[ExI] Moooon

[Stefano Vaj]

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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