every week..
There may well be spin-offs. New ways of navigating, new sailing
techniques. Surely companies will be happy to sponsor such an exciting
venture, perhaps in return for naming rights to whatever lands they
discover. Media coverage of the expedition will encourage young people to
run away to sea, increasing the trained workforce of sailors so vital to
our national prosperity.
But undoubtedly the greatest pay-offs from this expedition will be the
unexpected ones. This has always been the case with exploration and
scientific discovery: the true benefits are always greater than you think,
and totally unexpected. Who, for example, would have thought that Isaac
Newton's abstruse investigations into the motions of the planets would lead
to better ship designs and rocket technologies? Or that Christopher
Columbus' search for new trading routes would discover the world's greatest
gold and silver mines? The ultimate pay-off to Britain from this expedition
may take hundreds of years to come, and be completely unexpected, but none
the less valuable for that.

ASTR1002: Captain Cook Exercise


The War Minister

At present we are at peace with the French. But this can only be a
temporary state. They have not forgiven us for taking their Canadian
colonies. King Louis is an ambitious man - he will not rest until he is
master of Europe, and hence the world!
You hear rumors of French expeditions to the South Seas, perhaps under the
command of the infamous explorer La Pelouse. Perhaps they have secret
information about valuable lands down there: lands that could act as a base
from which to menace our trading links. It is imperative that we get there
first: all new lands must be ours!
A fundamental moral principle is at stake here. The world will soon be
divided up between the great powers. The whole future history of the Earth
will be written here. Can we stand by and let the tyrannical French build
the new world? Establish vast new colonies, all enslaved to the evil whim
of their despotic monarchs? Surely this would be a mortal sin: the world
must be liberated by enlightened British rule. Long Live the King!
Already we rely on our North American colonies for supplies during European
wars. Perhaps, a hundred years from now, supplies and soldiers from some
new colony deep in the southern seas will save us in some future European
war.
Of course, you could argue the opposite case. Why risk money on such a
speculative expedition when it could be used to buy a new battleship: a
very real and concrete addition to the defense of Britain. The money could
outfit a new regiment of the militia to help fight the Irish terrorists,
currently menacing our great landowners over in that unfortunate island.
Any discoveries in the South Seas will be in vain if the Irish revolt or
the French invade.
But then there is the issue of national pride. Last year, French
astronomers discovered ten new comets! Those miserable excuses for
astronomers out at Greenwich only found three. French explorers mapped
several new islands in the Indian ocean, and their cartographers produced
the best maps of India. And what did we do, with all our vaunted navy and
scientists? Nothing. We are a laughing stock in all the courts of Europe.
Imagine how much worse it would be if the French discover a new southern
continent? We would be humiliated!

ASTR1002: Captain Cook Exercise


The Archbishop of Canterbury

Your role in the cabinet is to provide moral guidance. Most politicians are
amoral: interested solely in enriching themselves and winning the next
election. Your job is to make them see the moral dimension in what they do.
You are very troubled by this proposed expedition to the South Seas.
Observing a transit of Venus is very commendable (though hardly worth the
money): anything new we learn about the Heavens can only be to the greater
glory of God. No - what worries you is the subsequent exploring trip deep
into the South Seas.
Look at the history of European exploration. Wherever we have gone, we have
destroyed native civilisations, bringing untold misery and persecution to
the original inhabitants of the lands we discover. In Mexico, we brought
disease, death and slavery to tens of millions of Maya and Aztecs. In Peru,
we double-crossed and destroyed the Incas: only a tiny fraction of their
population still survives, and they are mostly slaves in the silver mines
of on the great haciendas.
In Africa, both us and the Arab traders steal young men and women in their
thousands, ship them across the oceans in unspeakable conditions, and then
work them to death as slaves. In India, China and the Spice Islands we stir
up trouble between rival potentates, supplying both sides with guns, and
then when war breaks out, move in and add their territories to our
commercial empires, run purely by greed.
In North America, most of the tribes of Indians that used to live in the
Eastern states have been wiped out to the last squaw and brave. Pitiful
remnants of once great nations flee westward, to their doom.
No - it would be far better if any lands in the South Seas are not
discovered. Leave them in peace. If we discover them, it will surely only
be a matter of time until we've destroyed their civilisations and enslaved
or killed their populations. We cannot be trusted with new lands: we should
work out our moral problems at home before we are fit to venture beyond our
shores.
In arguing this case, you are aware that some of your colleagues in the
church may consider you heretical. After all, the savages in distant lands
have never been exposed to the redeeming power of the gospels. Surely, they
would say, it is our duty to go out to these distant lands a spread the
good news?
You aren't so sure. It sounds good in theory, but in practice all the
missionaries seem to bring is disease and enslavement. Perhaps a compromise
can be reached allowing only carefully chosen missionaries access to new-
found lands.

