Manned space flight is costly and dangerous. Moreover, the recent success of a series of unmanned space probes and satellites has demonstrated that a great deal of useful information can be gathered without the costs and risks associated with sending men and women into space. Therefore, we should invest our resources in unmanned space flight."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
The letter to the editor postulates that US resources should be invested in unmanned rather than manned space flight. This is based entirely on the idea that a) manned missions are expensive and dangerous, and b) unmanned vehicles are able to gather a lot of information. However, the writer does not consider the quality and type of information being gathered. He or she assumes that the difference in costs is more important than the value of the mission. Acting on such assumptions could permanently limit comprehension of our universe.
A "great deal of useful information" is a vague claim on the value of unmanned space probes and satellites. The writer should consider the types of intelligence that probes and satellites can obtain. Rather than the greater solar system, these devices are often used as surveillance for conditions of the planet Earth. Additionally, once these devices are released into the atmosphere, they cannot be reclaimed. Thus, gathering samples of soils, gases and other matter is not possible. On the first mission into outer space, American astronauts visited the moon and touched its surface. Certain observations and judgements about the conditions of the environment could not have been made with unmanned crafts. They are also able to problem-solve in experiments in a way that artificial intelligence would not have the capacity for. As with so many technology advances - such as optimization software in transportation design - machines can develop infinite amounts of data, but subjective, human interpretation must still be made. Sometimes this is most effectively done live, in person.
Secondarily, the writer assumes that the risk level of human space travel is not worth the value of the information obtained. In the past, astronauts have experienced and reported about the physical conditions of zero-gravity environments, and about how time-passage is experienced in such an environment. Such information is critical, given that humans have considered habitation on planets other than Earth. In fact, such considerations are impossible without it. A large challenge requires a large investment. The fact that many more astronauts desire to travel to space than are permitted, regardless of the risk, is an indicator of consensus of this.
If the letter-writer's explication is to be followed, human knowledge of our environment and activities would be permanently limited. For example, humans might still believe the Earth is flat, if ocean travel had been considered too dangerous to be undertaken. If science had not invested in experimenting with physical construction capacity, skyscrappers would never have been built. This would have a huge impact on how urbanization and human settlement has developed in the last few centuries. Vaccines and cures for disease must ultimately be tested on humans, despite the hazard, if they are to be developed successfully. Again, experts in the field demonstrate their support for taking their risk. Epidemiologists knowingly put themselves in harm's way by taking uncertain treatments on themselves.
The writer should consider the type and quality of information being obtained by manned and unmanned vessels. Prior to jumping to conclusions, we must know more about what information can be gathered by manned and unmanned vehicles. This should be juxtaposed by what information is needed and how it can be used. Lastly, she or he should also consider the value of the risk and the cost. Ultimately, the stakes for humankind may be too critical to assume that money and safety are more important.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 33 15
No. of Words: 565 350
No. of Characters: 2945 1500
No. of Different Words: 274 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.875 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.212 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.987 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 209 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 160 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 131 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 92 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 17.121 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 5.02 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.364 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.229 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.41 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.063 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 169, Rule ID: A_PLURAL[2]
Message: Don't use indefinite articles with plural words. Did you mean 'mission'?
Suggestion: mission
...ased entirely on the idea that a manned missions are expensive and dangerous, and b unma...
^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 543, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ly limit comprehension of our universe. A 'great deal of useful information...
^^^^^
Line 3, column 1, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'An' instead of 'A' if the following word starts with a vowel sound, e.g. 'an article', 'an hour'
Suggestion: An
...mit comprehension of our universe. A 'great deal of useful information&...
^
Line 7, column 364, Rule ID: ADVERB_WORD_ORDER[7]
Message: The adverb 'never' is usually put between 'have' and 'been'.
Suggestion: have never been
...nstruction capacity, skyscrappers would never have been built. This would have a huge impact o...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, however, if, lastly, may, second, so, still, thus, for example, in fact, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 38.0 19.6327345309 194% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 21.0 12.9520958084 162% => OK
Conjunction : 22.0 11.1786427146 197% => OK
Relative clauses : 9.0 13.6137724551 66% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 34.0 28.8173652695 118% => OK
Preposition: 68.0 55.5748502994 122% => OK
Nominalization: 25.0 16.3942115768 152% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3041.0 2260.96107784 135% => OK
No of words: 565.0 441.139720559 128% => OK
Chars per words: 5.38230088496 5.12650576532 105% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.87542086881 4.56307096286 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.1332352708 2.78398813304 113% => OK
Unique words: 287.0 204.123752495 141% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.50796460177 0.468620217663 108% => OK
syllable_count: 970.2 705.55239521 138% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 4.96107784431 181% => OK
Article: 9.0 8.76447105788 103% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 2.70958083832 185% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 4.22255489022 142% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 33.0 19.7664670659 167% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 22.8473053892 74% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 32.2914016251 57.8364921388 56% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 92.1515151515 119.503703932 77% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.1212121212 23.324526521 73% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.9696969697 5.70786347227 52% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 4.0 5.25449101796 76% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 16.0 8.20758483034 195% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 11.0 4.67664670659 235% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.263648553636 0.218282227539 121% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.059379047564 0.0743258471296 80% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0530300697402 0.0701772020484 76% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.144249548411 0.128457276422 112% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.04629776156 0.0628817314937 74% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.5 14.3799401198 87% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 45.76 48.3550499002 95% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 12.197005988 91% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.63 12.5979740519 108% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.84 8.32208582834 106% => OK
difficult_words: 156.0 98.500998004 158% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 12.3882235529 69% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.8 11.1389221557 79% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.