[extropy-chat] Help save the Apollo launch pad

[Emlyn O'regan]

I think it's a laudable goal to save relics as monuments from the golden age
of space development. It can be used to remind people that great things can
be accomplished, and as a motivator for future work. When we only
monumentalise non-tech things, we end up with a feeling that technology is
fleeting and doesn't survive the test of time. So we value it less. If we
can leave reminders of the truly great achievements, maybe that perception
can change, and people can remember that technology makes the most vital
difference in the ongoing human struggle.

Emlyn

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Adrian Tymes [mailto:wingcat at pacbell.net]
> Sent: Thursday, 5 February 2004 2:04 PM
> To: ExI chat list
> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] Help save the Apollo launch pad
> 
> 
> --- Kevin Freels <kevinfreels at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Wednesday may well be the last make-or-break day to
> > rescue this
> > instantly-recognizable historic structure from final
> > destruction.  
> > They start using cutting torches within the next day
> > or so.
> 
> I am reminded of a science fiction race of fly-like
> creatures, that was psychologically unable to dispose
> of anything.  Be it the cocoon they emerged from or a
> stain from yesterday's meal...any reminder of the past
> was sacred and inviolable.
> 
> They were part of the game Cosmic Encounters.  Their
> special power was that, when they moved onto a planet,
> everyone else had to leave, and stay off until the
> planet was sterilized.  No one else could abide the
> sheer amount of trash.  How these creatures spared the
> resources to get off their planet in the first place
> was one of the great mysteries.
> 
> Let the metal live on in things that will be used.  We
> know that metal does not have feelings, but to those
> who are unsure, ask: what if you had once been a part
> of the space program, a valiant symbol of work as well
> as useful in building and launching the rockets...and
> then some administrators decreed that henceforth, you
> would only be a symbol, standing inert and useless
> where you were so that others could look on you and
> wail about the good old days instead of following up
> on the work you helped start?  With space in your
> "blood" like that, would you not prefer to be recycled
> into another launch tower, or even another rocket?
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