ASTR1002: Captain Cook Exercise


Lord Privy Seal

You are a sort of "Jack of all Trades" in cabinet. You are also a keen
amateur philosopher and historian. You see it as your role to bring an
historical perspective to the debates within cabinet.
This proposal for an expedition to the South Seas in a very interesting
one. Most of the business of Cabinet is very short-sighted: new taxes,
foreign affairs crises, new laws, dealing with one of the King's tantrums.
All important stuff, but it hardly leaves you time to think of long term,
philosophical issues.
Looking back in history, you see that the most successful nations were
those that explored and were curious. Consider golden ages like Renaissance
Europe, or the Greece of Pericles. They were out-going periods,
characterised by inquisitiveness and exploration. Countries that were
practical and unimaginative never seem to come to anything.
A politician once asked a famous explorer "What contribution does your
exploring make to the defence of our country?" The explorer answered "None!
It's the sort of think that makes our country worth defending!" You feel a
bit like this: Britain could be incredibly rich, peaceful and just, but we
would still amount to nothing unless we do something greater still. Perhaps
scientific, perhaps artistic, but if we always allow money and practicality
to rule our lives, they will ultimately be futile.
Some would call you a romantic, but you believe strongly that emotions are
important. If you are cold, calculating and rational about everything, you
will probably live to a healthy ripe old age, but your whole life will
ultimately be a sterile one. Nobody ever has children (nasty smelly things)
or gets married for purely rational reasons. You do it for love, but
without this love the world would die out.
You believe that the same applies to exploration and discovery - it may
seem a stupid impractical waste of money, but without it a nation is
nothing more that a bunch of bean counters.

ASTR1002: Captain Cook Exercise


The Prime Minister

You have the honour to be Prime Minister of Britain. Unfortunately, this
means that you have to chair cabinet meetings. Trying to get a decision out
of this group of blockheads is always a challenge. They get hung up over
trivial issues: meetings drag on and on, and nothing ever gets decided.
Today is an excellent example. You have to decide some trivial matter about
whether to send a ship to the South Seas. You cannot imagine why people get
so excited about this, when there are so many more important issues to
discuss. Try and get this discussion finished quickly so that you can get
on to the really important issue of Tax Reform (you are trying to introduce
a new tax: a GST (Glass Sales Tax) on the windows of the aristocracy.)
Then there are the riots in Ireland, the King's new mistress, the unrest in
the North American colonies, the impending visit of the Prussian
ambassador, intelligence reports on the Tsar's ambitious ship-building
program and much much more to discuss.
You are generally practical and focussed. You always ask of any proposal
"Will it pay"? It is all well and good to chase after dreams, but you have
to remember that everything is funded by the long-suffering taxpayers. And
taxpayers vote: you must be careful that whatever decisions you make will
not loose you votes. There is no point in making a brave but unpopular
decision: you will loose the next election and those scoundrels in the
opposition will undo your decision.
This expedition may not be very expensive, but every shilling counts. You
do not want to repeat the mistake of your predecessor and push the treasury
yet further into debt.
So: try and get people to state their positions concisely. Try and identify
the main points of disagreement and focus cabinet's attention on them -
don't let it get sidetracked by trivialities.
But remember: you cannot antagonize your cabinet members. A cabinet divided
is one that looses elections. Try to get an agreement that suits everybody.

ASTR1002: Captain Cook Exercise


The Irish Office.

You are the minister responsible for Ireland. It is not a coveted job - the
Irish problem has been going on for centuries and shows no sign of
stopping. You have to keep the Irish under control, by a mixture of force
and conciliation.
Remarkably, you were born in Ireland: normally Englishmen get this job. You
see it as your role to stand up for the poor downtrodden Irish, and for all
the other poor people whose interests are ignored by the Government. This
means that you are unpopular in Cabinet - everyone else here is a rich
English landowner. You probably will not last long, but by Gad, you'll make
sure that they know you were here, and you'll do your best for the poor.
This expedition to the South Seas seems like another typical rich people's
plot. They will find some new land, kill its people, steal all its wealth,
and then abandon it. The money will line the pockets of rich English
plutocrats, while the poor and the Irish do the work.
You believe that any expedition must benefit all the people of Britain, not
just the wealthy. Private enterprise cannot be involved. A workers
cooperative must be set-up to run the whole thing, and spread the benefits
uniformly. The expedition must be captained by an Irish man or woman. That
Captain Cook that everyone else is talking about is all well and good - an
excellent seaman you're sure, but he is English - doubtless a pawn of the
rich landowners.
You have no time for all this talk of wars. Workers of the world should
unite. It makes no sense to try and beat the French or the Prussians to new
lands: surely there is room enough for all. The expedition should be made a
multinational collaboration, and the benefits should be shared by the
workers of all countries.
All this may take time to organise, but what is the hurry? Spend the money
on something valuable like a new hospital in Derry. If the expedition has
to wait a hundred years, what's the problem? The lands in the South Seas
will still be there. With so much injustice at home, surely it would be
better to spend the time and money here before racing off around the world
in search of new savage races to conquer.