Posted on 04/02/2005 2:45:44 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Lots of hydrogen on Jupiter..
"So when the Superbowl comes around, I am happy for them and do not storm around the house trying to turn off the TV."There's a lot of wisdom in this.
I feel the same way--about football and most everything else. There's a lot to be happy for everybody about and plenty of opportunities not to try to turn off the TV.
"...a wish list, whose execution would exhaust the gross national product of the Milky Way"This guy's clever. He could be describing Congress.
"...the far–sighted Prometheus nuclear reactor program...has had its liver pecked out by the federal eagle... However, like its namesake, Prometheus will live on as a very expensive program"Hahahahahahahahahahaha! I guess he was! Hahahahaha! How does Blandford come up with this stuff!?!!
Yes. It's like most very expensive programs. They keep coming back to life. Congress loves 'em. They keep getting them elected.
Maybe that's the subconscious motivation for all this exploration.
Now that's an imaginative human being--the kind that brought us this far into discovery!
Maybe by the time the sun threatens to incinerate us by becoming a red giant, we will have learned to harness the energy of a somethingorother and will zoom the earth across the Milky Way--or into some other galaxy. We still have enough time, but none to waste.
I'll suggest something, just an idea..
Maybe we're waiting for those "other nations" to acheive the capability to do just that.. establish their own off-world bases..
Maybe the U.S. has some sort of unspoken agreement to put it's space programs on hold until there is some competition..
You suggest that force will be used on the moon and mars to establish boundaries..
More frightening to me is the possibility of the paranoia our monopoly in space could generate, a paranoia that could be acted out right here on earth..
I'm sure you've seen enough of the movies, read enough conspiracy theories, to know that many already believe that the U.S. and Russia have nuclear (nukular) weapons in orbit above the planet..
Such beliefs, whether true or not, could start a war right here on earth..
By waiting until other nations have caught up, technologically, and allaying the belief that we have the "upper hand" in space, we also reduce the possibility of conflict breaking out over who "controls" the territory of our solar system..
The politics of power is a dangerous game, and must be played carefully.
Control of space is a massive power play..
One that people, and nations will kill for..go to war over..
oops.. /i... (darn it..)
Science Ping?
They have voting places on the moon?
Why go to the moon? There are no people there to conquer and make slaves of. No one to TAX either. It's a costly and losing situation.
Love the view of Saturn rising/setting there. I have Carl Sagan's Cosmos and I like the one picture depicting the Milky May rising over the ocean of a very distant world, now that would also be awesome
I think you are right. We as a species have a collective subconscious motivation to do things that allow ourselves and our offspring to survive that we are not always aware of.
Interesting, balanced, practical article. Thanks, CW.
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