Hollywood director James Cameron admits he made Titanic because he wanted an excuse–and funding–to take a submersible down to the wreck itself. He builds on this story to make the case for sending humans on a Mars mission. Why not just send machines? In his Wired article, Cameron writes:

Exploration is not a luxury. It defines us as a civilization. It directly or indirectly benefits every member of society. It yields an inspirational dividend whose impact on our self-image, confidence, and economic and geopolitical stature is immeasurable.

The idea of an “inspirational dividend” doesn’t have much traction with David Appell, though, who thinks Cameron is being merely “romantic” with no real argument beyond “exploration is worthy for its own sake.”

I’ll admit that Cameron doesn’t assemble a compelling logical argument, which for me would have something to do with the value of shared human experience. Nevertheless, so long as the argument is about data, not inspiration or meaning or all those other warm, fuzzy, crucial words, the case for human exploration will seem weak. Ah, but the heart has reasons of which reason knows not.

I’d sign up for the trip in a heartbeat.