[ExI] Gary North believes the search for extraterrestrial life...

[Dan]

http://teapartyeconomist.com/2013/02/07/darwinists-spend-tax-dollars-to-embarrass-christianity-the-search-for-life-in-space/

Well,
 it's hilarious. He really thinks, regardless of the tax-funding, that 
it's all about disproving his particular theology.* That's what these 
folks are about?!

And I disagree with him about search for 
extraterrestrial life would not happen in a totally free market society.
 My guess is in a more free market society, presuming people were 
interested and most things stayed the same (such as technological 
progress -- i.e., everyone doesn't all decide to become Amish), access 
to space would be much cheaper, so that funding efforts like space 
telescopes and interplanetary and even interstellar probes could be done
 on much smaller budgets. My guess is, too, under a free market in space
 transportation, the
 overall price would not only come down, but a more flexibility 
infrastructure would be built -- one that doesn't have just a few 
national or international space efforts with a somewhat political 
selection process on whom and what goes into space.

Maybe I'm wrong about this. It's just my speculation, but why does North believe he's right? Simply because he doesn't care about what's off Earth does not mean no one does. And it certainly doesn't mean, absent loads of government-funding, no one would ever try to find out. This seems along the lines of if the government didn't fund fossil hunting, no one would ever look for fossils. Well, they did look for them long before it was subsidized by the government and much fossil hunting today seems to be a private affair.

Regards,

Dan

* Why would finding life off Earth disprove Christianity any more than 
finding out the Earth isn't flat or that the Earth isn't a few thousand 
years old? I mean since Christians aren't going to let those other facts get in the way of their beliefs, why would finding some pond scum on 
Mars matter to them? I imagine Christians will find a way to make their 
beliefs sit well with whatever is found off world. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20130207/a5ed558e/attachment.html>