[ExI] Moooon

[Giovanni Santostasi]

This is the critical issue. It is not a matter of economy or politics
(unless understood as general human affairs). It is a question of pushing
the limits of human technology, survival capability, imagination, sense of
adventure. We could have all stayed in Africa or for that stayed on trees
instead of venturing in the Savannah, developing bipedal walking and so on.
Going to the moon would be such a evolutionary stressors that would push us
to come up with different survival strategies and drive innovation not just
in technology but in other human endeavors as art.
Giovanni



2011/7/22 Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com>

> 2011/7/21 G. Livick <glivick at sbcglobal.net>
>
>  Hold on just one dern minute here!   Sending vehicles to the moon is fun
>> science, even if there isn't much to be gained from it beyond the basic
>> research, and the spin-off technologies.  Ignoring that we may have more
>> immediate needs for the money spent on these pursuits, such as finding a
>> cure for idiocy, and addressing the emerging epidemic of low IQ in some
>> nations, I, as a scientist and engineer engaged primarily in the field of
>> fun science, would be the last to suggest we don't send ships up there.  The
>> objection is limited to sending humans to do a robot's job.  No scientist
>> made the decision to do that.
>>
>
> The issue is of course that of creating permanent habitats, not that of
> collecting samples with gloved, rather than robotic, hands - even though
> there may be political even in that which may repay the related costs (how
> much are worth American ICBMs for the dollar not to have plunged yet?).
>
> Sure, we can do it in Antarctica or at the bottom of the oceans. But
> Magellan went for the tour of the world when there was still plenty of
> uncolonised, unexploited land in continental Europe. At the end of the day,
> such initiatives made for a five century-long European egemony even though
> they did not necessarily made sense at the time from a business perspective.
>
> And with regard to America, last time I checked negroes were *exported*
> there, not imported from there. ;-)
>
> --
> Stefano Vaj
>
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