Subject:
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Re: And now for something completely different...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sat, 1 Mar 2003 03:30:14 GMT
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Viewed:
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291 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Leonard Hoffman writes:
>
> > Now on this we completely agree--this very discussion has caused much
> > consternation between myself and my SO--I say we're not in space enuf, she
> > wants to see us take care of *everything* here before we even think about
> > getting into space.
>
>
> well, look at it from a resources point of view. a colony in space or on
> another planet would cost trillions, and yet people are starving to death here
> on earth. What can a space colony do that would make such an expediture
> worthwhile?
"Well look at it from another point of view. We still have messes to clean
up from ejecting the Moors. What can an expedition to China do that would
make such an expenditure worthwhile? Let Columbus help solve the problems
here in Spain first" - Ferdinand (or was it Isabella)
That was the wrong viewpoint. 100 years later it was clear that funding
exploration was the right thing to do.
"A canal in Sault Ste. Marie? I'd rather see a canal built on the moon
first" - Henry Clay (paraphrased... http://www.baylisslib.org/chipcanal.html )
That was the wrong viewpoint. 50 years later millions of tons of ore a year
went through that very canal and you, if you live in the US, have steel made
from some of that Minnestota ore in your house, for sure.
But more fundamentally, the very idea of spending money to "solve" social
problems instead of investing it is why you have social problems in the
first place. Do you eat your seed corn too?
Please provide a cite for why a colony (which is not what I'm talking about,
I don't want some ISS writ large... I'm talking about an industrial
infrastructure that supports itself) would necessarily cost trillions, or
even cost more than it would return.
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